Fanshawe Partners With Goodwill Industries

The latest addition to Goodwill's large network of Career Centres, Community Stores and Donation Centres is the newly built Goodwill Centre on Adelaide Street in North London. The new site opened on November 12, 2008.

This abandoned former gas station has been redeveloped to a used bookstore, Job Connect location in partnership with Fanshawe College, and a neighbourhood donation centre. This initiative has created 10 new jobs, will service more than 30,000 donors annually and will help thousands of job seekers through Job Connect and also by generating revenue from the sale of goods to support Goodwill's mission delivery framework.

In partnership with Fanshawe College, the Job Connect site will offer free employment services to the community including job search and resumé help, subsidized job placements, apprenticeship opportunities, links to education and upgrading, free access to computers, fax and phone and a link to London's vast continuum of support and training services.

According to Doug Millar (in photo at right), Manager of Career Services and Job Connect at Fanshawe College, "the connection to Goodwill is another community partnership similar to the one forged three years ago with the City of London library system where Fanshawe is located on the second floor of the Central Library. With this outreach, Fanshawe Job Connect is fulfilling its mandate to provide the public with information and resources that will help them to identify their employment and educational options."

Millar added, "In all of this, Fanshawe Job Connect staff work closely with other agency staff to ensure that a client's needs are appropriately met. Some of the agencies with whom we often interact on behalf of our clients are Ontario Works, WIL, LEADS, Employment Help Centre, YOU, Goodwill, and the Registrar and Continuing Education offices at Fanshawe College."

Funding for Job Connect comes from the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities (MTCU) under its Employment Ontario banner. Fanshawe has Job Connect locations in London/Middlesex, St.Thomas/Elgin and Simcoe/Norfolk. The program is available to anyone out-of-school and out-of-work eligible to work in Canada. It offers comprehensive employment support services, from self-help resources found at our locations and through the website, to one-on-one career consulting to hone job search skills, to subsidized job placement. Employers are assisted in recruiting, often with a wage subsidy to offset the cost of training. Support in finding an apprenticeship is one of Fanshawe Job Connect's strengths and challenges.

Fanshawe's Job Connect site at the Galleria Mall in London "remains our primary site," says Millar.

"I applaud Goodwill for its successful and innovative model of employment services and for being one of our community's largest employers of persons with disabilities. The Centre will create sustainable jobs and will help many others find work through the Job Connect program. This is a great example of community collaboration," said Deb Matthews, MPP London North Centre.

The Adelaide project was only possible with support from many donors, volunteers, neighbours and project participants. Major funders and sponsors include CIBC, The Ontario Trillium Foundation, Fanshawe College, the City of London, WIL Employment Connections through the Community Access Program, Spriet and Associates and ADT Construction.

"The new Centre on Adelaide typifies Goodwill's mission", said Michelle Quintyn (in photo at right), Goodwill President and CEO, "it's about creating meaningful work; it's enterprising and the concepts are sustainable".