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Goodwill Gets Grant Helping Adults Go Back to School

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Get Onboard! graduates before talking with Community Foundation grant team about a grant like this helps them achieve their personal and professional.

BACK TO SCHOOL: Horizon Goodwill has received a $1,120.00 grant from The Community Foundation of Washington County.  This is so exciting – and what great timing: Back to School!  As you know, we launched our Get Onboard! job readiness program in February of 2017, and since then have enrolled nearly 250 job seekers across Western Maryland and graduated over 75 Washington County residents with some participants finding employment during or right after completion.  During this time, both Allegany College of Maryland and Hagerstown Community College (HCC) have provided instruction during Get Onboard! to help participants identify when continuing education or GED classes could be beneficial.

The grant from Community Foundation will allow us to provide GED tutoring and classes for individuals with developmental disabilities and barriers to employment.  Our Goodwill Workforce Development Team will use the money to really kick start our expanding continuing education initiative, with our first cohort drawing from students currently enrolled in Get Onboard!  Goodwill will provide comprehensive tutoring for 10 Get Onboard! participants seeking to get their GED.  In partnership with the Western Maryland Consortium and the Beacon House, the cohort will prepare to take and pass their GED exams.  The grant amount was matched at 50% by the Community Foundation for operating expenses which will be dedicated to providing backpacks, folders, and study materials needed.

For many, it can be scary making the commitment to “go back to school”.   But now, job seekers can work on their resume and work to get their GED in the same place.  Education partners, like Beacon House and HCC, have instructors teaching at Goodwill’s Job Readiness Center on Prospect Street downtown.

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By choosing to continue their education, Washington County residents increase their marketability for employment and can realize greater opportunities for advancement if already employed.  Goodwill shares Beacon House’s belief that “all adult learners wishing to enter the workforce can be successful with some foundational courses that will prepare them for continuing education in a formal setting and make them more competitive for the workforce.” 

Thank you to the Community Foundation of Washington County for helping us advance Goodwill’s mission of removing barriers and creating opportunities.  And, a very, very special thank you to the William Justice Family Fund, the benefactor, for ensuring Washington County residents with disabilities and barriers to competitive work have access to continuing education and job training.

 

 

Horizon Goodwill Joins Financial Education Partnership!

Logo for Fin Lit Collaborative
FY18 Washington County Collaborative Partners

Horizon Goodwill is pleased to announce our partnership with the Washington County (Maryland) Financial Literacy Collaborative!

In July 2017, Horizon Goodwill will begin offering Maryland Cash Campaign Financial Literacy courses to participants of our Get-Onboard! job readiness classes. The Financial Literacy classes are five (5) one (1) hour long courses aimed at helping job seekers learn financial education basics. The skills taught in the this course will add to the job readiness tool kit that Goodwill’s Get Onboard! program participants are building as they move from unemployment toward self sufficiency.

Defined as “the ability to use knowledge and skills to manage financial resources effectively for a lifetime of financial well-being”, financial literacy really refers to the set of skills and knowledge that allows an individual to make informed and effective decisions with all of their financial resources.  The Maryland CASH Campaign shares its curriculum and expertise to help Maryland residents obtain the credible, non-biased financial education needed to learn how to meet their financial goals.

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Money is stressful! Goodwill and local partners can help.

Goodwill staff will work with 75 individuals, providing classes focused on:

Budgeting
Credit Reports and Credit Scores
Debt Management
Delinquencies, Creditors, or Collection Agencies
Problems due to loss of income

We are so pleased to be joining this exciting collaborative funded by United Way of Washington County and led by Reach of Washington County.  For more information, email MissionDesk1@goodwill-hgi.org.  As always, check us out on Facebook and Twitter.

 

GET ONBOARD! Job Readiness Starts Here

Are you looking for a job? Are you trying to get back into the workforce? If so, then you know getting a job is a lot of hard work and that keeping a job can be even harder.  That is why we are so excited to announce the launch of Horizon Goodwill’s new Job Readiness program, GET ONBOARD!
(Train emoji, high-five emoji, choo choo whistle emoji).

GET ONBOARD! participant and graduate Tina on Day 3 – showing off her new interview outfit: “I am ready for what’s next!”
Job ready indeed – GET ONBOARD! graduates looking good in their new interview swag donated by Valor Ministries Team and Valor’s “Draped with Confidence” clothing closet.

Goodwill’s GET ONBOARD! program is a twenty (20) hour classroom-based training that provides job readiness and soft skills needed by you and expected by your future employer.   In just one week, Goodwill’s GET ONBOARD! introduces participants to the world of work and teaches critical employability skills that will help you get AND keep your next job: Personal management, Teamwork, Conflict resolution, Financial literacy, Self-motivation, Professional attire and etiquette.

GET ONBOARD! is free to participants and will be offered at
Horizon Goodwill’s four (4) Job Connection Centers located in Hagerstown and Cumberland, MD; Martinsburg, WV; and, Winchester, VA. The twenty (20) hour training is offered in 5 sessions with certificates of completion given to participants who complete without any absences.

“One important key to success is self-confidence.  An important key to self-confidence is preparation.”
– Arthur Ashe

Since launching on February 1st, forty-five (45) job seekers have participated in and graduated from GET ONBOARD!  Goodwill’s Workforce Development Team would like to recognize all the GET ONBOARD! participants — thank you for your willingness to take your job readiness journey with us.  Participants and graduates not only embraced a new and innovative learning opportunity, but boldly began their journey of returning to the workforce and moving closer to self-sufficiency.

A special Goodwill thank you to our Washington County partners – Steve Hummel and team from Columbia Bank and Lori Wriston and the staff of Valor Ministries – for collaborating with us on this new venture.

For more information, go to horizongoodwill.org or call 301-733-7330.  Make sure to follow us on Facebook and Twitter!

It Takes A Lot of “Work” to be a Special Olympian

Goodwill Special Olympian Wanda Webb sharing her journey to a Gold medal in Bocce.
Goodwill Special Olympian Wanda Webb sharing her journey to a Gold medal in Bocce.

Just as the U.S. Olympic Team prepares to compete in Brazil, Horizon Goodwill clients turned athletes took time to share their experience as Special Olympians.  Representing Allegany and Washington County delegations, these 8 athletes competed in 20 different events and brought home an impressive number of medals: 6 Gold, 5 Silver and 2 Bronze!

To compete in the games takes dedication.  Each athlete must develop skills and practice regularly, then compete several times a year at the state and local level.  And, in the case of these 8 clients, they were learning about the world of work with Goodwill during the day and training to compete as Special Olympians with friends during their nights and weekends.

Over 1,200 Athletes competed in this year’s Special Olympic Maryland Summer Games held at Towson University just north of Baltimore.  The annual games lasted 3 glorious days, from June 10-12.  Athletes compete in 5 major categories: Aquatics, Athletics, Bocce, Softball and Cheerleading.  The Special Olympics in Maryland is a massive event with over 400 Coaches, 225 Unified Partners, and 500 Volunteers.  Put it on your calendar for next year – it is amazing.

Impressive performance by Goodwill's Aquatics Gold Medaler Jason Whitmore.
Impressive performance by Goodwill’s Aquatics 3 time Gold Medal winner Jason Whitmore.

Special Olympians compete individually and in teams, usually grouped by skill level.  Drew Nesbitt represented Allegany County in Athletics (Track & Field) competing in 3 events, winning Gold for his speed in the 50M Run.  Jason Whitmore represented Washington County in Aquatics.  He competed in 4 swimming events, including 1 relay, taking home an impressive 3 Gold medals and 1 Silver!

Six Goodwill clients competed in Singles and Doubles Bocce.  If you are wondering, Bocce (bäCHē) is an Italian game similar to lawn bowling but played on a shorter, narrower green.

No stranger to awards, our 2015 Graduate of the Year, Katie Acton placed 3rd and 4th in both Bocce Singles and Doubles respectively.   Goodwill trainees Sonya Carter and Stephanie Pyles teamed up on Bocce Doubles bringing home a 4th place prize; while Sonya scored a silver medal in her Bocce Womens Singles.

Bryan Huff and Dustin Liller teamed up as well, bringing home a Silver medal for Bocce Mens Doubles.  In the Bocce Singles, Bryan earned a Silver medal and Dustin scored Gold!

And, then there is Bocce-Wonder, Wanda Webb!  Bringing home Gold in her Bocce Womens Singles.  When I asked Wanda what it takes to win, she said, “Hard work!  It’s not just a game, it takes a lot, a lot, A LOT of practice.  I trained all year with my friends to get good.”

Like Goodwill, the Special Olympics is giving people with cognitive and developmental challenges the opportunity to succeed and grow.  The inscription on Wanda Webb’s gold medal says, “With skill, courage, sharing, and joy”.  These are the core principles of the Special Olympics shared by all of us at Horizon Goodwill.

So as you cheer the U.S. athletes in Rio, remember the skill, courage, sharing and joy of our very Special Olympians right here at home.image_Cathys iPhone - Special Olympics logo

Goodwill Helps Students Achieve GED Success

Did you know that you could come to a Goodwill Store and Career Connections Center to get your GED??  It’s totally true – keep reading!  [Read more…] about Goodwill Helps Students Achieve GED Success

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