I would like to express my gratitude to all our staff for their perseverance and commitment over the last two years. ProAct, as with other organizations, has endured the difficulties with recruiting and retaining staff, increasing wages, changes in programming and adjusting to the environment our world is in.

While the changes have affected all our staff in administration, case coordinators, employment specialists, direct care, transportation, maintenance and production, those responsible for leading the departments have certainly been challenged.

We are currently serving more than 700 participants with over 45,000 total hours per month. This includes transportation, day services and employment opportunities. Our day services offer a mix of classes that have a variety of focus groups (science, crafts, leisure club, life skills, etc.) These are held both in-center at each location and in the community.

What we’re doing

Employment supports provide assistance needed by our participants working in the community so they can be successful. Employment development assists in evaluating the choice of work a participant is interested in, working towards a competitive job, working with employers and securing employment. As programs have changed and we look to oversight in licensing, CARF accreditation, policies and maintaining consistency among all sites, we have added the administrative position of Program Compliance Manager.

Contract work changes underway

ProAct is changing direction for its business model in production with staff performing the contract work done mainly by our participants in the past. This income supports programming for the people we serve. The transition is complete in Eagan and our goal is to have all sites operating this way by June 2023.

The managers have done a wonderful job meeting our mission, welcoming participants back and working through our COVID restrictions. They all have a great deal of responsibility both in working with participants, creating programming to meet individual needs and supervising staff. ProAct is fortunate to have these leaders on our team.

I would like to give a shout out to the program managers. Thank you for what you do!

Eagan

• Deb Ulrich – Employment Support Manager
• Jessie Gruber – Employment Coordinator Manager
• Anna Cahak – Employment Development Manager
• Jen Cavalier – Production Manager

Eagan/Hudson

• Stephanie Osman – Sr. Program Manager for Day Support Services

Red Wing

• Pam Veith – Sr. Program Manager for Day Services and Employment Support
• Marie Prigge – Production Manager

Shakopee

• Ali Brown – Sr. Program Manager for Day Services

Administration

• Doug Cowles – Program Compliance Manager

ProAct has a lot to be proud of, and I’m thankful to be a part of our team’s excellent work. Let’s get out and enjoy some summer weather while it lasts!

Judie Foster-Lupkin
President and CEO