Breaking Down Barriers to Employment: Goodwill Industries Green Works Project
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Mission:
To enhance the quality and dignity of life for individuals, families and our community by providing job-related services for people with barriers to employment.
21st Century Initiative Goals:
1. Expand Current Services
2. Advance Community Partnerships
3. Develop New Programs
4. Evolve Development Strategy
5. Enhance Financial Stability
Who we serve:
We currently serve people with disabilities and other disadvantaging conditions that create barriers to employment. Primary disabilities are defined as people with developmental disabilities, people with deafness or other hearing impairments, people with psychiatric, emotional or other behavior disorders, chemical dependency and other medical conditions. Disadvantaging conditions include job seekers over the age of 50, dislocated workers, welfare recipients, chronically unemployed, chronically poor, at-risk youth and homeless individuals and families.
Services Offered:
We provide youth services such as school-to-work transition and JumpStart, adult services like community rehabilitation programs, supported employment, work adjustment, job source, Goodwill Temporary Services and commercial services. For more information on our programs, go to www.austingoodwill.org.
In 2006, we:
- Provided 20,925 services to 9,394 people.
- Placed 736 clients in meaningful employment.
- Had 246 volunteers who served 1,562 hours.
Being Green:
Over the past nine years, Goodwill Industries of Central Texas has diverted 250 tons of electronic waste from landfills each month. Electronic waste is a valuable source for secondary raw materials but if left untreated and unprocessed, it can be a source of toxic pollution causing serious environmental and health concerns. Through our Environmental Business Services division, we have partnered with Dell to form the RECONNECT project to raise awareness of the importance of responsibly recycling used electronics. We have also partnered with the Lower Colorado River Authority to form the Central Texas E-Cycling Project to make it easier for residents, government agencies and businesses to understand and responsibly handle their electronic waste through the “Don’t Boot It! Reboot it! E-Cycle” campaign. For more information on our Environmental Business Services division and recycling programs, go to www.austingoodwill.org.
Volunteer Opportunities:
- GreenWorks Project: Groups as small as 10 and as large as 50 welcome – volunteers can participate in the de-manufacturing of donated computer systems that will be resold or recycled. Your volunteer visit will include a tour of the Goodwill Community Center, training and practice in the de-manufacture process, and a visit to Goodwill’s Computer Museum.
- Vintage Hunting Helper: If you have an eye for everything vintage and you like to shop, this is the volunteer opportunity for you! Goodwill is looking for creative people to help identify and pull vintage goods from our store donations for the purpose of selling them as “boutique” items to bring in additional revenue to help support our mission.
- Computer Museum Volunteer: We are looking for enthusiastic volunteers to assist in cataloguing computer museum pieces, greet guests as they arrive in museum, document attendance and answer general questions the guests may have. As time allows, take inventory from storage, photograph it, and research origin, use, and historical value.
- Goodwill Community Center Volunteers – Goodwill is always looking for volunteers to help with special projects and general administrative tasks. We have several important internships and long-term volunteer projects available. Please call or email for more information.
- Goodwill Store Volunteers: Groups as small as 5 and as large as 25 welcome. We are in need of volunteers to help sort and display donations at our stores.
For more information on these or any other volunteer opportunities, please contact:
Volunteer Coordinator
Email
512.637.7100
