Goodwill launches free summer career camps for Buncombe teens

Goodwill of Northwest North Carolina has opened registration for two free week-long camps in Asheville aimed at steering Buncombe County teens and young adults toward careers that local employers still struggle to fill. The programs are open to ages 16 to 22, include lunch and transportation at no cost, and are limited to first-come, first-served spots at the Goodwill Career Center on Patton Avenue.

The first session, Career Exploration Camp, runs July 6-10 from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. It is built as a broad survey of work in healthcare, entrepreneurship and small business, culinary arts, hospitality, skilled trades and outdoor recreation. Goodwill is positioning the camp as an early look at what those jobs actually involve, not just a pamphlet about them, so participants can start matching their interests with local industries before they make post-high school or post-college decisions.

A second track, Healthcare Career Camp, runs July 20-24 from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. and focuses on nursing, clinical technology, and hospital and laboratory careers. Goodwill said that camp will include simulation lab experiences, tours of local college campuses and a field trip to the Bodies Museum in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. The structure points students toward real training routes in western North Carolina, where health systems continue to look for workers who can move from interest to credential to job.

The push comes as Buncombe County and the broader region continue to face stubborn workforce gaps. Reporting in 2023 projected western North Carolina could be short nearly 2,000 nurses across eight health care sectors over the next decade, while North Carolina could face shortages of thousands of registered nurses or licensed practical nurses by 2033. A 2025 workforce analysis from the NC Health Talent Alliance said the state needs to improve completion, local placement and retention if it wants to meet healthcare demand. In Buncombe, that makes youth exposure more than a summer activity: it is one piece of the labor pipeline.

Goodwill already has an established youth and career-services network behind the camps. Its NEXTGEN program serves ages 16 to 24 across Buncombe, Transylvania and Madison counties, and Buncombe County Schools has previously pointed students to Goodwill’s OneLife program, which offered paid summer internships of up to 100 hours at $13 an hour in 2023 and drew close to 75 students that year. At the Asheville center, Goodwill also provides career assessments, job search help, hiring events, coaching and youth services contacts. Together, those programs show a local strategy aimed at keeping more young workers connected to Buncombe jobs before they drift away from the region.