#MergerMondays: Employment Services
As the season shifts, we’re reminded that positive change rarely happens in isolation. It’s built through partnership. It’s built through neighbors, colleagues, and organizations choosing to lift together. This week’s featured mergers celebrate that spirit of shared effort, expanding pathways to meaningful work and fuller lives across entire communities.
In the Midwest, MERS Missouri Goodwill and Goodwill of Western Missouri and Eastern Kansas (MOKAN) have joined forces under the single name MERS Goodwill, uniting a 131-year legacy of changing lives through the power of work. The newly combined organization now spans from eastern Kansas across Missouri to western Illinois—forming one of the largest Goodwill footprints in the nation. Leaders Mark Arens and Mike Sinnett call this merger a catalyst for deeper impact: expanding career development programs, strengthening funding stability, and ensuring that frontline services remain strong. Their collaboration is already bringing new possibilities to life, including the Excel Center Adult High School, opening this month in Kansas City with more than $850,000 in community-backed funding to help adults earn diplomas and pursue brighter futures.
Further east, in New York’s Hudson Valley, Opengate Inc. and CAREERS Support Solutions are merging to create a seamless network of support for people with disabilities. Before joining forces, Opengate, founded in 1969, focused on providing compassionate, long-term residential care and therapeutic services for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. CAREERS Support Solutions, founded in 1987, centered its work on preparing people with disabilities to secure and maintain meaningful employment across Westchester, Putnam, and Dutchess Counties. Together, they bring decades of expertise across every stage of adult life from daily living and personal growth to skill-building and career placement. “By combining our strengths, we’re ensuring that the adults we support continue to receive the highest quality programs and stability they deserve,” said Christopher Laubis, CEO of Opengate.
Each of these mergers reflects a truth at the heart of community: when we share resources, we multiply impact. Here’s to collaboration that opens doors, strengthens purpose, and makes the work of building together just a little more human. 💛
Read more here: https://www.startlandnews.com/2025/09/goodwill-mokan/
https://mersgoodwill.org/mers-goodwill-and-goodwill-mokan-merger/
