Project CU, Inc.

At Project, Inc. our goal is to provide long-term safe and secure employment for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. We strive to stretch the individuals who are working here to their highest level of functionality, without frustrating the individuals. Through the dignity experienced with having a job, we have been transforming lives for 59 years. We give people whom society would rather sweep under the rug as worthless feelings of hope and purpose for their lives. We have 92 workers, many of whom have been working for Project, Inc. for 20 years. We have a waitlist of over 100 workers, and our goal is to offer every individual on that list a chance to work, if they so desire. We make a material impact on the lives of those whom we serve here, and we make a difference in the lives of the individuals' families, as they are given a choice about whether to enter the workforce.

Our social mission is to provide long-term jobs in a nurturing environment for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Because those who work at Project, Inc. do not have a uniform degree of intellectual disability, we strive to maintain jobs in house that have varying degrees of complexity. Further, we work hard to keep our accounts diversified across many economic sectors. This has entailed letting the community know we have an FDA/USDA Certified Clean Room that can be used for the food industry or pharmaceutical packaging. Our 59 year history of fast turn times and hand assembly for the printing industry have given us a long and solid reputation. We continue to work on strengthening the relationships we have in this industry. The social mission strategy is to create awareness in the community for who we are, what we do, and why people should care. Our Business Manager and Director of Development both reach out to the local communities to create this awareness. Our Director of Development strives to raise necessary funds to make infrastructure upgrades and to purchase equipment. These initiatives will allow us to bid on more jobs and to sustain and further our social mission of providing safe long-term employment to adults with developmental and intellectual disabilities for the next 50 years!

Project, Inc. has a 59 year history making a material impact on the lives of the individuals whom we serve, their families, the communities where these individuals live, and the greater St. Louis business community. The staff and board of Project, Inc. try to position the organization so that there is a variety of work that our workers can do either with their ability to turn-key any job (large or small), or to handle longer run jobs. Our supervisors play an indispensable role in training and supporting the workers so that the jobs can be accomplished with dignity and pride. They have an innate sense of the capabilities for each worker, as well as knowledge of which individuals work best together.

The organization is 59 years old, and we are only in the beginning stages of creating a development program aimed at fundraising, awareness and building a donor base. In trying to position ourselves for continued success and growth over the next 50 years it is clear that some infrastructure and equipment purchases need to be made. We hope to continue creating awareness for who we are, what we can do, and why someone may want to invest in our social mission. We are grateful to have secured funds from The Pershing Charitable Trust for a forklift, from The Dula Foundation for a walk-in refrigerator, from Sunnen Foundation for ink jet printers, from Gertrude and William A. Bernoudy Foundation for rolling lockable collection bins for our secure document venture, and from Service Bureau Foundation for a new lawn tractor. We installed a new roof, and our fundraising efforts have been aimed at replacing funds allocated to this large project. In order to go forward for the next 50 years we need a variety of jobs, steering away from a single industry model, so that we can have a healthy business model and sustain our social mission. We would also like to secure unrestricted funds for ongoing operations. The Emerson Charitable Trust, Pettus Foundation, Gertrude and William A. Bernoudy Foundation, and Dula-Kobusch Charitable Trust have helped us with operating expense grants. After 59 years our long reputation proceeds us, and with awareness and fundraising we will be poised for achieving diversity in accounts and sustained health for our social mission.