E N C INC
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Mission Statement
Mission Statement: We will build an autism friendly, affordable, multigenerational community around acceptance and understanding, including those most vulnerable, to create opportunities for full healthy lives for all members. Vision: We envision a way of living that enables increasing the healthy lifespan of all members, of both the primary community and ultimately the community at large, through creation of community and social opportunities. Values: We recognize that individual acts of kindness are opportunities to improve health. Health: We appreciate that the design and location of homes and spirit of the community center hold keys to improving lives through activities and education readily available in everyday life. Acceptance and understanding: Understanding autism is a deep dive on becoming more accepting and learning more about our own humanity. Volunteering: Meaningful volunteer opportunities can dispel loneliness and bring purpose to one’s life, especially in the aging years when many people find themselves alone in life. Transformation: We need to rethink how we view aging and create vibrant aging intentional intergenerational communities, nurturing people to thrive in the ‘second act’ of their lives. Community Partners: We work with many existing like-minded organizations in our community to succeed at our mutual goals. Creativity: We encourage sharing ideas maintaining respect for one another with the recognition that any idea can add value or potentially become a better way of doing things.
About This Cause
Did you know that loneliness is as hard on health as fifteen cigarettes a day? We aim to improve the health of two at risk groups by addressing affordable housing issues and social issues that will bring people together into long term friendships in an autism friendly intergenerational community. We aim to build housing that is appropriate for the sensory needs and mobility needs of both elders and persons with autism. Did you know as people age they are interested in learning new things and doing something meaningful where they feel valued? As the older people become the dominant population it is important to appreciate them and not waste this rich experienced multiple generation population. We need to rethink aging. We see the people over 55 as 'The Opportunity Generation". They are a wealth of kindness and perspective at the right time in their lives to enjoy a slower pace and valuable meaningful volunteer opportunities right where they live and with a time commitment that is happily filled. We aim to match people's passions to the needs and the commitment level to the desired level of the community member. We are modelling our community on the multiple award winning "Treehouse Community " model where they brought seniors together with families adopting children who have experienced foster care creating relationships and benefits for people in both groups. It has been a wildly successful model. As we work toward helping people with autism live in the greater community it is clear that not all people with autism will thrive there. Let me tell you a story. Tim (not his real name) has a job and has been living 'on his own' in his own apartment in a complex for people with disabilities for three years. For most people the future would look bright after this amount of time. Then 'Tim' got arrested for cutting the cords on the vacuum cleaners in his apartment building for the second time. Did you know that autism is a profound communication disorder? Did you know that people with autism have sensory disturbances that turn ordinary sounds into traumatic experiences for them? Because of Tim's autism he could not self advocate. He could not identify the trauma and the choices that you or I would to remedy the situation. The night before the court date was a nightmare. Jail would be too traumatic, Tim would not likely understand what it was all about. Fortunately the Judge recognized that Tim could not distinguish right from wrong in this situation and recommended that the parents get guardianship. Unfortunately, Tim lost his housing. His parents scrambled for new arrangements. Change is a big stressor in autism. What if Tim's parents were no longer in the picture? What if a neighbor could have advocated for Tim? What if the building superintendent understood about autism and arranged to vacuum when Tim wasn't home? We are passionate about creating an understanding neighborhood through stories, speakers and education about autism. We expect to build friendships through volunteer activities that invite sharing and caring. Some of our best friendships are formed working together with others on a common goal. We are passionate about living to the fullest for all of the community members. We believe we will improve the health of all members with opportunities to be physically active and have access to healthy meaningful activities. Each person with autism is different. We aim to grow the appreciation of each community member with special focus on those with autism in order to best bridge the communication challenges. Understanding autism in each individual has taught me to see everyone in a different light. We aim to build a neighborhood primarily in a cottage court style with a community center that could house between 100 and 150 people. We aim to reach out to members in the greater community, both those with disabilities and volunteers of all ages. As we test the concept on multiple groups the question we get most often is, "Why doesn't this exist already?". The IACC Housing presentation (Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee) conclusions at the 2019 Autism housing workshop were that there is an autism housing crisis on the horizon, there is no single model that will work for all, and that the solution will be combinations of private sector, foundation support and industry support of new models. A recent article from the Cleveland Clinic Research Journal documented that Intentional Communities were growing to support adults with autism. We passionately believe we are on the right track. We believe that our location, Marshfield, WI is uniquely poised for this model. It is a small town with excellent medical care, a nice YMCA, and most important, an abundance of kind people who may have been in healthcare or teaching and have retired. These groups in particular are very enthused. We are at the beginning of this huge project but are making excellent headway. We will have huge financial challenges ahead to build from scratch a community that will serve, but we are growing our support locally as well as nationally. We appreciate the opportunity to participate in Benevity. Thank you very much for considering supporting our model. With the incidence of autism that used to be one in one hundred twenty that is now one in fifty nine kids there is a huge increase in the number of children with autism approaching adulthood. Schools and supports for children with autism have grown but the opportunities for adults have not kept pace. We see our brave organization as a piece of the autism housing puzzle. We see connecting people in community as our aim. We will make this happen! Join us in this amazing journey!