VPI, Inc. is excited to announce the groundbreaking of the new Community Programs Collective, an inclusive center designed to meet the rising demand for critical services that support children, adults, and families across Northeast Wisconsin.
This new facility, opening Spring 2025 at 2350 N. Casaloma Dr. Appleton, WI 54913, will bring together VPI’s Early Intervention, Adult Day Services, and Education Programs, expanding both the scope and quality of services available to individuals with disabilities and their families.
The Community Program Support Center, serving as a reliable venue for families to engage with their Birth to Three support team. The Family Support Center will provide a stable, secure location for services, especially benefiting families without housing or access to home visits. It will also serve as a flexible space for private counseling, parent workshops, and training sessions.
Adult Day Services
The Community Programs Collective will be the new home of our Adult Day Services Program. This program provides adults with disabilities meaningful, engaging, and interactive programming that includes daily activities, skill building, exercise, and social outings in an inclusive and supportive environment.
Participants can move freely in and out of a safe and accessible outdoor patio, allowing them more autonomy in how they spend their day and the activities they independently choose to participate in.
For adults in VPI’s Day Services, new features include sensory rooms, an accessible training kitchen, and an outdoor patio, designed to foster independence, skill-building, and social engagement.
With these enhanced spaces, VPI Day Services will immediately double our one-to-one service capacity, and serve more than 100 additional individuals annually, providing a welcoming, accessible environment tailored to diverse needs.
Family Support Center
The Family Support Center at our new Community Programs Collective will be designed to serve as a multifunctional, inclusive space that emulates the comfort and warmth of a traditional living room and dining area for children and families receiving services from our Early Intervention Birth to 3 Program.
Serving as a reliable venue for families to engage with our Birth to Three support team, the Center will offer a consistent and secure location for services, especially valuable for families without housing or whose homes are not available for visits. It will also function as a versatile area for private counseling sessions, parental workshops, and trainings.
Equipped with developmental toys and furnishings, the center will promote cognitive, physical, and emotional growth in a stimulating environment. A cozy environment not only aids in reducing stress during consultations, but also promotes positive interactions and bonding among family members, crucial for holistic development.
Education Programs
The Community Programs Collective will offer a classroom and permanent hub for VPI’s growing education programs. With the loss of our UWO Fox Cities campus classroom space, a key partner to VPI’s education programs for over 10 years, and the increased demand from school districts for employability skills and work-based learning education, a fully accessible and inclusive community classroom and collaboration space will offer a reliable space for our robust range of programming and school-to-work classes.
This space will be essential to the demand and growth within our education programs and will also offer a space to host speakers for our community inclusion initiative, professional development classes, and other programming for our staff and the community.
This investment in centralized services will enhance operational efficiency, improve safety and accessibility, and offer development opportunities for staff.
Learn how you can support the Community Programs Collective and foster greater independence for those we serve by visiting http://vpiwi.org/donate
VPI in the News
Appleton nonprofit breaks ground on facility to better serve individuals with disabilities
APPLETON (WLUK) — A nonprofit organization in Appleton celebrated the groundbreaking Tuesday of a facility designed to provide inclusive services to individuals with disabilities.
VPI says its Community Programs Collective will be a hub supporting children and adults with disabilities throughout Northeast Wisconsin. The facility, located at 2350 N. Casaloma Drive, is expected to open in spring 2025.
“It’s kind of been a long time coming. Two or three years ago, we looked at what we were doing, what the needs of the community were. We kind of stepped back and said, ‘We really need this community programs hub,'” said VPI President & CEO Tim Riebau.
“It’s Birth to Three. We have a lot of education programs, young kids coming out of Special Ed through the high schools. Job training programs. A program that we have — Skills to Pay the Bills — really teaching them how to work, how to find work. And then we’ll have a large group of job coaches here that will be out in the community helping individuals find and then keep jobs. There’s a huge need in the community for that,” Riebau said.
The Community Programs Collective will combine VPI’s Early Intervention, Adult Day Services and Education and Employment programs. It will also introduce a dedicated Family Support Center for families to engage with their Birth to Three support team.
According to officials, the Family Support Center will be especially valuable for families without housing or whose homes are not available for visits. It will also function as a versatile area for private counseling sessions, parental workshops and other trainings.
Additionally, adults who participate in VPI’s Day Services will enjoy a number of new features within the facility, including sensory rooms, an accessible training kitchen and an outdoor patio — all of which are intended to foster independence, skill-building and social engagement.
Thanks to these enhanced spaces, VPI Day Services will be able to double one-to-one service capacity and serve more than 100 additional individuals each year.
“We always have a waiting list. Once we move in, we’ll be able to clear that waiting list, but that waiting list will grow again soon,” said Riebau.
“It really gives us an opportunity to serve more people in the community. Any given year, we’ll serve up to 2,500 people,” he added. “This just gives us a collective, a place to do that.”
