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Goodwill programs for youth enrich lives.
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Goodwill provides job training and related services.
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Goodwill helps individuals with disabilities and other barriers.
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Not charity, but a chance.
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Independence and dignity through work.
Our mission is to provide exemplary job training and related services to help individuals with disabilities and other barriers to self-sufficiency to achieve independence and dignity through work.
History
In 1895, when Rev. Edgar Helms founded Morgan Memorial Goodwill Industries in Boston’s South End, he didn’t call what he was creating a social enterprise. He called it work – work as a way for people to lift themselves from poverty.
"The way out of poverty is productive work. People deserve to be able to work. People need a chance, not charity," Rev. Helms said.
Rev. Helms conceived the idea of collecting unwanted household goods and employing impoverished immigrants to refurbish the goods for resale. The work provided local residents with jobs while the sale of goods provided low-cost items for the community and paid the workers’ wages.
The system proved a success, and Morgan Memorial Goodwill Industries became the first in what is today a worldwide network of 166 organizations in the United States and Canada and 16 affiliated organizations in 14 countries that has helped more than seven million people facing barriers to employment. We also became, unbeknownst to Rev. Helms, one of the region’s first models of a successful social enterprise.
Over the years, the range of Goodwill’s work has broadened significantly. Today, we serve individuals who face a variety of barriers to self-sufficiency, such as physical, intellectual and developmental disabilities; homelessness; low educational attainment; limited job skills; and welfare dependency. Through training and work programs, career services, youth outreach, and retail and other social enterprises, Goodwill helps to equip individuals with the tools necessary to meet new challenges and create more rewarding and independent lives. Goodwill is one of the largest employers of people with disabilities in New England.
Goodwill is non-profit, tax-exempt organization with a staff of 296 and an operating budget of more than $28 million.
Did you know?
Morgan Memorial Goodwill Industries collaborates with more than 1,000 employers to promote and facilitate the hiring of individuals facing barriers to employment. These collaborations bring trained, dedicated employees to the workforce, and help people achieve independence and dignity.
Rugenia Zimmerman: The Career-Course Connection
For Rugenia Zimmerman, the recession was a wake-up call. She had been working in the healthcare field for 25 years and knew that caring for people was her passion. But she also knew that losing her job as a patient observer at a local hospital was a very real possibility due to cutbacks and layoffs. Wisely, Rugenia sensed it was time to look into job training options that would help her transition to a better job with more security. She found out about Goodwill’s Human Services Employment Ladder Program (HELP) and enrolled. For Rugenia, this eight-week class that prepares individuals to work in the human services industry was just the ticket she needed to advance in a line of work she already loved.
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