Volunteer Spotlight: Jimmy Valenzuela
Deloitte is known in the Arlington community as a company that cares. Not only does it have a presence in the community, but it encourages its professionals to care about the community, through civic engagement. This is evident through Deloitte professionals volunteering their own time, acting as liaisons with nonprofit organizations Deloitte supports, or even participating in Impact Day, Deloitte’s national day of giving.
Deloitte puts out the call for civic engagement, and their professionals answer.
One of the calls for civic engagement Deloitte shared was an opportunity to support Edu-Futuro, whose work is focused on breaking the cycle of poverty through education. More specifically, Edu-Futuro’s mission is to empower immigrant and underserved youth and families through mentorship, education, leadership development, parent engagement, and workforce development.
Three years ago, Jimmy Valenzuela answered Deloitte’s call to support Edu-Futuro, and today he’s still acting as a liaison between Deloitte and Edu-Futuro. In this role, which is separate from his tax work at Deloitte, he leads regular cadence calls with Edu-Futuro to understand their programming, determine what the organization’s needs are, and where Deloitte volunteers can engage.
To rally his fellow professionals, Jimmy utilizes Deloitte’s various engagement newsletters and inclusion communities to support this cause. This includes skills-based volunteering and pro-bono consulting.
Jimmy focuses on finding role models through Deloitte to support those in Edu-Futuro’s programs. He says, “I leverage a lot of the ally communities that may include professionals who are also first-generation immigrants and understand how difficult it is to navigate the education system when acclimating to new communities. That way they’re providing students people they can relate to and look to as role models.”
Jimmy finds this mentorship especially important and one of the most rewarding aspects of his service with the organization. When serving as a mentor, he recalls his experience as a first-generation immigrant and, thinks “about the type of person I would have liked to have [as a mentor] and then I try to be that person.”
To anyone considering volunteering, Jimmy advises to “find something that makes you passionate”. When looking for a place to volunteer, he “wanted to find some place to give back to a community that has fostered my development and welcomed me as a member.” Jimmy wanted to see his impact in his community and realized he could be the change he wanted to see. Three years later, he continues to find it rewarding. He finds joy in even the simple tasks like talking to students to help them understand how to find success in college and beyond.
