MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (WMOT) -- A new study suggests Goodwill Industries is having an outsized impact on Tennessee’s economy.
The Business and Economic Research Center at Middle Tennessee State University has been working on the economic impact study for about a year.
Center Director Murat Arik says Goodwill of Middle and Western Tennessee alone pumps nearly half a billion dollars into the state’s economy.
Arik says the most surprising finding for him was the way Goodwill creates partnerships to provide job skills to otherwise unemployable Tennesseans.
“They have an extensive, exemplary partnership between…with private industries; the industry partners and also the government and educational partners together to train…more than 10,000 individuals annually.”
Dr. Arik says the study indicates that for every dollar Goodwill spends, it returns more than $3 to the communities it serves.
Arik also notes that Goodwill is poised for tremendous growth in the coming years.
Would you like to review the complete Goodwill Indistries study by BERC?