Since 1967, we have assisted adults with developmental disabilities and cognitive impairments in their job search efforts through the Visions program. Visions’ staff receive special training to work with this population, to be able to provide on-the-job coaching support. The Visions program helps participants prepare for, find, and maintain competitive and community-integrated employment. Working with each individual’s needs, goals, and skill sets, career coaches provide employability skills, interview assistance, connections with local employers, on-site job coaching, job aids, advocacy, and follow-along support. The relationships career coaches build with local employers help secure job opportunities and provide a supportive team to assist participants with learning their new jobs and deal with any issues that may arise.

At the beginning of 2021, the Visions’ team had two career coaches and by September a third coach was added due to a high volume of referrals from Network 180 and independent supports coordination. The team served 90 participants in 2021. There were 52 job starts with an average starting wage of $11.75 per hour. Caseload sizes range between 25-30 participants per coach.

In 2017, our Certified Nurse Aide (CNA) program provided training to approximately 50 students. It’s now five years later and we have seen a lot of growth. We are now serving over 230 students annually.

We began trying alternative training schedules, offering evening and part-time classes in 2018. At this time, an additional instructor was added. The flexibility with scheduling helped us become a great option for individuals hoping to complete training, while still managing other employment and commitments.

With the expanded class options, our program and class sizes grew. This led to hiring two more instructors in 2019. With our new instructors on hand, we had the capacity to provide additional tutoring opportunities and offer refresher courses to assist students who may need more than one attempt at the state exam. Supporting students in this way made us stand out from other training programs in the community, and led to an average certification rate of 85%.

There was another expansion of services in January 2020, when we started a partnership with the Literacy Center of West Michigan. Through this new partnership, English Language Learners received CNA training in our program and English language support provided by a Literacy Center instructor. These classes have allowed us to expand how we are training individuals who may have barriers to completing other training programs.

In the spring of 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic impacted the healthcare industry. While adjustments needed to be made along the way, we held firm and found creative ways to continue training new CNAs. While other training programs completely shut down for extended periods, we quickly launched virtual training options and placed students back into clinical sites.

Throughout 2021, we continued to navigate the changes and challenges COVID-19 brought to the healthcare industry. During the summer of 2021, we launched a new program called, GoodSTART, in partnership with West Michigan Works! The GoodSTART program pairs a CNA credential with customer service training to give out-of-school youth ages 16-24 the tools they need to successfully enter the workforce in well-paying jobs. In addition to the launch of GoodSTART, there has been a huge demand for CNAs in the healthcare system. Increased wages and additional employment opportunities created a need for career coaches to assist students as they navigated numerous job offers approaching graduation. With the growing demand for high quality CNAs, we can’t wait to see what new opportunities will arise in 2022.

At Goodwill, we embrace data. Data helps us make informed decisions that benefit our bottom line and improve the workplace. Sales data is used to maximize the value of each donation received. Information about customer shopping patterns helps us decide the layout of each sales floor. When a sales floor is set up to meet customers’ needs and expectations, we are able to generate more revenue to fund our mission of changing lives and communities through the power of work.

Data also helps improve work conditions for employees. By identifying where employees are working the most, we can use that data to relocate employees to those areas to lessen the workload for others. As a result, a workplace with enough employees is a less stressful and more enjoyable environment. Data analytics will soon be integrated within every department. We look forward to creating a better work-life balance and utilizing more efficient business practices, all while placing additional emphasis on our job training and placement services.