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Mayor Karyn Cunningham and Vice Mayor Leanne Tellam welcomed and celebrated the opening of the new neurodiverse learning center, The Rising Start Foundation (TRS), in the area through a ribbon cutting ceremony. The TRS foundation provides a bridge from school life to adulthood through vocational training and employment opportunities to youngsters with Autism and other diagnoses.
According to findings published in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, more than 5.4 million people in the U.S. — or 1 in 45 — over age 18 are on the spectrum, and they estimate that over the next five years, 500,000 autism-diagnosed children will transition to adulthood. The possibilities for these young adults to get a post-secondary education and a job are currently, very low.
“The Rising Start Foundation is an extension of our early intervention program, EIBS, and a response to our students’ and families’ need for a conduit toward a successful transition between school and adult life,” said Maria Alejandra Mejia, Master in Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) and Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) & founder of The Rising Start Foundation. “Post-secondary education or training has become a critical requirement for an individual’s employability and economic stability in recent years, yet children and young adults with Autism face enormous challenges fulfilling those requirements. Through The Rising Start Foundation program, we aim to educate, train and employ neurodiverse young adults and support them in developing fulfilling and independent lives.”
Shattuck et al., among many other studies, have found that youth with Autism are at high risk for being unengaged in either post-secondary education or employment during the first two years after high school. Furthermore, students with disabilities are less likely than peers in the general population to graduate, with a completion rate of only 39% for young adults with Autism. “The Rising Start Foundation is a neurodiverse learning center for young adults with autism and other diagnoses. This center will help close a gap in much needed services for neurodiverse young adults in South Dade. I can’t think of a better way to celebrate Autism Awareness Month than opening the doors to this special center. Welcome home Rising Start Foundation!” says Palmetto Bay Mayor Karyn Cunningham.
Unemployment for neurodivergent adults runs as high as 30-40%, which is three times the rate for people with disabilities and eight times the rate for individuals without a disability. “To create a brighter future for the autism community, we need to work harder and smarter for and with individuals with autism across the lifespan. There is so much potential, but it will, as they say, take a village to accomplish all that is needed,” says Dr. Michael Alessandri, Executive Director of the University of Miami-Nova Southeastern University Center for Autism and Related Disabilities (UM-NSU CARD). “The broader community needs to recognize the value for all in making space for people with autism and design programs and places where their strengths and talents are used and valued.”
The Rising Start Foundation will target the South Florida population aged 14-35, and prepare their students to lead fulfilling and independent lives by providing the academic,
behavioral, socio-emotional, life skills tools, and strategies essential to achieving their objectives. But a unique and critical component of TRS is the Vocational Program, whose centerpiece will be the creation of actual operating Business Units where the participants will be trained and have the opportunity for genuine employment in a truly “safe” working environment.
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