Goodwill Industries of Middle Georgia and the CSRA will celebrate the opening of the new Helms Career Center in downtown Macon with a ribbon-cutting and open house at 3 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 19. The public is invited to attend the event and tour the downtown Helms campus at 240 Broadway, Macon, with refreshments provided by instructor chefs and students from the Helms College Polly Long Denton School of Hospitality.

“Like the opening a year ago of the Job Connection^SM in the Pleasant Hill community, the new Helms Career Center represents another step in Goodwill’s effort to bring important career services closer to those individuals most in need of assistance,” said Goodwill President James K. Stiff. “With the future addition of the Helms College School of Industrial Trades planned for the downtown Macon Helms campus, Goodwill hopes to provide further expansion of career opportunities in high-demand fields in Middle Georgia.” 

For the opening of the Helms Career Center, Goodwill is relocating its Job Connection from the Eisenhower Drive campus to make room for an expansion of Helms College at the original West Macon campus. At the Career Center, Goodwill’s bilingual facilitators will provide one-stop style career services including vocational rehabilitation, GED preparation, workplace and occupational skills training, career advisement, job search workshops and ESL classes.  The Helms Career Center Job Connection is open Monday-Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. For information, call (478) 703-0450.

Most of these services are provided free of charge, funded largely through material donations to Goodwill that are sold in Goodwill’s iconic retail training stores.

In addition, Goodwill is working with other community partners to “one-stop” co-locate at the Helms Career Center to bring additional “hand-up” services to individuals in downtown Macon. 

In fiscal year 2014, Goodwill Industries of Middle Georgia and the CSRA proudly placed 4,305 people into jobs and provided career development services to more than 22,000 individuals. During the past five calendar years, Goodwill placed 12,664 individuals in jobs, creating more than $375 million in estimated annual new payroll economic impact for our communities.