About
Making lives work better.
Our Mission
Life’sWork of Western PA is a nonprofit organization empowering people to live the life they choose. We partner with people with disabilities, people with other barriers, young adults, children, and families to pursue their hopes and dreams through strengthening workplace abilities, building life skills, and developing meaningful relationships.
Since our founding in 1927, more than 100,000 individuals of all ages with disabilities, other employment barriers, children, and families in crisis have utilized the services of Life’sWork to achieve independence and self-sufficiency.
We serve over 2,000 clients a year, ranging from youth as young as 14 to adults as well as people with other barriers to employment, including at-risk youth, single parents, people transitioning off public assistance, and families facing economic crises.
There are two things all the people we serve have in common: 1) They want to work; meaningful employment is as important to these individuals as to all of us. 2) Most importantly, our clients are very proud of their accomplishments, and so are we! We take pride in our efforts day in and day out to achieve our goal of making lives work better for the benefit of our clients and, ultimately, for the benefit of our Western Pennsylvania community.
Our Vision
At Life’sWork, we believe everyone has a right to share in opportunities for meaningful employment.
Our vision is to be one of the foremost resources in Western PA and recognized for our high-quality and innovative community rehabilitation services for persons with disabilities or other barriers to employment.
We envision compassionate, inclusive, and equitable communities where all individuals have an opportunity to thrive.
Life’sWork Core Values (CARE)
Compassion – We are a caring organization that recognizes the unique challenges faced by our community and provides support with kindness and empathy. We accept all people, listen carefully without judgment, and with encouragement.
Awareness – We strive to raise awareness of the needs and challenges faced by the people we serve, the mission of Life’sWork, and all of the programs that we offer to the community.
Respect – We root ourselves in our shared humanity and treat each other with kindness and empathy. We honor the equal dignity and worth of all people — even in the face of conflict.
Engagement – We embrace engagement, reflection and developing competencies central to our work. As part of that growth process, we acknowledge our missteps and shortcomings with humility and lean into our responsibility to learn and evolve.
History
Founded in 1927, Life’sWork and its predecessor organizations (United Vocational and Employment Service and the Vocational Rehabilitation Center of Allegheny County) has been driven by a commitment to helping individuals facing barriers to employment find the same opportunities as others with the willingness to work.
For nearly a century, Life’sWork has embraced a broad range of individuals seeking assistance in securing meaningful work—from immigrants wanting to become part of the economic life of their new country to veterans seeking to rejoin the workforce, and increasingly, we have focused our efforts on serving individuals with intellectual development and physical disabilities as well as other mental health challenges. In recent years, we’ve expanded our reach to help those dealing with other barriers to securing work, including economic and social disadvantages that can make finding employment challenging.
Through these initiatives, we serve single parents, individuals seeking to transition off public assistance, families in crisis, and at-risk youth seeking to find a new direction through work. Life’sWork empowers individuals of differing abilities to transform their own lives through unique opportunities. Throughout our history and to this day, our mission remains focused on increasing the quality of life of persons with disabilities and others with barriers to employment, enabling them to gain the self-esteem that comes with having a meaningful job.
Board of Directors
Chair of Board
George Robinson II
UPMC
Immediate Past Chair
Amanda Beamon
Viatris
Directors
Gene Boyer III
Burns & Scalo Real Estate
Colin Dornish
CSD Solutions, LLC
James Emmerling
EM-Media, Inc.
Andrew Fee
Special Olympics of Pennsylvania
Arnold Fonseca
A&L Precision Products
Shawn T. Fox
RDC, Inc.
Daniel Gbur
Brunner
Alexander Hays
Highmark National Markets/Highmark
Steven Kelly
ExSELLyst
Kyle C. Knapp
Viterium LLC
Amanda J. Laichak, PhD
Commonwealth Charter Academy
Lori E. McMaster, Esq.
University of Pittsburgh School of Law
Kevin Meacham
Nelson Mullins
Jim O’Brien
PNC Healthcare
Jennifer Pannill
Hillenbrand
Shannon Prentiss, M.A., M.S. NCC
The Neighborhood Academy
Ashley Lynn Priore
Queenside Ventures
Dr. La Dawn Robinson, DEL
The Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission
Kaia Sipple
KaliVir Immunotherapeutics, Inc.
Leanna Spada
Mon Valley Regional Chamber
Benjamin Stein
H&R Block
Vidya Surti
Queenside Ventures
Patriece Thompson
Turner Construction Company
Kevin Turkall
Designstream, LLC
Michael T. Von Lehman
Meridian Management Partners, LLC
Matthew L. Wagle
Wells Fargo Advisors
Stephanie Winer Schreiber
Our Leadership Team
Life’sWork of Western PA is committed to its mission of enhancing the quality of life of individuals with disabilities and those facing other barriers to employment. We do so with a relentless and unwavering commitment to achieving and sustaining the highest standards of excellence in our services, and we can do that only with a talented team of professionals who share our commitment to those ideals.
Timothy Parks
President & Chief Executive Officer
Email: tparks@lifesworkwpa.org
Matt Bittner
Chief Program Officer
Email: mbittner@lifesworkwpa.org
Babs Sefiane
Chief Development Officer
Email: bsefiane@lifesworkwpa.org
Melissa Leoni
Chief Financial Officer
Email: mleoni@lifesworkwpa.org
Mike Belgrove
Chief Human Resources Officer
Phone: (412) 471-2600 ext. 356
Email: mbelgrove@lifesworkwpa.org
Rosemary Dammond
Director, Facilities, Corporate Compliance Officer, & Corporate Secretary
Email: rdammond@lifesworkwpa.org
Kenneth Davison
Director, Family Services
Email: kdavison@lifesworkwpa.org
Leigh Ann Patterson
Director, Mon Valley Division
Email: lpatterson@lifesworkwpa.org
Ami Steinmetz
Director, Youth & Transition Services
Email: asteinmetz@lifesworkwpa.org
Tara Zimmerman
Director, Business Services
Email: tzimmerman@lifesworkwpa.org
Emily Lynn Lausch
Controller
