GOODWILL WORKS
Goodwill of the Olympics & Rainier Region
A Report to the Community | Winter 2016–17 OLYMPIA GOODWILL OUR LATEST “NEW LOOK OF THRIFT” In September, the new look of Goodwill thrift stores reached Olympia with the reopening of the 40,000 square foot Cooper Point Road store. With this renovation, seven stores out of 31 regular retail, now feature a new look for Goodwill. The redesign appeals to a broader customer base and improves the shopping experience. New presentation and organization of thrift inventory helps people find more clothing and treasures, increasing sales to support our job training programs. The new design features departments with visible non-stack merchandising, an electronic testing station, easy to read signage, an airy lit atmosphere, and spacious fitting rooms. Customers waiting in the checkout line can also browse a new kiosk featuring brochures about Goodwill job training in a variety of career fields.
NEW HAZMAT TRAINING WILL MEET GROWING INDUSTRY NEEDS The Environmental Protection Agency, Clover Park Technical College, the City of Tacoma, and Goodwill are providing at least 44 fully funded training opportunities in 2017 - 2018 to help the unemployed, transitioning servicemen and veterans into quality environmental careers.
Even though Tacoma has only 25% of the population of Pierce County, it has 72% of the hazardous sites – more than 2.5 times the rest of the county. Goodwill uses its network of education campuses and case managers to recruit, career counsel and help students with job placement. Clover Park performs the training, the City of Tacoma manages the partnership and provides overall grant administration and the EPA provides grant resources and funding. Private businesses recruit students into their ranks based upon their specific interest areas.
A $200,000 EPA grant is funding recruiting, six weeks of entry level training, career counseling and job placement services that are a gateway to careers in construction, contamination remediation, hazardous material handling, and more. Environmental careers start at $14/hr. and can reach senior management positions over time paying more than $65/hr. The program is targeting Tacoma and Pierce County residents 18 and older. The Washington State Department of Ecology’s August 2015 Hazardous Sites List identifies 141 sites in the City of Tacoma either pending or in the process of cleanup while 54 more are situated across the rest of Pierce County.
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HALLOWEEN SALES UP 8% THIS YEAR
GO2 PROPERTY SERVICES EXPANDS THEIR PAINTING, LANDSCAPING AND CUSTODIAL BUSINESS UNITS
Thanks to a comprehensive marketing, merchandising and positioning strategy, Halloween sales are now a million dollar retail success. Goodwill enjoyed an 8% growth in Halloween sales this year. Success was attributed to heavy traditional and social media, synchronized with advertising and improved new and donated goods merchandising.
A four year campaign to establish Goodwill as THE regional and national expert in Halloween further positioned the organization for success. Employees designated as costume consultants from each store received advanced training in costume design and trends, incorporating Goodwill’s National Halloween Poll, run out of Tacoma and now in its fourth year. Over the last 13 months, Goodwill’s Halloween poll and leading category expertise has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Parade Magazine, Yahoo Finance and BuzzFeed.
Go2 Property Services – a revenue generator for Goodwill job training programs – will expand their most profitable business units next year. Established in 2009, Go2 is a licensed and bonded general contractor providing residential and commercial facilities maintenance services in Pierce, Kitsap, South King and Thurston counties. The 2017 growth of Go2’s painting, commercial landscaping, and custodial business units will allow the enterprise the bandwidth to accept additional contracts from the half-million households and 28,000 businesses in their region.
Goodwill’s success also sits squarely on a solid foundation – providing the best offer of ALL retail to a growing number of do-it-yourself (DIY) creative adults. Goodwill continues to raise awareness that we offer the most DIY, new goods, expertise in costume trends and the best overall price. And thanks to donations from generations of Americans, we also feature costumes spanning 50-plus years of Halloween attire.
In FY2016, Go2 services enjoyed 19% revenue growth thanks to thrift store redesign work and support from 191 residential and 149 business contracts. For more information go to www.go2propertyservices.com or call 253.627.7660.
GOODWILL AND CORPORATE PARTNERS TEAM UP WITH DAVID RICHMOND TO PROTECT SEATTLE’S 12TH MAN Seattle’s 12th man is better protected during football games in part because of corporate contributions to Goodwill’s Veteran Services from the Wells Fargo Foundation, the Boeing Company and the Schultz Family Foundation. Today, Veteran David Richmond, an Explosive Detection Canine Handler with MSA Security, is part of a team that travels the country searching NFL stadiums for suspicious devices. His transition from the U.S. Army to a dream civilian job began with networking and job search assistance from Goodwill Veteran Services Operation: GoodJobs. “I didn’t know Goodwill would go into such depth on my job search,” Richmond said. “I told Veteran Services I wanted to work as a canine handler if possible.”
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“JEANS & JERSEYS FOR JOBS” RAISES FUNDS, AWARENESS FOR GOODWILL TRAINING
FRAME RAISING SHOWCASES GOODWILL YOUTH CONSTRUCTION TRAINING
Goodwill is making the Thursday before Labor Day a way for businesses and employees to help those without work.
Pierce County youth in Goodwill’s YouthBuild construction training program are nearly finished with a new 3-bedroom single family home for a needy family in Midland, Tacoma. Under the six-month YouthBuild program, Goodwill, Tacoma-Pierce County Habitat for Humanity and funding partner the U.S. Department of Labor are working with low-income young adults to build lives and careers.
In September, Goodwill and Tacoma area businesses kicked off the first annual Jeans & Jerseys for Jobs Day. Participating companies encouraged employees to be “casual for a cause”, wearing jeans and/or sports jerseys at work in exchange for a $5 contribution to Goodwill’s job and career training programs.
Washington State Correctional Industries, Olympia
Goodwill provided toolkits and an online resource site for businesses to promote and coordinate the event. In total, 298 individuals from 18 local businesses raised nearly $3,000 – enough to fund two scholarships for persons facing barriers to employment. Partner businesses are pleased and eager to participate again next year. Jeans & Jerseys Day 2017 is set for Thursday, August 31, with plans to expand the business and employee partnership into Yakima and Longview. For more information, contact Susan Newsom at susann@goodwillwa.org.
Each student (16 – 24 yrs.) is the recipient of a $20,000 scholarship from Goodwill. The program provides six months of construction training, community service and civic engagement as a quarter-time AmeriCorps member and if needed, a GED or post-secondary education. YouthBuild also features life, leadership and organizational skills, construction certifications, financial incentives, and up to $1,400 towards education – all in a safe, family-style environment.
With that information, Operation: GoodJobs went to work focusing his job search, developing a targeted resume and ultimately helping David to land his perfect job.
In 2015 the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration (DOL) awarded $1.1 million to fund Goodwill of the Olympics & Rainier Region’s construction career program for two more years. The support will allow 64 Pierce County low-income youth ages 16 – 24 to build their lives and three houses. DOL funds 80% of the YouthBuild program while $275,000 is provided through Goodwill retail sales. Training and additional support is provided by Habitat for Humanity, Bates Technical College and the youth REACH Center in Tacoma.
Veterans Services Operation: GoodJobs will create many more happy endings in 2017, thanks to a $50,000 grant from the Wells Fargo Foundation, a $95,000 grant from the Boeing Company, and $50,000 from the Schultz Family Foundation. Additional support to Goodwill next year includes a $35,000 grant from Pierce County Community Services’ Violence Prevention Fund to continue workshops and life skills training for youth in area high schools. And a $20,000 grant from the Boeing Employees Community Fund will support our Financial Education program for needy area youth and adults.
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714 S 27th St • Tacoma, WA 98409 253.573.6500 • goodwillwa.org
Work Opportunity Centers: Tacoma 253.573.6500 | Longview 360.501.8340 Yakima 509.452.6061 3
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A MESSAGE FROM THE CEO
Looking ahead, Goodwill continues to evolve and innovate to reach more with job training and placement services. In 2017 Workforce Development will kick off expansion of our job training, reaching further into our 15 counties. As a first step, “Online and Upward” a remote education program we tested in Pierce and Lewis counties, will be offered across our territory, bringing education in business, office and IT skills into rural areas.
Record 10,349 people served in FY2016 I will retire from Goodwill at the end of December. For 15 years I have had the privilege to serve at Goodwill and be a part of a tremendous organization that changes people’s lives. We are pleased to report that even in the face of a challenging retail sales environment, our generous business, public and private partners have provided tremendous support again this year, allowing us to help even more people. Thanks to $5 million in public grants, $1.7 million in fundraising, retail innovation at five Goodwill stores and the launch of a small box store format in Graham we were able to fund services for a record 10,349 people. Most importantly, more than 3,200 of these individuals were placed in jobs at 1,150 companies – saving taxpayers more than $23 million from discontinued social services, welfare and disability payments. I know these individuals join me in thanking all of you for your support. Can you imagine the smiles on their faces as they went to work!
Go2 Services revenue operation will also expand in Pierce County, aggressively marketing landscaping, custodial and painting services to area business. And our Online Sales enterprise will innovate with an enhanced social media presence and new strategies to offer store merchandise online for shoppers to reserve and pick up. Keeping pace with the evolving needs of our community has always made this work a joy. And though there will be challenges ahead, Goodwill’s future is indeed bright. I thank all of you for a wonderful opportunity to be of service and for your support. Terry Hayes President & CEO
GOODWILL BOARD Executive Commitee
Chair C.W. Herchold Treasurer Scott Waner Secretary Judy Swain
At Large Christopher Algeo Greg Biersack Pamela Transue, PhD
Directors
Donna Albers Jamey Balousek Robert Bruback
GOODWILL HERITAGE FOUNDATION BOARD Anthony Chen, MD Colette Taylor Rory Connally Jane Taylor Cheryl Cuthbertson John Tuohy Bill Dickens Skip Haynes Drew Henrickson Shahrokh Saudagaran Frank Scoggins 4
Officers Chair Greg Biersack Vice Chair Barbara Mitchell-Briner Treasurer Chuck Hellar
Secretary Jason Hall
Directors
Steve Barger Susan Brinkman Doug Burton Bill Dickens
Buzz Folsom Beth Hartley Bev Losey Joanne Selden Eileen Sullivan Jim Walton