Goodwill Industries Of Southwestern Michigan Inc

Goodwill provided 3,735 people with services of education, training and support services in 2023. These services included employment/career coaching, financial literacy services, adult literacy services, vocational assessments and counseling, community resource navigation and a 20 year commitment to families who want to exit poverty with a child 0-3 called life guides. Life guides of southwestern michigan provides a life coach for families with a small child. The objective of the program is for the child (0-3) to graduate from a post-secondary program and obtain a living wage position, thus breaking the poverty cycle for that family. The difference between a middle class family and a poverty family is time frame. Life guide coaches work with the family to develop middle and long term goal setting by helping the family rid themselves of the daily crisis situations that lead to poor decisions for the long term.

Goodwill provides area businesses with manufacturing services while providing work experience for the people we serve. As with our retail operations, goodwill uses the revenues from our contract manufacturing services division for its education and career services for people with disabilities and disadvantages such as welfare dependency, homelessness, and lack of education or work experience. The custodial services division offers the resources to provide local businesses with janitorial services.