Despite this, the renewable energy agency wants its 31,000 business customers and 200,000 residential customers to know it will survive.

“It’s rough going right now because we’re just learning how to walk,” Power Authority Chairman and Fullerton Mayor Fred Jung told the Business Journal.

“No other power authority in the state has had the contentiousness that Orange County has. Orange County is that way in nature.”

The OC Power Authority began selling power to businesses in April 2022, and six months later to residences.

Since its start, the entity has received criticism from both conservative and progressive politicians, some of whom won elections on platforms to abolish it or fire its chief executive.

It’s lost customers like the County of Orange and San Clemente, which opted to go with a different program in San Diego County. Huntington Beach plans to leave while the city of Irvine will vote again this week on whether it intends to withdraw from the agency next July, according to an agenda item for its Dec. 12 city council meeting.

Jung and interim Chief Executive Joe Mosca dismissed the idea that the agency is on its deathbed, pointing out it has $50 million in cash.

“It is not a dying thing,” Mosca exclaimed. “We are filling a gap in the market. There are residences and businesses that are demanding more renewables, more clean energy and we are giving them an option for the first time ever.

“Ten years from now, we’ll be in every major city” in Orange County, Mosca predicted.

Third of Californians

California in 2002 approved Community Choice Aggregation entities (CCA), which are set up to enable local governments to purchase power, set competitive rates and collect revenue. Thus far, about 25 have been formed in the state.

“A third of all Californians are serviced” by these entities, Jung said.

“This is the future. It’s important that folks recognize that. Offering choice in the marketplace is so uniquely American.”

The OC Power Authority, which was formed in late 2020, hired as its first CEO Brian Probolsky, who was involved in Orange County government in a variety of executive roles in the past decade and previously was an entrepreneur who started and sold technology firms.

What Probolsky lacked was a college degree and experience in the energy industry, according to critics and a Grand Jury report. He was fired earlier this year and was replaced on an interim basis by Mosca, who was hired by Probolsky last year.

Probolsky was dismissed because of public perception rather than competence, Jung said.

“The media narrative was against this CEO,” Jung said. “Nothing we could do as a board could change the narrative.”

Probolsky’s attorney, Megan Lencek, didn’t return a Business Journal request for comment.
Skeptics criticized the agency as naïve and doing something the private sector should.

“I don’t believe government is the right vehicle to promote competition,” said Casey McKeon, a Huntington Beach city council member.

McKeon was one of four council members who voted 4-3 earlier this year for Huntington Beach to exit the nonprofit, effective next June. McKeon said he’s heard from businesses who complained their electricity bills have risen anywhere from 30% to 100% since the city joined the OC Power Authority.

The city itself estimated it will save more than $300,000 annually by going back to Southern California Edison, McKeon said.

Earlier this year, McKeon told the press that the agency was “a total disaster and doomed for failure.” McKeon, who is currently on the OC Power Authority’s board of directors, has since softened his tone.

“It was doomed to failure; now it’s on a much better path and it could survive,” McKeon told the Business Journal. “They are making good strides.”

Even so, McKeon said there is “no chance” that Huntington Beach will reconsider and stay in the OC Power Authority.

Irvine City Council member Larry Agran is also bearish on the agency, saying each Irvine household that belongs to the agency is paying $15 to $40 more per month than typical.

“In my opinion, none of the so-called fixes have addressed the fundamentals that this agency makes any sense at all,” Agran told the Business Journal. “I don’t think its long-term chances of survival are good. They’re poor.”

The Irvine City Council this week is scheduled to discuss an Agran proposal to exit the agency. Agran said he doesn’t know if he has the necessary three votes to exit the agency on the same five-member council that last year voted down his proposal to leave.

Interim CEO

The nature of joint powers authority is tricky because of politics, Jung said.

“It becomes uniquely political even though it shouldn’t be,” he said. “If you look at the Metropolitan Water District in Southern California during its inception, it was a mess. Everybody was fighting over their rights. Now it’s extraordinarily well run.

“It’s the same with Orange County Transportation Authority. When it began it was rough going. Now it’s one of the best run organizations.”

The officials said the OC Power Authority has implemented a 24-point improvement plan to address weaknesses cited by various complaints, including some by the OC Grand Jury.

The board at press time was interviewing potential candidates for CEO. A permanent CEO is expected to be named by the end of the year.

Interim CEO Mosca is one of those candidates. An attorney by training, he has 10 years of experience in the energy industry, including with San Diego Gas & Electric and Southern California Gas Company. He was a founding member and first chairman of San Diego’s power authority, the state’s second largest power entity.

Renewable Buyer

Under the new system, the Power Authority outsources the procurement of energy to Folsom-based Pacific Energy Advisors, which buys the energy from producers of renewable energy like solar farms and wind farms.

Edison distributes the Power Authority’s energy to customers and handles the billing.
The agency said about 96% of its supply was procured from renewables last year, while Edison’s was 33%.

The Power Authority’s rates are based on a three-tier system where customers can choose the highest price, which has a goal of being 100% renewable and which 71% of its customers choose.

It’s more expensive than Edison’s programs, officials said.

The second tier, called “smart choice,” has a 69% renewable goal and is geared to be similarly priced to Edison’s.

A third tier is its basic rate, which has a 38% renewable goal, and is about 2 cents per kilowatt hour cheaper than Edison’s.

The Power Authority said all three rates exceeded their goals for renewable energy in 2022 (see chart, this page).

Exactly how much higher renewable energy costs than traditional sources is difficult to say, officials on both sides said, pointing out that natural gas prices have spiked in recent weeks.

The power authority officials said businesses are often willing to pay the higher price as a method to comply with corporate goals for environmental, social and governance reasons (ESG).

“We have gotten serious responses from our businesses because most of them have global goals around ESG,” Mosca said. “They see working with us as an important way to reach their sustainable goals.”

Profitable Nonprofit

The agency currently has 18 employees with a goal of 30 within a year.

In the year ended June 30, it reported sales of $276 million with operating expenses of $226.6 million, resulting in operating income of $49.6 million, according to its treasurer’s report.

The agency will have about $320 million in sales this fiscal year, Mosca said.

The nonprofit plans to eventually reinvest a significant amount back into its communities, such as more EV charging stations in Fullerton, Jung said.

The entity’s cash pile has grown from $14 million in June of 2022, to about $50 million currently. It has a goal of $88 million in cash by the end of its fiscal year in June, Mosca said.

The entity wants to use its cash balance to help it obtain within a couple years an AA or AAA rating by S&P Global Ratings, which will help lower its financing costs.

Jung pointed out that the Clean Power Alliance, the largest similar entity in the state with three million residents and businesses in Los Angeles and Ventura counties, received an “A-” rating from S&P Global Ratings in September.

“The Orange County Power Authority is about giving people a choice for the first time ever in their energy future,” Mosca said. “You’ve had a monopoly in this space for more than 100 years. We want to offer competitive rates and an option for the first time ever.

“We want to be the preeminent clean energy public agency in Orange County.”

Blackouts? Still Possible

California is betting big on renewable energy sources, having shuttered the San Onofre Nuclear Power Plant and other traditional generators of energy.

With these sources being reduced, are blackouts still possible, like the infamous one in Texas in 2021?

“We’re a bit more resilient in California” than Texas, said Fred Jung, chairman of the Orange County Power Authority and Fullerton Mayor. “On some levels, we can thank the great state of Texas. There are lessons we learned.

“We have to build out the infrastructure. We got to prepare for things we have promised we’d do.”

Jung doesn’t believe owners of commercial buildings need to buy generators to prepare for possible blackouts in the coming years.

“I’m fairly confident that we’re doing alright,” he said.

Nonetheless, Californians have endured rolling blackouts, including in 2020. Fears about renewable energy being able to keep up supply was evidenced in August when the state voted to keep open three natural gas plants operating through 2026 rather than closing them this year as planned, including one in Huntington Beach.

Natural gas was the largest supplier in 2022, providing 36% of the state’s demand while large hydroelectric plants chipped in another 9.2%.

Also, the state government last year decided to give a reprieve to its last remaining nuclear power plant at Diablo Canyon by extending its permit from 2025 to 2030. That power plant supplied 9.2% of the state’s needs in 2022.

By contrast, renewables supplied 36%, most notably 17% from solar power and 11% from wind power.

“We don’t want to retire a traditional asset that has a lot of capacity before we get things up and running,” Orange County Power Authority interim CEO Joe Mosca said. “There is an acknowledgement that there is a reasonable transition.”

The OC Power Authority in April signed a contract with Grace Orchard Energy Center LLC, which is developing a facility in Riverside to generate 90 megawatts of solar power and be capable of storing 30 megawatts of energy. It’s scheduled to go online in 2027 or 2028.

“Right now, we’re trying to ensure we’re bringing online as much generation as possible without retiring traditional resources that are needed in the market,” Mosca said. “We’re maintaining a balance.”

The post OC Power Authority Says Talk of Demise Premature appeared first on Orange County Business Journal.

Then the co-founder of Costa Mesa’s Wahoo’s Fish Taco and other area restaurant concepts was hit with a potential airborne toxic event.

Lee’s Toast Kitchen + Bakery opened about a year ago at The Village at Tustin Legacy shopping center, located about a quarter mile from the city’s now burned-out World War II-era blimp hangar at the shuttered Tustin Marine Corps Air Station.

Among businesses at the 22-acre shopping center, the restaurant is among the closest to the former 17-story hangar, which was still smoldering as of late last week.

Toast, with a sizeable outdoor seating area, closed following the fire that started on Nov. 7 “for the safety of our guests and employees,” a sign posted at the restaurant said.

It remains closed and will continue to be “until it’s safe,” given asbestos concerns and other issues related to the fire, Lee told the Business Journal on Nov. 15.

“We don’t know when we’re going to open again,” said Lee, who lamented a lack of communication and coordination from the city and other agencies since the onset of the fire.

“The city should have done a better job,” he said. “Mistakes were made after the fact.”

Toast counts about 13 full-time staff, and about eight part-time workers. Many employees were afraid to come to work, “and rightfully so,” Lee said.

Other shops and stores at the Regency Centers-owned shopping center, which is anchored by a Stater Bros. grocery store, remained open as of last week, with a fair amount of visitor traffic.

“If it’s not one thing, it’s another,” Lee said of the latest challenge facing his businesses.

Asbestos Testing

A timeline for what happens next for businesses, schools and proposed projects in the immediate vicinity of the sprawling 1,600-acre Tustin Legacy development remains in flux.

City officials and other agencies have given limited guidance of what environmental issues face the area, both in the near term and long term.

“Air monitoring units (AMUs) have been deployed around the site, and inside a 1.5-mile circumference around the hangar,” the city said in a Nov. 14 statement.

“These AMUs monitor for dust and smoke. Currently, there are no areas that are showing unhealthful levels. In addition, the monitoring shows no breathable asbestos in the air.”

Anaheim’s ATI Restoration LLC, a provider of restoration and emergency reconstruction services, was selected about a week ago for collecting and examining potential contaminated materials at the site.

Certified asbestos professionals from ATI were on-site last week, with a “catastrophe response team” trailer seen near the hangar. Company officials directed inquiries from the Business Journal about the extent of contamination they had found in the area to the city.

Likewise, the Tustin Unified School District contracted with Orange’s Envirocheck, an environmental inspection and consulting firm, to gauge asbestos and other air quality issues from the fire.

Most schools in the district had returned to in-class teaching as of last week after several days of closures, though others close to the hangar were still conducting classes virtually.

Projects on Tap

Tustin Legacy counts hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of ongoing and proposed developments for land surrounding the city’s two hangars, including existing new housing developments like Brookfield Residential’s 400-unit The Landing, where construction was ongoing as of last week.

The mega-development includes numerous new planned offices, senior living projects and educational facilities that have yet to break ground.

Advantech Co., a Taiwanese-based maker of industrial PCs, embedded Internet of Things devices and other tech products, earlier this year inked a deal that promised the construction of the company’s new North American headquarters at Tustin Legacy.

A ceremonial groundbreaking event for the project, which is expected to hold a six-story 108,942-square-foot office and a two-story 78,837-square-foot warehouse facility, was held in May, though construction has yet to begin in earnest.

Company officials last week told the Business Journal the project remained on track.

“There is no impact on our timeline for our new campus,” the company said. “We have felt no effects from the fire.”

Advantech remains committed to opening the project by late 2025 or early 2026, the company said.

In September, Confluent Senior Living and MorningStar Senior Living, both based in Denver, entered into an exclusive negotiating agreement with the city to develop MorningStar at Tustin Legacy, an approximately 283,000-square-foot senior living community.

The proposed Tustin facility, located on 6 acres within walking distance of the city’s two hangars, was anticipated to break ground in the first half of 2025, the companies said in September.

Reached for comment last week, the developers told the Business Journal that “the city will be handling all inquiries regarding the fire.”

Other companies with plans eyed for the area include REIT AvalonBay Communities Inc. of Arlington, Va., which along with Los Angeles-based affordable housing developer Abode Communities, entered into an exclusive negotiating agreement last year with the city to develop Legacy Village, a 19.4-acre mixed-use project including 1,208 apartments within the 1,600-acre Tustin Legacy development.

Renderings for the project highlighted the development’s proximity to the city’s hangars. By unit count, Legacy Village would be the largest apartment project at Tustin Legacy once complete, according to the city.

Over the past decade, nearly 800 apartments and over 1,000 homes have been built at Tustin Legacy, according to city filings.

The post Hangar’s Legacy appeared first on Orange County Business Journal.

“Social impact in general is woven through everything that we do,” Merage, Revitate’s partner and chief impact officer, told the Business Journal.

“With every investment, we look to see how we can include social impact. It’s very authentic to who we are as people.”

It’s found enough success with its first workforce housing fund that it’s now in the market to raise another $150 million for its Revitate Cherry Tree Fund II.

The investment firm has found three heavyweight believers in its strategy.

Revitate’s board of directors added three new members with deep pedigrees in business: Chris Cox, former chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission and a former longtime congressman; Jeremi Gorman, a former top executive at Netflix, Snap and Amazon; and Bill Cvengros, a former chief executive at Pacific Investment Management.

In October at the Orange County Museum of Art in Costa Mesa, Revitate hosted its annual Social Impact Summit where it celebrates “leaders making unique contributions at the intersection of business and social impact.”

Revitate is one of several companies highlighted in the Business Journal’s inaugural ESG Special Report, which begins on page 25.

Coming Attractions

Merage in 2021 co-founded Revitate with her brother Alex Bhathal, the company’s executive chairman and partner who this year won a Business Journal Excellence in Entrepreneurship award.

Revitate is the family office of Orange County’s Bhathal family, best known for apparel manufacturer Raj Swim and as co-owners of the NBA’s Sacramento Kings.

They have transformed the family office into a scalable investment platform open to outside investors where they focus on the three investment verticals they know best: real estate, sports and consumer.

Thus far, it manages about 10 different funds in real estate such as opportunity zones and workforce housing.

Revitate executives indicated they will be rolling out big plans in the coming months for investments in sports and consumer products.

“We’ll have an exciting 2024” for sports and consumers, said Kunal Merchant, a Revitate partner and chief operating officer. “We’re really close to realizing that vision.

“The aspiration is to build out three verticals that have social impact spread throughout.”

$150M Search

Revitate in September announced it is back in fundraising mode to find $150 million for its second real estate investment fund for workforce housing, which it describes as Class B built between the 1970s and 1990s.

Two years ago, it began a joint venture with real estate veteran Chris Marsh, founder and CEO of Newport Beach’s Cherry Tree Capital Partners. Marsh had previously overseen a development and acquisition push for the Irvine Co.’s apartment division.

Its first fund, Revitate Cherry Tree Fund I, raised $110 million, which was invested in six apartment complexes in the Midwest.

Its projected net internal rate of return (IRR) is 17.2%, significantly outperforming its original 11% to 13% IRR projection, according to a Revitate investor presentation.

“We’re projecting very strong returns, well ahead of our initial underwriting,” Bhathal said.

“Based on that success and investor interest, we are back in the market.”

Government incentives to invest in workforce housing have helped. For example, in August it closed a property with a 63% loan to value, 10-year loan, interest only for first five years, at 5.6% from Fannie Mae.

“Because our mission has a social impact component to actively preserving workforce housing for communities in the Midwest, agencies have very attractive programs available, including generous terms for rates,” Bhathal said.

Cherry Tree Fund 1 has a seven-year life span with a couple extensions built in. None of its six apartment complexes have yet been sold.

“Fund I was designed as a proof of concept,” Bhathal said. “Fund II will continue as an expansion.”

Opportunity Zones

Revitate is also investing in low-income communities through its RevOZ Capital opportunity zone platform. Revitate has led or co-led four opportunity zone funds with investment into 15 projects with an estimated total project value of $1.5 billion.

For example, Revitate invested $44 million to get a 95% equity ownership of a 344-unit project in northwest Albuquerque.

“There’s a really compelling job story as Intel is making a multi-billion expansion of its facility within a short drive away from our development,” said Bhathal, adding that Netflix and a solar company are also creating jobs in the area.

Revitate executives are particularly proud of a project in Charleston, S.C., called Morrison Yard Residences, or “NoMo,” where a former storage yard for a nearby port was transformed into a complex with 380 upgraded multifamily rental units and approximately 27,250 square feet of ground-floor retail space.

Revitate, which contributed equity to complete the project that cost several hundred million dollars, helped shape the development through a “community compact” with the developers to provide items ranging from climate friendly buildings to enhanced parks to bus stop shelters.

Set on over 5 acres, the community offers an open-air saltwater pool with sundecks, cabanas, grilling stations and TVs; 1.5 acres of outdoor courtyards; a dog park; a state-of-the-art gym with fitness classes; and group gatherings such as wine tastings and cookouts.

“This was a part of town that needed investment,” Merchant said. “It was a part of Charleston that didn’t have the basics. There were no sidewalks or grocery stores or basic transit.”

The development is part of a larger master-planned mixed-use development of the same name that will eventually have a cumulative economic impact more than $1.4 billion by 2030 via new developments such as 138,000 square feet of Class A office space in a 10-story building and a new hotel.

“Morrison Yard is a terrific example of how we seek to generate both positive impacts for communities and compelling risk-adjusted returns to our investors,” Bhathal said. “Through a business lens, the project reflects our strategy of partnering with top-tier sponsors to build new multifamily housing in high-growth communities nationwide.”

At the inauguration in July was U.S. Senator Tim Scott, a Charleston native, co-author of the 2017 federal legislation that established the Opportunity Zone program, and Republican presidential candidate.

Revitate wants its investments to cause positive changes, Merage said.

“We’re not looking at it under E or S or G,” she said. “We’re weaving all of that through and seeing where we can affect change.”

The post Revitate’s ESG Returns appeared first on Orange County Business Journal.

The team including Anduril has won a contract to develop and build prototypes of the XM30 Mechanized Infantry Combat Vehicle, in a two-way competition pitting it against a rival group led by General Dynamics Land Systems.

The Army is set to choose between the two competitors and award the final contract in 2027.

Reports indicate the vehicles’ total program cost is estimated at $45 billion; the total number of vehicles to be built for the Army has not been disclosed.

The XM30 program is designed to replace the M2 Bradley Fighting Vehicles, the tank-like vehicles that have been in service for more than 40 years.

The XM30 will be the Army’s first ground combat vehicle designed using modern, digital engineering tools and techniques. It will also be the Army’s first armored combat vehicle powered by a hybrid-electric engine, according to reports.

Prototypes Planned

Tech-focused defense, surveillance and military contractor Anduril, founded by OC entrepreneur Palmer Luckey in 2017, said in a blog posting on July 25 that the contract is to “produce a detailed design and prototype” for the Army vehicles in what are called Phase 3 and Phase 4.

The Army said the total award value for the American Rheinmetall and General Dynamics prototype contracts is approximately $1.6 billion. Rheinmetall is based in Sterling Heights, Mich.

There was no word on how much money would go to Anduril for its work on the current two phases of the project.

Enabling Soldiers

Anduril will provide the high-tech electronics that will let the two soldiers inside the vehicle know what’s going on the battlefield outside.

That means artificial intelligence, ‘mission autonomy’ and sensor integration to “optimize how and when data and information is presented to the vehicle crew.”

The Army said it expects, after selecting a winning vendor for the program in 2027, to have the “first unit equipped” in the fiscal year that ends Sept. 30, 2029.

Anduril joined the Rheinmetall consortium known as Team Lynx last September.

The XM30 will allow new, developing technology to be added to the vehicle as technology develops.

“We look forward to delivering our solution to the Army in the next phases of the program,” said Zach Mears, the Anduril head of strategy, in the late July blog posting.

In September, when Anduril announced it had joined the Rheinmetall team, Mears said: “Software is at the core of the weapons and military systems of the future.”

He added: “Anduril specializes in delivering advanced mission autonomy, enabling commanders and battle managers to command and control more lethal capability at the tactical edge.”

The XM30, Mears predicted, will “dominate future battlefields.”

Other Team Lynx members are Textron Systems, L3Harris Technologies (NYSE: LHX) and Allison Transmission.

Marines, Rockets

Anduril, also known for its high-tech border protection systems, keeps making inroads into the military world.

The company said July 28 that it and electronics counter-attack company Epirus of Torrance had recently combined software integration to support U.S. Marine Corps defenses against swarms of enemy drones. Drones have been playing an increasing role in warfare, as shown by the fighting in Ukraine.

Anduril’s Lattice target detection and monitoring system built on artificial intelligence, will play a key role in operating Epirus’ Leonidas, a high-power microwave weapon that neutralizes swarms of drones.

The Leonidas system uses energy blasts to disable enemy electronics aboard hostile drones. It can be used to target a single object or to shield an entire area.

Lattice is one of Anduril’s main systems, using artificial intelligence for applications including border security and defense against hostile drones.

In a separate move, Anduril announced in July that it’s aiming to make thousands of propulsion systems for powerful military missiles each year with its purchase of Indiana-based rocket engine manufacturer Adranos.

At the end of 2022, Anduril raised nearly $1.5 billion in a Series E funding round, with plans to enter into new technology markets through acquisitions. It had raised a total of well over $2 billion as of December.

Its valuation at the time was estimated around $8.5 billion. It is the fastest a privately-held company based in Orange County has ever reached such a valuation.

The post Anduril’s Latest Drive: Tech-Heavy Army Tanks appeared first on Orange County Business Journal.

The state’s unemployment rate was 5.5%. The January U.S. unemployment rate was 4.4%.

Nonfarm OC employment fell 29,100 jobs from December to January when 1.60 million were employed. OC employment is up 107,100 jobs from the same period a year ago.

Ten of the 11 industry sectors saw job declines, except for mining and logging.

“This is typical for this time of the year,” the EDD said in a statement,

Retail trade accounted for 73% of the 6,200 job decline in the trade, transportation and utilities sector.

Another big drop was 6,200 in administrative services, which includes temporary-help firms.

About 17.2 million worked in California in January, an increase of 53,600 jobs from December and up 1.18 million jobs from a year earlier.

The state has now recovered 82% of the 2.76 million jobs lost in March and April of 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Statewide, eight of 11 industry sectors added jobs month-over-month, led by 26,600 in the trade, transportation and utilities sector, primarily within the general freight trucking industry subsector.

People receiving unemployment benefits rose 56,989 to 412,738 from 355,749.

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After nearly 100 years matching the right candidate with the right job, Goodwill of Orange County knows one thing to be true: a job can change a life.

For individuals with physical or developmental disabilities, a young person trying to start a new chapter after making a mistake, or a veteran transition from the military to civilian life, finding meaningful employment can change everything.

For these individuals, a job means more than just a paycheck. It’s empowerment through employment.

For Salvador, a job allowed him to turn over a new leaf.

Today, Salvador thrives in his job as an Ecommerce Clerk for shopgoodwill.com. Salvador's manager Ted saw beyond his past with the justice system and instead gave him the opportunity to start over. 

Connected through Orange County’s Young Adult Court to Goodwill’s Young Adult Life Launch, or YALL, program, like so many of us, Salvador needed a second chance.

The YALL program offers local youth ages 18 – 24 that have been involved in the justice system with the opportunity to begin a new chapter in their lives, starting with finding a job.

The program provides free employment and education training, paid work experience, job placement support, and many supportive services, including housing, transportation, clothing and legal assistance.

A mistake made at a young age should not define your life. Goodwill gave Salvador his second chance to make a first impression.

For Noemi, she was ready to enter the workforce for the first time.

Noemi is Deaf and was unsure what she could do and who might hire her. Today, works as a Utility Worker at a military base, a job she has held for more than a year.

Goodwill’s Deaf Services program provided the job training and skills development; Noemi already had the potential. She brings priceless value to her workplace.

For Carter, a job gave him dignity.

Carter is a beloved team member at Chick-Fil-A in Laguna Hills. He loves to welcome guests, and many look forward to seeing his smiling face during the lunch rush. Never allowing his disability to define his capability, Carter has thrived in a teamwork environment and today enjoys greater independence than he ever thought possible.

Carter found his perfect work pairing through Goodwill’s Employment First program, a program that provides employment opportunities and independence to individuals with developmental disabilities.

For four years, Carter has never arrived for a shift without a smile on his face.

For Army Veteran Everett, a job changed everything.

Before connecting with Goodwill’s Tierney Center for Veteran Services, Everett had just 35 cents to his name. He was unemployed and homeless, struggling with the transition from military to civilian life.

The Tierney Center team jumped into action and quickly helped Everett get a housing voucher and emergency services support as the first step to getting him on a pathway to success.

He was then paired with an Employment Specialist to help him find a great job. Within weeks, he was employed at a Southern California V.A. Hospital.

Everett now recalls, “When I came to see you, I had my backpack and 35 cents in my pocket. My life has been completely changed!”

For Debra, a job gave her a purpose.

Debra struggled with addiction, and was facing homelessness, trouble with the law, and no sense of being.

Debra was connected to Goodwill’s Employment WORKS program, a supported employment program providing individualized job placement and job retention services to adults living with a mental health diagnosis.

Debra now has a great job in ecommerce and a work family that cheers her on every day.

“Since I came to Goodwill, I think I’m a better person now. I found a purpose in life today. I’m happier, and my life is on the right track.”

Since 1924, Goodwill of Orange County has changed lives through the power of work here in our community. Goodwill is the local leader in workforce development and job placement for people facing barriers to employment. Annually, Goodwill serves more than 17,000 people through its 25 programs.

Salvador, Noemi, Carter, Everett, and Debra represent the heart and passion of Goodwill—the mission that lies behind every clothing rack and cash register.

Empowerment through employment: this is Goodwill’s core commitment.

As a business owner or employer, you have the unique ability to change someone’s life. Hire from Goodwill of Orange County today and be a part of something bigger.

Learn more about how you can partner with Goodwill for your hiring needs here: https://www.ocgoodwill.org/businesspartner/.

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