Pony Bird Inc. and NextStep for Life, two organizations that support Jefferson County residents with disabilities, have announced they will merge, effective June 30.
The combined organization will be known as Pony Bird Inc.
Sara Sucharski, president and chief executive officer of the existing Pony Bird Inc., will lead the new combined organization. Jennifer Wooldridge, the current chief executive officer for NextStep for Life, plans to retire on June 30.
“One of the drivers of the merger is the anticipated leadership change at NextStep, with the planned retirement of Jennifer Wooldridge,” Sucharski said.
Both organizations are headquartered in Mapaville, but have programs around the county.
“Pony Bird supports about 85 individuals through our various services and NextStep supports nearly 1,100 in their various services,” Sucharski said.
The current Pony Bird Inc. has residential facilities in Mapaville, Barnhart and De Soto. NextStep currently provides services out of its Arnold, Herculaneum and Mapaville locations.
Pony Bird was established in 1977 and provides 24-hour care for up to 85 people with intellectual, physical and developmental disabilities who are non-ambulatory and medically fragile.
NextStep for Life used to be part of the Jefferson County Disabilities Resource Board, but the two organizations split in 2017. NextStep for Life provides programs for people with disabilities, including community, employment and family support, as well as leisure and residential programs.
Wooldridge, who has been with NextStep for 19 years, said both organizations will benefit under the merger.
“It just makes us stronger and more diverse,” she said. “We consider it a move to strengthen both organizations.”
Sucharski agreed.
“This will strengthen the services we provide and allows us to integrate services such as medical supports and therapies and employment opportunities for the services we provide,” she said.
Sucharski and Wooldridge said concerns about funding and changing needs in the industry also factored into the decision to merge the groups.
“A reason is the changing landscape in service delivery and funding in the state and federal levels and the opportunity for both organizations to be more diverse,” Sucharski said. “Some of the (government) changes are in money. Some are in regulations.”
She said there are no plans to cut jobs when the two organizations merge.
“A merged entity will have a little more than 300 employees,” Sucharski said. “Each has about 150 now.”
Full integration of Pony Bird Inc. and NextStep for Life is expected to take 18 to 24 months, according to a joint written statement from the two organizations.
For more information about the two organizations or the merger, visit