This edition of Food • Home • Opportunity was written by Francisco Martinez.

About Francisco: Francisco Martinez is the 7th President and CEO of Project QUEST. A first-generation college student and son of immigrants, he understands firsthand the power of education to change lives and is committed to expanding opportunity for working adults in San Antonio.

How Project QUEST Is Strengthening Our City

The strength of a city is measured by the opportunities available to its people. In San Antonio, thousands of hardworking adults are ready to move forward but lack access to the education and training that lead to stable careers. For them, opportunity is not an idea. It is education and training that lead to a living wage career. It is benefits, stability, and generational change.

That is where Project QUEST comes in.

Project QUEST was born out of organized community leadership. In 1990, COPS/Metro leaders listened to working families who were doing everything right but still falling behind. They did not ask for charity. They demanded access. They worked with employers, colleges, and the City to design a workforce model that would remove barriers and create real economic mobility. Project QUEST was the community’s answer.

The problem was not motivation. It was access. The education and workforce systems were not designed with working adults in mind. They were not built for parents balancing childcare, jobs, and bills. They were not built for someone who cannot afford to stop working in order to attend school.

So San Antonio built a solution in 1992.

Today, Project QUEST serves about 2,500 adults each year. The average participant is 31 years old and earns about $14,000 annually, often while supporting a family. The drive is there. The work ethic is there. What is missing is access and the support needed to navigate a system that was not built for them.

QUEST serves as the partner, the expert, and the facilitator on that journey. We walk hand in hand with our participants. We see their potential. We understand the strength and value of lived experience. Many of the adults we serve have navigated challenges that have shaped their resilience and determination. Instead of asking them to figure out a complicated system alone, we guide them through it.

Project QUEST partners with local colleges and training providers to connect adults to high-paying, in-demand careers in healthcare, information technology, and skilled trades. These industries offer stability, benefits, and room for advancement. But access to a training program alone is not enough.

What makes Project QUEST unique is its wraparound support model. Participants receive career coaching, job readiness training, and financial or emergency assistance when eligible. We help with tuition assistance. We help solve barriers. We coordinate with training partners. We prepare participants not just to enroll, but to persist and complete.

The results are measurable and life-changing! Graduates see an average starting wage of around $50,000 per year at initial placement. These jobs come with benefits and clear pathways for continued growth. Participants experience an average 200 percent increase in wages compared to before entering QUEST. That kind of change transforms households.

Opportunity Makes an Economic Impact

Over the past three decades, Project QUEST has served more than 15,000 individuals and contributed billions of dollars in economic impact to the region. Its model has been evaluated at the national level and has inspired similar workforce programs nationwide. Yet at its core, this work remains deeply local.

It is about a parent who can now afford stable housing. It is about a graduate who now has access to employer-paid healthcare. It is about families building a new financial foundation that can last for generations.

Opportunity does not happen by accident. It is built with intention. When we design systems that work for adults who are ready to learn and are ready to thrive, we strengthen our workforce, grow our economy, and build a more resilient San Antonio.

If you or someone you know is ready to begin a new chapter, Project QUEST is here to help.

Thank you to Francisco Martinez for agreeing to share how his organization wants to be a part of Opportunity Solutions in our community!

Visit www.questsa.org and start your QUEST to a new career today.

This edition of Food • Home • Opportunity was written by Rogelio "Roger" Narvaez Jr. LMSW. Roger is a Social Worker (LMSW), Author, Speaker, Storyteller and works with underserved and vulnerable individuals and families in Bexar County.

I remember a conversation I had with my wife, some time shortly after getting married, and when I had finally moved most of my stuff from my house into the house we would now share as a married couple. I say most of my stuff because she mostly got rid of stuff I no longer needed. I say that in jest, of course. We reminisced about our lives before meeting, dating, and being married, and how now it was more meaningful to come “home”. And that is the word I used… I was coming to a home and not a house.

As a social work student, one of the theories imprinted into my memory throughout graduate school and afterward working with clients is Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. It is the idea that humans have needs that need to be met until we find ourselves fulfilled. We all have the same level of needs: physiological needs, safety needs, belonging or love needs, self-esteem or ego needs, and a need for self-actualization. Self-actualization is the goal, as it will allow us to fulfill being the best version of ourselves. For many, reaching that part of the pyramid is way out of reach or not even a thought. And for many, like the families and individuals I have worked with across various agencies and settings, addressing the basic needs of food (water), shelter, and health is where they find themselves consistently.

If the goal is to find the best version of myself, I am going to have a hard time fulfilling that need if I am hungry and lack food, or if I have no place to call home and rest at night, or if my physical and mental health are suffering. Think about the six or seven-year-old not having enough food on the table; think about the pregnant mother fleeing domestic violence; think about the veteran sleeping in a tent under the highway because they suffer from untreated mental health issues. And these are all real scenarios that I speak of, as I have worked with many families and individuals in San Antonio that meet this criteria and whose images run across my brain as I write this.

And so the questions pour in: Are we doing enough? What else needs to be done? Is this a funding issue? Is this a permanent solution? Who gets help first…who is prioritized over others? Who is responsible for ensuring our neighbors are getting the help they need?

And simply put: no, more, yes, no, everyone, we all are!

“Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness…” once meant for all, is now relative to your bank account. And so community organizations and non-profit agencies must come up with new innovative ideas to bring “life, liberty, and happiness” to those they serve. They turn closed schools and churches into transitional shelters; churches across the city take turns feeding those who hunger and clothe the naked. Doctors and clinicians step foot away from the offices and step foot in homeless camps to offer aid. And this is why humanity is ESSENTIAL & FUNDAMENTAL to living and fulfilling the most basic of needs for any human being: food, shelter, and health. This sounds a lot like Jesus when He fed the crowds, ensured His friends had roofs to sleep under when traveling, and healed both those with physical and mental illnesses.

Can you imagine, for a moment, what it would look like if every sector of the community sat at the table with the goal of “help thy neighbor”? Each still being able to accomplish their own goals and projects, but also building something bigger —lasting community?

We are nearly a week into 2026, and I would be lying if I said I wasn’t already a little overwhelmed by the work ahead. In my work at SAMMinistries , I see a long list of projects to raise awareness, build advocacy, provide support, and raise funds to continue what I tend to ‘feel’ is the actual work: connecting neighbors to stabilizing housing and further opportunities to create self-sufficiency.

With the new year, we tend to use this time as a launchpad for what could be, while disregarding what has come before. BUT there is so much to remember from 2025.

One of the most profound and galvanizing events that SAMMinistries hosts is the annual Homeless Persons’ Memorial Service. Every year, community members, public officials, and staff from homeless response organizations gather to read the names of every known individual who passed away while experiencing homelessness. Locally, we join together with Close to Home and members of the Alliance to House Everyone: Haven for Hope , Corazon Ministries Inc , Christian Assistance Ministry , Endeavors San Antonio, Communities Under the Bridge , The Salvation Army of San Antonio . Beyond the names and numbers (271 passed in 2025), we partner with Goodwill Industries of San Antonio to place a pair of shoes with a name card for every individual, creating an evocative display that continues to resonate with me.

This year, I was captured by the words of SAMMinistries’ President and CEO, Nikisha J. Baker, about the power of housing and its collective and transformative power in our community:

“Housing is the foundation of stability and wellbeing.But we also know that housing is healthcare; housing is education;housing is recovery; housing is public safety; housing is justice;and housing is a human right.”

Stability and wellbeing. Healthcare. Education. Recovery. Public safety. Justice. A Human Right.

Housing is the starting point, the foundation, the opening door to brighter futures and opportunities. And a community that protects this human right can weather the storms that inevitably come. If we protect housing, food is easier to come by. If we protect housing, opportunity is that much closer.

Looking to 2026 - with 2025 in mind and the names still resting in my mind - I wonder what a community fully invested in housing could look like. What does it look like to you?

I spent four years working at the San Antonio Food Bank , starting in 2019. My first year, I was learning the ropes, getting my bearings, and stretching my capacity. What I imagined, getting my foundation set for my second year and then expanding my skillset and pushing forward in the organization, didn’t go as planned.

It was January 2020 when we started hearing the murmurs, the overseas chatter, then the quarantined cruise ship, then the mall outbreak, then… shutdown. I was in the hospital in March 2020, welcoming our second daughter (shout-out to my wife, Damaris, for her strength and resilience in bringing Ruth into the world! I take no credit). The world I left on March 4th, and the one I re-entered with a newborn on March 5th, would be a sign of things to come. I walked out of the hospital to get our car from the medical center parking garage. When I walked back in, I was confronted by a hospital security guard and asked questions about my symptoms and how I was feeling, who I was, and where I was going. The realization that this would be the new normal had not quite struck me yet, but the interaction had left me with a heaviness in my gut.

As my wife and I spent that week in our own mini newborn “lockdown”, we felt the tide shift as our city went from business as usual to an official quarantine lockdown. My colleagues at the San Antonio Food Bank were not only deemed essential workers, but we were also asked to keep coming into the office. I was asked to cut my parental leave short and work remotely for that second week of Ruth’s life. I started messaging with our staff daily - sometimes multiple times a day - to make critical updates and ensure our food bank websites were up-to-date with health information and … more importantly … food distribution information.

Suddenly, we were being asked to serve 120,000 of our neighbors every week… DOUBLE the normal need… overnight.

It was a seismic, tectonic shift. It showed how fragile our community’s systems, capacity, and welfare really were. How quickly a family could go from sharing a meal at their dinner table, to running out of gas in a parking lot waiting for food distribution groceries. It clarified for me that food was foundational. Access to it was the bedrock of a stable society, and, as we witnessed society shutter in crisis, it was a foundation we would have to fight to save… together.

I recently reached out to my former leader and someone I consider a mentor, Michael Guerra , the Chief Philanthropy Officer at the San Antonio Food Bank. We have continued conversations about the cultural and equity landscape in San Antonio (and the surrounding counties and communities they serve) even as I have moved into a different role at SAMMinistries over the past (almost) three years. We talked about the importance of food, and he relayed a powerful quote from their President and CEO, Eric Cooper :

“You only need to observe a holiday, a birthday, a special occasion of almost any sort, to see the power of food to convene. Food anchors our celebrations. Food anchors our community time. But what we often don’t see is the stabilizing power of food in community.

Time around the dinner table stabilizes a home. Time around the break room table stabilizes a workplace. For Christians, time breaking bread together strengthens community.

Food is a key building block. A lack of food will inevitably lead to a weak foundation. Food security is family security and community security. You can see it in America, and you can see it in countries around the globe. Food gathers, builds, and stabilizes, but only when there is access and availability.”

Eric S. Cooper, President and CEO, San Antonio Food Bank

Food is foundational to communities that thrive. When the pantry is bare, the dinner table collects dust. And the dinner table is where community happens. One of my favorite quotes, one that I have immortalized as a sticker on my laptop, says:

“If you are more fortunate than others, build a longer table, not a taller fence.”

This quote has stayed with me for a long time. The dinner table is not just a family setting; it is a hub for community activity and an opportunity to grow belonging and solidarity for us as people. I recall countless church potlucks and fellowship halls growing up in a Southern Baptist church in Illinois1. We crave community, whether at the dinner table at home or in breakrooms, halls, temples, or chambers. The idea of dinner table fellowship is creating spaces for community anywhere. And building a longer table brings more people into that sense of belonging.

❤️ So, I ask you today as we look to this precious holiday season: where is your heart calling you?

These days, filled with the dissonance of both hope and tensions, how can you extend your dinner table beyond your circle of family and friends? If people feel they belong at the table, they will see the opportunities we can all share: to secure food for today, build homes for tomorrow, and open doors to brighter futures.

🤝 Getting Involved

If you would like to prepare the larger table, visit safoodbank.org and see how you can help a neighbor in need. 🍎🍎

You can also learn more and connect by watching stories that help us all meet neighbors where they are: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLIMJilAoznPv-bvS_PIZbdCFuAsRo889C&si=1hMEEXWiFtXWlgh6.

If you are drawn to housing solutions and opening doors to brighter futures, you can follow the work we do at SAMMinistries and connect with the local network of nonprofits working together to ensure everyone has a place to call home with Close to Home.

Thanks,

Rob

A Beginning

There’s a moment in the Gospel of Luke that I’ve carried with me for a long time. Jesus stands in the synagogue, reads from Isaiah, and announces good news to the poor, freedom for the oppressed, and sight for the blind. Then He sits down and says, “Today this is fulfilled in your hearing.”

It’s not a dramatic miracle. It’s not a spectacle. It’s a simple declaration of what matters… and who matters. And even if you do not believe what I do, I think you can find hope in these words. While they may not spiritually pull you, I think they are calling us to something MORE for our community.

Somewhere in the last twenty years of nonprofit work, ministry, storytelling, and raising a family in San Antonio, that passage became a kind of compass for me. I find myself returning to three simple needs I’ve watched shape people’s lives more than anything else:

Food. Home. Opportunity.

These are the basic building blocks of a dignified life.

This newsletter is my attempt to explore those three ideas slowly, honestly, and in community.

Why These Three Words?

Food

I’ve seen what hunger does.

At the Food Bank during COVID, I watched cars stretch for miles in parking lots. Parents choosing between gas and groceries, seniors choosing between food and medicine. People who didn’t care about the politics of food access. They just wanted to survive. And our community stepped up. We became #SanAntonioStrong in a way I had not experienced before.

Food is the first act of compassion. It says, “You don’t have to struggle alone. I see you.”

And in my faith tradition, meals have always been where healing begins. Some of the greatest stories in the Christian scriptures take place at the dinner table or in community as people share meals. It was in these moments that Christ stretched the food that was given to meet the immediate needs of the people who came to hear His truth.

Home

I now work with families and individuals experiencing homelessness, and I can tell you with complete sincerity: a safe place to sleep changes everything.

A home is where a person exhales. Housing is healthcare. Where a child finally stops worrying. Where tomorrow becomes something you can imagine rather than fear.

Housing isn’t just a roof. It represents tomorrow and is framed in dignity and a foundation to build from.

Opportunity

Once someone is fed and housed, something beautiful happens: they begin to build a brighter future.

Opportunity is about education, creativity, employment, healing, and support. It’s the doorway that lets someone step into a future they can actually shape.

I’ve spent my career telling stories, designing communication, leading teams, and seeking opportunities and opening doors for others. Opportunity is the part of the work that feels like watching someone recover their sight.

Why Write About This Now?

My kids are getting older. They’re starting to notice how uneven the world feels — people with signs on the road, some families on the edge, the costs of living. They’re asking harder questions: Why can’t he have a house? Where does he go at night? Do we have anything to give?

And they’re watching how I answer.

I want them to grow up in a community that is more equitable, more generous, and more human than the one I inherited. I want them to believe that compassion is normal, and that peace and justice are something we build together.

Sharing these reflections here is part of that work. It’s a way of putting language to the things I’ve seen up close, the spiritual convictions that anchor me, and the hope I have for our community’s future.

Even as life gets harder, truth seems harder to discern, and trust harder to build… maybe we can make the hugs last longer, the bridges firmer, and the words mean more -- because they are rooted in something… actions… that connect our lives to one another.

What You Can Expect Going Forward

This won’t be a technical newsletter. It won’t be an academic one with a nonstop stream of data and policy analysis. (Though we will talk about affordability and ALICE and the real math families face.)

Mostly, it will be a conversation about:

What dignity looks like in real life, what people need to thrive, what it means to follow a faith or moral foundation that cares for the vulnerable, and how we can build a community where more people can flourish.

I don’t have all the answers… not even close. I’m bringing what I’ve seen, what I’ve learned, and what I’m hoping for.

And I want you to lend your experience, your insights, and your compassion to be part of the conversation. Part of belonging to a community is listening to MANY voices and holding onto each other when the storms roll in.

Thank you for reading, being curious, and caring about the kind of community we create together.

I’m glad you’re here. More soon.

— Rob