Easterseals recently announced that the Comcast NBCUniversal Foundation has provided $230,000 in grants to support technology programs and services offered throughout the nonprofit’s national network of affiliates.
The Fred J. Maahs Jr. Assistive Technology Grants, named for the former Comcast executive and current Easterseals board member whose efforts have made a lasting impact in the disability community, were awarded through a competitive process to a dozen Easterseals affiliates nationwide.
The grants are designed to unlock a world of opportunities for children and adults with disabilities so they can more independently live, learn, work and play in their communities.
“We are grateful to the Comcast NBCUniversal Foundation for the commitment and support it has provided to Easterseals since 2011 so that we can continue to deliver innovative assistive technology solutions at the local level, to ensure that people with disabilities can gain heightened independence and achieve great things,” said Loreen Chant, Easterseals South Florida [resident and CEO.
“We believe that success starts with opportunity,” said Dalila Wilson-Scott, senior vice president of Community Impact for Comcast Corporation and president of the Comcast NBCUniversal Foundation. “It has been our privilege, through our support and partnership with Easterseals, to see the lives of more than 57,000 children and adults with disabilities nationwide, as well as veterans and older adults, empowered through expanded assistive technology training and services.”
As one of the recipients of the 2019 Fred J. Maahs Jr. Assistive Technology Grant, Easterseals South Florida will create a sensory integration and assistive technology center that will incorporate academic, communication and sensory technology for students with autism and other disabilities at its Easterseals Academy and Child Development Center, which serves 130 students, ages 1-22 years old, with special needs.
The idea for this project is based on the extensive research that shows that addressing a person’s sensory processing and/or neurological deficits first will increase the success and likelihood for cognitive/academic and life skills learning. In other words, if we can focus on a student’s sensory challenges first and help them manage and/or address these difficulties, then the student will be more able to engage in learning activities that address the social, cognitive, and life skills deficits that characterize his/her disability.
To date, Comcast NBCUniversal Foundation has provided more than $35 million in cash and in-kind support to help Easterseals advance assistive technology solutions nationwide.
For more information or to make a donation, call 305-547-4765 or visit www.easterseals.com/southflorida.
