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FreeMoreWest Member Spotlight: Goodwill Industries of the Southern Piedmont

This year marks the 50th anniversary of Goodwill Industries of the Southern Piedmont. Since first opening its doors in 1965, Goodwill has served nearly 168,000 individuals and placed 31,000 people into jobs by offering job training programs and employment services.  Through its mission of “Changing Lives Through the Power of Work,” Goodwill has worked with local business leaders to identify employment needs in our region and formed various business advisory councils that have led to highly successful training programs for computer programmers, banking and call center employees, construction and positions in the hospitality industry for individuals with barriers to employment.

Goodwill’s impact in the region over the past 50 years:

• Served nearly 168,000 individuals and placed 31,000 people into jobs by offering job training programs and employment services
• Received more than 23 million donor visits
• Sold an estimated 100 million pieces of clothing
• Volunteers have dedicated more than 12,000 hours of service since the volunteer program began in 2002
• Recycled nearly 11,000 tons of computer electronics while employing more than 400 individuals through E-waste and transitional work programs
• Honored as Charlotte Regional Partnership’s 2014 Jerry Awards recipient
• Recognized as one of the “Best Places to Work” by the Charlotte Business Journal in 2010. 

With more than 150,500 individuals in Mecklenburg County living in poverty, or 15.5 percent of the population, Goodwill has a bold vision to change the trajectory of poverty and dependence in the area with the Goodwill Opportunity Campus. Construction has begun on the 160,000-square-foot career services center and it is scheduled to open in 2016. The campus is located on an 18-acre site at the corner of Wilkinson Boulevard and Boyer Street and will provide a central location for coordinated services. Through the Goodwill Opportunity Campus, Goodwill’s strategic partners will be able to meet clients’ basic needs and they will be able to expand the organization’s job resource center and offer increased access to career coaching. The facility will also help Goodwill to expand its services to provide long-term support for clients to help them continue to develop so they can earn a family-sustaining wage.