Advocates for Children
151 West 30 th Street , 5th Floor
New York , NY 10001

$1,150
Contact: Jill Chaifetz
212-822-9529

Autistic, Strength, Purpose and Independence in Education (ASPIE)
P.O. Box 489
Boiceville , NY 12412

$25,000
Contact: Valerie Paradiz
845-657-7201

Project Title: The ASPIE Model Program, Yearly Summit and Summer Training Center
ASPIE is a full-day, educational program for middle and high school students on the autistic spectrum with diagnoses of Asperger's Syndrome, High Functioning Autism, Pervasive Developmental Disorder, and other significant social/communication disorders in the Hudson Valley and Catskill Mountain region of New York. A FAR Fund grant will allow ASPIE to hold its first Summer Institute to train ASPIE staff, offer workshops within the school district, and plan its first annual conference.

Big Year Productions, Inc.
10525 Ayers Avenue
Los Angeles , CA 90064

$30,000
Contact: Vanessa Roth
310-569-7456

Project Title: Roars in My Head: Living with Autism
Big Year Productions, Inc. was started in 1994 by Vanessa Roth who produced and directed Taken In: The Lives of America's Foster Children , an award winning PBS special. With a grant from the FAR Fund, Big Year will produce a feature length documentary and national outreach/educational campaign, entitled Roars in My Head , which will provide a realistic view of families seeking quality lives for their children with autism as they navigate their way through social service systems.

Cody Center for Autism and Developmental Disabilities
Putnam Hall, Room 177 - South Campus Health Sciences Center School of Medicine Stony Brook University
Stony Brook , NY 11794

$12,000
Contact: Lynda Geller
631-766-2056

Project Title: Home Visit Component of the P.S. 32 ASD Parent Project
This project provides parental support and home visits to families with children enrolled in the P.S. 32 Autistic Spectrum Disorder Parent project. The home visits will assist families to develop coping techniques and strategies to deal with issues and concerns that cannot be addressed in school. A grant from the FAR Fund will continue to provide this vital support to the children and families enrolled in P.S. 32. The project will also be evaluated by Lynda Geller, Director of the Cody Center for Autism and Developmental Disabilities.

CUNY Law School Foundation
65-21 Main Street
Flushing , NY 11367

$40,000
Contact: Barney Pace
917-572-4865

Project Title: Project Equity
The project involves the collaboration of three organizations: Advocates for Children, CUNY Law School , and Hunter College School of Social Work. With a grant from the FAR Fund, Project Equity will provide fellowships to law school interns and graduate social work interns, creating advocates for autistic children and their families.

Department of Special Education Hunter College
695 Park Avenue , Room 1000 West
New York , NY 10021

$15,000
Contact: Shirley Cohen
212-772-4622

Project Title: Planning Grant: Center for the Preparation of Educational Personnel to Work with Children with Autistic Spectrum Disorders
Hunter College Department of Special Education offers master's degree programs in different areas of early childhood special education. A planning grant from the FAR Fund will be used to design and implement a program to provide courses for education majors who work with students on the autistic spectrum and receive an official State annotation on their certificates.

Eden II Programs
150 Granite Avenue
Staten Island , NY 10303

$10,000
Contact Person: Joanne Gerenser
718-816-1422x115

Project Title: Interdisciplinary Collaboration in Autism: Scholarships for Four Graduate Courses in Autistic Spectrum Disorders
Eden II serves 125 families of individuals with autism in five programs: school, preschool, adult services, residential services and family supports. The FAR Fund grant will be used to provide partial scholarships for up to twelve students for courses related to the education of students on the autistic spectrum at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York.

Global & Regional Asperger Syndrome Partnership (GRASP)
135 East 15 th Street
New York , NY 10003

$25,000
Contact: Michael J. Carley
646-242-4003

Project Title: General Support
GRASP is an educational and advocacy organization helping individuals and families with Asperger Syndrome/High Functioning Autism (AS/HFA). With a grant from the FAR Fund, GRASP will provide support groups for individuals on the spectrum and their families, and develop a network of resources.

Institute of Applied Human Dynamics
3625 Bainbridge Avenue
Bronx , NY 10458

$45,000
Contact: Gilbert Louis
718-920-0860

Project Title: Person Centered Planning for Adults with ASD
The Institute of Applied Human Dynamics (IAHD) is a large nonprofit agency that serves the mentally retarded and developmentally disabled in congregate programs. IAHD previously received funding from the FAR Fund to implement person centered planning within its program. With a grant from the FAR Fund, IAHD will continue to develop its person centered planning for ten individuals, develop a Day Habilitation Program Without Walls, will explore self directed housing for participating individuals and provide staff trainings to promote person centered planning.

Jewish Community Center on the Palisades
411 East Clinton Avenue
Tenafly , NJ 07670

$73,000
Contact: Lois Mendelson
201-569-7900x208

Project Title: The Evaluation of a Developmental Parent /Child Nursery Model for the Treatment of High Functioning Children on the PDD Spectrum
The Parent/Child Nursery for the Treatment of High Functioning Children on the PDD Spectrum is a developmental, multi-disciplinary psychodynamically based treatment center that addresses cognitive, linguistic, behavioral, social and emotional needs of children and their parents. The Center specializes in working with children who are high functioning on the autistic spectrum. A FAR Fund grant will allow the center to evaluate changes in the children and their parents who are in the program. The study will be conducted over a three year period with the use of standardized and experimental measures.

Job Path
22 West 38 th Street , 11 th Floor
New York , NY 10018

$40,000
Contact: Fredda Rosen
212-944-0564x223

Project Title: The FAR Leadership Alliance : FAR/OMRDD Initiative
Job Path assists individuals with developmental disabilities, including those with autistic spectrum disorders, to obtain and maintain work through supported work strategies. Founded in 1978 by the Vera Institute for Justice, Job Path has been an innovator in the use of person centered planning. In September 2003, the FAR Fund issued grants to three New York City agencies to launch person centered transition planning projects for people with autistic spectrum disorders. With continued support from the FAR Fund, Job Path will provide technical assistance and leadership development to these agencies.

Life's WORC
1501 Franklin Avenue P.O. Box 8165
Garden City , NY 11530

$45,000
Contact: Tina Miller
516-741-9000

Project Title: Pathways to a Dream
Life's WORC is a parent-founded organization that provides services that foster an independent and productive life for individuals with developmental disabilities and traumatic brain injury. With continued support from the FAR Fund, Life's WORC will continue to work with ten individuals in the person centered planning process and develop a Day Habilitation Without Walls program for five of the ten individuals. Life's WORC will also begin exploring self-directed living arrangements for at least one of the individuals involved in the project.

New York University Institute for Education and Social Policy
726 Broadway, 5 th Floor
New York , NY 10003

$50,000
Contact: Dorothy Siegel
212-998-5850

Project Title: Meeting the Challenge
The Institute for Education and Social Policy at New York University 's Steinhardt School of Education engages in research and strategic support for community involvement in public school reform. In partnership with the New York State Department of Education, a grant from the FAR Fund will allow implementation of a model program based on recent research and best practices that will enable higher functioning children with autism to be educated in self-contained classes in neighborhood schools rather than in separate special education programs for children with autism.

New York University Institute for Education and Social Policy
726 Broadway, 5 th Floor
New York , NY 10003

$4,345
Contact: Elizabeth Cecil
212-501-9044

Project Title: P.S. 29 Parent Project
In 2001 a group of parents of higher functioning children with autistic spectrum disorders (ASD) advocated for a class in a mainstream public school in District 15. The project is a parent-focused, psychodynamically–orientated intervention that will work with the P.S. 29 ASD class. A grant from the FAR Fund will enable the project to provide parent discussion groups and staff discussion groups to enhance the teaching and administrative staff's understanding of the parents' perspectives regarding their children's social and educational development.

The Shield Institute
144-61 Roosevelt Avenue
Flushing , NY 11354

$45,000
Contact: Joshua Skolnick
718-269-2016

Project Title: Creative Futures
The Shield Institute provides early intervention, day care, preschool and school age special education programs for children; day treatment programs, service coordination and day habilitation for adults and clinical services for children and adults with developmental disabilities, including those with autistic spectrum disorders. With support from the FAR Fund, the Shield Institute will continue to implement person centered planning for ten individuals with autism, including helping some secure a job or volunteer placement at a site of interest to them. In addition, they will assist participants in exploring self-directed living arrangements.