Urge Congress to extend benefits for people in need!

Tell Congress to continue to provide supports for people who aren’t fortunate enough to be a part of the labor force. With an unemployment rate stubbornly hovering around 9.5 percent, an increasing number of people in need are turning to Goodwill for pre- and post-employment services, including skills training, job search assistance, job retention support, and other career programs. Ask Congress to continue to make these critical services possible by extending the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Emergency Contingency Fund, which will expire on September 30.

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Urge Congress to Support Funding for Job Training

The U.S. still struggles to recover from the worst recession since the Great Depression. And unemployment stubbornly hovers near 10 percent. But Goodwill continues to invest the bulk of its revenues into providing services to people who face employment challenges. Federal investments in this work are vital to us. Today, we are asking you to contact your Members of Congress, and ask them to support funding for job training programs. Continue reading to learn more, or take action now.

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Congress Considers Spending for Key Workforce Programs

Today, July 27, 2010, the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee with jurisdiction over funding for the U.S. Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services (HHS), and Education Subcommittee considered its FY 2011 spending bill. The full Senate Appropriations Committee is scheduled to consider the bill on Thursday, July 29. While full details are not yet available, sources assert that funding for the Workforce Investment Act’s (WIA) youth, adult, and dislocated worker funding streams would be increased.

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Celebrating 20 Years of the Americans with Disabilities Act

On July 26, 2010, we commemorate the 20th anniversary of the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the first-ever civil rights law for people with disabilities that gave people with disabilities better access to goods, resources, services and job opportunities. We celebrate the ADA as a symbol of our nation’s commitment to equality, and rejoice in the progress that has been made over the past 20 years. But there is still much to do.

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Haiti Earthquake: How You Can Help

Over the past week, the world has sadly witnessed images of the devastation caused by the earthquakes in Haiti, a country already struggling to recover from four hurricanes that hit in 2008. The caring people that work at 166 member Goodwill enterprises in the United States and Canada, as well as its 14 international affiliates, send their thoughts and prayers to the people of Haiti, along with deepest sympathies for the unimaginable pain and suffering the people of the country are enduring.

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Free Safety and Health Training

To manage risk most effectively, organizations need comprehensive safety programs. Thanks to a grant from the Occupational Safety Health Administration, Goodwill Industries International provides free safety and health training to the public. Take part in a series of online courses to learn how to create a safety health management system – the foundation of a

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Success Story: Bob May

Robert “Bob” May is a veteran of the U.S. armed services and spent a decade homeless, living on riverbanks and wandering along railroad tracks. A divorce had triggered severe depression. He also stopped taking medication for his bi-polar disorder and began drinking heavily and abusing drugs. One day in 1995, a local organization for American veterans with disabilities discovered May living under a bridge and referred him to the Goodwill Serving Eastern Nebraska and Southwest Iowa in Omaha. He was initially hired as a custodian and, today, works as an equipment repair technician. As part of Goodwill’s commercial services program with NISH/AbilityOne, he restores and repairs a wide array of janitorial equipment at Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska.

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Volunteer Program of the Year

Men at Work African-American Male Mentor Group Goodwill Industries of Denver (CO) When a resource counselor at Goodwill Industries® of Denver saw that, without caring adult mentors to offer guidance, African-American males at a local high school faced multiple personal struggles, the agency created the Men at Work African-American Male Mentor Group. This year, Goodwill

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