Nonprofit Talk: A century-old service organization adapts to NYC’s latest crisis
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Katy Gaul-Stigge is president/CEO of Goodwill Industries of Greater NY and Northern NJ. Photo courtesy of Gaul-Stigge
By Katy Gaul-Stigge, as told to the Eagle
Katy Gaul-Stigge is president/CEO of Goodwill Industries of Greater NY and Northern NJ, a nonprofit organization that transforms people’s lives through the power of work. The social enterprise operates thrift retail stores in the New York City metropolitan region fueled by in-kind donations, which translates into employment services for people who are unemployed or underemployed, including individuals with developmental and psychiatric disabilities, welfare applicants and recipients, older workers, and anyone with little or no work experience.
We are now about eight months since the pandemic essentially shut down most of New York City. How has your organization adapted?
Founded in Brooklyn over 105 years ago, Goodwill NYNJ provides job placement, training, on-the-job coaching, and retention services for weeks, months, and even years to ensure job-seekers with disabilities and other barriers get and maintain their jobs. Before the pandemic, Goodwill NYNJ provided employment and behavioral health services for over 26,000 people who are unemployed or underemployed on their journey to employment, including more than 7,000 people with disabilities. In the same period, Goodwill NYNJ help 2,000 people get jobs, including nearly 800 individuals with disabilities, outside our stores at hospitals, tech firms, and NYC agencies.
When the Governors of New York and New Jersey implemented PAUSE directives in mid-March, all of our Mission programs had to suspend in-person services. Only three days later, our teams successfully pivoted to delivering remote services using online technology tools and phone. Using this new service model, Goodwill NYNJ soon achieved nearly 90% of pre-pandemic service levels. It’s a new world for all of us. It has really highlighted the digital divide for our clients; that is why we began to give out laptops and devices to our clients so that they can participate in wellness, day services, and job interviews remotely.
How have you adjusted to serve your clients?
During the first week of the lock-down, more than 100 individuals with developmental disabilities who we had placed in stable employment years or longer lost their jobs. It was clear we had to continue providing services to help job-seekers with disabilities and other barriers during the health crisis. Goodwill NYNJ serves individuals with unique support needs so our staff had to quickly adjust to a new normal using the technology available to them.
Individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities require regular support. We implemented a hybrid in-person and remote support model to provide training, placement and retention services. As part of the workforce development services that we provide to welfare applicants and recipients, our team created virtual options to our in-person workshops, trainings, and placement services. Individuals with mental illness who receive our behavioral health services were deeply affected when programs had to close.
Our team promptly mobilized to replicate all in-person services to a tele-health model. The stakes were high. Individuals with mental illness depend on our services to stay healthy and on their jobs, out of hospitals due to psychiatric admissions, avoid isolation and connected to family and their community. The team held daily community meetings, medication management and remote counseling, weekly sessions to discuss health, menu planning, and virtual socialization topics.
How are you balancing the needs of your clients with the level of risk to your employees?
The health and safety of our employees working at our stores, programs, and offices, program participants, customers and donors are our greatest priority, especially during this COVID-19 pandemic. First on our agenda: we delivered an online safety training for all staff and implemented safety measures in all of our locations according to CDC guidelines including maximum capacity, social distancing, facemask wearing, and more.
To limit our team’s exposure during the height of the pandemic, we reconfigure caseloads into a hybrid virtual and on-site face-to-face service model. Today, our service delivery is back to pre-pandemic service levels using this hybrid model and we are ready to continue using it as long as needed.
Most people have heard, shopped at, or donated to Goodwill stores. We are very grateful for their support because revenue from Goodwill stores supports our mission of empowering individuals with disabilities and other barriers to employment to gain independence through the power of work. With this in mind, we had to protect everyone who walked into our stores. When the Governors of New York and New Jersey allowed for the retail stores to re-open in early June, we were ready with safety measures, including: contactless donation, limited number of shoppers in store at one time, face mask or covering required, one-way aisles to limit shopper contact.
Last year, Goodwill NYNJ helped people to re-purpose over 43 million pounds of pre-owned clothing and household goods successfully diverting them from the landfills.
What, if any, new services or programs have you launched in response to the pandemic?
Well, we had to try something new. We saw the massive layoffs and responded. We launched The COVID-19 Employment and Community Resources webpage to provide a wide array of resources on our website https://www.goodwillnynj.org/covid19-resources. We continue to update this site as needed. This is new for us to have this level of virtual service, but the response has been wonderful. The team loves connecting anyone who is looking for work to resources.
We have some great connections to the jobs that have started since the first days of the pandemic, we pivoted to place program participants as essential workers in high-demand positions including contact tracing, fulfillment centers, warehousing, maintenance, Healthcare and Security. We are constantly redirecting our employment services to serve the changing workforce needs.
What is next for your organization?
Goodwill NYNJ will play an integral part in the recovery of the NYC metro area – flexible workforce development services for jobs in high-demand positions during and the post pandemic periods. Our expert team has implemented a system to find jobs in emerging sectors/industries for people who have been laid-off or are seeking a new job. Our more than a century-long experience in creating employment opportunities for anybody who is seeking work, places us in an enviable position to support employers, from large corporations to small businesses.
What do you think the future holds for your sector as a result of the pandemic?
During the chaos in mid-March as New York City and the states of New York and New Jersey shut down to protect citizens from the health crisis and, in a matter of weeks, millions lost their jobs, it became obvious that COVID-19 threatened not only our health, but would upend our lives and exacerbate existing race, class, and gender divides. The nonprofit sector, which employs thousands of New Yorkers, including people of color, women, people with disabilities and other minorities that better reflect our diverse society, has played and will continue to play an integral role in the economic recovery.
The pandemic has also shown that more than ever the nonprofit sector, with proven expertise, we will be able to implement a strategy focused on opportunity, equity, education and training to reshape New York City’s economy to create healthier communities, more skilled workers, deeper talent pools, and a more resilient business climate. Nonprofits have been on the frontlines of this pandemic providing critical services and employment. Their survival or failure will directly impact how quickly New York will be able to recover.
Learn more about Goodwill Industries of Greater NY and Northern NJ at www.goodwillnynj.org.
