Austin’s LifeWorks Offers Youth & Families a Sustainable Hand Up

Even in a well-regarded city like Austin, family abuse statistics are heartbreaking: Neglect. Abandonment. Violence. Many spouses and children survive years of unsafe family situations, moving from one Austin home to another, searching for stability and safety. Others are forced into homelessness to escape intolerable circumstances. Some simply are striving for a better life but don’t have the resources to learn how.

What can be done to make an impact on these very real lives? Enter LifeWorks, stage left.

A fearless advocate for youth and families, LifeWorks is an ATX non-profit committed to innovative problem solving, shared accountability, and a relentless focus on achieving real, sustainable, and measurable results for the over 10,000 Austin residents it serves every year. It serves the hurt, hungry, healing, and homeless from Senna Hills to Shady Hollow with programs such as fatherhood education, youth and adult counseling services, housing for young moms, and work and life training.

“We know that all our passion, commitment and hard work must produce consistent, measurable, positive outcomes for our organization to make an impact,” explained Development Director Brett Barnes. “It’s why we use a results-based accountability model to assess the impact and effectiveness of our services. It is also why we are one of the only area nonprofits accredited by the Council on Accreditation for Services to Children and Families.”

Through a comprehensive strategy that quickly identifies and initiates the right mix of services, LifeWorks strives to support each client’s individual goals with a focused, actionable framework. Even its building structures demonstrate long-term planning and conscientious action: LifeWorks Sooch Foundation Youth and Family Resource Center recently was awarded 5 Star Green Building status from Austin Energy – “the highest possible standing and only the fourth building in Austin to achieve it,” shared its Social Media Guru Patrick Ygnacio. The Austin Center makes its home south of the Webberville Road intersection on Pleasant Valley Road.

LifeWorks was the first nonprofit to take advantage of a new solar leasing opportunity by Austin Energy for nonprofits. It teamed with Meridian Solar to create the largest, single-location solar installation of any non-profit in Central Texas, producing 80% of the power for the 31,000 square foot building onsite!

“We are a service-providing organization that offers counseling, education, and a wide variety of support services to our community,” said Susan McDowell, LifeWorks Executive Director. “The decision to go solar at this site sends an even broader message about how we value the community and how we want our LifeWorks buildings and the community we serve to be sustainable for a very long time.” Mark Begert, Executive Vice President of Meridian Solar, agreed. “LifeWorks is setting the standard in sustainable corporate action.”

Ygnacio is proud that LifeWorks was the first non-profit in Austin to take advantage of the leasing arrangement. “I hope that it serves as a reminder that the greatest resource for the nonprofit community in Austin is the incredible wealth of irreverent creativity that sees ‘we can’t afford it’ as a call to action, rather than an excuse to do less than we should!”

Want to get involved? Whether volunteering, donating, or advocating, LifeWorks offers a variety of ways that you can make a genuine, positive impact on the lives of youth and families in our community. To learn about the impact of LifeWorks and view success stories, click here. To donate now, click here!

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