PathPoint celebrates the promotion of Karen Moore as PathPoint’s new Vice President for San Luis Obispo.
Founded in 1964, PathPoint provides support services that empower people with disabilities, economic disadvantages and mental illness to live and work as valued members of their communities.
For Karen, PathPoint’s mission resonated with her from the start. She says, “I wanted to work at a place that made a difference in peoples’ lives.” Now Karen has worked at PathPoint for nearly 26 years.
When sharing her experiences at PathPoint, Karen reflected on her various roles in the organization. Beginning as a direct support professional, Karen worked directly with participants to assist in their daily needs. Her career progression is built on the passion for the people PathPoint serve and commitment to the mission of learning, living and building communities. This dedication didn’t go unnoticed, and Karen experienced promotion after promotion as she worked her way up in the organization.
Her experience, paired with her education and degree in disability studies, makes her an ideal candidate for this position. Holding the role of manager for the past 15 years, she worked closely with PathPoint’s day, residential and employment services. As Karen shared, “because I’ve held all these different roles, I see where there is opportunity to enhance our services and positions and where we could do some restructuring so it’ll all make sense as we’re moving forward.”
Karen also brings with her a person-centered approach. Using this theory in tandem with our services, Karen communicated the essence of this philosophy, “Instead of deciding what support is best for a person we serve, it puts the person at the center of the support. It looks at their gifts and capacities, what’s important to them and for them, and how we can help them reach a balance to meet their goals.”
Person-centered leadership impacts not only PathPoint participants, but the community. Karen states that, “many years ago we used to go visit the communities we serve, and one day the lightbulb went off and we realized the community isn’t a place you visit unless you’re traveling, because we’re are a part of it. That’s what person centered support is about – not visiting the community, but being an active member. People knowing your name or how you like your coffee, you have that connection; even those little connections make a difference. It’s how we all feel connected.” Enabling individuals to live and work as valued members of our community is the heartbeat of PathPoint.
“We help people reach their potential – whether their employment, living, community goals and to be contributing members to their communities,” shares Karen.
PathPoint looks forward to the continual impact Karen will make in her new role as vice president for San Luis Obispo. We commend her continued efforts on behalf of the organization to make a difference in lives of our participants and in the San Luis Obispo community.