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.