Goodwill Industries

of Southwestern Michigan

We believe in people. positivity. success. collaboration.

A Pathway To a Career In Childcare!

A paid apprenticeship for a new career!

Are you interested in a career in childcare where you can help families and children learn? Goodwill Industries of Southwestern Michigan is partnering with YWCA Kalamazoo, Kalamazoo Literacy Council, Southwest Child Care Resources, and several other agencies to provide a career pathway for you!

As a program participant you will receive:

An individual plan to help you reach your goals
Professional development to help you gain and improve your skills
Academic and tutoring support to help you complete the program

The Edison Early Childhood Education Career Pathway is a great way for you to get started on your path to a career in childcare. A major part of this program is a full-time, paid, eight-month apprenticeship, which will result in a Childcare Development Associate (CDA) and employment as an Early Learning Professional at the Edison Children’s Center. YWCA will begin training staff as they are hired with CDA training beginning in April 2021.

Goodwill is proud to play an important part in helping you make progress toward achieving your career and academic goals. If you need help with earning a GED or some additional tutoring to prepare you for the Early Childhood Education apprenticeship process or connect you to other jobs, Goodwill’s Adult Education and Training Program, along with Kalamazoo Literacy Council, can help. All services are free.

Learn more about this exciting program where you can get paid to complete your training and work in this exciting career.

Get started today!

Ending Poverty through Life Guides.

Our mission is to improve the community and help families escape poverty. The main components of this are employment, education, job training, and support services. Escaping poverty is no easy task, so we designed a program to help. Life Guides is a 20 year commitment to families that want a better life. Team members focus on skills and support for life’s most important areas. Areas of focus are jobs, safe housing, access to education, and financial literacy. The end goal is for families to no longer rely on government help. To become happy, self sufficient, and lead a fulfilling life for them and their family.

Help For Anyone!

As the need for help has increased recently we’ve looked for ways to expand and meet the needs of our community. As of today, we are launching Get Help at Goodwill. This service is designed to help those that have a challenging time finding resources and filling out forms/applications/paperwork that is often required to get the help they need.

The best part? This service is available to EVERYONE!

What can we help with?

Filling out and submitting applications (Not computer savvy? No computer?)
Finding resources (Not sure where to go to get the help you need?)
Navigating paperwork or the application process (Not sure how to fill out a required section?)

And much more! Do not hesitate to call, email, or text us. We will get you the help you need!

Email: gethelp@goodwillswmi.org
Call Us: (269) 422-0327
Text Us: (269) 422-0327

This wouldn’t be possible without our awesome community partners!

What We Do

We are more than just a thrift store and a place to drop off your old clothes! As a nonprofit organization our main focus is helping people escape poverty through education and emplo