Remembering Linda Dickerson

Posted on by Mallory Draisma

Pictured above: Ms. Dickerson (bottom left) pictured with other former chairs of the Life’sWork White House Dinner

We at Life’sWork offer our deepest condolences to the family of Linda Dickerson following her passing on September 26, 2020. Ms. Dickerson was a champion for people with disabilities and worked tirelessly to support organizations providing opportunity to those who need it, making an impact that will be felt in our community for generations to come. We honor her memory as a relentless and passionate voice on behalf of individuals seeking to overcome barriers to enjoying a full and purposeful life.

Ms. Dickerson was very active in the Pittsburgh nonprofit community through consulting work, fundraising, and advocacy. As a member of the disabled community herself, she was committed to finding paths to independence for individuals with disabilities and was a living testament to inclusion – at home, at work, or in the community. Her monumental accomplishments included the successful campaign to make the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) federal law in the early ’90s.

Life’sWork was among the many non-profit organizations Ms. Dickerson supported in Southwestern PA. We had the pleasure of working alongside Ms. Dickerson during her 11-year tenure as a member of the Life’sWork Board of Directors and in her role on the Ambassador’s Council. From 1997-2008, she guided the agency on a multitude of initiatives, including the era of transition from the Vocational Rehabilitation Center (VRC) to our current name. Her input helped to shape Life’sWork as we know it today.

Thank you, Ms. Dickerson, for being an inspiration to us all to keep working toward creating a community where everyone belongs.

Announcing the 2020 Business Partner of the Year Honorees

Posted on by Mallory Draisma

Honoring the 2020 Business Partners of the Year: Pitt Logistics and Printing Services, Panera Bread - BkSq, and Little Earth Productions.

We are thrilled to announce the 2020 Business Partner of the Year Honorees! This year, we are recognizing Pitt Logistics and Printing Services, Panera Bread – BkSq, and Little Earth Productions. These area organizations have made a commitment to diversity and inclusion by supporting our clients and our mission in many ways.

The Honorees

At Pitt Logistics and Printing Services, clients work in the Pitt Surplus Property warehouse on e-Waste and technology recycling projects. As a part of the recycling program there, Life’sWork clients completely disassemble and remove old hard drives so they can be destroyed as the last line of defense for data security. Pitt hired clients in the Small Group Staffing program to work at the warehouse three days a week, and they have been an immense help on the project!

Over in Bakery Square, another one of our clients has been busy at work as a front-of house associate at Panera Bread. Ronald was placed at the Bakery Square location as a part of our Supported Employment program and has been in his position for nearly a year, with great success! Supervisors were eager to take Ronald on to the team, and the staff who work alongside him have quickly become friends and enjoy the shifts they spend together.

Little Earth Productions hosts small groups of clients as a part of the Community Participation Initiatives program, which aims to get clients out and involved in organizations throughout the community. They provide packaging and quality control projects for clients to take on alongside the regular warehouse staff. Little Earth designs and produces sports fashion apparel and accessories for professional and college teams across the country – including the Pittsburgh Steelers’ own Terrible Towel, a favorite of our clients!

Join us!

The 2020 Business Partner of the Year Honorees will be recognized at the 2020 Growing Dreams Gala, taking place on March 26th at Phipps Conservatory. Tickets are available for purchase here.

Life’sWork Is On The Move

Posted on by Mallory Draisma

We are thrilled to share with you some exciting news about the future of our organization!

For some time, the leadership at Life’sWork has been conducting a systematic evaluation and assessment of our building on Forbes Avenue. The services we provide, particularly to the clients in our Direct Employment program, have evolved since we first opened our doors here in 1970; many of our clients now have the opportunity to spend much more time outside of our facility, whether in integrated work settings at businesses throughout the region as part of our Small Group Staffing Solutions program, or engaging with many different organizations through community participation experiences alongside peers and staff.

As a result, the space we have on Forbes Avenue is no longer ideally suited to meet our current and future needs. In order to provide the highest quality services to our clients, we began looking into a variety of options. It became apparent that relocation would be the most advantageous economic choice and would allow us to modernize our operations so that we can best serve our clients.

Map showing the location of Duquesne University, Uptown neighborhood, and new site on the South Side
Life’sWork is moving across the Monongahela River to Pittsburgh’s South Side.

The Weitzman Building on Forbes Avenue has served us well for nearly 50 years. The facilities were designed to fit the specific needs of our organization, including being fully accessible and barrier-free for clients with disabilities. It has allowed us to grow and expand in ways that were likely never imagined by the team who broke ground in the Uptown Pittsburgh neighborhood in the late 1960’s. We are looking forward to continuing the work that we do at our new location in Pittsburgh’s South Side, where we have found a space at the River Park Commons development on Sidney Street that will allow us to create a more engaging environment for our clients and staff.

The space is being customized specifically for Life’sWork to meet our programmatic and our clients’ needs. We are very excited about the facility and feel very confident this will be a positive change for our organization. The transition to the new space will take place in the late spring of 2020 and we anticipate completing our move prior to June 30, 2020. Until that time, our daily operations will remain the same at the Forbes Avenue facility.

River Park Commons building with the 23rd Street bridge in the background
The new Life’sWork headquarters will be in the River Park Commons business complex at 2403 Sidney St.

Duquesne University will buy the building and campus facility on Forbes Avenue. The school plans to construct an 80,000 square foot building for its new College of Osteopathic Medicine. Construction will begin in 2021 and they plan to open in 2023. We are proud that this new development will be so beneficial to all of our neighbors in the Uptown community and the City of Pittsburgh; it is a win all around!

The quality of our services will not be affected. Our goal for this relocation is to better serve our clients in a more holistic way, offering more opportunities to engage with one another as well as the Pittsburgh community.

We are excited about this next chapter in Life’sWork’s near century of service and are looking forward to continuing our mission and evolving to meet the needs of those we serve.

RIP Leonard Weitzman

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We extend our deepest condolences to the Weitzman family for their loss… Leonard Weitzman, Life’sWork’s former president and the individual responsible for our main facility located in uptown Pittsburgh, passed away Sunday, June 24th. As our longest serving President and CEO, Mr. Weitzman embodied the soul of the organization’s mission and set Life’sWork on the path to helping thousands of individuals each year.

After being injured in the war, he sought a place in the community that would better empower people with disabilities to find sustainable employment; He discovered what was then the United Vocational and Employment Service.

In 1947, Mr. Weitzman started out as a placement counselor in the workshop and quickly moved up the ranks to supervisor. As a result, the operations of the workshop improved and he took on the role of full-time Director and subsequently became Executive Director of the agency in 1953. Under his leadership, we became what is known today as Life’sWork of Western PA and found our home on Forbes Avenue.

Thank you, Mr. Weitzman, for your support of those with disabilities in their search for independence, and by viewing employment as something that everyone should have the opportunity to achieve.

Mr. Weitzman retired after 43 years with Life’sWork and stayed involved with the agency throughout his retirement, attending special events or just stopping by to say hello. He will be sorely missed and fondly remembered as we continue our mission of serving individuals with disabilities, a mission he felt so strongly about throughout his entire life.

Life’sWork of Western PA is a non-profit organization whose mission is to increase the quality of life of persons with disabilities and others with barriers to employment through productive employment opportunities.