LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The new Goodwill West Louisville Opportunity Center has the mission of helping Louisvillians transform their lives by preparing them for new careers.

What You Need To Know

  • Goodwill Industries opened the West Louisville Opportunity Center in March 

  • The Opportunity Center is a hub for job training and education for people looking to start new careers

  • Maurice Douglas recently completed several career prepping courses

  • It's been difficult for him to find employment, but through the course at Goodwill, he's confident he will find success

The new Goodwill West Louisville Opportunity Center has the mission of helping Louisvillians transform their lives by preparing them for new careers. Since leaving the prison system, Maurice Douglas has struggled to find full-time work. 

“I’ve been out of prison for eight years now, and it’s been tough...trying to find a job,” Douglas said. Douglas is more confident than ever he’ll land good work since completing several free courses at the new West Louisville Opportunity Center. The center opened in March.

“I always recommend people go to the Goodwill, go to the Goodwill. And you know, I end up going to the Goodwill myself,” Douglas said. He took classes teaching soft skills, computer literacy and creating an effective resume. 

The West Louisville Opportunity Center is a hub for all the training and educational opportunities Goodwill and its partners offer. Participants are assigned a career coach, helping someone like Douglas identify skill sets they have and new ones they can develop. 

“So we bring people in here and they see what we’re doing and that’s going to permeate the community,” Anne Peak said at the open house the center hosted on Tuesday, April 16. 

Peak is the manager of the Goodwill Industries West Louisville Opportunity Center. She is a social worker by trade, meeting new people every day and helping guide them to a new career. “We have so many people in our community and really across the world who didn’t necessarily get an equal start, or maybe they got an equal start and the path veered,” she explained.

The people visiting the open house come from all walks of life.

“I went in and did five, got out for a year and went back in and did another five, got out and went back and did another six got out and did another five, 25 all together,” Douglas said of his time incarcerated. And being a person convicted of a felony makes finding gainful employment very difficult. 

Douglas spent half of his life incarcerated, but his time has been served, and the 57-year-old says there’s a lot of life left to live. Douglas sees himself working at a Goodwill Store, and with the training he’s received, he’s confident he’ll find success.

The Goodwill West Louisville Opportunity Center is located at 2820 W. Broadway and walk-ins are welcomed and all courses are free for participants.

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