Commissary Is Very Necessary - CIVN

09/26/2026

09/21/2026

❤️ SUNDAY COMMUNITY & MISSION | OPPORTUNITY TRAVELS BY WORD OF MOUTH

One of the greatest advertisements I've ever had didn't cost me a dollar.

It was one person telling another person:

“Go see Professor Russell. He might be able to help you.”

Yesterday I shared Tobiah's story. What I didn't talk much about was how he found me in the first place.

Tobiah is from the Congo, and he had already been living in America for some time. But like many people trying to establish themselves in a new country, the jobs available to him weren't providing enough income to make ends meet.

Then something happened.

Word traveled through the Congolese community.

He heard about other students from the Congo who had come through my Mechatronics classroom. He heard about people I had worked with, opportunities they had received and careers they were building.

Eventually, that word reached Tobiah.

He came to me because somebody else's experience gave him enough confidence to believe:

“Maybe there's an opportunity here for me too.”

That's community.

And that's something I've learned through years of doing this work with Commissary Is Very Necessary (CIVN).

You can print flyers.

You can run advertisements.

You can make social media posts.

But there is something powerful about a person going back into their community and saying:

“I found a way forward. Let me show you where the door is.”

That's how opportunity begins multiplying.

One person gets trained.

One person earns certifications.

One person gets a better job.

Then a brother hears about it.

A cousin hears about it.

A friend hears about it.

A church member hears about it.

A neighbor hears about it.

And eventually somebody you've never met walks through your door because your work reached them before you did.

That's why community relationships matter in workforce development.

People don't just need programs.

They need pathways they can trust.

My vision has never been to help one person and stop there.

It's to help one person—and watch that opportunity travel.

One opportunity can change a person.
One person can influence a family.
And one family can help transform a community.

That's the mission.

Skills to pay the bills.
Opportunity to change lives.

— Marcus Russell
Founder & President | CIVN
Founder & CEO | Automatum Workforce Partner Solutions (AWPS)

09/17/2026

💜 CIVN GIVING DAY IS HERE! 💜

🎯 OUR GOAL: $5,000

Commissary Is Very Necessary (CIVN) is asking our community to help us raise $5,000 to continue serving individuals and families across Texas.

We don't just talk about community—we show up for it.

Your Giving Day contribution helps support the programs and services that CIVN is building and expanding:

🍎 FOOD & BASIC NEEDS
Food drives and essential resources for individuals and families facing difficult seasons.

🏥 HEALTH & WELLNESS
Health fairs, wellness education, community resources, and connections to care.

🎓 YOUTH & EDUCATION
Supporting students with resources, opportunities, encouragement, and pathways toward success.

💼 CAREER & WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT
Connecting people to training, career resources, employment opportunities, and the tools needed to build a better future.

🔄 RE-ENTRY & SECOND CHANCES
Supporting individuals returning to their communities with resources, career connections, education, and opportunities to rebuild.

🤝 COMMUNITY OUTREACH
Meeting people where they are and connecting communities with resources, partnerships, and support.

💜 EVERY DOLLAR HAS A PURPOSE.

$5 can help us purchase supplies.
$25 can help provide essential resources.
$50 can help support community outreach.
$100 can help us expand our reach.

And when our entire community gives together, small contributions become something much bigger.

We're not asking you to give because CIVN needs a hand.

We're asking you to give because our community deserves one.

📢 HELP US REACH $5,000!

Donate. Share. Tag somebody. Start a conversation.

Whatever you can do—DO IT.

Because at CIVN:

NO CHILD, WOMAN OR MAN LEFT BEHIND. 💜

09/13/2026

❤️ SUNDAY COMMUNITY & MISSION | SOMETIMES PEOPLE DON’T NEED A HANDOUT. THEY NEED A BRIDGE.

Yesterday I shared the story of one of my students, Suavevion.

He had to leave the Mechatronics program before finishing because life got real. He had a family to support, bills to pay, and an apartment he was trying not to lose.

But he had already earned four certifications.

I told him:

You may have had to leave school, but what you learned still has value.

I kept sending him opportunities. Eventually, he applied for one I sent him with Texas Instruments. Before his interview, he came back to the lab, and we refreshed some of his skills.

This week he told me he got the job:

Manufacturing Maintenance Specialist — $28/hour.

That story represents something much bigger to me.

For years through CIVN, we've helped families with food, community resources, education, youth programs, and support during difficult times.

Those things matter.

But eventually I started asking another question:

What happens after we help somebody survive today?

How do we help them build a better tomorrow?

That's where education, workforce development, and eventually AWPS became another part of the vision.

The pathway I'm working to build is simple:

COMMUNITY → RESOURCES → SKILLS → CERTIFICATIONS → WORKFORCE CONNECTIONS → CAREERS → ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY

Sometimes somebody needs food.

Sometimes they need transportation.

Sometimes they need encouragement.

Sometimes they need training.

And sometimes they're already trained—they just need somebody to show them where the opportunity is and remind them that they're qualified to pursue it.

That's the bridge.

CIVN and AWPS are separate organizations with different roles, but the mission behind my work remains connected:

Help people move forward.

We're not trying to carry people forever.

We're trying to help build bridges strong enough for people to cross for themselves.

And Suavevion reminded me of something this week:

Sometimes helping somebody doesn't mean carrying them across. Sometimes it means making sure there's still a bridge when they're ready to cross.

That's community.

That's workforce development.

That's the mission.

Skills to pay the bills. Opportunity to change lives.

— Marcus Russell
Founder & President | CIVN
Founder & CEO | AWPS

09/07/2026

❤️ SUNDAY COMMUNITY & MISSION | WE DIDN'T STOP GIVING RESOURCES. WE STARTED ADDING OPPORTUNITY.

For years, through Commissary Is Very Necessary (CIVN), we've worked in communities providing resources.

Food distributions.
Community gardens.
STEM programs.
Environmental education.
Backpacks.
Holiday toys.
Youth programs.
Health and community resources.

And I'm proud of every bit of it.

But over the years, I started realizing something:

A family may need food today—but what can we do to help that family change its economic situation tomorrow?

That's when my thinking about community development started evolving.

We didn't stop giving resources. We started adding opportunity.

Education.

Technical training.

Industry certifications.

Career pathways.

Employer connections.

And ultimately—jobs that can change a family's economic future.

I've seen what that looks like firsthand.

I've watched people enter Mechatronics unsure about their future and come out with skills in electrical systems, PLCs, motor controls, robotics, fluid power and mechanical systems.

I've watched people with backgrounds get another chance.

I've watched people change careers in their 40s and 50s.

I've watched students who didn't know anything about automation discover that they were actually good at it.

And I've watched people go from simply looking for a job to building a career.

That's a big part of why I created Automatum Workforce Partner Solutions (AWPS).

There was still a gap.

People were getting trained.

Employers needed skilled workers.

But those two sides weren't always connecting.

So the vision became bigger:

COMMUNITY → RESOURCES → TRAINING → CERTIFICATIONS → WORKFORCE CONNECTIONS → CAREERS → ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY

CIVN can help us reach people in the community.

Education and training can help people develop the skills.

AWPS is being built to help connect skilled people and industry—and to help employers solve real workforce and automation problems.

That's what workforce development means to me.

It isn't just putting somebody in a job.

It's building a pathway.

September is National Workforce Development Month, and throughout this month I'm going to use this platform to show what workforce development looks like in real life—students, employers, communities, training, barriers, second chances and success stories.

Because sometimes changing a community starts with resources.

But long-term change requires opportunity.

We're not replacing the mission. We're expanding the mission.

Skills to pay the bills.
Opportunity to change lives.