President's Message

Three of the ways Goodwill can add the greatest value for individuals and communities are:

Helping young people and adults who have struggled or failed in other educational settings complete high school and attain a post-secondary degree or other recognized credential.

In 2010 we launched the Excel Center, a highly innovative school, to enable older youth and adults who had previously dropped out to earn a diploma. Because we designed the school to fit students’ life situations, the Excel Center has been enormously popular. Demand has been so strong that we added two more sites in 2011. End-of-year enrollment was over 800, and 86 students were also enrolled at Ivy Tech in courses that lead to an industry-recognized certification.

Employing people whose work options are limited by disability, criminal history, limited education or other significant barrier.

Our ability to employ more people is dependent on the growth of the businesses we operate. Over the last four years we’ve experienced a lot of growth and have added over 700 jobs, 195 of them in 2011. Today, we have more than 2,700 employees, two-thirds of whom have limited options because of barriers such as disability, criminal background or limited education.

Leveraging Goodwill’s resources with those of others to implement practical, effective approaches to reduce major social problems.

In 2011 we began implementing Nurse-Family Partnership, a highly effective, evidence-based, home visitation program for first-time moms in low-income households. Our partners include all Indianapolis area hospital systems, State Department of Health, CAGI (Community Action of Greater Indianapolis) and Indianapolis Housing Agency, among others. Nurses and moms are linked to Goodwill Guides, who take a holistic approach to helping families achieve long-term success, in part by connecting them with resources that might be beneficial. Goodwill Guides and related services are also available to some of our employees, as well as students in the Excel Centers and Indianapolis Metropolitan High School.

The approaches we take today are tied together to help reduce generational poverty. They are a result of our experiences as well as a great deal of dismaying evidence of how much worse a number of major social indicators have become over the last 30-40 years. It’s clear (to us, at least) that some different approaches are in order. For lasting impact, we need to work with people holistically and, in many cases, with their whole families.

There’s an enormous amount of data suggesting that two of the best ways to reduce many social problems are (1) increase education attainment levels and (2) invest much more in high-quality early childhood development for children in low-income households. While Goodwill is making a contribution in both areas, there remains a significant need for more high-quality, affordable, early childhood development opportunities.

Our organization has a lot of incredibly talented, highly committed people. They do terrific work day after day, and they have the support of exceptionally dedicated, high-caliber boards of directors.

Yet, the work we do would not be possible without the strong support of our customers, donors and those in other organizations in the public, private and non-for-profit sectors with whom we have productive working relationships.

We are very fortunate and grateful.

Jim McClelland
President & CEO
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