Goodwill Industries of Western Connecticut celebrates over 50 Years of Service to the Local Community. In 1951, the Rev. Joseph Pouliot organized Goodwill Industries of Western Connecticut at the Christian Union on Main Street in Bridgeport. In 1969, Goodwill merged with the Sheltered Workshop and moved to its present barrier-free building on Ocean Terrace. A residential facility complete with kitchen, cafeteria, recreation room and community room was added in 1971. In the years that followed, Goodwill Industries of Western Connecticut expanded into a multifaceted agency serving hundreds of individuals each year.
Today, in addition to the corporate office in Bridgeport, Goodwill Industries of Western Connecticut operates 14 stores and has offices in Stamford, Bethel, Brookfield and Torrington. Existing employment and support programs are growing and new services are developing. All of these services help people with disabilities and those trapped in the cycles of welfare dependency experience the joy of earning a paycheck and achieving the dignity of independence and self-sufficiency.
- Helms Housing, Inc., named after the founder of Goodwill Industries, was established in 1989 as a separate corporation to fulfill the mission of providing affordable housing and rental opportunities for people with disabilities and those who are economically disadvantaged. The State of Connecticut granted the corporation the funding to build 12 units of affordable housing on Goodwill’s existing property in Bridgeport. In October 1991, the first tenant moved in.
- Workforce Development programs offer training and job placement to those transitioning from welfare to work.
- Goodwill Industries of Western Connecticut is a qualified provider of supported living services for individuals with mental disabilities.
- In February of 2000, became a qualified provider for the ABI Medicaid Waiver Program. This highly respected and largest program of its kind within Connecticut provides non-medical services to people with an acquired brain injury, allowing them the choice of living outside of institutions and nursing facilities by providing services for them in their own community.
- In 2008, Goodwill Industries of Western Connecticut developed a program for disabilities in the Autism Spectrum.
Goodwill Industries of Western Connecticut is committed to expanding programs and creating new services that will reach more people, meet more needs and touch more lives.
