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Goodwill Industries, Ontario Great Lakes

Goodwill Industries, Ontario Great Lakes (Goodwill) is a non-profit charity and social enterprise. Its mission is “changing lives and communities through the power of work”. The organization accomplishes its mission primarily by being an employer focused on helping individuals with disabilities or facing other barriers to employment – Goodwill currently employs more than 575 individuals in full-time and part-time work. Goodwill generates revenue through its donated goods retail stream. It receives donations of new and used clothing, textiles, electronics and other household items from community members and sells the donations through its retail thrift stores. Watch the process.

Goodwill is a member of Goodwill Industries International, 1 of 164 around the world, and 1 of 6 in Canada. Each Goodwill is independently operated and incorporated, with its own Board of Directors, so as to be able to respond and support local needs. Members are audited every three years and are measured on standards around brand, health and safety, fiscal responsibility, and fulfilling mission.

File:OGL-Region-map.pdf

Goodwill Industries, Ontario Great Lakes' geographic coverage shown in blue.

History

Established in 1945, Goodwill was officially incorporated in 1955. Following the program established by the founder of Goodwill, Rev. Edgar J. Helms, Goodwill provides a “hand up not a handout” . Originally, Goodwill was structured more as a sheltered workshop for individuals with disabilities to provide work experience, but to better support its mission, has evolved into a workplace focused on serving those facing a broader range of barriers to employment, including those with disabilities, coming from generational poverty, or lacking literacy or other education. 

Goodwill Programs

Goodwill’s Career Centre is the employment services branch of Goodwill. It helps individuals by providing online support and face-to-face job counseling. Individuals access a variety of services and workshop including job coaching, resume writing, interviewing skills, dressing for success, financial literacy, and other types of training and skills development. Services are offered at no cost to individuals; the cost is covered through a fee-for-service arrangement with the Province of Ontario

An additional service provided through the Goodwill Career Centre, the Youth Job Connection provides employment services to individuals ages 15-29. Launched in the fall of 2015, this program is also a fee-for-service program with the Province of Ontario.

Goodwill’s Employer Solutions offers services to employers looking to hire staff. This division helps to create job postings, maintains an online job bank, does a preliminary screening of potential candidates, helps select top candidates, and provides continued support once an individual has been placed.

Edgar and Joe’s Café, another Goodwill initiative, opened in 2013. Named Edgar after Goodwill’s founder, Rev. Edgar J. Helms, the “Joe” represents all “Joes,” everyone in the community. Its primary purpose is to provide quality, nutritious food at a reasonable price, with a secondary purpose of being a location for social inclusion and a hub for conversation around social topics. On March 22, 2016, "Who's Joe?" in 2016 was revealed - the answer is "Joe faces poverty and the indignity and social injustice that goes with it."

Transitional Employment is a Goodwill program where chronically unemployed individuals who face barriers to employment such as mental health challenges build the confidence and gain the skills to enter the workforce. Transitional Employment jobs are time-limited, wage-paying jobs that integrate into diverse and competitive real work environments. Training, life and job coaches, and other supports assist individuals along a progressive continuum toward permanent, sustainable employment.

ClothingWorks is a "career closet," providing individuals with professional interview clothing. The program receives professional clothing donations from individuals and the corporate community to assist people who are in need of interview clothing. The program is available to Goodwill Career Centre clients as well as Community partners who also assist job-seekers.

Goodwill Commercial Solutions is a light industrial service that offers produce assembly, packaging, labeling and shipping to a variety of industries and supports the Transitional Employment program.

Programs Hosted by Goodwill

Bridges Out of Poverty | Circles™ – Based on the work of Ruby K. Payne, Ph.D, Bridges Out of Poverty | Circles is a transformational approach to ending poverty one family at a time. This program is a community collaborative initiative hosted by Goodwill, committed to the elimination of poverty by building awareness and intentional relationships across class lines.  

Impact Loan - Impact Loan is a microloan program delivered by Goodwill in partnership with the London Small Business Centre and Libro Credit Union. Microloans are available to individuals who face barriers to traditional lending sources to start a business or pursue self-employment.