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

Hello Everyone –

Our country surpassed 200,000 deaths due to COVID-19 since I wrote two weeks ago. We have been fortunate in our state, because Michigan is at the top of lists reporting excellent handling of the pandemic, including those reporting economic recovery. Our governor has done well. We may not stay at the top if those wishing to strip her of the executive powers she has used to manage the pandemic are successful in their efforts. Wearing masks covering nose and mouth, social distancing, washing hands, and not touching your face – all of these will protect you from an illness that we still don’t know much about, as well against the flu. Speaking of the flu…

Goodwill is holding a Flu Shot Clinic on October 14 from 2-4pm at the ROC. Mark your calendars now and bring ID. Getting the flu shot has never been more important. See you there!

Our voter registration initiative is under way and today we took it to the ROC (apparently this is where all cool things are happening…). I registered a brand new 18-year-old voter! Dina told the story last week of someone in the waiting room who thought he couldn’t vote because he had a felony, and we registered him to vote!  We will continue to hold these events until the middle of October, and then after that in Michigan you can still register in person even on the day of the election. Your vote is your voice, so get ready and be heard. Call the Career Center if you have any questions about your registration.

We have been taking a deep dive into retail metrics to improve performance over the last couple of weeks. By understanding that how much we produce directly impacts our revenue numbers, and managing to this on a daily basis, we can completely impact our earnings. This continues to make everything we do possible and I am so grateful for the work of the retail team. We are back to regular hours at all locations and have recently reopened our jewelry cases to also increase revenue. We have plenty of donations stored to help us in the effort to get us back on track with budget.

Workforce Development is revamping programming for CMH clients to be in accordance with new Medicaid guidelines and we NEED employers in Ottawa County who would be willing to work with us. If you know anyone at a company who might be willing to provide work opportunities for our clients, contact Matt at the Holland Employment and Training Center.

GoodTemps has three new corporate accounts – great news for our staffing business and for any of our clients who need a job. We are starting to grow our opportunities for people just as walk-ins are increasing at the Career Center. Perfect timing! Trinell told me this morning that someone she referred to work through GoodTemps has just been hired in, so be sure to refer any of your friends and family who are in need of employment to our Career Center and GoodTemps. We are making a difference for those we serve.

Mid Michigan Community Action will be sharing our Career Center space as of October 1. They have access to CARES Act funding to help those who are struggling financially as a result of the pandemic. It is a great opportunity for Goodwill clients and staff to easily access their services, and the same is true for their clients to access our services.

The VITA website improvements are almost done and all of our volunteers want to come back to assist next year with taxes. This gives us a great start to having a strong year getting tax refunds into the hands of people who need it.

We announced that there would be no attendance bonus this year – it seemed a strange thing to offer when 80% of our staff did not need to be in attendance for more than a quarter of the year. We are feeling incredibly grateful for those who never stopped working and for those of you who keep showing up every day in spite of the challenges we all face. As we begin the budgeting process for 2021, we recognize the need to be conservative in light of our losses this year and the uncertainty that faces us in 2021.

Our weekly D&I moment emails continue to be impactful and I am grateful for those of you who reach out with thoughts and reactions. Thanks for your willingness to learn and to be part of our work to be better in the space of equity and inclusion. Our efforts have begun to pay off – we have improved our percentage of minority hires by 3% over the last few months!

I am disheartened, as many were, by the fact that no charges were brought against the officers in the shooting death of Breonna Taylor, and it happened 65 years to the day that the murderers of Emmitt Till were acquitted. It felt to many of us like nothing has changed in those years, and white people continue to not be held accountable for violence against Black people. This is the reason for the protests and the work we are morally compelled to do – we need to continue to root out systemic racism wherever it exists.

We also lost Ruth Bader Ginsburg since I last wrote. If you are a woman with a bank account, mortgage, or credit card in your own name without a man’s co-signature – you can thank Ms. Ginsburg. She fought for equal pay for women, pushed to protect pregnant women in the workplace, and she was a key vote in granting same-sex marriages. She was an inspiration to many of us and we add her to the list of people we are so sorry to have lost this year.

My best to all of you –

Jeanette