After immigrating to the United States from Managua, Nicaragua three years ago, Catherine Acevedo searched for volunteer opportunities where she could gain professional experience while she waited to obtain her green card. In this search, Catherine found a volunteer intern opportunity at the LAA in the Family Stabilization and Well-Being department.

After interning at the LAA, Catherine was offered an opportunity to work at a nonprofit organization as a Global Migration Assistant. Unfortunately, this opportunity was cut short due to the pandemic.

From her experience as an intern, Catherine remembered about the job fair that took place at the LAA. During this process, Catherine was able to be referred to an employment opportunity by Rebecca Christenberry, the Employment Services and Corporate Relations Coordinator at the LAA. Rebecca helped Catherine by serving as one of her main references during the application process.

Thanks to the help from the LAA’s Employment Services, Catherine was able to secure a job at Bethany Christian Services as a Case Manager for Post-Release Services. Through this position, Catherine serves an important role in the current crisis regarding unaccompanied minors at the US border. After the children are placed in households with sponsors or relatives, Catherine is in charge of visiting these homes in order to ensure that the children are doing well and living in a healthy environment.

In the future, Catherine plans on pursuing a master’s degree either in the legal field, social work or development practices. Overall, Catherine dreams of continuing a future in service and helping immigrant families.

Catherine’s advice to others who are looking for job opportunities is to be consistent and never give up. She says, “If you never quit reaching [for] a dream or goal, you will get it at the end of the day.”

Since last July, the LAA has hosted four job fairs and two employer recruitment events to connect job seekers to job opportunities. Once a year, the LAA hosts its annual Career Expo. This year’s Career Expo, held June 24, was a hybrid event held both in-person at the Buford Highway Outreach Center and via a virtual platform online. The event hosted around 150 job seekers and 24 employers across both formats. Job seekers like Catherine could apply on-site at the event. Some job seekers walked away with job offers that day.