Nonprofit of the Year- Large – Winner
St. Coletta Wisconsin
N4637 County Road Y, Jefferson
For 112 years, St. Coletta of Wisconsin has been a premier provider of support services for adults living with developmental disabilities and other challenges. Creativity and innovative approaches to residential and vocational services have allowed the organization to flourish.
St. Coletta assists individuals throughout southeastern Wisconsin and northern Illinois in attaining the highest quality of life through vocation, personal independence and integration within their communities.
The organization offers several vocational and day programs, including recreational programming, job training and job placement. It also provides residential homes and apartments in Waukesha and Jefferson.
St. Coletta recently introduced the Genesis Project, a new day program open to young adult residents and non-residents with developmental disabilities.
The program seeks to enhance the education young adults receive in high school, specifically as it relates to employment after school.
Currently, many employers are looking to hire qualified workers in the technical and skilled labor fields.
Students in the Genesis Project are provided with a holistic education and training to help them learn appropriate values, skills and behaviors to best support the current workforce as employees and leaders in the community.
St. Coletta already is seeing positive feedback, and looks forward to expanding the program to address the needs of more students and the workforce.
Employees at St. Coletta are imperative to the organization’s success. The organization believes wholeheartedly in its motto, “It’s in the people,” and seeks out ways to exemplify the mantra on a day-to-day basis.
In 2016, St. Coletta management implemented the Moonshot Initiative, which raised employee hourly wages and implemented a 401(k) match for the first time in organization history.
The initiative also decreased the employee cost for benefits and restructured the organization to allow for faster career advancement.
St. Coletta hopes the new initiative will improve job satisfaction, retain and attract high-quality candidates, and ultimately allow the organization to continue to successfully carry out its mission and vision within the community.
