Video: Goodwill Industries Counters Digital Divide in Chicagoland Job Market

Nathan Woodside
Published: February 21, 2013
Related to: Chicagoland eTeam

Goodwill Industries in the Chicago area is working to ease unemployment numbers in some neighborhoods caught in the digital divide.

Four Goodwill Workforce Connection Centers are giving job seekers access to computers and training on how to get hired in a competitive job market.   

“We are employment based,” said Edward Anderson, Workforce Connection Center manager.  “We feel that people not only need that good access to computers, but they also need to be able to get out there and get to work.  We want them to have an impact on their community by being a tax-paying citizen.”

Anderson said that internet access and computer know-how is essential to getting hired in today’s world.

Resources available at the Workforce Connection Centers include a workshop on how to build a resume and cover letter. Participants who complete the week-long workshop also go through a mock interview to prepare themselves for a real-life situation.

According to Anderson, 2,000 people accessed computers at the four Chicagoland centers between July and December of last year. There were 319 people trained, and 163 people who completed the course found a job.

Overall, the centers have led to more than 700 individuals finding work.

“That’s a result of people being able to come in, use our services, connect to online (job) applications and be able to fill it out,” Anderson said. “Even if they don’t know how to use the computer, we’re able to teach them how.”

Broadband Illinois Chicagoland eTeam leader Ernest Sanders recently toured the center in Englewood to examine remedies in the southwestern Chicago digital divide.

“The Goodwill Workforce Connection Center is a great strategy towards embracing and working directly with hard to reach populations on the southwest side of Chicago,” Sanders said. “Not only does Goodwill participate in the State of Illinois' Eliminate the Digital Divide program, but it also provides access to technical resources when searching for employment, to include several wrap-around services that are key to their constituent's sustainability.”

There are centers located at Goodwill stores in Joliet and North Riverside. Other centers are located in Englewood and on Racine Avenue in Chicago, with a fifth center slated to open in Lombard in late March.