Esther Castillo benefited from Goodwill by landing a house-cleaning job at Pocasset Bay Manor in Johnston.

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The Providence Journal / John Freidah

A flagging economy means more activity for Goodwill Industries, both across the country and in Rhode Island.

Goodwill is known nationally for its retail outlets that sell donated goods — although there are no Goodwill stores in Rhode Island — but the organization considers itself primarily a job-training and employee-placement service.

Jim Gibbons, president and CEO of Goodwill Industries International, based in Rockville, Md., said Goodwill Industries nationwide provided job training and placement programs to about 1.1-million people last year, an increase of about 20 percent over 2006, and he believes the figure will grow this year. “The economy is placing more demands on our services,” he said.

In Rhode Island, Goodwill Industries has shown significant growth. Christine Yankee, vice president of program services, said Goodwill Industries of Rhode Island provided services to 1,307 people last year. (Goodwill uses a program year that runs from July 1 to June 30), compared with 1,024 the previous year. Goodwill found jobs for 107 people last year, compared with S90 the previous year.

Yankee said the figures for the first few months of the current year, since June 30, show demand for Goodwill’s services continuing to rise by about 35 percent. Just a few weeks ago, she said, Goodwill hired an additional evaluator to deal with incoming clients, bringing the number from three to four.

The vocational evaluations are a key part of the Goodwill process, Yankee said. “It’s very thorough. We want to get a very clear picture of a person, their interests and attitudes. We want to make sure that when we put a person in a job, it’s the right fit.” Yankee said job-retention rates for employees placed by Goodwill are 87 percent over three months and 78 percent over six months.

Yankee said finding the jobs is not easy, particularly in a period of high unemployment, but that Goodwill works hard at building relationships with employers. Goodwill deals with about 200 employers across the state, she said, among them Big Lots, Pocassset Bay Manor, Citizens Bank, Lifespan, Bally Total Fitness and Family Dollar stores.

“We have good relationships, but it’s not easy,” Yankee said. “It’s convincing employers that we make sure someone is ready [for work], and that they have our support if there are any issues.”

Jeffrey D. Machado, president and CEO of Goodwill Industries of Rhode Island, said the economic problems plaguing the state are among the factors bringing more people to Goodwill. The organization’s visibility also increased last spring when Citizens Bank and Channel 10 named Goodwill as a “Champion in Action” in the work force development category. The award came with a $25,000 grant, plus media exposure on Channel 10.

As a result of the publicity, Machado said, Goodwill was getting between 15 and 20 additional inquiries a week from people interested in its services. And the grant money made it possible for Goodwill to help people who might not have been eligible before.

Goodwill Industries of Rhode Island is a bit of an odd duck in the overall Goodwill system, which has 169 affiliates in North America. Almost all of them run stores as a source of income — Rhode Island is one of the few that does not. Machado said the organization did operate three stores in the state between 1996 and 2000, with near-disastrous results.

“We almost went bankrupt. We were losing almost $40,000 a month,” he said. “People knew Salvation Army [stores] in the state, but not Goodwill. In hindsight, we probably should have done more advertising.”

Rhode Island’s Goodwill Industries still collects clothing, which it either uses for its own clients or sells in bulk to other Goodwill affiliates or other organizations that deal with large quantities of used clothing. Machado said he’s considering giving retail another try, although there are no specific plans. Machado said that, as far as he knows, only the Goodwill affiliates in Detroit and Rhode Island don’t run their own stores.

Rhode Island’s Goodwill refers to itself as the oldest vocational rehabilitation facility in the country, with roots that go back to 1863, when it was called the Irrepressible Society, formed to help wounded Civil War veterans. Since its beginning in the 19th century, the organization has also been known as the Bureau of the Handicapped, Community Workshops, Vocational Resources Inc., and finally Goodwill Industries. The organization actually predates Goodwill Industries, which was started in 1902 in Boston by a Methodist minister.

Goodwill, with headquarters at 100 Houghton St., in Providence, has an annual budget of about $1.8 million. Its largest source of income comes from fees it gets through the state Department of Human Services, particularly the Office of Rehabilitation Services, which refers clients to Goodwill for evaluation and possible job training. Stephen Brunero, administrator for the Office of Rehabilitation Services, estimated that the state’s vocational rehabilitation program refers between 700 and 750 people each year to Goodwill.

Goodwill’s longtime tradition has been in finding employment opportunities for people with disabilities, although Machado prefers to speak of “barriers” to employment. “Our mission is still to find employment for people with barriers. What’s changing is the nature of those barriers,” Machado said.

The list includes people with physical or mental challenges, people transitioning from welfare to work, people with hearing impairments, high school students at risk of dropping out, people with learning disabilities and people who have had an injury requiring retraining or a career change.

Some of these clients might primarily speak and understand Spanish, so Goodwill now runs a program that combines English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) with a work experience component.

Esther Castillo, of Providence, a 42-year-old single mother with four children, is a graduate of Goodwill’s ESOL program. She now works as a housekeeper at Pocasset Bay Manor, a retirement and assisted-living center in Johnston. She’s been on the job about three months. Castillo, who had been receiving welfare, said she was referred to Goodwill by the state’s Department of Human Services. Castillo said she’s off welfare, although she still receives food stamps.

“It’s a good program,” she said. “It’s very important to know the language in this country to get a better job and a better life.”

Natalia Montoya, Castillo’s caseworker at Goodwill, said there are about 25 people in the ESOL program. “The goal of the program is not just to improve English skills, but to find and maintain employment,” she said. Montoya said Castillo did some work at Pocasset for two weeks as part of the ESOL program, and ultimately was offered a job.

Another significant part of Goodwill’s work is with high school students, a transitional resources program that allows students to obtain some work experience and career exploration opportunities while still attending school. Goodwill also runs a separate seven-week summer jobs program in July and August.

Goodwill has contracts with four school districts — East Providence, Smithfield, Bristol/Warren and Central Falls — to provide programs for high school students. The students are selected by each of the participating school districts.

Machado said Goodwill tries to stay ahead of the curve in anticipating the needs of both its clients and potential employers.

One of its services, for example, is called “travel training,” which is teaching clients how to use the public transportation system in Rhode Island, such as reading route maps. Machado said the two biggest problems Goodwill hears about from its clients are transportation and child care. (Yankee said 55 percent of Goodwill’s clients are dependent on public transportation.). Machado said Goodwill is considering providing transportation services and even creating its own childcare facilities down the road.

In terms of employers, Machado said Goodwill is trying to provide the skills they’re looking for.

One is customer service, which means not only training people to use cash registers, but teaching them necessary “soft skills,” such as proper attitudes.

Machado said he’s been hearing about a need for forklift operators, and is considering beginning a training program in running a forklift. It wouldn’t be terribly difficult, he said, because Goodwill already has money to acquire a forklift at its Houghton Street facility that would be used to move bales of donated clothing.

Ultimately, Machado said, Goodwill is all about putting people to work.

“If we can get people into steady jobs and provide for their families, that’s a huge success story . . . Between 100 and 120 people a year are placed in full-time jobs. Maybe that doesn’t seem like a big deal, but when you hear their stories, it is a big deal,” he said.

asmith@projo.com