Goodwill plans to move to a new campus in west Charlotte next year. But the organization that helps train and connect people with jobs isn’t going it alone. They’ll be joined by a handful of groups helping those in need, including a credit union and a health clinic.
Goodwill’s new campus came partly from the group’s realization that while it may help a person get a job, other challenges can make it hard to keep one. Goodwill’s CEO Michael Elder says the group began looking at ways to deliver a more lasting impact.
“If we weren’t helping clients maneuver also through these other areas, whether it be medical issues or transportation or housing or childcare, financial education, financial management, people wouldn’t be successful,” says Elder.
Goodwill decided the best way to do that was to make much of this help very easily accessible, as an all in one place.
Like many groups, doctors at Charlotte Community Health Clinic are used to giving their patients referrals.
“During the course of that visit with their doctor, they raise other issues of ‘Well, gosh, if I could only find stable employment, or if only I had access to savings I could make different choices for my household in terms of food or other things,’” says the clinic’s director Caroline Chambre Hammock.
But actually getting to those places that can help can take a lot of time if you have to depend on public transportation or borrow a car. That’s a big reason why the clinic is excited to open a new location on Goodwill’s campus.
“We feel this is ideal because it meets their holistic needs all under one roof,” says Chambre Hammock.
The campus will also include a branch of Charlotte Metro Credit Union, a financial literacy group called Common Wealth Charlotte, and because a quarter of the people Goodwill helps have criminal records, a group that works with them to adapt to everyday life, called the Center for Community Transitions.
The $22 million campus will also include offices for DSS and the N.C. Division of Vocational and Rehabilitation Services.
The Goodwill Opportunity Center is located off Wilkinson Boulevard and is expected to open mid-2016.
