Goodwill’s new Elkhart campus increasing economic mobility for adult learners
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As part of ongoing efforts to reimagine the former Pierre Moran Mall, now Woodland Crossings, Goodwill Industries of Michiana recently celebrated the opening of phase one of its new Elkhart campus, which aims to be an anchor and neighborhood opportunity hub.
Serving as Goodwill’s new location for mission services, the campus will house the organization’s Excel Center, Nurse-Family Partnership, The Academy, Ability First and Second Chance programs. Nonprofits in the area will also have access to reserve meeting rooms at the location.
“We open more than just doors. We open opportunity, support and a path to a better future for so many here in our community,” Goodwill Michiana President Debie Coble said. “This campus will provide education, training, job placement and career building skills to individuals who are seeking a fresh start.”
The Excel Center provides adults with the opportunity to earn their High School Equivalency (HSE) diploma, formerly known as the GED. As of February, the center had 275 individuals enrolled. Goodwill currently offers a free construction program to help residents gain in-demand skills for high wage careers.
“We’re not just changing their life; we are changing the life of their children too, because every week we have about 25 little ones running around in Kids Excel,” Coble noted. “Last year, we had 33 individuals complete (our construction) training. With the addition of a second instructor, we know that we are going to be able to serve even more people.”
Coble speaks about the consolidation of Goodwill’s services in the new Elkhart campus, highlighting the impact the Excel Center and The Academy have had on residents.
The 48,000 square foot renovation fits perfectly into one of the major tenets of Mayor Rod Roberson’s ASPIRE Elkhart plan: building strong, sustainable neighborhoods. Roberson wants one word to describe Elkhart’s neighborhoods: vibrancy.
“For a city to pull off something like this, it cannot happen without partners like Goodwill, Heart City Health and the Chamber of Commerce,” Roberson said. “We have planning going on to help reimagine what this space means to the people that live in and around it.”
The new location can hold up to 350 students seeking to attain their HSE certification, while Academy construction classes—the only program that currently has a waitlist—stay small with about 20 students per cohort to maintain the quality of the program. Additional classes will be added when phase two of the project is completed.
“While we rely on our stores a lot for our funding, we welcome employers that would love to come alongside us and help fund our skills training,” Coble said. “We have a wonderful partnership with Gurley Leep in South Bend for our automotive training over there, and that is something we’ll be looking to continue over here.”
Recommendations from a business advisory council including local business leaders will help inform what certifications the new hub will offer. Coble added that Goodwill works with students and external vendors to obtain the desired skill set. The center will also equip residents with soft skills that improve employability.
“Anytime we’re improving the skills and capabilities of our residents, it is economic development at its highest because you want folks to be qualified and capable of doing the jobs of 2040/2050,” Roberson noted. “Excel brings this type of change to the lives of folk who can ill afford to fund it. It’s a wonderful opportunity for people to advance their lives by learning these types of skills.”
As one of the largest manufacturing counties in the U.S., Elkhart generates jobs on a regular basis and employers routinely partner with the Excel Center, Ivy Tech Community College and the Elkhart Community Schools Adult and Community Education program to find competent hands or upskill their existing workforce.
“Adult education is in the best interest of our community,” said Brandon Eakins, director of career and technical education at the Elkhart Area Career Center. “For people that do not attain their high school diploma for one reason or another, it’s important for them to understand that it doesn’t mean that they can’t; it just means it’s gonna be different.”
In addition to offering HSE classes, Elkhart Community Schools offers an English Language Learners (ELL) course for residents. From his experience, Eakins said that the ELL courses have been a good entryway to help parents who speak other languages engage better with their child’s education within the K-12 system.
The career center currently offers courses in welding, phlebotomy, child development, Auto CAD 2D & 3D, certified logistics, and medical interpretation while actively looking for ways to stack learning and add value for adult learners who come in for HSE or ELL classes at first. Courses rotate in and out based on business needs and teacher availability.
“The biggest challenge when trying to roll out certification-based programming is finding somebody that can instruct or wants to instruct in those evening hours,” Eakins said. “Because it’s usually in addition to something they’re doing full-time.”
Through the Elkhart Area Career Center, industry partners also get access to the high school and adult learner talent pipelines and can also choose to upskill current employees. Elkhart Community Schools also partners with the regional WorkOne office to help upskill folks who may need certification to access higher-paying jobs.
Navigating child care, transportation and work schedules are some of the challenges Eakins said prevents adult learners from successfully completing the programs. To solve these, the school offers virtual classes, morning classes and hosts its classes on a reliable public transport line.
“The demand is very real. Specifically in our region, demand is from ELL,” Eakins said. “When I started with adult education six years ago, we had a good balance between those trying to get their high school credential and ELL, now it’s a 1:3 ratio.”
Just three blocks away from the new Goodwill campus, Eakins sees potential for partnerships.
“Collaborations like that are huge, because they’re going to be working with a lot of the same populations we are,” Eakins said. “And there may be services that they can’t provide, that we may be able to provide, and vice versa.”
With current high school graduation rates between 90% to 93%, Greater Elkhart Chamber of Commerce CEO Levon Johnson said that adult learning opportunities help recapture lost workforce strength, increasing long-range ability for personal economic success.
“The Excel Center, the Elkhart Area Career Center, Ivy Tech and any program helping individuals increase those skills have a direct line to employment stabilization as well as increased wages,” Johnson said. “Adult education provides those opportunities that even coming out of high school, students didn’t realize they were going to need.”
Alluding to the prevalence of technology in many previously manual processes across industries, Johnson said adult education also provides a quick and accessible way for workers to build new skill sets.
“Especially in manufacturing, a company may have needed 100 welders at one point. Now there is technology that allows for welding to be done mechanically,” Johnson continued. “So the company needs people that know how to operate and fix those machines. That’s a different skill set than the actual welding itself.”
Adding that adult-ed programs help strengthen talent infrastructure for Elkhart’s local economy, Johnson, who previously worked with the Elkhart Area Career Center, said that the relationship between businesses and these programs could also be seen as public private partnerships.
“It takes government. It takes education. It takes private business, and as long as those three are collaborating, it’s a win for our community,” Johnson said. “From a business standpoint, it’s probably one of the best economic investments you can make, helping your employees with their education so they can meet the needs you have.”
Providing access to better economic opportunities, Goodwill is just the first of several transformative efforts planned for the former Sears building. Heart City Health is expected to open its 52,000-square-foot Medical Center in early 2026.
“(This) marks a monumental chapter in Heart City Health’s 30-year journey of providing inclusive, compassionate care to our community,” Heart City Health CEO Esleen Fultz said in a statement. “This redeveloped facility will double our capacity to serve Elkhart while ensuring that every person—insured or not—receives the high-quality care they deserve.”
The new Medical Center will offer urgent care, primary care, pediatrics, imaging, physical therapy, chiropractic care, pain management, behavioral and mental health services.
“We will keep our nose and head down, working with everyone that is necessary in order to continue to accelerate the relationships,” Roberson said. “We realize that these 30 acres make up a very small part of what this city is and that it can be a catalyst for this entire neighborhood.”