Feeling Good About Working is the Goal of Employment First!

Ohio Valley Goodwill has been about helping people go to work in the Greater Cincinnati community for 100 years. As one of the largest employment and training centers in Southwest Ohio, Goodwill serves more than 3500 individuals annually and last year, helped 919 get jobs in the community. As a certified Employment First provider agency, Goodwill is pleased to be able to share the stories of people that the agency has helped to achieve personal success. One of those individuals is Bethany Noschang.

Bethany works at the Kenwood Town Center in Cincinnati which is a very busy community epicenter with hundreds of visitors flocking the mall on a daily basis. On Mondays, during the busy lunchtime rush, Bethany offers hungry customers samples of the products served by her employer, Chick-fil-A and welcomes them to the restaurant. Bethany works from 11:30- 2 pm with the support of her Goodwill job coach.

Bethany is one of the many people that people that Goodwill has assisted to find a job through the Employment First initiative.
Passed by Governor Kasich in 2012, Employment First stipulates that community employment is competitive employment that takes place in an integrated setting.
“¢Every individual of working age will have a person-centered planning process to identify their desired employment outcome and their place on the path to community employment
“¢Services and supports will be provided to help the individual move along the path to community employment.
Bethany’s current job situation is a result of Goodwill’s efforts to support her on her own person-centered plan for employment. Her Job Coach provides the level of support that Bethany needs in order to perform her job responsibilities as her position requires.

“I was talking with the Employment Services team at Goodwill and said I really wanted a job in the community. At the same time, I still like working at Goodwill so I wanted to be able to do both,” explains Bethany. “I really enjoy working at Chick-fil-A on Mondays,” said Bethany. Not only does Bethany greet customers and offer samples at lunchtime, she is also responsible for monitoring how long the samples can stay on her tray. Chicken samples are only permitted to be on the tray for 10 minutes while other samples can be available longer. Bethany has been working at the Kenwood Town Center for almost three months and is really enjoying the opportunity to get to know people at the restaurant as well as her customers.

“Ohio Valley Goodwill is an award-winning employment and training center and we are committed to providing the types of supports that people need to be successful in their desired jobs,” said Aimee Rittner, Asst. Director of Community-Based Services. “We work collaboratively with Opportunities for Ohioans with Disabilities in our efforts to help the individuals we serve to obtain their employment outcome.”
For more information about Goodwill’s programs and services, please visit www.goodwillemploymentservices.com