For MASWM members looking for inspiration on what mission-driven work can look like in practice, this feature on DOCO Inc. Sheltered Workshop in Ava, Missouri, is well worth the read. Led by Executive Director Dawn Cox, DOCO has spent nearly 50 years building far more than a workplace for adults with developmental disabilities… it’s built a community.
DOCO operates nine departments — including pallet manufacturing, tray washing, beverage destruction and recycling, screen printing, laundry, and Easter egg assembly — that function as real businesses with real contracts, not simulated work. Employees build hundreds of pallets weekly, assembled 2.5 million Easter eggs last year, and run a screen-printing shop that fills orders from across and beyond Douglas County.
But the heart of the story is philosophy, not production numbers. Cox’s guiding belief, “make them able, not ableist,” shows up everywhere: in a $1 cafeteria that teaches budgeting rather than relying on free meals, in a Blessing Box and ice cream stand that let employees serve their own community, and in an annual Thanksgiving meal that’s become Cox’s favorite day of the year. DOCO also runs a prom for employees and the broader special-needs community, complete with donated formalwear and a red carpet.
Beyond the workplace, DOCO invests in safety and dignity outside its walls, too. Staff receive extensive training in seizure response, deescalation, and online safety, and Cox developed laminated ID cards (now recognized by Ava police) to help officers respond with patience during encounters with employees who have disabilities.
The throughline, in Cox’s words: “the disabled are here in the community, spending dollars.” They are working, earning, shopping, and belonging, not separate from community life but central to it.
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