PROJECT HOPE FOUNDATION INC
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Mission Statement
Project HOPE Foundation's mission is to provide a lifespan of autism services that help families, open minds, provide inclusion, and expand potential. We serve across ages (from two-year-olds through adults), across the autism spectrum (from those who need to develop a basic communication system to those who are completing advanced high school classes). We provide a wide range of services through nine core programs, including therapy, classrooms, workshops, trainings, social groups, and employment. We serve not only the child affected with autism but also the entire family, all of whom are forever changed by this diagnosis. We provide a broad array of workshops and trainings to families, educators, childcare providers, medical professionals, and community groups. No other South Carolina non-profit organization offers the range of services and support provided by Project HOPE Foundation.
About This Cause
Project HOPE Foundation's mission is to provde a lifespand of autism services. Over the past two decades, the rate of autism has exploded. When this organization was founded in 1997, the rate of autism was 1 in 2,500. The current rate is 1 in 68 children, 1 in 42 boys. Unfortunately, services and funding streams have not grown to meet this explosion, creating a huge void for families who struggle to locate appropriate programs for their children and to access funding to cover the costs associated with the few services that are available. This problem hits families on a gut level. When a parent receives the diagnosis of autism for a child, the impact is often immediate and devastating. Dreams - of baseball teams and recitals, of sleepovers and best friends, of graduations and weddings - disappear. Autism reduces the ability to communicate, to interact with the world. It also results in repetitive, difficult, and sometimes self-injurious behavior. The statistics are daunting: • 30% of the autism population is nonverbal, unable to speak at all. • 50% wander away, unaware of danger. • 84% live at home as adults (but will outlive their parents). • 92% are unemployed as adults. Not suprisingly, families often fall apart under this stress, resulting in a divorce rate that has been reported as high as 85% Ultimately, the entire community is affected by autism. These children will likely outlive their parents, and the lifelong cost of care will fall on the community – a cost estimated to be $2.4 million for a single person. Since 1997, Project HOPE Foundation has identified needs not being met for the autism community and has created programs that successfully and expeditiously address these needs. It’s flagship program was an inclusion-based school where children with autism could learn side-by-side with typical learners. As the rate of autism began to skyrocket and parents had no viable educational options, we expanded our classroom model to meet the changing needs of this population, addressing different ages, different abilities, and different goals. In 2007, when South Carolina first implemented funding for ABA, there were no service providers that would accept the rates offered. To meet this need, we created the only non-profit ABA program in South Carolina so that families who could not afford private ABA therapy costs would have access to this life-changing intervention. We have continued to strategically expand these services so that more families from underserved, underfunded areas can access them. When the deficit of trained supervisors in the state threatened the ability to expand services, we partnered with Florida Institute of Technology to provide a Masters degree program in our clinic to provide the necessary training for the required credentials. This step allowed us to serve more chldren within a proven treatment model and to give our employees a long-term career path. As our clients began to age, we developed employment and support programs that targeted individual interests, talents, and skills with the belief that each of us should have the opportunity to lead -- to the fullest of our abilites -- independent, productive, and happy lives. Our core programs include: • Hope Link – moving out of crisis through training and support • Hope Reach – changing lives through intensive behavioral therapy • Hope Academy – including chidren with autism with typical peers • Bridging the Gap – targeting skills for succesful transitions • Virtual Hope – helping youth on the spectrum graduate with diplomas/GED • Hope Alive Jr. – focusing on skills that will help students significantly affected by autism become independent, productive, happy adults. • Hope Alive – developing innovative, individualized adult services • Project Fulfillment – using a unique staffing approach to equip employers to hire adults with autism • Hope Unleashed – using trained dogs as teaching tools