Junior Chamber International Santa Clarita hosted 2023 JCI USA President Nathan Martin at its monthly “Chat n’ Chill” series on Thursday at Lucky Luke Brewing Co.
The first Thursday of every month, JCI Santa Clarita hosts the “Chat n’ Chill” series where members of the organization, also known as Jaycees, connect with one another and have prominent community members as guest speakers.
“I get to learn from all my different members, my different chapters, and take that information back and implement strategies and initiatives that we can also roll across the entire United States,” said Martin.
Martin was elected JCI USA president in 2023 and will only serve a one-year term. Like previous individuals with the title, each president gets a chance to directly focus on certain goals they feel are important and beneficial for all members of the organization.
“The impact happens at the chapter level. These members are the ones that are developing themselves. They’re developing other members; they’re doing the community impact. So if anything, all our change-making is happening at the chapter level,” said Martin.
“Push Your Potential” is one of Martin’s many goals as this year’s president.
“There was always somebody that was pushing me to do more, to push my potential … to get actively involved, to develop myself in additional ways to learn these new skills. And so I wanted to also, in this role as national president, to push the potential of my members so they get that same experience that I had over these past 17 years,” said Martin.
Martin has obtained various titles throughout his time as a member of JCI. He was a chapter president in 2013, and Hawaii’s JCI president in 2017. He became national vice president for JCI in 2019 and in 2021 he had the opportunity to serve at the international level before becoming JCI USA president.
JCI Santa Clarita has developed three projects: Santa’s Helpers, SCV 40 under Forty, and Get Real Adulting 101. The mission of JCI Santa Clarita is to identify problems in the community and create target solutions, according to the organization’s website.
“Our mission is to provide leadership development that empowers young people to create positive change,” Martin said.
JCI is an organization that was founded in 1915. Members are between the ages of 18 and 40 and it has chapters in over 100 countries worldwide, according to the JCI website.
