Helping people prepare for, find, and keep good jobs is what Goodwill is about.

Hi Everyone - it’s the middle of Black History Month.

I imagine the day when Black history is just a part of truthfully told American history, but this is not yet the case. We need to celebrate Black history specifically because we have yet to recover from the white supremacy upon which this country was founded. We have barely begun to make real and meaningful challenges to it as a country, and so bringing awareness is the least we can do. What we choose to do starts with discovering why racial injustice either matters to each one of us or doesn’t, and so I have been thinking about why I personally care so deeply about social justice and equality.

My parents taught me that I am not better than anyone else. My dad in particular went to some lengths to keep me humble while at the same time letting me know that I was loved. They also taught me that the world is bigger than me – that my experience isn’t how it is for everyone, and that it is up to us to learn. They taught me early to go in search of answers. They were a teacher and a nurse, and taught me to care about other people.

While I grew up in this country and soaked up racism through something like osmosis, I was fortunate to not have it reinforced by my parents.

As I look at my past, I can see that these are my earliest foundations, but it is the people I love who teach me what it is really like to be a Black person in America.  I watched how our daughter, Azeezah, was treated in retail stores and by law enforcement. My friend Keisha shows me the difference between being Black and born in America and being Black and an immigrant to America. Friends Llena and Dereck teach me how it matters whether one is lighter or darker skinned, male or female. My niece Isa teaches me how difficult it is to grow up looking different than the majority of your community. The people I love and the reality of their experiences makes the fact of racial injustice matter deeply to me.

Their experiences are not unique. Our country has embedded discrimination based on race so deeply into our systems and existence that many white people don’t even recognize that it continues to profoundly impact the daily lives of those who are Black. That in itself, is by design. As long as we as white people don’t see it, we will do nothing to solve it, and it is indeed ours to end and to heal.

At Goodwill, we need to do the work of being anti-racist because if we don’t, we will never be able to achieve our vision that everyone has a pathway to meaningful and sustaining work. Systemic racism is a major barrier to achieving our vision. Transformational change will only happen, however, as a result of the relationships we experience and that starts with your relationship with yourself. I invite you to each take a look at why racial equality matters or does not matter to you and why.

As always, there are a few operational updates I want you to know about:

Industrial services continues to get new equipment for the Ignite program including 2 balers and a banding chopper. Our first program participants started last Monday! IS offers such great on-the-job training opportunities to so many of our workforce development programs. We have people working from EXIT, Ignite, Offender Success, and GoodWorks programs.
Janitorial began work for our new Ottawa County contract and floor care is picking up again. Our Janitorial Occupational Training (JOT) will go nearly year round this year with sessions at Fricano’s Pizza, Blue Lake, and the Frauenthal.
Retail had a great January and sales were over budget and over last year. The retail outlet was up 31% over 2020!
GoodTemps has a new account with Community Encompass and continues to have openings with the Health Department and Muskegon County.

We do such amazing work here at Goodwill. Thanks for all of your efforts.

I will leave you with a remembrance of the great Hank Aaron who passed away a couple of weeks ago. My thanks to Lyne at our Ellis store for reminding me that in addition to his baseball success, he “was a civil rights leader, when it was life threatening to speak up and out!” And while the threat to life and livelihood still exists, it seems to me that we can be at least as brave as he was by never hesitating to speak up against injustice, and to work determinedly to end white supremacy.

My best –

Jeanette