This week, after nearly 5 months away, I made my first trip to my local Goodwill store. Even with all the new, necessary health precautions taken on my first visit during the “new normal,” it felt nearly the same — and, in a lot of ways, better. Let me explain.
Office closures and social distancing has not stopped Congress from their ability to conduct their business, and it should not prevent advocates from engaging with lawmakers and staff. In fact, it’s more important now that constituents be able to contact elected officials and share the impact that the pandemic is having on individuals, families, communities and employers.
Weston Orf had recently been laid off from his former employer a few months before coming to Goodwill®. After initially learning about Goodwill’s digital skills training through a family member, he visited his local Goodwill organization, Discover Goodwill of Southern and Western Colorado, and enrolled in CompTIA Security+ training.
In Miami, Goodwill South Florida has teamed up with Baptist Health South Florida to create COVID-19 hospital care kits for patients who come through the emergency room or who have stayed as in-patients.
READ MORE from Goodwill South Florida Partners to Help Coronavirus Patients on the Road to Recovery
Gaps in employment are common. How can you tell the story behind them on a résumé and in your interviews?
Since shortly after the pandemic began, a group of charitable nonprofits (including Goodwill®), recognized that many organizations will be in need of various forms of federal relief as they continue to provide critical services at a time when they had to cancel fundraisers, close businesses that provide mission revenue, and face delays in contract payments among other struggles. Hundreds of organizations have since joined the effort seeking #Relief4Charities.
READ MORE from Congress is Holding Hearings, But Are They Listening?
It’s no secret that COVID-19 has affected how billions of people around the world live, connect and work. Beyond the long hours being put in by our frontline workers and the millions who are now facing unemployment, a significant percentage of our workforce has had to make a sudden transition to working-from-home. For the latter, at least, that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
In an effort to provide additional community support while its retail stores are closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Goodwill of Greater Washington has partnered with the Capital Area Food Bank to deliver food to local distribution centers.
COVID-19 has brought major changes on many fronts, not the least of which affects our work. Our friends, colleagues, and even ourselves have experienced furloughs, layoffs, or a cut back in our hours or pay. If you’ve found yourself in this situation, now is the time brush up on your job search and interview techniques and learn new skills.
For more than a century, we at Goodwill® have prided ourselves in our work and our mission to help people with perceived barriers to employment overcome their challenges and gain employment. We now need to challenge ourselves as a human service provider to not only help people who have struggled to find employment, but to actively work to remove systemic and institutional racism and other barriers that prevent people from having equal opportunities in the first place.
