Goodwill Industries Of Central East

Programs: Donated goods retail (dgr) program: this program consists of the following: attended donation centers, traditional retail stores, an ecommerce "virtual" store, the logistics department (for moving donations, storing donations, and supporting the retail stores), and the post-retail/recycling operation. The collection & sale of donated goods produces revenue goodwill uses to provide employment-related services to the community. More importantly, however, each department in the dgr program serves as a training center where clients with disabilities and other barriers to employment gain valuable skills needed to prepare for and/or integrate back into the world of work. Every team member in dgr has two roles: 1. ) doing the job he or she was hired to do and 2. ) serving as a trainer/coach for clients with disabilities & other barriers to employment while these clients receive real-world on-the-job training in our dgr facilities. In 2017, goodwill served 22,074 donors and 80,557 customers through the dgr program. Goodwill also collected 1,677,624 pounds of donations at our donation centers, sold 692,107 pounds of donations in the stores, and recycled 562,394 pounds of donations in our post-retail/recycling department. The dgr program provided 1,164,465 in revenue to support our mission and diverted 75% (1,254,501 pounds) of the donations we collected from the landfill. Throughout 2017, goodwill employed 167 people, including short-term, paid on-the-job training clients, with 28% of those having disabilities. Goodwill paid 1,681,013 in wages and benefits, including 342,958 to people with disabilities.

mission services programs: the mission services program provides an array of services that prepare clients for employment, including employment related training/certifications, job placement and retention assistance, and family financial stability services, such as financial education, financial coaching and asset-building support, and free tax preparation through the volunteer income tax assistance (vita) free tax preparation program. These services are funded through dgr program revenues, fee-for-service funds, public & private grants, & donor contributions. In 2017, the mission services program, served 6,003 individuals. Those individuals received 60,030 employment-related services. These services resulted in the following outcomes: persons served earned 314 postsecondary certifications 41 people were placed into competitive employment with an average hourly wage of 8. 48. Goodwill's free vita site had the following results: 746 tax returns were prepared for low-income families. Tax revenue of 638,429 in tax revenue was returned to our communities (including 253,900 in earned income tax and child tax credits). Vita also saved clients 202,166 in tax preparation fees, putting those funds back into the pockets of local consumers. Furthermore, 100% of clients participating in the vita program also received financial education training while having their tax returns prepared, and of those, 94% reported increasing their knowledge due to the training.

contract services program: this program creates job opportunities for people with disabilities while simultaneously providing needed services & products to state & federal agencies in the local communities we serve. Currently, we have contracts with state governmental agencies whereby we hire people with disabilities to fill open positions they have available or provide needed services in their facilities. In 2017, goodwill filled 12 positions with people with disabilities and other barriers at three state agencies in the region. These clients worked over 10,750 hours. They were paid wages of more than 136,000.

child care services program: goodwill also partners with workforce solutions deep east texas to oversee the child care services (ccs) program, which provides financial assistance/subsidies for childcare to low-income families in the 12-county deep east texas region in order to help them find/retain employment and/or participate in training/education programs as they work to improve their lives and the lives of their children. Once approved to participate in the program, the children of eligible parents are referred to quality childcare providers for care. The ccs program also provides participating childcare providers and staff with quality assessment, training, and mentoring to assist them in improving the quality of care they provide to children and families in the ccs program. In 2017, the ccs program yielded the following results: a total of 6,801 (4,174 parents, 2,454 children, and 173 staff from participating child care providers) were served. Services provided totaled 37,312. 6,192,492 in child care subsidies were provided to parents for quality child care. 2,454 referrals to quality childcare providers were made. Child care provider staff received over 1,000 hours of quality training and one-on-one coaching/mentoring resulting in 173 post-secondary credentials attained by the providers.