Kentucky Goodwill Sets Job Placement Record

Goodwill Industries of Kentucky has placed a record number of people into jobs this past year.The 2,500 jobs represent a 36 percent increase over last year and that’s the highest number of job placements in Goodwill's history, said vice president David Cobb.But, the organization’s growth didn't happen overnight, he said.“It’s just not this year. It’s planning and effort that has gone back a decade or more, looking at what populations need help and how can we effectuate change in a positive way for the communities we serve. So it’s been a culmination of a lot of hard work over time,” said Cobb.Kentucky Goodwill began increasing its job placement numbers in 2005. Prior to that, job placement numbers shuffled between 100 to 400. Cobb said that is largely due to several successful programs that have been developed over time.“Frankly we’ve added a number of important programs as a result of our evolution as an organization that has really enabled us to have an infrastructure that helps us place many more people into jobs,” he said.Once example is Goodwill’s partnership with KentuckianaWorks Power to Work, which has helped over 350 clients move from public assistance to the workforce this past year.In November, Cobb helped announce the expansion of Louisville’s East Broadway building, which is the adult education hub for the region. Construction is expected to begin in February next year, and adult education services should be rolled out by next fall, he said.The building’s size is expected to increase by one-third and that should help serve hundreds more clients each year, said Cobb.Below is a list of numbers provided by Mr. Cobb regarding job placement numbers since 1990.YEAR             #1990             681991             1241992             661993             1581994             1331995             1241996             1201997             771998             1011999             3432000             2602001             4072002             4612003             2462004             4192005             7502006             8162007             14432008             17962009             16192010             19602011             2584