Michael Nessa, Founder
Michael’s first job was as the fry cook at McDonald’s, at the young age of 14. Subsequent jobs included working at a call center, working with developmentally disabled adults at a sheltered workshop, and working as an aide in the dementia unit of a nursing home. Michael’s first after-college job was working in a Community Mental Health Center as a Case Manager for severely mentally ill adults. Michael holds that job near and dear to his heart. At any given time he managed a caseload of 26 – 35 adults, helping them to remain mentally stable and able to function in their community. Michael was promoted to the role of Team Leader where he helped to supervise the other case managers in addition to maintaining his caseload. From there, Michael began working as a Qualified Intellectual Disability Professional at a 54-bed intermediate care facility for developmentally disabled adults. Michael’s last formal job was working at a non-profit agency that provided guardianship services to developmentally disabled adults.
Since 2006 Michael has been self-employed. He founded Progressive Alternatives, a social services agency that provides home and community-based services to developmentally disabled adults. At the point that Michael sold the agency to an employee, Progressive Alternatives was providing services to approximately 25 adults and employed 41 staff members. In 2007 Michael co-founded Greenelight Workforce, a vocational habilitation agency for developmentally disabled adults. In 2017 Michael gave full ownership of Greenelight Workforce to his business partner and Greenelight’s co-founder.
Since the sale of Progressive Alternatives in 2011 Michael has been enjoying the retired life – in only the way that a 30-something-year-old can. He no longer has jobs, but rather projects. Michael created Mirror Calendars: People Like Me, a company that creates calendars featuring children and adults with Down Syndrome. Michael’s other projects include Linking Angels: From Pocket Change to Global Change, and Updated Realities: Reality T.V. Revealed. Beyond the television screen.
In August of 2015 Michael started the FB group Clairporium Rocks. He now spends much of his workweek selling rocks and crystals. An entire level of his house has been converted into a Quarry.
We can only do so much apart, but we can move mountains when we unite. Linking Angels takes your small donation and transforms it into something huge. You and I work together to choose the non-profit organization that we want to help. Then we join forces with 4,998 people just like us and we each donate $20. At the end, we present the select non-profit with a check for $100,000.
Your donation is going to a non-profit organization in the United States that has received 501(c)(3) designation from the Internal Revenue Service. I carefully check out each and every organization along with verifying their non-profit status. I choose organizations that are fun, creative, that make a big positive impact in the world, and that have low administrative overhead.