If you have questions about achieving financial stability, developing skills, understanding AI or navigating the tech world, Goodwill Keystone Area's Wisdom Opportunity Wealth (WOW) is a great place to start.

WOW offers one-on-one coaching, retirement and long-term planning, AI and tech literacy training, career and entrepreneurship guidance, budgeting and credit support and tools to keep you accountable. And all of its programs are provided free of charge.

WOW began after Sue Soderburg retired from Goodwill as chief mission officer and wanted to leave a legacy program with the organization she'd served for more than 30 years.

It started as an initiative focused on women and was called Women of Wealth.

"In a lot of ways, women are still behind, especially when it comes to financial literacy," said Taylor Gilbert, WOW program director. "We served a ton of women within the first and most of the second year of the program, but as word got out, there was so much interest in what we were doing, and we felt we were limiting the number of individuals we could help. We didn't want to turn down anyone who wanted our services."

As Gilbert explained, the WOW program comes into a location - which could be a business, a school or any other group - and provides all programming, activities and take-home assignments, along with refreshments.

"This isn't someone coming in with a PowerPoint, giving their presentation and then you never hear from them again," she said. "Our first priority before educating people is building trust and building that relationship with them. We want to know, 'Where are you at in your journey with this topic? What do you know? How can we help you?'"

With each program, WOW works to present information that's relatable to the audience, whether that's a group of senior citizens at a retirement community or a bunch of preschoolers.

Gilbert noted that feedback the organization receives from teenagers is especially compelling.

"Kids will say, 'Can you please come back? We never knew this before,'" she said. "Their teachers touch on financial topics, but we go into depth about everything from the FAFSA to scholarships, renting your first apartment, what it looks like to get your first car."

WOW is unique to Goodwill Keystone, and the program can be offered on weekdays, evenings or weekends.

"We'll come in over a lunchtime and do a program," Gilbert said. "We'll come in any time where we can reach the most people and that's the most convenient for them."

WOW has offered programing to church groups, homeschool co-ops, residents of homeless shelters and domestic violence shelters, schools and more.

"Whatever the group wants, we can design our program to fit their needs," Gilbert remarked.

And WOW is always working to expand its repertoire of services. This fall, Gilbert is launching a new series of tech literacy courses, focused on how to use programs like Microsoft Word and Excel. She'll bring a handful of laptops, a WiFi hotspot, a projector and a screen to provide the classes.

"We don't want anything to be a barrier to us coming in and doing a program," she said.

WOW has also begun offering programs focused on AI, the first Goodwill in the country to do so, Gilbert said.

"We're working on breaking down the barrier of being scared or intimidated to use AI," she said. "We talk about safety and privacy. We break it down so people can see how easy it is to use AI."

While some people may think AI is a topic suited for businesses or people in the tech industry, it can be a helpful tool for anyone, she said.

"We have a program called 'AI at Home,' where we show people how they can use AI for things like making a meal plan, setting a grocery budget, help with their resume or creating an exercise routine," Gilbert remarked.

WOW programs can be one-time sessions or multi-week initiatives, depending on the topic.

The program is self-funded through grants and proceeds from Goodwill retail stores.

Recently, Sen. James Malone awarded a $100,000 state grant to the program at Goodwill's store and donation center in Elizabethtown.

"I'm proud to have helped secure funding for a program that empowers people to achieve financial health by teaching them how to budget and manage their resources," Malone said. "Goodwill's WOW program meets people where they are through partnerships with organizations, like the Lancaster County Prison, to end cycles of poverty and give people a hand up into a better future."

Since its inception about three years ago, WOW has reached more than 2,000 individuals throughout 22 counties in southcentral Pennsylvania.

Gilbert hopes to impact even more people in the future.

"A lot of people want to learn more about financial literacy or have a retirement plan or learn to invest or build an emergency fund, but they don't have a plan to do that, and nothing moves forward," she said. "Take the first step and reach out to me, and I'll take it from there."

To learn more about WOW, contact Gilbert at tgilbert@yourgoodwill.org, call 610-858-5137 or visit http://www.yourgoodwill.org/services/wow.