Tess McKeel

Responsibilities:

In 2012, Goodwill of the Finger Lakes (GWFL) assumed leadership of Goodwill’s role on the NAP, which began in 2008 with Goodwill Industries International. Although it is a local Goodwill affiliate, GWFL represents the NAP on a national scale. The GWFL team will continue the work to connect SRAPs with the nationwide network of Goodwill affiliates and will lead the NAP Networking Committee to help SRAPs develop mutually beneficial relationships with a wide variety of organizations. Other significant initiatives include planning and conducting of regional AgrAbility workshops, coordinating at least two webinars per year, and providing AgrAbility staff with expert information on visual impairments, one of the specialties of their organization. The GWFL 2-1-1/LifeLine Contact Center will answer the phones for those seeking AgrAbility assistance and information outside of traditional business hours, providing a 24/7 live answer for NAP callers.

Qualifications:

Tess McKeel has been with Goodwill of the Finger Lakes since 2011. In her role as a store manager, she helped to employ people with barriers to employment, and she has since joined the Workforce Development team as a Workforce Development Specialist. She received her bachelor and master degrees in education from SUNY at Geneseo and spent many years in the early childhood education field. Prior to coming to Goodwill, Tess was a specialist in Pennsylvania for the Keystone STARS program where she had a caseload of several early childhood education centers. Her job was to help the centers develop and maintain continuous improvement plans and to monitor their grant monies received from the state..