The Chippewa Valley Post provides news of area nonprofit organizations in order to increase public awareness of their missions and activities, and to provide information that otherwise might not be made available.
Our “6 of Substance” series is part of this effort. It presents answers from area nonprofit organizations, in their own words, to six questions about who they are and what they do. The responses are edited only for length, grammar and style concerns.
This series will be updated regularly to introduce Chippewa Valley residents to the many nonprofit organizations and people working to serve the needs of our area. If you have a favorite nonprofit organization that you’d like to see featured here, please let us know at cvpost@gmail.com.
L.E. Phillips Career Development Center
Who do you serve?
The mission of the L.E. Phillips Career Development Center (CDC) is to be a viable business enterprise as a means of providing meaningful and appropriate vocational services and employment opportunities for individuals with disabilities or disadvantages.
CDC also has a fairly new Outreach Office in Chippewa Falls. Its mission is to support individuals and families facing homelessness, or at imminent risk of homelessness, by providing crisis management and resources to obtain stability in permanent housing.
How long have you been established in the Chippewa Valley?
CDC has been serving individuals in the Chippewa Valley since 1959! We opened the Chippewa Falls Outreach Office in 2015 to help individuals experiencing homelessness.
What are the major issues you will be facing over the next 18 months?
Our major issues are funding for our different programs, such as our Homeless Services Outreach Office. This program is new and requires support; it is the only way we can keep individuals experiencing homelessness sheltered at night and provide the eviction prevention they need. Also, our “Skills to Pay the Bills” program helps teach both youth and adults the important soft skills and workforce readiness skills they need. These include communication, enthusiasm and attitude, teamwork, networking, problem solving, critical thinking and professionalism. Another issue is finding employment opportunities in the community for our employees who want to work off-site. Lastly, we need to continue to build awareness of our company.
Aside from financial support, how can the Chippewa Valley community support you?
We would love to give a tour of the CDC to anyone we can! By checking out our website, you can see the different programs and services we offer. The Chippewa Valley community can support us by buying our products and giving us ideas for new products that people are interested in.
Who are some of the key people in your organization?
The key people in our organization are the individuals with disabilities or disadvantages who work in one or more of our many departments. Gregg Mizerk is president of the CDC, Mike Phillips is the sales director, Debbie Stanton does human resources, Annika Sorteberg does public relations and grant writing and Joanna Gohlke does marketing.
What is the most important thing about your organization that people should know, but don’t?
We have 11 manufacturing departments and many programs and services for individuals with disabilities or disadvantages. Nearly 70% of CDC’s funding comes from manufacturing and production at our Ball Street facility. We really depend on community support through the purchase of our goods and services.
— by Annika Sorteberg, public relations specialist
If you would like more information about the L.E. Phillips Career Development Center, click here.
To see earlier “6 of Substance” listings, click here for the Archives.
To download a copy of the “6 of Substance” questionnaire, click here.