LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — For the past year, the Goodwill West Opportunity Center has been helping people in west Louisville.
Standing tall at 28th and West Broadway, people in the area said the opportunity was needed there, and they have been making the most of it.
The center, on the same block as the new Norton West Hospital, is a mall-like setting inside, a place where people can go for many resources.
More than a dozen partners are housed at the opportunity center, including Big Brothers Big Sisters and Kentucky Career Center.
Those organizations help with housing, education, criminal backgrounds, addiction and childcare.
It’s something many say has been needed in that area for years.
In the year that it’s been open, it’s already reached more than 50,000 people, like Ronrico Williams Jr.
“If this place wasn’t here, I may not be where I am today,” Williams said.
Just a few months ago, Williams walked through the doors at the Goodwill West Opportunity Center, living on hope.
“I had a long life of crime and addiction, so justice impacted background, dealing with drugs, living life the wrong way, doing the wrong thing,” Williams said. “I ultimately decided to do whatever it took to change my life and get back on track and do the right thing.”
For the past year, the Opportunity Center has brought Williams and others in a similar situation access to resources.
“Before, people that grew up in the west end that were facing these barriers and hurdles and obstacles didn’t have anywhere to go,” Williams said. “Resources was scarce, wasn’t very many ways to find help, but with this place being here it gave, it gave us somewhere to go, somewhere to seek out help.”
Over the course of the past year, the opportunity center has enrolled more than 1,500 people just in job services but with all of those partners, it has reached more than 60,000.
“The 28th Street corridor has changed and it’s evolved just because someone believed enough in west Louisville at 28th and Broadway to try to make a difference,” Emery Lee, Director of Goodwill West Opportunity Center, said.
Now an anchor at that corner of 28th Street and West Broadway, leaders said they’ve already seen that hope turn to change for the 28th Street Corridor.
