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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.

Villa Grocery

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

Villa Garden

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

Villa Shoppe

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

Villa Laundry

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.

Recent News

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Meet Mysonne, a 2021 Villa graduate who today proudly serves as a counselor for elementary students in our Dooley School. Mysonne says he discovered his passion for helping others while

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SDCA Conference

Join our Inaugural Sarah Dooley Center for Autism Conference

Announcing our 1st annual conference for our public school partners! Thursday, November 2 8:00am-3:30pm | $120 Sarah Dooley Center for Autism at St. Joseph's Villa Lunch will be provided. REGISTER

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Virginia Home Grown

PBS's Virginia Home Grown features Villa Learning & Therapy Garden

In Virginia Home Grown's recent episode on the healing power of nature, our own Matthew Kreydatus, Senior Director of Wellness and Transition Services, and Tyler Berkeley, Garden Coordinator, shared the

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