The nonprofit’s retail sales provide the funding for its workforce programs. That pair of khakis you bought could help someone land a good career.

“We hire people that otherwise might struggle to find work,” Contreras said. “We do everything we can to remove those barriers. The barriers could include an education. It could be they don’t speak the language. It could be they’ve got a physical disability or a mental health disability. … That’s what we were formed to do 121 years ago, or 78 years ago in San Antonio. And that’s what we continue to do today.”

Contreras took the job in 2021 after working for the city of San Antonio for 12 years, rising to be an assistant city manager. In that position, he oversaw efforts to draw more flights to San Antonio International Airport. He also worked on the city’s Ready to Work job training program.

A native of San Antonio, Contreras earned degrees in law and public affairs from the University of Texas at Austin and practiced as a lawyer for about 15 years before he began his career in government. Goodwill San Antonio has opened several new stores under his leadership, including on the Northwest Side off Bandera Road in July and in Live Oak last month.

He described passionately how inspiring it is to watch the graduation ceremony for the career academy, with hundreds of people coming to support their loved ones.

“It’s family members. It’s parents, grandparents, nieces and nephews, friends. They’re coming to support individuals that struggled through what they had to struggle through to accomplish a goal,” he said. “The really cool thing is, that transforms that family. Because they now see that it’s possible. It also helps that individual, because they see they can do it.”

Contreras recently sat with the Express-News to discuss his career with the city, what he’s learned about workforce development, and the growing popularity of “thrifting.” The following has been edited for brevity and clarity.

Q: Did you always plan on going into government?

A: I think so. That’s always been an interest of mine. I pretty well concluded that I did not want to go into the federal government. I figured it would be at the state level or the local level.

Q: You wanted to be closer to the ground?

A: Absolutely. In my humble opinion, local government is the best form of government because you can do things to help people. We could fix a pothole. We could help somebody find something — help a developer get through that bureaucratic process that sometimes exists in government. We could help people in need financially. I really, really enjoyed that.

Q: Tell me about your decision to leave the city for Goodwill.

A: It was very difficult. I figured I’d be there forever. Initially, I said, “No, thank you. Got lots of work to do.” But the more I learned about Goodwill and the impact that it can have, the more excited I got. (It was) an opportunity to be on the front lines of something and be part of a solution in the workforce development area. As corny as it sounds, that’s it.

Q: Was your background in workforce development one of the reasons they chose you?

A: I don’t know. I will tell you, in my discussions with the board, they were looking for somebody who understood large organizations, and we’re a very large, complex organization. We’re not your typical kind of nonprofit that focuses on charity and so forth. We’re what is referred to often as a “social enterprise.” I know they were looking for someone who could engage the community with Goodwill and Goodwill with the community. First and foremost, they were looking for a leader to come in and help the agency grow.

Q: What lessons did you carry over in terms of workforce development?

A: There’s nothing like being on the front lines of workforce development to truly understand it. If you’re not doing the work directly, it’s hard to really understand the challenges that low- to moderate-income individuals have in accessing training and staying in training. There are housing issues, transportation issues, family issues, child care issues — all of which cost a significant amount of money. Especially after the pandemic, there are all kinds of health and emotional issues that people deal with.

Q: Goodwill San Antonio has added lots of stores in recent years. What’s driving the growth?

A: We are a workforce development agency; the more we can grow, the more opportunities we can give to people. We have a whole host of programs that we offer to our employees, including licensed professional counselors. We do training — so we upskill people. If someone comes to us without a high school diploma, we help them get access to the high school equivalency. So that’s why it’s important for us to grow. It’s not for the sake of growing; it’s so we can offer more services.

Q: Does Goodwill San Antonio operate differently from other Goodwills?

A: In San Antonio, we are a bit unique. We’re blessed to be in Military City USA. We have an opportunity by our nonprofit status to contract with a specific program — it’s called AbilityOne — that allows nonprofits who have at least 75% of their employees with a documented health disability to then contract and deliver services to the federal government. We have a lot of military bases here. There are probably 650 or so employees out of our 1,800 and change who are part of that program. With the revenue we generate from that operation, we then deploy that back into the community. We do job placement and workforce training through our academies and career centers.

Q: What do you do for the military bases?

A: Landscaping. We maintain all the trees at Camp Bullis, which is a huge job. We do document scanning; we have a contract with the Air Force and the Army to digitize medical records. We also run a call center at Randolph Air Force Base. Our employees are answering calls, emails, and texts from service members worldwide, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, trying to help them answer questions about a whole host of things.

Q: It seems like local Goodwills have a lot of autonomy to decide how to fulfill their missions.

A: Yeah. There are certain restrictions, certain standards that we have to all meet. But you’re allowed to try to address the needs of the local community. What is common among all of the Goodwills is a donation and a retail operation. It’s how most people know about Goodwill. We’re blessed to have a recognizable brand that most people have a good feeling about. The challenge that we have locally is explaining how much more we are than that. That’s a huge part of what we do.

Q: Going back to workforce development, what sectors do you train people to work in?

A: Our focus is on high-demand occupations. Most of our programs are in the medical field. We provide training in nursing—certified nursing assistants. You can become a certified medical assistant. We offer pharmacy technicians. A commercial driver’s license. Each of those offers a really good starting wage. Most of them — and we try to target employers that have this — offer benefits because our goal is to transform individuals' lives. We know the starting wage is an important part of it, but so are the benefits, and the opportunity for career pathways.

Q: You also have programs for at-risk youth, right?

A: The Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas did a study, pre-COVID, that identified that in our community there were about 30,000 individuals aged between 16 and 24 who were not in school and not working. A whole host of reasons why that’s the case — but 30,000. Let that sink in for a second. What the future could be for those individuals. Post-pandemic, some estimates indicate that it could very well be double. The city of San Antonio, Goodwill, and Communities In Schools partnered together to create what we call NXT Level. It’s identifying those 16- to 24-year-olds, working with schools, working with community groups to identify where they are, and helping them reconnect to school and employment.

We also operate a reentry program. We partner with a federal halfway house where people who have paid their debts to society are now trying to reenter the workforce. We know the struggles they will experience in trying to get a job or get a place to live. We are in that space, and we’re proud to be part of that program.

Q: I read that “thrifting” is growing in popularity. Is that right?

A: It absolutely has. We’ve seen over the last couple of years that I’ve been here both the number of shoppers increase and the amount that people are purchasing increased. Young people primarily find thrifting as socially responsible. I think they acutely understand that when you buy used, you’re helping the environment. And their values are consistent with that. There’s also great value. It’s fun getting something that you’re looking for that’s a great value. You never know what you’re gonna get when you when you walk into a Goodwill store. You never know what surprise you’re going to find. What a great way to shop.

 

Originally published on November 8, 2023 - San Antonio Express-News