Special Congressional Recognition

2013

Mr. Nesbitt received the special congressional recognition as a Sacramento Regional Community trainer on March 22, 2013.

RSVP Volunteer to Receive Bank of America Award

2010

Each year, Bank of America selects five Local Heroes from nominations submitted by individuals and organizations. Although there are no specific eligibility requirements, Bank of America continues to look for individuals who made special and significant impact on individuals, families, or community at large; inspired others to volunteer for community service; and/or have been a catalyst for new vision, understanding, and change in the community.

On September 30, 2010, the Retired Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP) office was informed that RSVP volunteer, John Nesbitt, was selected as one of the recipients of the local hero award. Nesbitt's commitment to helping others spans several decades from working with ethnic gangs in the 1970's to providing case management services to homeless families in the 1990's. As an RSVP volunteer, John dedicated over 500 hours to the Veteran's History Project (VHP) and the Neighborhood Emergency Training (NET).

For VHP, John interviewed war veterans whose experiences may have gone undocumented – the interview was sent to the Library of Congress. As a NET trainer, John traveled to senior centers, churches, housing communities and taught disaster preparedness to seniors and other groups who may be vulnerable during an emergency. Nesbitt also have been vocal in collaboration with California volunteers.

On November 16, 2010, Bank of America honored him with four other Local Hero recipients. In addition, a grant for $5000 was awarded to the non-profit of Nesbitt's choice. Congratulations, John!

Board of Supervisors Recognize Net Volunteers

2010

In 1969, John joined the Oak Park Sacramento Urban League. He then taught in the Grant Union High School District at Norte Del Rio High School in Del Paso Heights.

From 1977 through 80, John served as Executive Director to the Sacramento Employment and Training Agency (SETA) - Conception Incorporated program established in Oak Park by Callie Carney, councilwoman at that time. The program addressed employment issues for ex-offenders within the city and county of Sacramento and the four surrounding county areas. Within the three year program, there was an 86% work placement success rate.

As a Grant Union High School high risk specialist and member of the multi-disciplinary student study team, John taught the first “Opportunity School” during the 1988-1989 school year. He used his case management skills in the federal model for Residential Transitional Living for Homeless Individuals and Families from 1995-97. The multi-disciplinary team developed infrastructure addressing Assessment Triage used to create individual program/treatment plans. Sacramento County's ONE STOP model program collaborated with Mather Community Campus (MCC).

The initial opening of the MCC program was a first federal model. During Nesbitt’s case manager tenure at MCC, he established the first Resident Council for families and singles. He also established the Mather Community Garden in collaboration with the U.C. Davis Community Agricultural consultants.

In 2001, when the State of California Department of Education funded a demonstration accreditation model called the Child Development Facility Accreditation Project (CDFAP), Nesbitt became a Region 3 Accreditation Manager supervising five regional facilitators, assisting eleven central California counties, and providing technical assistance and satellite training to 250 programs aspiring to attain national accreditation. The program also required network collaboration within the 58 counties of California. The National collaborators were the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), the National Association for Family Child Care (NAFCC) and the National School-Age Children’s Alliance (NSACA).

Initially hired as case manager for the Homeless Veterans Reintegration Program (HVRP), a U.S. Housing Urban Development/Veteran’s Association (HUD/VA) sponsored project, Nesbitt was reassigned in 2003 as Job Training and Employment Development Coordinator for the Sacramento Veteran’s Resource Center, a division of Viet Nam Veterans of California. He was the instructor of a 30 hour workshop called Winning the Employment Game (WEG) resulting in 78% successful work placement in a 12 month period.

Sacramento Service History

1969