For people in precarious financial straits, Goodwill Kentucky has been able to shepherd several into more stable circumstances through its Bowling Green Opportunity Center.

More people have taken advantage of career coaching, employment-readiness training, financial support and other services offered by the opportunity center than in previous years, and local Goodwill leaders say that more people are becoming aware of the support structure meant to bring people out of poverty.

“We’ve been seeing an uptick of people truly in crisis and have absolutely nothing, and we have to knock down each one of those barriers that we can,” said Traci Houchins, manager of the Bowling Green Opportunity Center.

As of Dec. 18, the local opportunity center has seen 1,621 unique visitors in 2025, up from 1169 the previous year.

More than 700 people have met regularly with a Goodwill Kentucky career coach, about 380 people who have come to the opportunity center on the U.S. 31-W By-Pass have gained employment and 11 people have earned industry-recognized certifications.

Five career coaches, a support specialist and a facilitator are on hand to teach soft skills to help people become more attractive to employers.

From the moment of intake, Houchins said it is typically a three-week process before a client begins job interviews, having spent the previous time going through an “employability boot camp” that steers clients toward a state of work-readiness.

Chad Spencer, regional director of career services for Goodwill Kentucky, said that visitors to the opportunity centers have typically been referred there by workers at local jails or drug treatment centers who recognize the opportunities the center can present to people looking to put their lives back together.

Additionally, the Another Way program, a partnership formed last year between Goodwill and the city to provide opportunities for people to gain job skills training and work-based learning opportunities as an alternative to panhandling, has funneled people into the opportunity center during this year.

“Some people come to us with no skill set and that’s where we like to utilize our stores, they’re a great place for someone getting back to their routine of everyday life in society, getting some of those transferable skills we can offer in the store and then shopping them to employer partners,” Spencer said. “I like to tell our partners that we’re good at what we do, which is giving people hope and relieving barriers to employment…we look at our retail space as a fundraiser for the career services department.”

For each dollar spent in a Goodwill store, Spencer said about 90 cents goes to an affiliated opportunity center, helping to support clinics in which people with criminal records can get certain convictions expunged, digital literacy training and other services.

Houchins said the local opportunity center holds twice-weekly orientations for interested clients, providing an opportunity for them to learn about the services offered at the center and then enroll in classes pertaining to basic life skills, stress management and work readiness among other areas.

“Most of our success comes from our clients telling their friends how we’ve helped them, for instance maybe it’s people in recovery homes seeing people gaining employment and being able to pay their rent and move on to bigger and better,” Houchins said.

A private Facebook group dedicated to the Bowling Green opportunity center touts a number of the successes, including a post earlier this month focusing on a man named Rudy who was previously incarcerated but who through his work with his career coach has ben able to gain work at a local factory, obtain housing and buy a vehicle, and who harbors ambitions to earn his commercial driver’s license.

“I like to say we’re hope dealers because we want to put confidence in everybody and let them know they’re worthy of self-sufficiency and employment,” Spencer said. “We see lots of people trying to upskill themselves to be able to qualify for better employment…everything is relationship-based, as we build more relationships with referral sources, more people are hearing what we do and seeing the results of people that they know and want to follow in their footsteps.”

Houchins said that Goodwill follows up with people who have gone through the opportunity center classes and secured jobs for up to a year, offering financial support if necessary.

Ambitions for 2026 include a renovation of the existing career center, financed by a $2.7 million U.S. Economic Development Administration grant awarded last year, with Spencer saying the planned buildout would double the size of the facility, allowing for employers to come in and do open interviews and for Goodwill to host more events.

“What’s most gratifying for more is seeing people become self-sufficient and thriving after they’ve come here with no hope,” Houchins said. “They’ve been beaten down, some of them are homeless or have things in their background, and our staff makes them feel worthy and they can get those interviews, get those jobs, regain custody of their children, get their own apartment or home and become a family unit.”