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

Hi Everyone –

There is so much to report about what is happening with Goodwill!

Janitorial Services is growing again, with two new contracts. We are also grateful that we have finally been able to hire a floor care supervisor which will enable us to offer more of these services.

Industrial Services is humming along. We have the right staffing for the work we are doing, and many of our existing contracts are coming back on line.

Workforce Development is busy adjusting to the new work of the Ignite program (serving young adults 18-24 who have been in contact with the justice system and funded by a Department of Labor grant through GII). Our community partners are all on board now, and we are experiencing a lot of enthusiasm from the prosecutor’s office and law enforcement. This could make a real difference in people’s lives. Some staff members are taking on new responsibilities, and we are grateful for everyone’s flexibility and commitment to serve our staff and community members.

Shannon Judson is your new contact for the Employee Assistance Fund. This is a good opportunity to remind you all of its existence. If you or any of your coworkers are suffering a financial hardship, there are resources that we can help you access in addition to our own fund set up by our board of directors.

We have begun looking for additional employers in Muskegon and Holland to partner with us for work enclave opportunities. This means that we are looking for companies who are willing to provide paid onsite work for our program participants with disabilities, in which we come in with a small group of workers and provide job coaching and training. The ultimate goal is for us to find new work opportunities for our participants, so if you know of a business or organization that might be interested in hearing about this opportunity, contact Kiesha in Workforce Development.

The Diversity and Inclusion Committee is working on the launch of a get out the vote effort for all of our staff – stay tuned for more information, and if you have any ideas about how Goodwill could best help you, let me know. We had a great suggestion from Sue in Industrial Services, who thought that we should have voter education and registration be part of the services we offer to those who are returning from prison and jail, because they might not know that they are eligible to vote once they have served their sentences. We already help people get their driver’s licenses and IDs, so this is an easy thing to add to what we offer. Great idea! In the meantime, if you need to register, would like to vote by mail, are not sure of your registration status, or have ANY other questions about voting this Nov. 3, visit www.michigan.gov/vote or call their hotline at 1 (833) 648-6837 and talk to a real person!

We have a huge influx of furniture hitting our stores and outlet as a result of donations from Spectrum Health. Halloween goods will also be on our shelves soon, and if you are in our stores, check out the LED light bulbs that we are selling at a remarkably low cost through a partnership with Consumers Energy and Greenlite. Retail continues to have open positions, so refer anyone you know to human resources.

E-commerce has dramatically ramped up the sale of clothing in the last six months, increasing the number of pieces sold by nearly 2,000%! This is not a typo – we went from 432 pieces last year to 8,091 already this year. Thanks to everyone in retail for making this possible. Laptops are also in high demand right now, so e-commerce is paying particular attention to getting these donated items ready for sale in our Apple Ave. store and online.

Everything is moving and changing more quickly than pre-pandemic, and that is saying something. We at Goodwill also need to get faster at taking a look at our data, analyzing it to determine what might be impacting performance, trying new things to increase performance, and evaluating the impact of our efforts so that we can either keep the changes we make or devise new things to try. We are starting with retail, putting processes in place to help us impact all of our results. There is so much we can’t control right now, so anything we put in place that allows us to see the impact of our efforts, helps us in more ways than simply improving our bottom line.

The threat of COVID-19 continues unabated. The U.S. has lost more than 180,000 of its citizens to this pandemic. Work hard to keep up your safety protocols – wash your hands, don’t touch your face, wear your mask correctly over nose and mouth, and maintain social distancing. We need to care for one another more than ever and this is a critically important way that we do it.

My best to all of you – 

Jeanette