The Goodwill Career Center in Gastonia is moving

The Goodwill Career Center on Armstrong Street in Gastonia is moving downtown to 359 W. Main St.

Haley Smith, a spokeswoman for the company, said at a City Council meeting Aug. 20, that the company recently decided to make the move.

“We didn’t want to leave Gastonia,” Smith said.

In recent years, the company opened a miniature version of its larger Charlotte area career center in Gastonia.

According to Smith, the Gastonia location has been so successful that the company did not want to shut it down permanently.

With the current Armstrong Street lease expiring at the end of November, Goodwill Industries of the Southern Piedmont will move into the building on West Main Street, she said.

Smith added that they hope to reopen to the public before Thanksgiving.

The company currently plans to invest a total of $152,906 into the façade of the building including a $30,000 grant from the city toward façade improvements from a special fund created by extra taxes from business owners in Gastonia’s downtown.

On the inside, the building will include office space for employees, classrooms and a collaborative workspace.

The Goodwill Career Center currently offers Gastonia residents access to job search assistance, job readiness training, 1-1 career coaching, staffing services through GoodWork Staffing, and hiring events.

The company is also leasing the parking lot adjacent to its new building to offer forklift certification classes.

In an interview last year, Chief Program Officer of the Southern Piedmont Region Raquel Lynch said the skills workers gain from Goodwill classes can help set them apart in the workforce and give them access to coaching, help building a resume, and connection to employers that partner with Goodwill.

For more information interested residents can visit goodwillsp.org .

This article originally appeared on The Gaston Gazette: The Goodwill Career Center in Gastonia is moving