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Goodwill provides job training and related services.
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Goodwill programs for youth enrich lives.
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Goodwill helps individuals with disabilities and other barriers.
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Independence and dignity through work.
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Not charity, but a chance.
Programs
Goodwill provides job training, related career services, and youth enrichment programs.
Job Training and Placement Services
Goodwill offers a range of job training programs, support services and placement and post-placement services for individuals with barriers to employment. Services are accessible for individuals with disabilities, and are focused on placing them on a path to employment in the workforce and independence.
Participants are recruited on an ongoing basis throughout the year. Many are referred through government agencies such as the Massachusetts Rehabilitation Commission, the Massachusetts Department of Developmental Services, and the Department of Transitional Assistance. Others are referred by one-stop career centers, churches, and community groups. Participants also come to Goodwill through word-of-mouth recommendations of family and other community members.
After an initial screening for skills and interest. Individuals are assigned a case manager, who helps them develop an individual training and employment plan, and choose trainings and supports. Case managers meet with participants regularly and participants move through the employment services components at a pace consistent with their individual needs.
Some training programs are offered in a classroom setting and, in those cases, have structured schedules. For example, the First Step Job Readiness training course runs numerous times throughout the year, for three weeks, Monday-Friday from 9am to 3pm, and then students are enrolled in a 3-5 week internship. The Human Service Employment Ladder Program (HELP) runs quarterly, for eight weeks, Monday-Friday from 9am-3pm.
The schedule and duration of training for those in longer term, on-the-job training programs in retail, housekeeping and maintenance, food service and light assembly are more individualized and services are offered in accordance with an individual service plan.
Placement services are made available as soon as an individual is coming close to being ready for competitive employment in the community. Following placement, post-placement supports are provided for a year or more, with career services available at Boston Career Link thereafter.
For more information, please email Valerie Gold at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or call (617) 541-1434.
Did you know?
Morgan Memorial Goodwill Industries annually serves more than 600,000 retail customers by providing them with access to quality clothing and household items at very affordable prices.
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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