Webinar: Social Enterprise in Workforce Development: The Goodwill Experience

Note: This is a past event, additional resources may be available below.

Date

Mon Jun 9, 2014
2:00pm – 3:30pm

Location



Join the Aspen Institute Workforce Strategies Initiative for the third webinar in its four-part series on social enterprise. Social enterprises in workforce development are businesses that sells goods or services in the marketplace while also helping disadvantaged workers gain meaningful employment and work experience. Today, landscaping businesses, restaurants, retail establishments and temporary staffing firms are just a few of the types of businesses workforce development organizations have started as social enterprises. While many social enterprises have created positive outcomes for workers, there are many challenges to starting, financing, managing, and sustaining a social enterprise.

In this webinar, leaders from Goodwill Industries will discuss their experience in starting and managing social enterprise businesses. Presenters will discuss the lessons they have learned about creating successful businesses that serve the common good and also generate high revenues.

Moderator:

  • Matt Helmer, senior research associate, Aspen Workforce Strategies Initiative

Speakers:

  • Jim Gibbons, President and CEO, Goodwill Industries International
  • Lorna Utley, President and CEO, Goodwill Industries of Greater Detroit

Fixing Work: Recent Lessons from the Field

The Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Program will soon release a report, Fixing Work: Lessons from Job Quality Practitioners, based on in-depth interviews with more than 20 leaders across the country about the work they are doing to create good jobs that provide economic security, the opportunity to advance and grow, and a safe, dignified, and equitable workplace. 

Advising Small Businesses on Job Quality: Lessons from CDFIs

Hear from CDFIs about their approaches to building job quality advising into their work, and share your questions and comments. We are eager to hear what you think!

Job Quality Fellowship Webinar – Transcript

In addition to providing an overview of the nomination and application process, we’re pleased to welcome two Job Quality Fellows to this conversation — Neidi Dominguez Zamorano, founding executive director of Organized Power in Numbers, and Bo Delp, executive director of the Texas Climate Jobs Project — who will share their experience as members of the Fellowship.

Working and Homeless in America — A Book Talk with Brian Goldstone — Resources

“There Is No Place for Us” not only brings these unseen lives into focus but also forces us to confront a pressing question: If hard work is no longer enough to keep a roof over one’s head, what does that say about the promise of economic opportunity in the US?

Marketcrafters: The 100-Year Struggle To Shape the American Economy — A Book Talk with Chris Hughes

Markets and our economy don’t just happen — they’re crafted. While we often hear about the “free market” as a natural force governed by the invisible hand, the reality is far more intentional.

Working and Homeless in America — A Book Talk with Brian Goldstone – Transcript

“There Is No Place for Us” not only brings these unseen lives into focus but also forces us to confront a pressing question: If hard work is no longer enough to keep a roof over one’s head, what does that say about the promise of economic opportunity in the US?

Event — How Good Jobs Support Small Business Success: Lessons from the Shared Success Demonstration

Only 56% of full-time workers in the United States make enough money to cover their families basic needs. Job quality is vital not only for workers, but also for small businesses and communities.