Imagine you’re one of the half million working-age Hoosiers who dropped out of high school. You work a full-time job but struggle to cover the basics and still rely on public assistance. You know you need a diploma to earn more, but where will you find the time? Who will care for your child while you’re in class? How will you get back and forth? As the barriers pile up, returning to school seems more and more impossible.

People often face multiple, interrelated challenges that require a range of supports to overcome. Goodwill calls these supports wraparound services, and they’re the foundation of our raise-your-hand culture, which encourages employees, students and others who participate in our programs to ask for help when they need it. 

In the 2018 annual report, you’ll meet people like India Daye, a Nurse-Family Partnership graduate who earned her diploma from The Excel Center^® while her daughter attended the free, onsite child care center. In each story, people were empowered to change their lives and, today, illustrate the independence that can be achieved when barriers are removed. 

Each day, we serve thousands of people, and we’re always looking for ways to serve more. Goodwill of Central & Southern Indiana currently operates 14 Excel Centers, with plans to open more, including one in Bloomington this summer. A new Commercial Services production facility in Bloomington and a new Retail Outlet in Clarksville — the first in southern Indiana — will provide more employment opportunities and mission services to those communities. We’re also currently serving more than 1,000 first-time, low-income moms across 30 counties in central and southern Indiana through Goodwill’s Nurse-Family Partnership. 

However, there is still work to do. Indiana ranks among the worst states for infant mortality. Nearly one million Hoosiers lack the basic skills necessary for employment and far too many don’t have a diploma. There are many communities in Indiana that lack access to the services we provide, and our challenge is to find ways to reach them, but we can’t do it without you. 

The successes in this report wouldn’t be possible without the support of the community, including the Hoosiers who donate and shop at Goodwill, financial contributors, employer partners, and civic and other community leaders who help advance our mission. Your continued support empowers people to change their lives. 

Thanks for all you do.

Kent A. Kramer

President & CEO

Goodwill of Central & Southern Indiana