Goodwill Central Coast has completed a more than a year long process of planning, renovating, and moving their headquarters from Santa Cruz to Salinas.
Salinas, CA, July 31, 2017 — Goodwill Central Coast has completed a more than a year long process of planning, renovating, and moving their headquarters from Santa Cruz to Salinas. The move will increase its operating space, improve efficiency and better fulfill its mission to help people find employment.
Since Goodwill Central Coast covers Monterey, Santa Cruz and San Luis Obispo counties, moving to Salinas centralizes its headquarters and with a bigger, more modern facility, will boost its efforts to train people in new careers and find them employment.
“It was a big decision on our part,” said Ed Durkee, Goodwill Central Coast President and CEO. “But this new facility was needed to meet the demands of our environmentally conscious community. The building is more modern, safer, more efficient, more centralized, bigger and can take more donations.”
The new facility, located at 1566 Moffett St. in Salinas, is more than double the size of the Santa Cruz location, and will house administrative offices, e-commerce, a salvage center, a donation center, a processing area and an outlet store.
The new headquarters will encompass 140 jobs. All employees who worked at the Santa Cruz headquarters have been offered jobs in Salinas or at other sites in Santa Cruz County. The relocation will also provide a chance to increase Goodwill’s employee base in a more centralized location and to better help the local community.
A grand opening ribbon-cutting ceremony with Monterey Peninsula Chamber of Commerce and Salinas Valley Chamber of Commerce will be held at the new headquarters from 5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. on September 20th. The Mayor of Salinas will be on hand to cut the ribbon.
Goodwill Central Coast, which covers Monterey, Santa Cruz and San Luis Obispo counties, is one of the region’s largest social enterprise and operates three career centers, five donation processing centers, 25 attended donation stations, 16 stores, and a vocational school. It also employs about 600 in three counties.
For many people, the barriers to employment are too high to overcome alone. Barriers like homelessness, military service, single parenting, incarceration, addiction, and job displacement can define a person’s identity, even when they have so much more to offer.
“Goodwill’s goal is to ensure all of their community members know their worth and gain the skills and confidence to land a job that could turn their life around.” Anne Guthrie, VP of Workforce Services.
Each year Goodwill assists more than 13,000 job seekers to get back to work and reclaim financial and personal independence. Goodwill provides a positive learning environment that creates brighter futures through connecting people to meaningful work.
Some of the ways Goodwill helps people find employment include programs on culinary arts, catering services, free tax preparation and subsidized job placement.
Success stories
Jeremy is one of those employment success stories. Jeremy had problems getting a job because of mental health issues and a criminal background. After attending and graduating from the Culinary Training Academy, with assistance from Goodwill, he is now a prep cook at Jeninni’s Kitchen + Bar in Pacific Grove and is working his way up to sauté cook.
Gloria Organista came to Goodwill’s Career Centers after an unsuccessful job search. She enrolled in our workforce development workshops to brush up on her business and computer skills and after completion enrolled on Goodwill’s Organizational Work Program, OWP. She was placed in the Goodwill Career Center and received on-the-job training in administrative duties and was quickly hired as a HR Assistant. She continued her HR training and is now Goodwill’s HR Supervisor.
Another success story is Eduardo, a painter who lost his job during the rainy season due to lack of work. Eduardo went through Goodwill’s OWP program in Monterey, trained in the store and worked with a trainer and employment specialist to find the right job for him. With the help of Goodwill staff, he was able to get a job with CSU Monterey Bay’s maintenance department as a full-time painter. He now has a stable job with benefits, which allows his wife to stay at home and take care of their two young children.
A new way to shop
The Bargain Barn outlet center, one of two (the other is in San Luis Obispo), will also move to the Salinas location after more than four decades in Santa Cruz. Unlike Goodwill stores, outlet centers exist to move merchandise quickly, selling everything (except furniture) by the pound. The Salinas outlet center will sell its merchandise for $1.79 a pound.
“It has been very popular in Santa Cruz,” said Jim Burke VP of Retail and Operations. “You can potentially get a new outfit for $1.79, including shoes and accessories. The upcycling people like it too because they can get a dresser for $3 to $5. And it’s good for the environment, otherwise it ends up in a landfill.”
Merchandise stays in stores for three weeks, then goes to the outlet centers. It’s put out on the floor each morning, then merchandise is rotated throughout the day, a couple times each hour. And since items rotate constantly, each rotation brings a new treasure trove for bargain shoppers. “Shoppers are always introduced to new merchandise this way,” says Burke.
If still there by the end of the day, merchandise goes to a salvage operator, who will repurpose it for other uses. For example, clothing and other fabrics can be repurposed for insulation.
Furniture and other bulky items will still have price tags, but will also be clearance-priced in order for it to sell quickly.
About Goodwill Central Coast
The Goodwill Central Coast chapter, a private 501(c)3 non-profit organization, began in 1928 in the city of Santa Cruz and today has expanded into three counties: Santa Cruz, Monterey, and San Luis Obispo.
Goodwill Central Coast employs over 600 people in Santa Cruz, Monterey, and San Luis Obispo County, including employment training professionals, sales personnel, donation center attendants, warehouse and distribution workers, and administrators.
Goodwill believes that everyone deserves the chance to join their team, which is why Goodwill Central Coast is an equal opportunity employer and an advocate for the Americans with Disabilities Act.
To deliver their services, Goodwill relies on partnerships with federal and state workforce development agencies, as well as strong relationships with the local businesses that provide employment opportunities.
Goodwill Central Coast
566 Moffett St., Salinas
(831) 423-8611
Contact:
Marci Bracco Cain
Chatterbox PR
Salinas, CA 93901
(831) 747-7455
