GOODWILL INDUSTRIES OF NORTHERN MICHIGAN INC

Goodwill Industries of Northern Michigan provides critical resources for Housing, Jobs, and Food in a 19 county service area. We are a non-profit human services agency with a simple mission to strengthen communities by empowering people in need to reach their full potential. We have been providing homeless services, utilizing an individualized, strengths-based approach for more than 40 years. Our programs and services help achieve a sustainable quality of life for neighbors in need. We support our programs through our Retail Operations, Fund Development, and Volunteers.

Goodwill's programs are dually about individual transformation and creating a better system to address homelessness. Our strategic program pillars for helping people are programs in Housing, Jobs and Food.

HOUSING PROGRAMS: We are Northern Michigan's established leader and expert in homeless and housing solutions. Our tools to end homelessness include:

• Street Outreach actively locates and engages homeless individuals and families living on the streets within the Grand Traverse area by providing emergency assistance, crisis intervention and/or referrals to community support services and housing opportunities. Last year, this program served 200 individuals.

• The Goodwill Inn annually serves over 500 people in a 10-county area through emergency and transitional housing with a Housing First approach. The Goodwill Inn has been the region’s largest emergency shelter, housing an average capacity of 87 individuals daily. We are the only program which has family suites so that both parents can stay together with the children. The Inn is open 24/7, 365 days a year and has been at near 100% occupancy since this site opened in 2006. Family room occupancy is at 100% and we continue to have a waiting list for family rooms. Last year the Inn served 585 individuals, including 39 families for a total of 32,219 nights of emergency shelter.

• Housing Support Services is another Goodwill program that serves over 300 people per year. Housing-based case management services are tailored to help individuals maintain housing they obtained recently. We also provide support staffing services for Safe Harbor, Women’s Resource Center and Keystone and Brook stone apartments.

• Patriot Place is Northern Michigan's only transitional housing community for male homeless veterans. This program serves around 50 veterans annually and is located in Gaylord, Michigan

• Carson Square is Goodwill Northern Michigan’s 100% permanent, supportive housing community for families and individuals experiencing homelessness, survivors of domestic violence and persons with disabilities.

JOBS PROGRAM:
• The Workers on Wheels car donation program matches vehicles with working families in need to promote employment and independence. The goal of the Workers on Wheels program is to provide safe, reliable transportation for area low income, working families in Northern Michigan.

FOOD PROGRAM:
• Food Rescue is driven by one core purpose: reduce food waste and increase access to food for people in our community. Food Rescue provides same day delivery of soon-to-expire fruit, vegetables, and meat (1.5 million pounds annually) along with other foods from 112 donors and 39 farms to a network of over 48 food pantries across five counties in Northern Michigan. It is an innovative approach to bringing nutritious foods to communities with limited access and resources, while reducing food waste through-out the region. Over the last 9 years we have rescued almost 9 million pounds from local grocers, bakers and farmers and delivered to local pantries and meal programs.