‘The power of work’: Goodwill CEO sheds light on the nonprofit’s workforce development initiatives

Goodwill Industries of New Mexico is largely known for its thrift stores, where people donate everything from clothes to grenades and coffins, according to CEO and President Shauna Kastle.

“I’m not kidding, literally anything you can think of,” Kastle told a room of New Mexico business leaders at the Economic Forum of Albuquerque on Wednesday.

Kastle’s presentation comes as the local nonprofit, now in its 85th year, embarks on a season of expansion and growth. Goodwill opened its 20th New Mexico store on Albuquerque’s West Side in August and will open two more stores in April and late summer, according to Melissa Stock, chief marketing and development officer for Goodwill.

But Goodwill New Mexico, one of 150 autonomous Goodwill organizations across North America, is more than a thrift store business — it’s a major driver of workforce development in the state.

“Like many of you in this room, most people just think of Goodwill as retail or donations,” Kastle said. “When they hear Goodwill, they picture our thrift stores, and that’s fair, because it is the most visible part of what we do. But retail is simply the revenue engine.”

Goodwill puts 88 cents of every dollar made through its retail stores toward its free services, which are largely geared toward workforce development and helping New Mexicans find jobs.

In addition to social services, the nonprofit offers 11 diverse workforce programs focusing on veteran support, youth development, reentry assistance for formerly incarcerated individuals, job readiness and building a skilled clean energy workforce.

In 2025, the organization served 23,492 people, provided 1,473 hours of free skills training and placed 1,875 people in positions of employment.

With the strides made also come several workforce challenges, Kastle said. Through a study conducted in December and published in February, Goodwill Industries International found that more than half of the respondents — 56% — said the current economy makes it difficult to use their education and skill set, limiting career opportunities.

The study also reported elevated levels of unemployment among younger workers compared to other generations, coinciding with a “silver tsunami” of increased retirements among older generations.

Kastle also touched on the challenges specific to New Mexico, including a labor force participation rate below the national average, an open job market with 30,000 positions available and an unemployment rate of roughly 4%.

“We don’t have a job shortage, we have an alignment challenge,” Kastle said. “The mismatch between the skills people have and the roles that are available has never been more apparent.”

One of the ways Goodwill is working to bridge that disconnect is through its Goodwill Clean Tech Accelerator — a workforce development program that equips people with the skills and credentials to fill in-demand, entry-level clean energy jobs.

Goodwill New Mexico was one of the first U.S. Goodwill organizations to pilot the program last year, when it launched its intensive four-week Solar Installer Training Program.

Solar installation is one of three career pathways the accelerator program offers. The other two are heat pump technician training, coming to Goodwill this year, and electric vehicle supply equipment training, launching next year.

Goodwill is on its fifth solar training cohort since launching the program, which welcomed 60 trainees last year. Goodwill aims to have 90 trainees this year and 150 by 2027 — largely with help from a new Clean Tech Workforce Training Facility the organization has in the works.

The nonprofit is currently remodeling and building onto an old car rental building, near Sonic, on its San Mateo Boulevard campus to create the roughly 12,000-square-foot facility — the state’s first dedicated clean tech workforce training space, according to Goodwill.

The facility, slated to open in late summer, will feature lab areas, a warehouse space, a lobby, offices and a break room — significantly growing the nonprofit’s accelerator program capacity. It will cost $1.3 million to build, said Stock, prompting Goodwill to launch a capital campaign to fund the project.

The expansion was fueled in part by a national trend of growth in the clean energy sector, which grew by 400,000 between 2020 and 2023, according to the U.S. Department of Energy’s 2024 report. The department’s latest data for New Mexico says the solar industry employed 3,378 New Mexicans in 2024, accounting for more than half of the state’s electrical power generation workers.

The fuels sector is still the state’s largest source of energy employment, but current state leadership has prioritized clean energy investments and policies over the last several years, aiming to establish the state’s identity as an advanced energy hub.

“The future of New Mexico’s economy is being built right now and if we don’t intentionally build the workforce alongside it, we will repeat the same shortages,” Kastle said. “We launched the clean tech accelerator because we see where the economy is going. Solar and clean energy infrastructure are expanding. If workforce development lags, industry growth opportunities stall. So we’re building the capacity now.”

Federal funding cuts for clean energy projects did not deter the organization’s clean tech expansion strategy, Kastle said, adding that “administrations change but the planet” does not. High demand for the accelerator program, which the CEO said isn’t having any issues placing trainees with employers, has affirmed the strategy.

At the heart of the nonprofit’s expansion is Goodwill’s mission to support both people and the planet, Kastle said. Items that don’t sell after five weeks are sold through the recycling and salvage market. The more stores Goodwill opens, the more it can fund, support and spread awareness of programs that directly serve New Mexicans, Kastle said.

“These programs produce job-ready individuals who strengthen businesses and contribute to the economy,” Kastle said. “(These are) individuals who can participate in the workforce, (and) gain dignity and purpose through the power of work. When that happens, we all win. This is Goodwill — we provide a hand up, not a handout.”

Kylie Garcia covers retail and real estate for the Journal. You can reach her at kgarcia@abqjournal.com.