A Decade of Hope, Opportunity
and Commitment in Action
Ten years ago, Karenne Levy became President & CEO of MacDonald Training Center. Since then, she has spent a decade doing what she does best: putting people first, believing in what’s possible, and turning hope into action.
Today, August 1, 2026, we celebrate ten years of Karenne’s servant leadership – and, despite her best efforts to deflect the attention, we’re going to talk about her. More importantly, we’re going to celebrate what happens when hope is put into action.
Enjoy Ten Years of Hope in Action: https://mailchi.mp/macdonaldcenter/celebrating-ten-years-of-hope-in-action
HOPE IN ACTION
MTC marked a significant milestone with the 8,000 Sq. Ft. Expansion of Day Services at the Sabal Park / Brandon location.
Under Karenne’s leadership, MTC expanded its reach with the opening of a new location in 2020, bringing services closer to the growing needs of the Brandon and Riverview community. That investment continued to grow, culminating in an 8,000-square-foot expansion of Day Services at the Sabal Park/Brandon location.
On February 12, 2026, MTC cut the ribbon on new classrooms, a fine arts studio, performing arts space and welcoming spaces designed for learning, creativity and connection. The Brandon Riverview Chamber of Commerce proclaimed February 12 MacDonald Training Center Day – a fitting recognition of MTC’s growing presence in the community.
“We have been working to meet the needs of the community, and that is why we are here in this beautiful space today,” Karenne said that morning. “This is a day of love, perseverance and commitment. We will be able to provide bright, beautiful, open spaces where learning is fun.”
MISSION AT WORK
MacDonald Training Center (MTC) was founded in 1953 by J. Clifford MacDonald and a group of parents who looked at the options available to their children – which were, in practical terms, almost none – and decided to build something better.
Seven decades later, that founding impulse is still the organization’s operating mission. When Karenne arrived in 2016, she did not treat it as history. She recognized the legacy and treated it as an honor.
MTC’s mission is to empower people with disabilities to lead the lives they choose. Karenne’s contribution was to keep pressing on the last three words. The lives they choose – which is a far more demanding promise, and one she has never let the organization soften.
It is why MTC describes its work the way it does: MTC opens doors to a future where people with disabilities have the opportunity to learn, work, build community connections, experience a true sense of belonging, and live with greater independence. Every stage. A trusted partner. A lifetime of opportunities.
It is a structural commitment Karenne built into the organization – a young person referred at 14 through a career camp, a student earning a certification through eMerge, an adult starting a job at Raymond James, a resident settling into a home at Baytown Apartments, an older adult aging in place with dignity. Different chapters, same organization, no one handed off and forgotten.
OPENING DOORS TO EDUCATION
The clearest expression of that idea is MTC’s post-secondary education program – eMerge Career Collaborative.
It launched as EXCEL, built to serve individuals on the Autism Spectrum at a time when post-secondary options for those students were scarce. In 2018, The Able Trust recognized Karenne with its Dr. George L. Spelios Leadership Award – the first community award the program ever received, and, in the words of MTC’s own resident historian, one of the most important moments of her tenure. It was the moment the broader disability community looked at what MTC was doing and said: this matters.
The program has only widened since. Working with Dr. Karen Berkman (former Center for Autism & Related Disabilities – CARD-USF – Executive Director) and LAUNCH at USF (formerly the Learning Academy at the University of South Florida), MTC built a bridge that lets students move between the two program sites – from foundational information technology at MTC into advanced automation and robotics coursework at USF.
Karenne explained the stakes plainly when the Tech2Work partnership was announced: “technology is one of the fastest-growing fields in Florida, and the goal was for MTC’s students to not only have a job, but to actually have a career and have an opportunity to earn a living wage.”
The same logic runs through everything else built in the last ten years. Project SEARCH Adult Model at ZooTampa at Lowry Park, a nine-month immersive internship pairing classroom instruction with real workplace training; the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DHH) Vocational Training & Internship program; and employer and vocational training and/or internship partnerships with Moffitt Cancer Center, The City of Tampa, Raymond James, The Florida Aquarium, University of Tampa and Coffee Uniting People (CUP).
REAL HOMES, REAL WORK
MTC has long believed that people with disabilities deserve a real home and meaningful work in the community.
Our residential services evolved from dormitories, to group homes, to supporting people to live independently in homes and apartments of their own. Under Karenne’s leadership, that vision continues to expand. MTC helped create Baytown Apartments, the first affordable housing community in our area where people with and without disabilities live side by side. Groundbreaking took place in October 2023, and on March 6, 2025, MTC and its partners gathered for the ribbon-cutting of this much-needed 30-unit affordable housing community – a place where accessibility, independence, and belonging come together.
ADVOCACY
Buildings get ribbon cuttings. Advocacy does not.
For years, Karenne has journeyed to Tallahassee, sat down with legislators, and made the case for funding that people with disabilities in Florida cannot afford to lose. She has represented MTC through the Florida Association of Rehabilitation Facilities, (FARF) worked alongside Hillsborough County commissioners, City of Tampa Council Members and State Senators and Representatives – because visibility is its own kind of advocacy.
She has also kept MTC’s mission-based enterprises running as real businesses with real standards, including the SunPass operation, at 10 million transponders processed in 2016 and now at 22 million and counting.
None of that has a ribbon. It has an impact.
IMPACT
Hundreds of individuals with disabilities served through MTC
This includes Day Services, Employment Services, Youth Camp Experiences, Residential Services, and Education Programs.
Hundreds of Workforce Development Certifications
That provide the opportunity for individuals with disabilities to turn their capabilities into increased independence and careers.
TEN YEARS
Back in 2016, a reporter asked the new CEO about her management style and Karenne offered a rule: “Fridays are good news-only days. You can’t do anything about bad news until Monday anyway.”
Ten years later, that is not a quirk. It is a leadership philosophy – protect the team’s energy, keep the room pointed at what’s possible, and handle the hard part yourself.
Karenne, thank you for a decade of servant leadership. For advocacy that never asked for credit. For the humor that got everyone through the long stretches. And for the conviction, held steady since day one, that the people we serve deserve a full life and not a consolation prize. Here’s to the next ten!
~ MTC Team
P.S. Please join us in congratulating Karenne – reply to this email with a note, or honor her anniversary with a gift to the students she’d rather we were writing about at the button below – Thank you!
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Thank you for uniting with us to make a difference in the lives of people with disabilities. Because of you, MacDonald Training Center (MTC) can continue to create opportunities and build brighter futures.
To learn more about how you can support MTC, visit: macdonaldcenter.org
