Meet Shay Gipson | Vice President of Community Engagement, Goodwill North Central Texas

We had the good fortune of connecting with Shay Gipson and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Shay, is your business focused on helping the community? If so, how?
Goodwill is more than a thrift store. The largest employer of people with disabilities in the world, Goodwill believes that work has the power to transform lives by building self-confidence, independence, creativity, trust and friendships. Everyone deserves this chance.

Goodwill North Central Texas is based in Fort Worth and serves 18 counties in the region. The nonprofit’s 27 area retail locations provide revenue through the sale of donated goods to support Goodwill’s mission to CREATE lives of independence and BUILD a stronger local community. Job training and career services programs for people with disabilities, such as physical or mental disabilities and other barriers to employment including lack of education or work experience and homelessness are guided by the organization’s vision of a North Central Texas where everyone person has the opportunity for maximum independence and abundant living. For more information, please visit www.GoodwillNorthCentralTexas.org.

What should our readers know about your business?
On Thursday, May 4, 2023, Goodwill North Central Texas hosted a tri-chamber ribbon cutting and open house to officially open their new headquarters and career center just northeast of downtown Fort Worth. US Congressman Marc Veasey, Fort Worth City Councilman Chris Nettles, representatives from the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce, Fort Worth Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and Fort Worth Metropolitan Black Chamber of Commerce along with Goodwill North Central Texas President & CEO David Cox and members of the Goodwill Board of Directors ceremoniously cut the ribbon to open the new facility. Attendees enjoyed an open house and food trucks onsite to celebrate the occasion.

With the headquarters relocation and career center opening, Goodwill North Central Texas will significantly expand their mission services by adding a new Career Center to serve the northeast Fort Worth area and relocating administrative staff to this new location to repurpose space at their 4005 Campus Drive facility for existing program expansion. Situated on 2.28 acres at 4200 and 4304 Airport Freeway, the new campus includes two buildings positioned side-by-side with nearly 650 feet of frontage along TX 121.

The administration building features a large community room, while the single-story building serves as a Career Center and offers additional classroom space for mission services including the North Texas Institute for Career Development, Goodwill’s career school.

With additional training and education space for at-risk youth, innovative classroom space for foster care and independent living skills training, programs for ex-offenders and re-entry training, and expansion of Goodwill’s credentialing programs, the nonprofit expects to hire an additional 56 full-time staff to run new programs and serve an additional 35,000 individuals over the first five years.

Education and employment are the only proven pathways out of poverty. Indeed, the need for Goodwill’s services has never been greater and we are excited to expand employment and education services to break the cycle of poverty for those in our community.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
The GW Boutique in Keller has a wonderful selection of high end women’s clothing at a fraction of retail pricing. Edgar’s Bath Goods, while based in Fort Worth can be purchased online and features amazing scents made by hand by people with disabilities at Goodwill North Central Texas.
And the Goodwill Outlet where you can find amazing deals on last-chance merchandise sold by the pound.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
In 2019 Goodwill embarked on what would’ve been a long journey and set an ambitious goal to raise $12 million dollars to expand facilities and classroom space. COVID-19 forever shifted the lives of the community we serve and shifted our plans as well.

Thanks to a generous donation from philanthropist and author MacKenzie Scott, Goodwill was able to take advantage of an opportunity that arose in early 2021 to purchase a two story 27,718 square foot administration building, along with a 10,474 square foot single-story building ideal for further expansion of Goodwill’s Workforce Development offerings.

Website: www.GoodwillNorthCentralTexas.org

Instagram: @goodwillnct

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/102465

Twitter: @goodwillnct

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Youtube: youtube.com/@goodwillnct

Image Credits
Justan Martinez