From left to right: Board chair Kelly D'Amore, former CEO Anna Eleanor Roosevelt and current CEO Rich Cantz pose for a photo at Roosevelt's farewell party, which celebrated the fund in her name. The Roosevelt Fund will help Goodwill Northern New England employees for years to come.
The Roosevelt Fund will offer various resources to employees who need some help sorting out life’s challenges. This supplements in-person supports for employees. This type of funding is already available to participants in some of Goodwill’s Job Connection programs, but hadn’t been available to employees until now.
The fund is in honor of the nonprofit’s former president and CEO Anna Eleanor Roosevelt.
“Anne knew when we set our goal to move 10,000 households into stability, that work needed to start here at home,” said Goodwill NNE’s board chair Kelly D’Amore.
About a year ago, Goodwill NNE began serving its own employees through the Job Connection model it developed, which marries the best practices of social work with workforce development. The holistic approach pairs each person with a Career Adviser and a Life Navigator who works through every challenge with the person, whether that’s about mental health, a history of drug use, child care — anything. So far about 70 employees have used the Life Navigator’s services to help them achieve personal stability. Goodwill recently hired a second Employee Life Navigator to serve New Hampshire and Vermont.
“This is going to give our Employee Life Navigators the tools they need to address those quick, one-time issues that can threaten someone’s stability,” said Kelly Osborn, the senior vice president of client services. “Things like a down payment on a safe apartment or new car tires to get to work shouldn’t get in the way of our employee’s long-term success. Unfortunately, we know sometimes they have.”
The 10-month fundraising effort wrapped up Thursday, June 27 in Portsmouth at Roosevelt’s farewell party.
“Anne’s values will live on in Goodwill through this fund,” said Rich Cantz, the president and CEO.
Goodwill Northern New England is a nonprofit social enterprise that creates jobs, delivers needed services for people with diverse challenges, uses environmentally friendly products and processes – all while earning revenue to pay for and expand innovative workforce services in all three states. Goodwill NNE operates retail stores, health care and cleaning services which help fund the innovative workforce programs that empower individuals and families to find personal stability through work. Goodwill NNE serves Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont. It is an autonomous 501c3 governed by a volunteer local board of directors.