Career & Transition Services

Discover your tomorrow.

Our Career and Transition Services (CATS) program helps youth and young adults acquire the skills they need to attend college and join the workforce. We help those with severe emotional, behavioral and academic challenges as well as those with moderate to severe developmental disabilities.

Participants gain problem solving, communication, and networking skills as well as knowledge of career and life opportunities through classroom instruction and hands-on experiences. Our goal is to help each participant envision and attain a productive and stimulating future. We partner with local businesses and colleges to give participants exposure to real-world work and education environments through the Villa Pros career mentoring program. Find out how you can become a mentor.

Campus Work Training Centers

It’s an immense challenge for students to look toward their futures when immediate needs such as food and clothing aren’t being met at home. The Villa has partnered with organizations to eliminate these barriers to success by launching campus-wide resources that accommodate our student’s needs and serve as work training centers.

The Villa Grocery is a client-choice food pantry that ensures no child or family goes hungry. We rely on community donations to keep our shelves full of healthy, non-perishable goods. Click here for a list of our most needed items. The Villa Grocery operates in partnership with FeedMore.

CATS students learn: communication, customer service, inventory management, budgeting, stocking and displaying items according to procedure, attention to detail

More than 250 students spend time in our 7,500 sq. ft. garden each week for outdoor education and to build job skills. Students learn to make healthy meals from plant-to-plate using ingredients they grow themselves. The varied textures, sights, smells, and wildlife that inhabit the garden provide a therapeutic resource for sensory stimulation.

CATS students learn: horticulture, landscaping, how to work with a variety of tools, responsibility, creativity, communication

The Villa Shoppe serves individuals and families in need by providing clothing, housewares, school supplies, and other essentials donated from the community, at no cost. Its thrift store setup, maintained by CATS students, provides a convenient, organized shopping experience. To learn more about making a donation, visit our Donate Goods page.

CATS students learn: communication, customer service, inventory management, organization skills, problem solving, attention to detail

In partnership with the Washington Football Team Charitable Foundation, the Villa has opened three on-campus laundry facilities through the Load of Love program. All Villa clients experiencing homelessness or unstable living situations can access clean clothes at no cost. The facilities are equipped with washers, dryers, and folding stations, with detergents and take-home laundry bags provided. Loads of Love was created to eliminate a simple but critical barrier to student success, while increasing students’ confidence, self-esteem, and school attendance and participation.

CATS students learn: machine operations and processes, communication, customer service, inventory management, budgeting, cleaning skills, folding and sorting clothes

Our work training centers also include a student snack preparation and delivery program, and campus-wide shredding and recycling programs.

For more information, please email Matthew Kreydatus, Director of Career and Transition Services, or call 804-553-3224.