Colleen Paletta
Vice President of Training & Employment Services

Colleen Paletta serves as Goodwill of Greater Washington’s Vice President of Training & Employment Services. Before being promoted in October 2006, Colleen was WORC’s Community Collaboration Coordinator, where she managed all aspects of a program funded by the Department of Labor through the Northern Virginia Workforce Investment Board. In coordination with this program, Colleen worked with 15 small, community- and faith-based service providers located in Loudoun, Prince William, or Fairfax Counties in Northern Virginia that offer counseling or general workforce development services to various demographics.

Colleen graduated from Boston College with a double degree in history and theology and a minor in faith, peace and justice studies. Upon graduation she enrolled in an Americorp-certified Jesuit Alumni Volunteer Program, a two-year teaching program for recent college graduates. In the course of those two years, she taught theology, ran programs in the Pastoral Ministry Department, managed community service projects at a Chicago high school and coordinated an after-school tutoring for elementary students. After completion of this program, Colleen assumed the role of Director of Community Services at St. Ignatius College Prep. Through these positions, she acquired a strong background in teaching and working with youth, and experience working with non-profits in the Chicago area. Colleen earned a master’s degree in public administration in 2005 from George Washington University where she focused her studies on nonprofit management. While attending graduate school, Colleen designed an evaluation plan for the Points of Light Foundation’s Youth Leadership Institute, interned as the Grant Coordinator for Sallie Mae, Inc., and received a full-tuition fellowship to work with the Law & Public Service Academy at Anacostia High School in Southeast, Washington DC. In 2005, Colleen brought her skills in teaching, programming, and evaluating and her knowledge of the nonprofit sector to the WORC and Goodwill team.