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

Hi Everyone –

Our Leadership Team performed the first-quarter review of our annual plan and key performance indicators (KPIs). The process we established is working in so many ways to move us forward on achieving our goals:

·       We identified challenges and did some problem solving to move us forward;

·       Knowing the review is coming made things happen and keeps our eye on our goals;

·       We shared best practice so that it can be replicated;

·       Celebrating wins already achieved in Q1 inspires us to keep moving;

·       We are reminded of our strategic pillars and what we are driving toward;

·       Leadership has the opportunity to see the amount of work we are engaged in across the organization; and

·       It reminds us of the exciting things still coming this year.

I hope all of you were engaged with your leadership team members in updating goals and KPIs for your department, but if you haven’t seen them, ASK! We want everyone to be involved in recognizing the good we are doing and in solving the challenges we face.

There are several things of note:

·       I mentioned this in my last letter, but it is worth saying again - retail hit over $15,000 in RoundUp last month. A record! Well done, all of you – it makes such a huge difference in the services we are able to provide.

·       Placement of clients in retail locations is increasing; a goal of both workforce development and retail.

·       The Tri-Share Child Care Hub is getting up and running. This is a grant from the state to pilot a new way to make child care more affordable by having the cost shared equally between an employer, the state, and the employee.

·       Welcome to Aneke Sain, Placement Specialist for GoodTemps. We are glad you are here!

We continue to talk about systemic racism because it is a barrier to achieving our vision that everyone has a pathway to meaningful and sustaining work and it impacts all of us, most especially the people of color we love and work with. This last week provided powerful evidence of the need for every one of us to continue taking action.

While it was a relief that Dereck Chauvin was convicted of all three counts in the murder of George Floyd, in the days that followed people of color continued to be shot and killed by police officers in Columbus, Chicago, and Minneapolis. There is evidence coming out of a way forward – the Newark, NJ police department has been under a federal consent decree to undergo intense reform since 2014, and did not fire a single shot in 2020. It is a remarkable turnaround and indicator that there are things we can do to make a difference. We will continue on our own path at Goodwill where all of us need to be engaged daily in living into our value that every person is respected and valued.

Michigan is THE hotspot for new COVID cases and the number of staff members we have out reflects this. As Kristin reported, however, not a single case has been contracted at work when we are following safety protocols. Keep it up and stay safe! In our stores, people who don’t want to wear masks are again on the increase, but masks work! Stay the course and get your vaccine. The sooner we all get vaccinated, the sooner we will be able to be together safely and without masks!

Hope you all have a great week!

My best –

Jeanette