Category: The Goodwill Blog

This week, a national effort is underway to make the disability vote more influential. The American Association of Persons with Disabilities (AAPD) has designated July 11-15 as National Disability Voter Registration Week. Regardless of one’s political affiliation, people with disabilities play an important role in our democracy and should be able to have as great a voice in the political process as anyone else who exercises their Constitutional right to vote.

READ MORE from Make the Disability Vote Count

In an ever-disrupted environment and in rapidly innovating industries, nonprofits are challenged to be more proactive and to accelerate adaptation. This accelerating pace of technology innovation is transforming how these organizations deliver mission services to people facing challenges to employment. For the individuals Goodwill® serves, the proliferation of virtual platforms and devices are resulting in more ways to learn, connect and communicate – both within the workplace and on-the-go. Here are three applications of technology we’re watching as we strive to reach more and serve more.

READ MORE from Three Ways Technology Is Transforming How We Learn and Work

Eventually, raising four kids became too much for my 19-year-old mom, and I landed in foster care. Even then, I did okay in school. I was on track to graduate. But that never happened. I got into a fight at school – with a police officer. I was arrested. If I would have stopped for one second to think about it, I wouldn’t have gone to jail, but I didn’t think. I acted. The result was a year in prison. Adult prison, not 'juvie'.

READ MORE from My Story: Dammond Devon Steen, Jr.

Madonna topped the charts in 1989 with her hit song “Express Yourself” in which she urged her listeners to find a partner in life who is open and honest to create a healthy relationship. Although that was nearly 30 years ago now, the call to communicate our inner workings still resonates within our culture. This message echoes not just in our relationships with others, but throughout the rest of our lives, too, to help us create our own happiness in all aspects. Let me explain how with some help from a few other Goodwill enthusiasts!

READ MORE from Express Yourself with Goodwill®

It was two years ago near July 4, that Congress showed a rare form of bi-partisanship and passed the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), the law that establishes job-training programs and vocational rehabilitation services. The following year, around this time, the agencies responsible for overseeing the law’s enactment released the proposed regulations for implementation. Just prior to the holiday this year, the final rules were made public.

READ MORE from Help Someone Earn Financial Freedom by Supporting WIOA

Digital technology is capable of forming the way around, through or over barriers that people have to employment. From job search engines to assistive technology, there are technological solutions to many of the problems used to deter or keep people from work. With this in mind, Goodwill’s organizations are turning to virtual service models and tools to fulfill their mission. Using the right digital tools in the right ways to meet the right objectives for the right people is crucial.

READ MORE from Adventures in Virtual Service Planning: Connecting Users with Goodwill’s Mission

Digital technology is capable of forming the way around, through or over barriers that people have to employment. From job search engines to assistive technology, there are technological solutions to many of the problems used to deter or keep people from work. With this in mind, Goodwill’s organizations are turning to virtual service models and tools to fulfill their mission. Using the right digital tools in the right ways to meet the right objectives for the right people is crucial.

READ MORE from Adventures in Virtual Service Planning: Connecting Users with Goodwill's Mission

When I think of the 4th of July, I envision our glorious flag (and what it represents), booming fireworks, and a laid back happy vibe. No matter where you are celebrating or how many people are involved, those are the top three things, I think, on everyone’s Independence Day celebration checklist. The problem with party planning for an event like this, though, is that when you’re the host sometimes the details can overtake your ability to actually enjoy the free-spirited mood of the day. We don’t want you to miss out on the fun, so here are a few tips to help you capture the atmosphere of the holiday without missing out on the good parts.

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The average payday loan carries an annual percentage rate (APR) of 391 percent. Are you or someone you know affected by these often debilitating fees? The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has proposed new rules that would reign in many of the most egregious abuses of payday lenders and car title loan businesses. This long awaited effort follows on the efforts of many states to bring order to the nearly unregulated small lender marketplace.

READ MORE from Proposed Payday Lending Rules Seek to End Abuses

In June, GoodProspects covered tips for first-time job seekers, interview considerations for people with disabilities, ways to build a friendlier workplace and how to get started in a career in loss prevention.

READ MORE from Career and Financial Advice for June 2016

In my husband, I see an adoring father, a hard-working grad student and a great friend – in addition to Sgt. Johnson of the U.S. Marines. Each of these roles is intrinsically part of who he is, but they are by no means the same person. The first time I saw Devin Mitchell’s Veteran Vision Project, the idea that there are two sides to every veteran immediately resonated with me. Mitchell attempts to show this dichotomy in a very tangible way. Each photograph shows veterans looking in a mirror at “the other side” of themselves.

READ MORE from Do You Know the Person in the Mirror?

Last winter we shared a post exploring a few quirky, cool, and unexpected things that thrift shoppers have found in Goodwill retail stores. It was so much fun for me to look into your unusual discoveries and since the possibilities truly are limitless, I felt like the time was right for me to compile a part two. So hold onto your second-hand hats, my friends! It’s time to see a few more fortuitous and funky thrift store finds.

READ MORE from Shop at Goodwill®: You Never Know What You Might Find (Part 2)