Many Paths: Jessica's Story

As a mortgage loan officer, Jessica Sanchez ’17 enjoyed being able to help people buy their first homes. What she didn’t like, however, was the bottom-line priority of sales over education.

“I wanted to do more than close a loan and not help the homeowner. I can offer my community more by working on the nonprofit sector,” she says.

Sanchez now works for the City of Milwaukee as a housing program specialist, where she helps homeowners access funds for emergency repairs and works with individual buyers and investors to acquire city-owned properties.

In the future, she dreams of leading a housing-focused nonprofit to help make home ownership accessible and support neighborhood revitalization efforts. And she’s counting on Alverno’s Pivot Your Skills Pathways program to help her get there.

Designed for professionals looking to advance in their current field or make the leap to a new field, Pivot Your Skills Pathways is a partnership between higher education and industry experts. With a mix of synchronous and asynchronous learning, participants can acquire technical knowledge in their chosen field, build industry-agnostic interpersonal skills and earn a professional certificate, all in less than nine months.

“I was very excited to hear that Alverno is offering this type of program, especially for professionals who have work, family and different duties,” she says. “We meet virtually once a week, and we get a lot from our instructor in those two hours.”

Sanchez, who previously earned her bachelor’s degree in business from Alverno, chose the Nonprofit Management pathway, one of four options. She appreciates the opportunity to explore all facets of nonprofit organizations, from leadership structure and strategic planning to fundraising and marketing.

“I’ve learned a lot about how nonprofits work, and I’m looking forward to diving more in depth to other topics,” she says. “This program will help me have a better understanding of how to make nonprofit programs more successful.”

Alverno currently offers the following Pivot Your Skills Pathways:

• Leading for the Future
• Leveraging the Power of Data for Decision-Making
• Managing Operations to Advance Organizations
• Nonprofit Management

The next session starts in September 2021. Click here to learn more and to register.