Your Top Five Tax-Filing Myths – Busted!

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Question “With tax time getting nearer, I’m getting more stressed about getting my taxes done. There’s a lot of information out there, and it’s hard to suss out what’s true and what isn’t. Any advice you have would be appreciated.” — Max from Berea, KY Answer With so much tax-time misinformation circulating around the Internet, […]

Goodwill, Partners Turn Labor Challenges into Opportunities

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Like it or not, advancing technology has and always will affect the labor market. What’s different (and its keeping me awake at night) is the astronomical and accelerating pace of modern advancement. That means it is critical for all workforce stakeholders – policy makers, businesses and employers, service providers and workers – to recognize that changes are soon imminent and to prepare to quickly adapt. Meanwhile, since it expired in 2003, Congress has been unable or unwilling to update the Workforce Investment Act, the primary law that authorizes and shapes the nation’s approach to job training.

Goodwill Public Policy Team Delves into Key FY2015 Budget Issues

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Piggy Bank with American FlagPresident Obama has said that 2014 is a “year of action,” and the Administration’s FY 2015 budget request proposes a host of initiatives aimed at employment and job training and represents a substantial commitment to helping people find and keep good jobs. Below, we highlight priorities of particular interest to Goodwill. The GII public policy team will be hard at work on Capitol Hill in the upcoming weeks and months pressing for resources that will help our agencies perform their mission.

Ten Steps to Filing Your Taxes Online

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Robert from Peoria, IL, asks, “I’ve always filed my taxes using paper forms. My son is encouraging to me to file online this year, but I’m worried about how the whole process works. What are your thoughts?”

My Story – Montreal Ellis

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Before I came to Goodwill Industries of North Louisiana, I was working for a lawn service;  when the company changed managers, I was laid off. I worked for a while fixing TVs for cash, but that didn’t last long. My mom took me to see a counselor at Louisiana Rehabilitation Services, and she referred me […]

My Story – Alex Hammond

A person in a blue vest sits in a wheelchair in a clothing store, with coats on racks to the right and a chair on the left.

I started having migraines at the age of three. When I was seven, I was diagnosed with a brain tumor. Surgery was performed and we thought everything was okay. The tumor came back when I was 12, and another surgery was performed. After surgery, I was partially paralyzed and could not speak. I had to […]

Still Frozen? Put a Little Spring in Your Life Now!

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I’ve had it with all the Polar Vortices and their impending snow-doom warnings. And now that I’m on maternity leave and cooped up in the house for the better part of the day – well, let’s just say I needed a good dose of sunshine, so I headed to Goodwill.

Congress on the Long-Term Unemployed — Let Them Eat Cake?

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Perhaps nowhere is the lack of action by Congress more acute than with its failure to extend unemployment benefits for the long-term unemployed. Meanwhile, the families who stand to benefit from the extension struggle to pay for food, heat and other basics.

My Story – Kylie Corp

Smiling woman in a black hooded coat with an orange scarf beside a blue barrier in a snowy parking lot.

During my school years I remember being an easy target because I was picked on a lot by the other kids. It got harder and harder for me to go to school, but I finally finished high school in 2007.  I had no future plans and remained home with my family for the next three […]

It's Never Too Cold to Craft: Create a DIY Wall Garden

The bones of winter have gripped us hard this year, and my longing for spring becomes more urgent every day. As I type, 8 – 12 inches of fresh snow are softly covering up months-old layers from previous blizzards. To say that I’m ready for spring is an understatement! So, if I can’t see any green plant life outside, I might as well fix some up inside my home. Thus, a mini wall garden was born.