Autism Society of Idaho

I am the Executive Director of Autism Society of Idaho (501(c)(3)) and we desperately need a location to operate out of, but we do not have funding available with the cost of commercial leases. We are finding $2,500-$3,500 a month in rent. which is difficult given we need space to offer more programs, but we can't offer programs without space. 

Ideally we would like to have an Autism Community Center here in North Idaho. We would offer workshops/trainings for businesses and families dealing with Autism, continue to expand our support groups, provide child care so families have the ability to attend classes - we also would have our lending library where we loan sensory equipment to the community to try out before buying. We have been working closely with law enforcement, first responders, CPS, public defenders, and court appointed advocates. We also have been assisting families dealing with legal proceedings and providing advocacy for them. Autism Society of Idaho is operated solely by donations and sponsorships, occasional grants if we get approved. Our board is all volunteer as is the majority of our staff (group facilitators are paid). We handle any and all requests for help from pre-diagnosis to end of life - we provide the information and resources. 

We currently operate out of a small classroom that due to our growth, is not feasible to continue as we are running into scheduling issues as we cannot do the support groups and trainings/workshops at the same time. Autism Society represents over 40,000 individuals in our state alone and it's growing with a prevalence rate of 1 in 36.