Today we’d like to introduce you to Daniel Romero.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
Ever been asked, “What do you want to do when you grow up?” Well, I was that kid that never had an idea of what I truly wanted to be. As a San Diego native, I grew up doing well in school but couldn’t tell you a favorite subject or found a cause that I was really excited about. I was always active in my community whether it be through sports, clubs, or extracurricular activities, but I never envisioned what I would do…”When I Grew Up.” I attended UC Santa Barbara and continued this trend of working in my local community through work-study programs including recreation programs, local student health clinic, and volunteering opportunities, but never consider what I was doing as the makings of a career. I was just there to help. Following travel and graduation, I found myself trying to figure my next step to launch my career, but I can honestly say that I had no idea of what I was going to do next.
Upon graduation, I rushed back to San Diego seeking to work in local government (since that’s what I studied), but found myself once again drawn to the community as I stumbled across an opportunity to work with youth and community members in a job opening for a “LISC AmeriCorps Member.” At the time, I had no clue what this would entail but later learned that this position would dedicate a year of service working with various low-income communities in helping to establish programs for various low-income communities. Everything sounded good on paper, but couldn’t help but notice that the pay wasn’t ideal, yet I figured you have to start somewhere so I gave it a go. This is why I often joke that I didn’t necessarily actively pick my career, but more so the career picked me as I “fell into it,” expecting to “try out something new.” In time, I found myself challenged to develop programs to support youth development, resident councils, skill-building, and more. My philosophy was just to listen to community members and find creative ways of addressing what they considered a lacking from their communities, but in the process, I found out how challenging this could be on limited budgets. I saw how important being “creative,” finding community partners and pooling the talents of community members to build programs and usher in services to get these underserved communities the support they deserved. It was pretty evident that following this year, I can safely say that I finally felt I found my calling and passion of “Community Building” and what I would call “Unconventional Education.” You could say I was baptized into the world of nonprofits and there was no looking back…
I spent my professional career working in nonprofit organizations with various missions and target focuses including working in low-income housing, youth development, adult workforce programs, and now I oversee programs supporting the military and veteran communities across San Diego as a Senior Program Director at SAY San Diego. This may not have been a linear career move from college to where I am now, but each position has afforded me an opportunity to learn from my surroundings and the community as well as reimagine how I can best meet the needs of each community. Additionally, this work has taught me the importance of “community,” “collaboration,” and being a “lifetime learner” to better understand others and make a difference in the lives of others despite differences of backgrounds, challenges, or circumstances. At the end of the day, we are all people and if I can help make a difference then I’ve succeeded. I’d argue this journey has been pretty rewarding for me as well.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I think the journey of any nonprofit professional is tough and argue that my pathway followed suit. This pathway should come with a bumper sticker that says, “Not for the faint of heart” as we work in tumultuous environments often with limited resources and are challenged regularly to offer programs and services to the public that are needed and accessible. There are also challenges to keep these programs well-funded and long withstanding within a community, which can be difficult if funders change funding priorities or grant dollars simply go away so finding the resources to keep programs running is always a challenge. As for the financial compensation…it is often a tough swallow especially for those who invested in their higher-level education only to find meager wages for all the time and energy spent in making a difference. I can honestly say that without the support of family and friends that “making ends meet” in the first few years of my career in an expensive city like San Diego makes things extremely tough. Let me not just paint a picture of doom and gloom, but rather share that the really good stuff that keeps you moving in this field is when you see a difference you make in someone else’s life…this has continued to serve as my WHY and is quite a humbling environment as you do not always get to see how you may have been able to impact others until years later (I think my teaching friends can relate).
When I think of my personal experience, the nonprofit sector wasn’t really “advertized” to me growing up as a career pathway so I really did not have much understanding of all this sector has to offer. When most individuals hear “nonprofit” they think of a “charity,” which isn’t necessarily incorrect for some organizations, but often makes others think you work for “free” and they fail to see nonprofits are also involved with areas including research, housing, health care, and many basic needs programs that others may take for granted. For me personally, other challenges I have faced include needing to gain new skills such as fundraising, grant writing, and understanding the fiscal side of nonprofit organizations without much instruction and/or direction from past supervisors. I learned much in my early career by trial and error, my own research, asking other professionals for help, and just by “winging it.” While this was a tough learning environment, in retrospect, I tell new graduates to the field that to learn skills in similar environments needs to be viewed as an opportunity for you to leave your mark by taking chances to put forth ideas and solutions to problems. It’s really where you find your professional self.
This everchanging landscape has brought good and bad, but you do your best to learn from others and that’s what I have done challenging myself to learn more about the sector and develop my own craft as a professional and luckily a past supervisor provided an answer to a question I had been seeking…”Where do I get my own help to my career advancement?” That’s where I found USD’s Nonprofit Leadership and Management Master’s program, which turned into a new opportunity to invest in myself and open up new doors that were often closed due to my lack of education and/or experience. I pushed myself to finish my program in two years while working full time, which was a challenge in itself. I found the knowledge and experience I had been seeking realized as what I learned I applied making me a more well-rounded and experienced professional. Upon graduation, I saw the investment pay off with my first promotions and new opportunities.
So while the ride may have been bumpy or had a few roadblocks on the path to where I am today, the journey has been rewarding and has allowed me to pay it forward with young professionals in this field.
We’ve been impressed with SAY San Diego/SDMFC, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
SAY San Diego (SAY) is a 501 (c)3 nonprofit organization now celebrating its 50th Anniversary of providing service to communities across San Diego starting as a small grassroots organization advocating for youth and in time has grown to field more than 30 programs dedicated to supporting “individuals, families, and communities reach their fullest potentials.” SAY is a reflection of San Diego’s diverse landscape inclusive of new parents, non-traditional parents or guardians, youth ages 0-5, school-aged youth (K-12), juvenile justice youth, and members of various communities including immigrants, refugees, military, and more. This kaleidoscope of programs has made great impact over the years serving the needs of individuals through services including counseling, before and after school programming, mediation, socio-emotional learning, health and wellness, parenting initiatives, and more.
As an employee of SAY over the past five years, I have come to learn the unique challenges of military and veteran families who are often subject to regular change every few years through deployments, reassignment of orders, military family life stressors, and more. This has major impacts within the military family and SAY works to create and support programs intended to help create a sense of community and/or support for military families who often may experience disconnection, social isolation, stress, or other challenges from military life. Programs offered to address these needs include support parental moms reaching healthy developmental milestones with their children “First 5, First Steps,” support fathers through skill-based learning and peer education in our fatherhood initiative “Dads Corps,” and supports parents through health and wellness including our community garden and family engagement activities.
Additionally, SAY operates community collaboratives in the areas they operate in allowing for information on programs, services, community trends, and more to be surfaced. In this regard, I oversee SAY’s San Diego Military Family Collaborative (SDMFC) dedicated to education, advocacy, and engagement of the military-connected community. Here, many service providers gather and connect to strengthen and deepen relationships among providers while getting informed of what is happening in real-time within the community. This collaborative is open to the public and also is comprised of military personnel (DoD partners), military family members, veterans, local government officials, and more. Through tremendous support, this collaborative offers workshops and convenings to over 500 unique individuals annually and is reflective of over 200 participating organizations dedicated to helping share critical resources and information to those in need. Not to mention the collaborative reaches over 1,500 contacts through our ongoing messaging. Other unique offerings of this collaborative include transition workshops dedicated to the military spouse/partner to ensure the whole family understands the next steps from Active Duty to Civilian Life when transitioning from the service called “Military Transition: The Spouse Edition.” Finally, SDMFC develops parent/student forums in cooperation with local schools where youth lead discussions on tough to talk about topics they face as part of their daily lives called “What I Wish My Parents Knew,” adapted from Poway Unified School District.
Growing up as a San Diego native, I understood that San Diego was always considered a “military-town,” but through my experience at SAY, I have gained a newfound understanding and appreciation of this community that rallies to support one another and I am proud to be apart of it.
Let’s talk about our city – what do you love? What do you not love?
San Diego has a lot to offer, but the first thing that comes to mind is the “diversity” of this city. You can drive 10-15 minutes in any given direction and seem to be in a completely different community or part of town. This leads to some great eats, which is how I like to compare cities. San Diego’s Food offers endless possibilities. San Diego’s weather and general laid-back demeanor are also big reasons why I love to call this city my home. And I feel we are fortunate to have the opportunity to have open so many activities, in general, to engage with as San Diego offers a landscape of fun from surfing to snowboarding to recreational activities, festivals, and more. There is always something new to “try out” or “explore” when in San Diego.
So I guess we cannot complain too much when outsiders describe your home as “Sunny and 70.” While it would be great to see less traffic offering more prevalent public transportation and for more affordable housing to become available, you can’t win it all in a big metropolitan city.
Pricing:
- Most programs at SAY are FREE
Contact Info:
- Email: dromero@saysandiego.org
- Website: https://www.saysandiego.org/, https://sdmilitaryfamily.org/
- Instagram: http://instagram.com/sdmilfam
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SAYSanDiego, https://www.facebook.com/sdmilfam/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/saysandiego1971
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCa-agdY_oOosPRadeh1G_IQ
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdkrAxhBNjQB-qUmqsmapuA
December 18, 2019, San Diego, California_USA_| Portrait of Daniel Romero, Senior Program Director of the San Diego Military Family Collaborative, speaks to the child of a client at the organization’s facility. |_Photo Credit: Photo by Charlie Neuman
Image Credits:
Personal Photo Credit: Charlie Neuman
