Congress on the Long-Term Unemployed — Let Them Eat Cake?

Perhaps nowhere is the lack of action by Congress more acute than with its failure to extend unemployment benefits for the long-term unemployed. Meanwhile, the families who stand to benefit from the extension struggle to pay for food, heat and other basics.

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Your Action Can Give Struggling Americans Something to Be Thankful For

Thanksgiving for most of us means a time for gathering with family and friends, for getting together around the dinner table to enjoy turkey, stuffing and pumpkin pie, and for relaxing in front of the flat screen to watch your favorite football teams and TV shows. It is a special time—a time to give thanks for all the good fortune we have enjoyed. But for the many who are homeless and hungry in our country, Thanksgiving is just another day.

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Goodwill® Featured in Report Outlining Negative Impact of Funding Cuts

This week, as Congress prepares for another effort to stabilize the nation’s fiscal outlook, a new report illustrates the impact that recent cuts to discretionary programs – including job training programs operated by Goodwill – has negatively affected people. “Faces of Austerity: How Budget Cuts Have Made Us Sicker, Poorer and Less Secure,” was released by NDD United, an alliance of more than 3,200 national, state, and local organizations – including Goodwill Industries International (GII) – working to prevent more harsh cuts to core government functions.

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Goodwill® Opens Innovative Hospital Laundry Facility in Miami

Goodwill Industries of South Florida (Miami) revealed a new $14 million state-of-the-art hospital laundry plant in Miami, FL late last month. The laundry will employ 200 individuals, most with disabilities.

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Action or Inaction in Congress Will Impact the Lives of People Goodwill® Serves

Congress’s plate of must do legislation is full as we head into the fall.  Spending bills, debt limit increases, and resolutions on Syria, are big bites to swallow in the short time between now and the end of the year.  A number of other issues, pending decisions in Washington, will have real impact on many

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Building a Skilled Workforce Is Crucial to Economic Recovery

A recent column, “Building America’s Workforce,” appeared in a publication commonly read by Congressional members and staff alike. The author, Thomas Hilliard, a senior fellow in workforce development policy at the Center for an Urban Future, discusses the pressures that obstruct our nation's job training system from producing a workforce with the skills that businesses need to compete in the global economy. These pressures include the skills gap; a disjointed, multi-piece skills-building system; and underfunding.

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Tips for Finding a Job When You've Been Unemployed

Frank from the Greater Cleveland area asks, "I have been out of work for more than six months and have had no luck finding a job. I am not even having any success in getting an interview. What do I need to do to get noticed?"

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Tips for Finding a Job When You’ve Been Unemployed

Frank from the Greater Cleveland area asks, "I have been out of work for more than six months and have had no luck finding a job. I am not even having any success in getting an interview. What do I need to do to get noticed?"

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Senate Panel Advances Job Training Bill

Yesterday, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee voted 18-3 to advance bipartisan legislation (S. 1356) to reauthorize the Workforce Investment Act (WIA). WIA was enacted in 1998, and has not since been reauthorized. As a result, the law is long overdue for an update. Goodwill supports the bill as written and is urging the Senate to quickly bring the bill to the Senate floor.

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Senate Committee Vote on WIA Expected Next Week

News of the newest addition to Britain’s royal family has been the most anticipated event since we wondered who shot JR. This week, we learned of yet another much anticipated, if somewhat less newsworthy, event—the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee’s plan to consider the reauthorization of the Workforce Investment Act of 2013 (WIA) – S.1356 — next week.

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