Lad Lake, Inc. and St. Rose Youth and Family Center, Inc. announced on July 7 the two organizations have finalized an affiliation agreement that welcomes St. Rose into Lad Lake’s family of services, expanding the continuum of care available to at-risk youth and families in Wisconsin.
As two of Milwaukee’s oldest and most esteemed child service agencies, Lad Lake and St. Rose have similar missions to serve the most at-risk youth in Wisconsin, and both organizations have grown and evolved along with the needs of children for more than 100 years.
“We are excited about the opportunity to leverage the combined strengths and services of St. Rose and Lad Lake,” says Gary Erdmann, executive director of Lad Lake, “to help even more young people in our community achieve successful independence. By combining our education, independent living, outreach, and residential services we expect to expand both the quality and scope of the services we offer in southeastern Wisconsin.”
By blending their operations, Lad Lake and St. Rose are taking the next step in their evolution to expand services to meet the needs of today’s youth.
Founded in 1902, Lad Lake helps more than 1,500 youth, young adults, and families – approximately 60 percent male and 40 percent female – throughout southeastern Wisconsin annually. St. Rose has assisted more than 14,000 troubled girls, young women, and their families in Milwaukee since it was established in 1848.
“Our combined 270 years of experience in helping at-risk youth and their families to succeed gives us great confidence that this natural step in our evolution will reap rewards for the community beyond what we could have achieved as separate organizations,” said Erdmann.
The two organizations note they do not anticipate any significant changes to their real estate or employee populations in the coming months. Longtime St. Rose president and CEO, Jim Maro, retired from the organization in June 2010.
The combined management team will be led by Erdmann and will include current St. Rose Chief Operating Officer Debbie Zwicky, among others. This will provide continuity of services to the children in both agencies’ care, as well as to purchasers and stakeholders of both organizations. The St. Rose campus in Milwaukee will continue to provide its vital services to troubled girls, and Lad Lake will continue to operate its campuses in Milwaukee and Dousman, providing services to male and female youth and their families.
“This relationship is designed to foster future growth,” says Zwicky, “so most of our efforts will be focused on finding ways to strengthen the continuum of care for youth and families, rather than on cost-cutting.”
Strengthening that continuum of care so should come fairly naturally for the two organizations.
“[We’re] both really on the same page when it comes to best services for assisting youth,” says Zwicky. “We both focus tremendously on relationships, because the key to doing great work with these very challenging young people is the relationships you build.”
Joining forces and combining resources, expertise, and passion for helping at-risk youth and families will allow both agencies to work as one toward promoting a new standard of success for clients by collectively focusing on what they do best – delivering on the promise of their joint mission, Guiding Growth.
“This is a powerful partnership,” says Zwicky.
Erdmann agrees: “Folding St. Rose into the Lad Lake family is the best possible scenario for both organizations,” says Erdmann. “But more importantly, it’s the best possible scenario for the people we serve.”
