Launchability ReadyStart Merger

LaunchAbility® Announces Merger with ReadyStart®

April 11, 2011 (Dallas, Texas)  Temple Weiss, President of the Board of Trustees for LaunchAbility® and Brian Demma, President of the Board of Trustees for ReadyStart ® announced the merger of LaunchAbility and ReadyStart to both agencies this morning. The combined organization will use the LaunchAbility name, with ReadyStart operating as a division of LaunchAbility.  Both boards have asked current LaunchAbility Chief Executive Officer, Cathy Packard to lead the combined organization.

“We anticipate that throughout the summer both agencies will operate ‘business as usual’ with very few changes to the frontline and service teams,” said Weiss. “Our goal is a seamless transition.”

ReadyStart and LaunchAbility are both major providers of early childhood intervention (ECI) services in the greater Dallas area, LaunchAbility also offers a number of other programs to adult clients, particularly supported employment services. The combination of the two entities will give families of current ReadyStart clients access to this broader array of services, enhancing their ability to plan for the future after their children graduate from the public school system and want to find a career path that will help them achieve independence.

“Looking at current trends in program funding, we truly feel we are entering an environment where bigger is better.   Both agencies share a commitment to the delivery of the highest quality ECI services. The merger gives all of our employees the advantages that come with greater scale:  better training, higher level experts in key positions, efficiencies in back office and administrative functions.  Stronger overhead functions mean that we will be able to direct a higher percentage of total dollars to direct service and other client benefits which will allow us ultimately to become even more efficient and effective in meeting the needs of the  babies and toddlers that we collectively serve,” said Demma.

“Agencies like ours are geared to governmental funding cycles that run September to August. Merging the agencies now allows us to run the agencies in parallel - not affecting the delivery of services to clients - while we develop our plan for merging the best practices from both ReadyStart and LaunchAbility in terms of business and culture,” added Packard.