Keith Parker is the president and CEO of Goodwill of North Georgia, which is the largest Goodwill network on the east coast. Parker was present at the Atlanta Business League’s Congress on the State of Black Business and was the moderator on the panel discussing economic equity and the effect it has on infrastructure around Atlanta.
Parker spoke with rolling out about his role and what Goodwill is doing in connection to infrastructure funding.
What should people know about infrastructure?
There is an enormous investment in infrastructure in metro Atlanta and around the country. Literally, over a trillion dollars is going to be spent in infrastructure over the next few years and metro Atlanta and the state of Georgia are big recipients of some of those dollars. I view my role, as well as many of the panelists who represented the city of Atlanta, DeKalb County, GDOT, and the airport, as this opportunity to create new avenues for minority and small businesses, to create wealth and to create new opportunities for folks, for their families, for their communities, and the entire region. This is a very exciting time, so if you are a small-business owner and you seek to expand your business, seek us out, and we can tell you about those next steps.
How is Goodwill connected to infrastructure in Georgia?
Workforce development is our love language. We help people no matter where they might be, whether it’s coming out of the criminal justice system, coming out of poverty, or just a person who has a great education and doing well but have found themselves at a part of their careers where they are not moving. We have literally dozens of different programs to teach people a variety of high-demand skills, so they can take full advantage of these opportunities I’ve just mentioned.
For those who want to create their own businesses, we have a program called GoodBIZ where we will teach you how to write up your business plan, how to make HR relationships, how to make sure you’re in compliance with all the local state and federal laws so that when you get started with your business, you have a great opportunity for success.
