Built for Belonging

Starkloff Disability Institute

2022 Gratitude and Impact Report 

From SDI Leadership

By the Numbers

Mission in Action

Gratitude

Accolades & Honors

Finances & Looking Ahead

Some years are turning points. 2022 was one of them.

Some years are turning points. 2022 was one of them.

After nearly two decades of building inclusion where we live, learn, work, and play, the Starkloff Disability Institute closed the year with a milestone none of us took lightly: the retirement of Colleen Kelly Starkloff, the last of our three founders still active at the organization she helped create. It was a moment to pause, to honor 50 years of tireless advocacy, and to ask ourselves: what did they build, and what are we called to do with it?

The answer was all around us.

In 2022, 79 professionals with disabilities advanced their careers through our programs. Eighty teenagers raised their sights for the future. Fifty-six college students prepared to compete for the internships and jobs they deserve. More than 600 employers, faculty, and community members learned how to build workplaces and communities where disabled people are welcomed and valued.

Starkloff Disability Institute was built for belonging. By our founders, and now by all of us. This report is a testament to that work and to the community that carries it forward.

Six young adults smiling in a park. Two people in Cardinals shirts smiling with a plaque. Two people at a campus tabling event. A power wheelchair user interviewed by a news crew on a downtown sidewalk.
Community connection—stronger than ever.

Clockwise from top left: Practicum students brough incredible enthusiasm to Dream Big and Access U this year. SDI was honored to be recognized for "Pitching In" for the community by the Cardinals. The disability trivia wheel is always popular at school resource fairs. Our advocacy puts a face on the impact of local policy, like this news interview highlighting sidewalk maintenance as an essential element for participation in public life.

Driven by Mission

Starkloff Disability Institute builds inclusion where we live, learn, work, and play through disability-led programs that advance economic opportunity and transform lives.

Guided by Vision

Disabled people thriving.

A note from SDI Leadership

Friends and Partners of Starkloff Disability Institute,

2022 was a year of pride, progress, and transition.

Our founders, Max and Colleen Starkloff and David Newburger, built this organization on a simple truth: disability is a normal part of the human experience, and that disabled people deserve the same opportunities, connections, and dignity as everyone else. That belief drove decades of advocacy before Starkloff Disability Institute was even founded. It drives everything we do today.

This year, we said a profound thank you to Colleen Kelly Starkloff, who retired from the Institute at the end of 2022. For half a century, Colleen helped shape the disability rights movement in St. Louis and beyond—from co-founding Paraquad, one of the nation’s first Centers for Independent Living, to the Universal Design summits she organized that have transformed how architects and builders think about access, to the Disability Studies curriculum she brought into the university classroom. Her fingerprints are on this city in ways most people will never fully know.

Colleen smiling with Board Chair Steve Degnan after her retirement.

In her retirement, we do not feel her absence. We feel the strength of what she and her co-founders built. That strength is visible in every student who leaves Dream Big Camp with a plan for their future, in every professional who graduates from the Career Academy knowing their disability is a strength, in every HR professional who walks away from our Workforce, Workplace Disability Summit and changes the way their company hires.

We are proud to carry this mission forward. As we approach our 20th anniversary in 2023, we do so standing on an extraordinary foundation, and deeply committed to what comes next.

Sincerely,

Steve Degnan

Board Chair
Starkloff Disability Institute

2022 Impact by the Numbers

80 teens with disabilities explored future careers through Dream Big

37 parents learned how to support their kids toward independent futures

56 college students with disabilities prepared for internships and careers through Access U

79 professionals with disabilities advanced their careers through the Starkloff Career Academy

89 college faculty and staff trained to better support disabled students

600+ employers, employees, & community members trained on disability inclusion

80% of Starkloff Career Academy graduates advance their careers

50+ corporate partners working with SDI to build more inclusive workplaces

Dream Big

For transition-age youth and young adults, ages 14–21

Dream Big teaches young people with disabilities that their future has no ceiling. Through four week-long career exploration camps and academic year programming, students meet professionals with disabilities, explore high-growth industries, and build the disability pride and practical skills to imagine and plan for the career and life they want.

For the first time, SDI provided door-to-door transportation for any family who needed it, removing a barrier that had kept students away in previous years. No student was turned away for financial reasons.

Dream Big Career Camp boosted my confidence.

– Dream Big Student
(post-camp survey)

He came home and began applying for part time jobs on the first day of camp! He talks more openly about his options and opinions.

– Dream Big parent

2022 Dream Big Highlights

  • 4 weeks of Career Camp, including 1 virtual and 3 in-person

Deeper impact: In-person Camps operated from a home base on St. Louis University’s campus, showing our students they belong in these spaces

  • 20 company partners welcomed students to explore careers
  • 60 students continued their growth during the academic year in monthly Career Club and peer events
  • 37 families connected through monthly Parent Roundtables
  • 14 students received laptops through a partnership with United Way of Greater St. Louis and EY, aimed at closing the digital divide
Two people smile in front of KSDK Channel 5 banner. A student smiles with a certificate at the end of Dream Big Camp.

Dream Big on more than computer screens this year.

Left: SDI's Youth Services Manager on the set of KSDK's Show Me St. Louis. Right: We were excited to celebrate students' hard work together at the end of in-person Camps this summer.

Student holding two bean pods, one bright green and one yellow. Students using a pipette to test pH levels in an activity.

Donald Danforth Plant Science Center.

Students get a behind-the-scenes look at St. Louis companies leading global agricultural science and learn about the work and career paths of plant scientists.

Student presents a large poster to a group with an FM transmitter microphone. Colorful markers and lettering on student posters.

Self-advocacy is a skill.

At the end of Camp, students create posters about their experience visiting companies and the detailed self-advocacy plan they developed during Camp to pursue and achieve a personal goal.

New partnership connects students with laptops.

Thanks to a program from United Way of Greater St. Louis and EY, we delivered new laptops to 14 students for virtual Camp, school, and connecting with friends.

Access U

For college, trade, and tech school students

College is a critical window. Students with disabilities are 40% less likely to graduate than their peers, and those who do graduate are 40% less likely to find jobs. Access U works to change those statistics from inside the college experience, offering disability-specific career mentorship, workshops, and events to help students compete on equal footing.

I had no idea that these kinds of opportunities were ever possible.

– Access U Student

2022 Access U Highlights

  • 56 students received direct career coaching and support
  • 55 hours of group workshops on resume writing, interview preparation, and disability disclosure
  • 30 higher education professionals trained
  • 5 new college and university partnerships established
  • 100% of Internship Intensive participants reported greater confidence in career development and self-advocacy

Starkloff Career Academy

For professionals with disabilities at all career stages

The Starkloff Career Academy is SDI’s flagship employment program for adults, delivered by career experts with disabilities who bring both professional expertise and lived experience to the classroom. The Academy doesn’t just help candidates get jobs. It helps them build careers.

I am a confident, disabled professional. I've never been able to say those three things together before.

– Meghan, Career Academy Graduate

2022 Career Academy Highlights

  • 79 candidates served through courses and one-on-one coaching support
  • 3 cohorts completed: Spring, Summer, and Fall sessions, including our first evening class!
  • New alumni platform launched, giving graduates continued access to resources and peer community
  • Multiple graduates hired during the course itself
  • Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation awarded SDI a two-year, $50,000 grant for this innovative program

Employer Education

Training companies to build genuinely inclusive workplaces

The 2022 Workforce, Workplace Disability Summit educated HR professionals and corporate leaders on urgent topics including accommodations in a post-pandemic workplace, AI and digital recruiting, and disability self-identification campaigns, along with practical skills training.

Beyond the Summit, SDI delivered disability inclusion training to more than 600 professionals and employees across the region and country.

Recent Career Academy graduates joined SDI as disability trainers for NDEAM events, using the skills and confidence they built in the program to educate corporate leaders directly. That is the mission in motion.

A person leads a small group discussion at a conference. A large group of professionals smiling, with visible manual and power wheelchairs and white canes.

Disability-led inclusion training.

At our Workforce, Workplace Disability Summit, SDI's disability trainers share their lived experience—good and bad—as successful professionals with disabilities.

Good access can grow our business, both internally and with our customers.

– Workforce, Workplace Disability Summit Attendee

*Note: Beginning in 2023, this conference name changed to Starkloff Disability Employment Summit.

Large group smiling outside of Busch Stadium, many I love you ASL signs. Karyn Houston. SDI logo with fingerspelled SDI added on top.

Building partnerships for inclusion: Deaf and Hard of Hearing Outreach Initiative

Top: We joined DEAF Inc as a partner in Deaf Awareness Night at the ballpark with exclusive ASL Cardinals tshirts and hats. Bottom: Karyn Houston is focused on creating clear pathways to SDI programs for the Deaf community, including an ASL-decked logo.

Building a Bigger Table

New Deaf and Hard of Hearing Outreach Initiative

SDI launched a dedicated Deaf and Hard of Hearing Outreach Initiative, hiring Karyn Houston, a Deaf professional and experienced vocational rehabilitation counselor, as SDI’s first Deaf and Hard of Hearing Outreach Coordinator. This initiative is focused on building authentic relationships within the Deaf community and creating clear pathways into SDI’s employment programs, ensuring that Deaf, Deafblind, and hard of hearing individuals know they are welcome and valued here.

Mission in Action

Carter* Rerouted his Path

He had it all mapped out.

A nearby community college had a cybersecurity program he was excited about, a real path toward a career he wanted. He set up a meeting with an admissions representative to learn more. The representative knew his diagnosis before he walked in the door. That was apparently enough. Without asking about his skills, his coursework, or his goals, they made clear he wasn’t a good fit for the program. He left without answers, without a path forward, and without much hope.

By the time he showed up to Dream Big Career Camp that summer, he was barely holding on to his career dreams.

At Camp, he met SDI staff and counselors, successful adults with disabilities who had faced the same dismissals and kept going anyway. He started to talk about what happened. For the first time, the people around him understood exactly what he meant. That afternoon, he began working one-on-one with Katie, SDI’s College Outreach Coordinator. They talked through other schools, explored programs that would welcome him, and built a real plan.

He left camp with more than a list of next steps. He left with confidence.

He is now preparing his college applications for programs that will judge him on his potential, just like every other student.

*Name changed for privacy.

Student wearing gloves seasons chicken in an industrial kitchen.

Culinary Arts at St. Louis Community College.

Dream Big students loved learning about careers with Chef Casey and got hands-on grilling chicken and making focaccia.

Students in various hands-on activities with professionals and enjoying a sunny day at the SLU clocktower.

Belonging across the region.

From our base at St. Louis University this summer, students got a taste of campus life and explored careers with leading companies including Nestlé Purina, Boeing, and Bayer.

Rachelle Stopped Hiding

Rachelle smiling in an office.

Rachelle had spent years figuring out how to make things work on her own terms. She called it “faking it until I make it.” She poured enormous energy into disguising her disability, never wanting to be seen as a burden, never wanting to give anyone a reason to underestimate her.

Then she found the Starkloff Career Academy.

Learning from professionals with disabilities. Getting an inside look at how hiring managers made decisions. Connecting with peers navigating the exact same terrain. For the first time, Rachelle didn’t have to hide.

The class changed everything, not overnight, but gradually and genuinely. Her confidence grew until it filled the room. In 2022, she landed a job where she helps build more inclusive workplaces. She also joined SDI as a disability trainer, sharing her experience and expertise with our corporate partners, opening doors for other people with disabilities who come after her.

Open quote.

Starkloff coming into my life is one of the top 10 best things to ever happen to me.

– Rachelle
Starkloff Career Academy grad

Penny Kept Showing Up

Penny came to Starkloff with a clear goal: she wanted to be an emergency dispatcher, just like her mother. What she had were real barriers, including a part-time job that wasn’t going anywhere and a career that felt stuck.

She started working one-on-one with a career advisor and took on a volunteer role at a local crisis hotline to build experience. Then a full-time job offer came through, and she took it, only to lose it a few weeks later. No job, no income. She started visiting food pantries to make ends meet.

Penny kept showing up.

She maintained her volunteer work. She enrolled in the Starkloff Career Academy’s Spring course. A few weeks in, SDI connected her with Centene Corporation. Penny was hired full-time as a customer service representative.

She did the work. SDI provided the tools, the connections, and a community of peers who understood and welcomed her. That combination is what changes lives.

Gratitude

Thank You

None of this is possible without you.

To our donors, corporate partners, board members, volunteers, and community supporters: you are the reason 79 professionals advanced their careers this year. You are the reason 80 teenagers raised their expectations. You are the reason Penny kept showing up, and Rachelle stopped hiding, and a young man preparing his college applications now believes someone will judge him on his potential.

The Max Starkloff Society

$100,000+
  • Anonymous
  • United Way of Greater St. Louis
$50,000 – $99,999

Steve Degnan
Robert H. Graebe

$25,000 – $49,999
  • Adele Braun Charitable Foundation
  • Centene Corporation
  • Jean Raybuck
  • Regions Foundation
$10,000 – $24,999
  • American Direct Marketing Resources
  • BioSTL
  • David A. Blanton, III
  • Cigna Foundation
  • City of St. Louis Affordable Housing Commission
  • CLA Foundation
  • Enterprise Mobility Foundation
  • Guth Family Foundation, Bank of America, N.A., Trustee
  • Hillsboro Title Company
  • Sally Lemkemeier
  • Nestlé Purina PetCare
  • Trent Barnes Phelps
  • Productive Living Board
  • Spoehrer Family Charitable Trust
  • Trio Foundation of St. Louis
  • Richard and Josephine Weil
  • Herbert and Adrian Woods Foundation
  • World Wide Technology
$5,000 – $9,999
  • Carol Benoist
  • BJC HealthCare
  • Cortex Innovation Community
  • Greater St. Louis Inc.
  • Mary Ranken Jordan and Ettie A. Jordan Charitable Foundation
  • Kara Kopplin and Tony Krawat
  • John Allan Love Charitable Foundation
  • St. Louis Philanthropic Organization
  • Debbie Strobach
  • UMSL Succeed
$2,500 – $4,999
  • Doug and Debbi Audiffred
  • Amazon
  • Ameren Missouri
  • Bayer AG
  • FleishmanHillard
  • Karen Foss
  • Christopher Gaines
  • Global Talent Builders, LLC
  • Lighthouse for the Blind – St. Louis
  • McCarthy Building Companies, Inc.
  • Metro
  • MilliporeSigma
  • Missouri Rehabilitation Association
  • Missouri Vocational Rehabilitation
  • Numotion Foundation
  • Lynda and Steve Peyton
  • Rick and Shelby Spiekermann
  • UB Greensfelder
  • Wells Fargo
$1,000 – $2,499
  • Karen and Steve Barney
  • Pete and Margaret Beck
  • Lori Becker
  • Milton and Ruth Berman Family Foundation
  • Amy and Bryan Bird
  • Boeing Company
  • Bookatz Endowment 2021 Fund of the Dallas Jewish Community Foundation
  • David and Lance Butler
  • November and Mike Champion
  • Anne and Bill Chao
  • Brian W. Chao
  • Cigna
  • Commerce Bancshares Foundation
  • Maebelle Danforth
  • Rose Mary Dieckhaus
  • Doris Drewry
  • Edward Jones
  • James and Lionelle Elsesser
  • Richard Engelsmann & Diane Buhr Engelsmann, Engelsmann Charitable Fund
  • David C. Farrell
  • Donna Foelsch
  • Joe and Mary Kay Freund
  • Peter Fuerst
  • GadellNet
  • Karen and Lawrence Goering
  • Pam Gomes
  • Karole Green
  • Duane and Catherine Hagen
  • Karyn and Charles Houston
  • Christy F. James
$1,000 – $2,499 cont.
  • J.W. Kisling & Mildred A. Kisling Charitable Foundation
  • Kate Lane
  • Amy and Steve Levin
  • Leslie and Jeff Lewis
  • Carolyn Losos
  • Kathy Lovell
  • Jack and Kathy MacDonough
  • Kelly Martin
  • Kim and Lisa McMullin
  • The McPheeters Family
  • Mary Ann L. Medler
  • Mercy
  • Meta
  • Emily Milford
  • Bruce and Susan Miller
  • Permobil, Inc.
  • Regional Arts Commission
  • Patrice Rogers
  • William E. Siedhoff Foundation
  • Judy Smith
  • Colleen Kelly Starkloff
  • Karen and Jim Stewart
  • Jeff and Anna Tegethoff
  • Marty and Susie Tendler
  • Sue and Tom Terrell
  • Hobart Truesdell
  • Pat Schmidt and Gary Vicik
  • The von Gontard Family Foundation
  • Washington University in St. Louis
  • Jean & William Wasko
  • Liz Wilmsen
  • Jeff & Stephanie Zornes
$500 – $999
  • David and Angela Baker
  • Connie Berni
  • Jacob Brandt
  • Rebecca Carlisle
  • Mary Lou Chao-Shoemaker
  • Charlie and Katie Claggett
  • Marilyn and Dan Claggett
  • Tom and Meg Claggett
  • Ruth Clark
  • Sally Coleman
  • Dominion Energy Charitable Foundation
  • Carrie Pedersen and Dan Donahue
  • Robert and Diane Duddy
  • Tanja Engelhardt
  • Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
  • Dan and Susie Feinberg
  • Verna Foelsch
  • Sam and Marilyn Fox Foundation
  • Reva Gaines
  • Meg and Nick Geiger
  • Robert and Susan Goldstein
  • Good Sport Captioning
  • Melanie Harkey
  • Cathy and Ward Hebert
  • Gina Hilberry
  • Elizabeth Jantz
  • Brett Klosterhoff
  • Thomas Ott & Steven Koehler
  • Steffani and Lanny Lautenschlager
  • Ashleigh Leenerts
  • Let’s Build Hope
  • Barry Cervantes and Susan Lewis
  • Metropolitan Volunteer Management Association
  • David and Merle Millar
  • Missouri Department of Mental Health
  • Dan and Gail Nielsen
  • Paul Prifti
  • Rehabilitation Services for the Blind
  • Leah Riter
  • Anthony Roberts
  • Jennifer Schmidt
  • William B. Sheldon
  • Faith Stevison
  • Melissa Upchurch
$5 – $499
  • Francis Adams
  • Emma Adkisson
  • Audrey Adreon
  • Bonike Akinsanya
  • Amazon Smile Foundation
  • Anonymous (3)
  • Karen Aroesty
  • Richard and Iona Baldwin
  • Ashleigh Ballesteros
  • Mary Randolph Ballinger
$5 – $499 cont.
  • Ed and Ann Barnidge
  • Christine and Robert Barrett
  • Maryanne Battock
  • Stavra & Joseph Bayer
  • Julie Beach
  • Margaret and Philip Beckley
  • Vernal and Nancy Beckmann
  • Allan and Jan Bergman
  • Kate Birdsong
  • Tim Boeker
  • Robert and Claudia Bommarito
  • Katherine Boren
  • Pamela Boston
  • Julia Boswell
  • Hara Ann Bouganim
  • Rachelle Branch
  • Tabitha Brett
  • Sandra Brockel
  • Dana Brodeur
  • Megan Bross
  • Maurice Brown
  • Shelby Brown
  • Charity Buckner
  • Linda and Bob M. Buechel Jr.
  • Mary Burns
  • Roshaunda Cade
  • Susan Cannon
  • David Carnahan
  • Letah H. Carruthers
  • Susan Casey
  • Andrew Chao
  • Huma and Shahbaz Chaudhry
  • Patti Chesler
  • Danielle Giuffrida and Paul Chicoineau
  • Phil Chicoineau
  • Kelly Christensen
  • Kaci Conley
  • Laura Conley
  • Lois McAdam Cook
  • Steven and Susan Cox
  • Valerie Craig
  • Emily Crocker
  • Bob Crowell
  • Ben Crowner
  • Joan and David Culver
  • Blair Dammerman
  • Debbie and Eric Davis
  • Emily Hillquist Davis
  • Mary Degenhardt
  • Marianne Degnan
  • Anna Devero
  • Astad Dhunjisha
  • Tiffany and Andrew Dill
  • Chad Dillon
  • Diane Doggendorf
  • Annie Donnell
  • Emily and Tyler Duddy
  • Steven DuFresne
  • Viola Dwyer
  • Emerson
  • Marsha and Mark England
$5 – $499 cont.
  • Kevin Erbs
  • Teresa and Jon Erickson
  • Patsy and Dean Farmer
  • Sarah Felts
  • Katie Fields
  • Jeanne and Tim Fischesser
  • Barbra Fite
  • Steve Foelsch
  • Patsy French
  • Sara Freund
  • Steve and Mary Alice Gallagher
  • Chelsea Gallatin
  • Jim and Susan Gamble
  • Jennifer and James Gansner
  • Linda Garcia
  • Jenny Garofalo
  • Lori Gastin
  • Allison Gerli
  • Hillary Gerling
  • John Gillis
  • Brenda Giuffrida
  • Miranda Giuffrida
  • Michael Goad
  • Shannon Grass
  • Margaret Gray
  • Nadia Green
  • Chris and Meg Griesedieck
  • Peggy Griffin
  • Paul Gruber
  • Chuck Gulas, Ph.D.
  • Linda Hale
  • John and Beth Hall
  • Jean Hamilton
  • Patrick Hamilton
  • Ross and Debbie Hammond
  • Laura Hanson
  • Tonnette Harris
  • Bruce and Diane Hartsfield
  • Jason Hartsfield
  • Nick and Alix Hawes
  • Dalya Heller
  • Joseph Heumann
  • Judy Heumann
  • Jane Hickenlooper
  • Megan Hoermann
  • HOK
  • Chris Holt
  • Christine Hong
  • Sally Horstmann
  • Emily Huey
  • Donna Hughes
  • Incarnate Word Academy
  • Jacqueline Jefferson
  • Susan Johnson
  • Lana Jordan
  • Nancy Kalishman
  • Sheryl Kalman
  • Julie Herman
  • Julie A. Kauffmann
  • Katherine Kelley
  • Tom Kerans and Mary Cox
  • Roberta Kern
$5 – $499 cont.
  • Janice Kestler
  • Beverly and Steven Knight
  • Whitney Korgan
  • Maria Krawat
  • Wanda Krawat
  • Ty Krewson
  • Ladue Chapel Women’s Association
  • Crystal Lay
  • Molly Dwyer and Ethan Lay
  • Maribeth Lay
  • Less Annoying CRM
  • Fabio Letieri
  • Alison Lowe
  • Jeff Maher
  • Kate Mahoney
  • Maggie Mahoney
  • Mimi Newsham Mahoney
  • Pete and Jenni Mahoney
  • Jack and Sharon Marbarger
  • Jeffrey Mason
  • Kate McCarthy
  • Sheila McCarthy
  • Courtney McClellan
  • Rose McCray
  • Brian McCurren
  • Donna McGarry
  • Con and Mary McGrath
  • Laurie McLiney
  • Barbara McMullen
  • Christopher McMullin
  • John Messmer
  • Karen Messmer
  • Robert and Anita Messmer
  • Andrew L. Metcalf
  • Peggy Meyer
  • Dawn Miller
  • Jessica Miller
  • Patti and Chas Miller
  • Kathryn Nixon
  • Dan and Sharon Nolan
  • Kimberly Norwood
  • Tricia O’Brien
  • Occhio Search & Recruitment
  • Julianne Oliva
  • Laura Orthwein
  • Sue Mitchell
  • Chelsea Miyashiro
  • Marjorie Moore
  • Kim Morgan
  • Wendi Moseley
  • The Muny
  • Amanda Luckett Murphy
  • Marybeth Neradka
  • Kitty Newsham
  • Tom and Kris Pelizzaro
  • Mary Petruska-Nordmann and Matt Nordmann
  • Mary Phelan
  • Daniel Plax
  • Kate Polokonis
  • Cindy Purcell
$5 – $499 cont.

Myra and Stephen Radinsky
Joseph Raible
Gary and Marilyn Ratkin
Peter Regan
Monica Reha
Allison and Brock Reichart
RGA
Rachel Ridings
Mary Riggs
Mary Rocchio
Darlene Roland
Sheryl Rose
Todd Roth
Bates Childress and Eric Rottingen
Allie and Mike Rudroff
John Ryan
Andrea Sample
Ruth Sandler
Mitch Sasa
Mackenzie Schaefer
Carol Selig
Jamila Siddiqui
Sharon Silverstein
Ted and Jane Simmons
S. M. Wilson & Co.
Nicole Smith
Samantha Smith
Lucie and Steve Springmeyer
St. Louis Community Foundation
Nora Stern
J. Kennard Streett
Lizzie Strumolo
Michael and Kim Sullivan
David Szucs
Diane Tabulog
Carolyn and Daniel Teasley
Luke Terrell and Andrea Schmid
Claire Tessier
Elton Thomas
Scott Thompson
Karen Tokarz
John H. Trimble
Courtney Trocinski
Kellie Tunney
Conchita Valdes
Manuel Valdes
Jane and Tom Vickrey
Virgin Islands Center for Independent Living
Daphne Viscomi
Carol Von Arx
Blanche Wagner
Washington University School of Medicine
Roger and Christy Waxelman
Susan Werremeyer
Tracy White
Terry Whittaker
Martin Wice
Ann Willis
Daniel Wood
Tom Zeigler
Allison Zuck

accolades

Honoring Those Who Shaped Us

Colleen Kelly Starkloff

Celebrating a Career of Championing Disability Rights

Colleen Kelly Starkloff’s philosophy has always been simple:

if it isn’t accessible, it isn’t acceptable.

Colleen marching through city streets with other disability rights activists.

For over 50 years, she lived that conviction in every room she entered, every policy she shaped, and every person she brought into the movement alongside her. At the end of 2022, Colleen retired from the Starkloff Disability Institute. A well-deserved change of speed in a career that continues to change attitudes and environments.

Colleen’s work began in 1973, when she and her husband Max Starkloff threw themselves into the emerging disability rights movement. From the beginning, their advocacy was deeply personal and urgently needed. Max, a wheelchair user, and Colleen were told by an adoption agency that Max’s disability made them unqualified to be parents. They asked her to leave. They adopted three children, Meaghan, Max, and Emily, and raised a family while simultaneously helping reshape what it meant to be disabled in America.

Together with other activists across the country, Colleen and Max spent decades building the legal and cultural groundwork that led to the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act in 1990. Their impact was never limited to St. Louis. Colleen’s friendship with Judy Heumann, now known as the Mother of Disability Rights Movement, runs so deep that the two call each other sister. That is the kind of community Colleen helped build: fierce, principled, and rooted in genuine love for one another.

In 1973, Colleen joined Max in founding Paraquad, one of the nation’s first federally funded Centers for Independent Living, and changing what was possible for people with disabilities. In 2003, they joined with their colleague and friend David Newburger to establish the Starkloff Disability Institute and dedicated the next chapter of their careers to employment and economic opportunity for disabled people.

Colleen’s impact since then are woven into the fabric of this city and this field. She organized six national Universal Design Summit conferences, changing how architects and builders think about access. She introduced Disability Studies into the curriculum at Maryville University. She helped establish St. Louis’s Affordable Housing Trust Fund and ensured its housing includes Universal Design features. She co-produced a disability history exhibit at the Missouri History Museum that drew 163,000 visitors. She served as United States Organizer of the Japan/USA Conference of Persons with Disabilities and advocated for Senate ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. She is a Coro Women in Leadership graduate, a Saint Louis University Alumni Merit Award recipient, a St. Louis Woman of Achievement, and holds an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Fontbonne University.

Collen continued this work after Max’s death in 2009, and after David Newburger’s retirement in 2019, educating thousands of people through SDI’s Colleen Starkloff Talks Disability initiative. She can step away knowing that the organization the three of them built is strong, disability-led, and ready for what comes next.

The founders’ vision—a world that welcomes people with disabilities—is not finished. (It never will be, until disabled people can fully participate in every aspect of society.) But the foundation is extraordinary. We are grateful beyond measure for everything Colleen, Max, and David gave to this work.

Enjoy less time in meetings and more time with those beloved grandchildren and the family you and Max built together, Colleen. You have more than earned it.

Jean Wasko, Ph.D.

Volunteer Grant Writer, Upon her second retirement

For more than a decade, Dr. Jean Wasko showed up for Starkloff Disability Institute the way the best colleagues do:

quietly, consistently, and with extraordinary skill.

Jean Wasko at her computer with notes on her desk.

As a volunteer grant writer, Jean dedicated well over 500 hours each year to researching, writing, and making the case for SDI’s mission to funders across the region. Her work has funded nearly 20% of SDI’s operating costs annually and helped establish some of our most important and lasting partnerships.

Jean brought more than her exceptional writing talent. At our monthly staff meetings she brought the latest disability and philanthropic news, keeping the whole team sharp and informed. She was generous with new staff, shepherding them into the work with patience and care.

In addition to giving her time, Jean did what she asked others to do every day: invest in SDI’s mission. Jean and her husband Bill are longtime members of the Max Starkloff Society.

Now officially retired from her second career as one of our most valued volunteers, Jean leaves behind a body of work that will continue to fuel this organization for years to come.

We are so grateful, Jean.

in memory

Ned O. Lemkemeier

Ned O. Lemekemeier.

Ned Lemkemeier believed in strong communities that welcome everyone and value the gifts each person brings to the table. As a member of the Starkloff Disability Institute’s Board of Directors, he gave generously of his time, his wisdom, and his resources to help build exactly that kind of community here in St. Louis.

Ned was known for speaking the least while saying the most, asking the questions that cut to the heart of a matter and offering counsel that stayed with you. He guided our Finance Committee with steady expertise, including through the founding of SDI’s endowment. He was kind in introducing new friends and supporters to the organization, and deeply proud of the work we do together.

Ned passed away unexpectedly in 2022. His loss is felt by everyone who knew him. We are so grateful to have called Ned a friend.

Finances

Financial Snapshot

For the fiscal year January 1, 2022 – December 31, 2022. The auditor’s report and complete financial statements are available upon request.

Support and Revenue
Contributions
Individual $         768,826
Corporate 199,198
Foundation 273654
Total Contributions 1,241,678
Professional Services 59,185
Other 155,122
Total Support + Revenue $  1,455,986

Please note that these are preliminary year-end numbers and that our annual financial audit is currently underway. The auditor’s report and a complete set of financial statements will be posted to our website when completed.

Expenses

Looking Ahead

2023 and Beyond

None of this is possible without you. You invested in this community. This community is thriving because of it.

As we enter our 20th year, the Starkloff Disability Institute is building on the foundation our founders laid and stepping into the next chapter of this work.

Our blueprints to build more belonging in 2023 include:

  • Debuting the redesigned Starkloff Career Academy with three tracks designed to meet disabled professionals wherever they are in their career journey: Foundations, Transitions, and Advancements.
  • We are excited to expand Dream Big with a pilot program for middle school students, reaching young people with disabilities earlier and giving them more years to build confidence and vision.
  • We will grow our year-round Universal Design programming to train more architects and developers in inclusive design principles.

The work continues. We are so grateful to be your partners in it.

Student wearing gloves seasons chicken in an industrial kitchen.

Culinary Arts at St. Louis Community College.

Dream Big students loved learning about careers with Chef Casey and got hands-on grilling chicken and making focaccia.

Several young people smiling in a light rail car, including wheelchair users. Two young people laughing in an office.

Transit careers on the go.

Students ride along with an engineer on MetroLink and visit Metro's offices to learn about the many roles that make up a successful public transportation system.

P.S. Mark your calendars to celebrate 20 years of transforming lives with us at the SDI Birthday Bash Gala on April 29, 2023!