Goodwill® And The Walmart Foundation Stand Up For America's Heroes

Connecting Veterans to their Next Mission

ROCKVILLE, Md., Nov. 19, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Thanks to a $5 million grant from the Walmart Foundation, new career services will be available to veterans in Astoria, NY; Buffalo, NY; Fort Worth, TX; Oxnard, CA; San Antonio, TX; Santa Ana, CA; San Diego, CA; Waco, TX; and Winston-Salem, NC. With this grant, Goodwill Industries International and the Walmart Foundation are expanding Operation: GoodJobs, a program that helps veterans and their families find meaningful work and gain financial stability. Operation: GoodJobs, is expected to serve more than 4,000 veterans and military family members across the country by providing the tools and resources they need to achieve their educational, career and financial goals.

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Over a three-year grant period that extends through July 2016, local Goodwill agencies will connect program participants with the training, financial education, credentialing opportunities, retention support and case management resources they need to get back to work and advance their careers. The program is unique because it is open to veterans, military spouses and adult children dependents (ages 18-24). The program is also making an additional commitment to focus on helping women veterans. Through Operation: GoodJobs, Goodwill will work with business partners to match potential employees with employers. Goodwill will also provide participants with free job search assistance and employment placement, screening, and support services, including child care, nutrition advice and transportation.

"The goal of Operation: GoodJobs is to smooth the transition from military service to the civilian workforce," said Jim Gibbons, president and CEO of Goodwill Industries International. "These heroes stood up for America in our time of need, and now Goodwill and the Walmart Foundation are standing up for them."

The program not only benefits veterans and their families, but employers as well. By hiring veterans who have participated in Operation: GoodJobs, businesses will be bolstered by having highly skilled and mission-ready military veterans in the workforce.

"Our veterans have many great skills to offer the current job force, and with one million veterans slated to return home in the next five years, we need to ensure they have the opportunity to put those skills to work," said retired U.S. Army Brigadier General Gary Profit, senior director of military programs at Walmart. "Goodwill is an essential partner in helping us fulfill our commitment to help veterans find jobs where they have the ability to live better lives and find success.

After launching in the spring of 2012 in Austin and Houston, TX, and Tacoma, WA, Operation: GoodJobs has successfully served more than 815 veterans and families. The newly expanded program now includes nine additional Goodwill agencies in four states with high concentrations of veterans: California, New York, North Carolina and Texas.

For more information, please contact 1-800-GOODWILL.

About Goodwill Industries International
Goodwill Industries International is a network of 165 community-based agencies in the United States and Canada with affiliates in 13 other countries. Goodwill agencies are innovative and sustainable social enterprises that fund job training programs, employment placement services and other community-based programs by selling donated clothing and household items in more than 2,700 stores and online at shopgoodwill.com. Local Goodwill agencies also build revenue and create jobs by contracting with businesses and government to provide a wide range of commercial services, including packaging and assembly, food service preparation, and document imaging and shredding. In 2012, more than 6.7 million people in the United States and Canada benefited from Goodwill's career services. Goodwill channels 82 percent of its revenues directly into its programs and services.

To find a Goodwill location near you, use the online locator at www.goodwill.org. Follow us on Twitter: @GoodwillIntl or find us on Facebook: GoodwillIntl.

About Philanthropy at Walmart
Walmart and the Walmart Foundation are proud to support initiatives that are helping people live better around the globe. In May 2010, Walmart and its Foundation made a historic pledge of $2 billion through 2015 to fight hunger in the U.S. The Walmart Foundation also supports education, workforce development, environmental sustainability, and health and wellness initiatives. To learn more, visit www.walmartfoundation.org.

SOURCE Goodwill Industries International