GED-Achieving the dream leads to a 2nd chance

Program Overview

Goodwill –Suncoast has operated residential re-entry programs for the incarcerated for more than 28 years. Our program supports inmates who desire support to re-enter the community and to find employment. Goodwill Tampa Bay Community Correction programs offers educational, personal health & well-being, and workforce training as well as employment services to individuals who come to Goodwill during the final 2 years of their prison sentence. We have federal, state and county contracts to take inmates into our program. Inmates volunteer to enter the program and Goodwill currently has an 8 month waiting list at the prisons as we have an excellent record of assiting residents to successfully re-enter society. All residents receive educational, training and employment services. Approximately 35% of the residents do not have a High School diploma or a GED. To be successful in life and the workforce, Goodwill requires our program residents to attain their GED while in our program. Our employment rate on average for our residents is approximately 92%. Classes are taught both during the day and evening hours to ensure every resident has an opportunity to learn the educational basics required for a GED. The opportunity to move upward in the workforce is directly attributed to level of education, so a GED is essential for individual growth and success.

In addition to GED, residents partake in the following trainings:

Resume building classes

Mock Interviews to build interviewing skills

Job leads to employers that have worked with Goodwill in the past

Financial literacy classes i.e. building credit, opening checking accounts, etc.

Community Volunteers come to the Center to counsel women in building self-esteem.

Religious services are provided for residents on Sundays.

Alcoholics Anonymous volunteers provide group meetings.

Cost Info