Two major North Texas nonprofits that serve members of the disabled community have merged.
Plano-based My Possibilities and LaunchAbility announced that they merged effective Jan. 15 as a way to provide greater impact by combining resources. The nonprofits will now operate under the My Possibilities name.
My Possibilities began more than eight years ago as the vision of three mothers who wanted their children to have a better future. The nonprofit offers life and job skills continuing education and training to individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
“This merger will allow adults coming out of high school to have a continuous offering of education and job placement.”
Michael Thomas
LaunchAbility is a job-placement service for underserved and overlooked adults with cognitive disabilities.
The two nonprofits have collaborated for years and joining together allows their clients to learn social and job training, and then find jobs through one place, the Dallas Business Journal reported.
“Up until this time, someone could come of high school and use a LaunchAbility platform and then transfer to My Possibilities for continued education, and then back to LaunchAbility for placement,” My Possibilities Executive Director Michael Thomas told the DBJ.
Thomas will serve as the director of the integrated operation.
“This merger will allow adults coming out of high school to have a continuous offering of education and job placement,” he told the publication.
My Possibilities said the Better Together Fund has been a big contributor to the merger’s success. The fund, which was introduced last summer, unites a group of North Texas foundations and organizations to support collaboration between nonprofits.
Staff will move into the My Possibilities Campus of Higher Learning, which is under construction in Plano, with an opening planned for April.
Modeled after a college campus, it will serve as an educational environment that is designed specifically for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
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