Goodwill North Georgia President & CEO looks back on the past five years in the role – SaportaReport

By Hannah E Jones

In a city and region with incredibly high wealth disparities and little opportunity for economic mobility, career advancement programs and resource networks are vital.

Keith Parker.

This month, Goodwill from North Georgia President and CEO Keith Parker reached the five-year mark in his senior leadership role in the organization. He was previously CEO of MARTA, leaving that role in 2017 to join Goodwill.

During his tenure, the local goodwill business was very successful. In the past five years, Goodwill of North Georgia has helped approximately 96,700 people find employment. For the past three consecutive years, the local goodwill recognized as the pinnacle of the nation to connect people with jobs.

At Goodwill, the mission goes deeper than getting people jobs. The team places a strong emphasis on helping residents achieve financial independence through the Goodwill ABC approach – first find a job, then a better job, and finally a career.

“We’ll help you find a job and provide you with all the training you need to be successful,” Parker said. “All we ask is that you come to work motivated.” (Photo courtesy of Goodwill of North Georgia.)

“While we emphasize that all three [steps] are extremely important, often the most important job a person will have is that entry level job,” Parker said.

Parker, a man of many high-level positions, cites his first job as an example.

“My number one job was the minimum wage job I had making slushies in Hanna-Barbera Land, Virginia, making $3.25 an hour,” Parker said. “I learned about customer service, how to work as a team and that the customer comes first, the most important customer you will ever have.”

While entry-level jobs are great stepping stones, Parker doesn’t want people to stay there. When he joined the Goodwill team, only about 16 percent of job seekers were able to secure a living wage job.

“We have moved people from the poverty of the unemployed to the poverty of the employed,” Parker said. “My biggest challenge for our team was to change that.”

Since then, over 79 percent of jobseekers have secured a living wage job, lifting 36,278 families above the poverty line. This year, the team is on track to help 19,000 more families lift themselves out of poverty.

Shady Brinkley. (Photo courtesy of Goodwill of North Georgia.)

Parker has many stories of inspiring people who have walked through Goodwill’s doors, like Quandarious Brinkley. Brinkley attended South DeKalb Goodwill Career Center on a whim in 2010 as an unemployed 18-year-old father. He was hired as a caretaker for Goodwill, and it was determination and hard work that secured him promotions and access to a network of professionals. Today, Brinkley works in a senior position for Salesforce. He is currently completing his master’s degree and wants to study law next.

“How many eighteen-year-olds would take a janitor job seriously? But he did, and we saw something in him,” Parker said. “He is an example of the people who have risen but are forever part of the Goodwill family. There are thousands more such stories.”

He continued, “Sometimes you get lost in the numbers, but you always remember the stories.”

Buoyed by the organization’s recent successes, Parker looks to the horizon and sees room for improvement. His priority is serving those who are most at risk and face the greatest barriers to employment, including residents with disabilities, veterans, ex-convicts, women and people of color.

In addition to the career centers, the Goodwill team is also focused on expanding the reach of its retail stores, which fund the nonprofit’s career services. With 69 stores and 50 donation centers, Goodwill has a larger retail presence in Georgia than Target.

“It’s a full-fledged ecosystem,” Parker said. “Buyers and donors are the fuel for us to help people find their dream job.”