A Message From the Executive Director
Transcription
A Message From the Executive Director
Special Needs Support Center Annual Report 2014-2015 CELEBRATING 35 YEARS Photos Taken From This Year’s Annual Meeting Our Mission To help children and adults with any type of special need, and their families, meet their unique challenges through advocacy and program support. http://www.facebook.com/SNSCUV Website: http://www.snsc-uv.org Call us at 603-448-6311, or email Phil@snsc-uv.org A Message From the President The SNSC Team 2015 Board of Directors Ann Bracken, Co-President Barbara van Hoff, Co-President Vince Mennona, Vice President Jo-Anne Unruh, Secretary Nancy Barrington, Treasurer Peter Garland Melanie Huston Anthea Lavallee Kate Medeiros Risa Mornis Codie Rockwood Amy Schaeffler Meg Seely Sherry Sousa Annual Giving Committee Jim Adler Pete Bleyler Philip Eller Agnes Guay Dave Harris Kathy Marshall Vince Mennona, Chair Miriam Osofsky Ann Raynolds Kathy Westwood Peter White Staff This past year the Board has focused on revising and clarifying the roles and responsibilities of Board members, and that of the Executive Director. Keeping the mission statement and vision of the Special Needs Support Center in the foreground, we attempted to form a well-functioning Board with the knowledge that we will be undergoing a major transition in this coming year as Phil retires from the Executive Directorship. We met for a day-long retreat and looked at areas of strengths and weaknesses for us as a board, for the Executive Director, and for SNSC as an organization. We have met with the staff to talk about the transition, and to assess what their needs will be. We are looking at financial information, and trying to find ways to not only survive the transition time, but to become more sustainable as we move forward. The major fundraisers were well-attended and well-received. The dates for this fall have been set for the Blue Lip Golf Tournament (October 24), and the Delicious Art – Wine, Chocolate and Cheese Tasting at AVA Gallery (November 1). The Simon Pearce Dinner and Mother’s Day Raffle will be early next year. Finally, the job description for the new Executive Director will be posted this fall, with the hopes of either a January, or a June, start date. If you, or someone you know, is interested in applying for the job, please contact one of the board members. Sincerely, Barbara van Hoff President, Board of Directors Philip Eller Executive Director Pam Blair Programs Coordinator Shelley Geoghegan Fundarising Manager Nicki Thrall Administrative Assistant Lynn VanNatta Murray Ngoima Sylvia Dow ART LAB Facilitators Anna Dulac Carolina Alvarez-Correa Esther Wu ASPIRE Coordinators Volunteers are integral to everything that SNSC does. Thank you to each and every one of you. We couldn’t do it without you. At least 96 people helped this year including: STAR (17) ASPIRE (25+) Connections (12) ART LAB (3+) Board of Directors (14) AGC (9+) Other committees (2+) Nathan Hall Library (2) Happenings (12+) 2 A Message From the Executive Director FY’15 marked our 35th year of service in the Upper Valley to children and adults with ANY kind of special need, and to their families. Two composite examples demonstrate the value of our work. One: a parent of a child with autism in a local elementary school was assisted in understanding the complexities of the special education process and in understanding the technical language of evaluations completed for her child. Several school meetings were attended with her with the result that her child was finally able to receive appropriate services to ensure academic success. Another: a young lady with a developmental disability trying to live on her own and create a meaningful life for herself participated Philip Eller, Executive Director in most of our Happenings events, the weekly ART LAB, and two of the Educational Classes. These interesting social and creative activities, in addition to her part time work and part time volunteer commitments, provided her opportunities to interact with others with whom she felt comfortable. These activities enhanced not only her quality of life but also her self-esteem, and helped her become a more productive member of her community. Several special activities marked this 35th year of SNSC. In the fall a former Board member, Maedi Tanham Carney presented two workshops for parents and caregivers: one in the morning at Zack’s Place in Woodstock on “Navigating the Financial World of the Family with Special Needs” and in the afternoon at the Kilton Library on “The Basics of Housing for Individuals with Disabilities.” In each workshop ten or so people got the benefit of Maedi’s expertise that is recognized nationally and which she presents through her organization: www.specialneedsplanning.net based in Washington DC. As part of SNSC’s outreach and wider professional responsibilities I participated as a member of the Vermont Autism Task Force, a state-wide group of parents and professionals advocating and educating the public about the issues surrounding people, especially children on the autism spectrum. Each year the VATF presents an Autism Awareness Day at the Vermont Statehouse with a special speaker, activities for families and children, and contacts with legislators. This year SNSC acted as the fiscal agent to handle a grant from the Vermont Developmental Disabilities Council to fund a presentation by Dr. Steven Shore, a nationally known self-advocate for autism. Over 100 parents, professionals, and legislators attended the event. As part of this day, April 1 of Autism Awareness Month, several members of the VATF Special Education Committee presented a major concern to the Senate Education Committee and through subsequent testimony introduced the basics of a bill that would change the Vermont eligibility guidelines of special education - to the Adverse Effect requirement that often rules out services for students on the higher end of autism spectrum. In collaboration with the Special Education Advocates Coalition (SPEAC), of which I am also a member, we raised significant awareness and concern among the Senate Committee members, and while the new legislation was proposed too late in the legislative session we laid the groundwork for the re-introduction of a bill in the 2016 legislature. Vermont is the only state in the nation with such a stringent eligibility requirement. SPEAC is a group of lawyers, and recently other advocates, who meet to discuss and address concerns regarding special education issues in Vermont. We are confident that working together, we will achieve success next year in this important area of Adverse Effect eligibility, and thus ensure the special education services that too many students (with autism, ADHD, and emotional disabilities) are denied. Unfortunately, New Hampshire does not have an equivalent group to SPEAC. Another major professional activity this year was SNSC’s involvement in helping the Early Childhood Mental Health Network (ECMHN) bring an international neuroscientist, Dr. Allan Schore to northern New England for four days in May of presentations to a wide variety of professionals working with children and adults that suffer from early childhood trauma and impaired relationships capabilities. For many years, SNSC has served as the fiscal agent for ECMHN, and for these events, we worked with Dr. Miriam Voran, (a member of ECMHN) to write grants and make arrangements with multiple organizations to raise the almost $30,000 for two of these days of workshops (110 attendees), Pediatric Grand Rounds at DHMC (attended by over 80 doctors, etc.) and an evening public lecture by Dr. Schore (attended by 75+ parents and professionals). We collaborated with NFI, a Burlington based psychiatric organization, who hosted over 300 attendees at another day-long workshop. We also collaborated with the NH chapter of the National Association of Social Workers to include a day-long workshop in Manchester NH attended by 46 professionals. These events involved extensive development and administrative contacts and background work by myself and our talented Administrative Assistant, Nicki Thrall. Other collaboraors included the Geisel Medical School, Department of Pediatrics, the Child Care Project, Let’s Grow Kids, and the Dartmouth Trauma Intervention Research Center. Grants were received from the Byrne Foundation, NH Endowment for Health, Let’s Grow Kids, and the Dwinell Family Trust. This effort was a significant activity for SNSC and brought us a lot of recognition and awareness around both states. 3 Continued on Page 4 continued from Page 3 Another major effort this year was working with others to create the Special Needs Coalition of the Upper Valley (SNC) that includes Spark! Community Center, Global Campuses, Zack’s Place, and High Horses in addition to SNSC. These five organizations serve people with all kinds of special needs and differing abilities. The Coalition received a small start up grant from the NH Charitable Foundation, and our efforts have been facilitated by Alice Ely from the Public Health Council. Our goals are to enhance the coordination of program efforts of our organizations (in order to reduce any unintended redundancies in services – while at the same time giving our population appropriate choices of activities), to serve as a central place for information and referral as well education to the general public about disabilities rights and needs, and to join together on possible large fundraising events and larger grant opportunities. SNC grew out of several workshops last year for a wider group of professionals in a Special Needs Provider Forum. Also, Pam Blair, our Programs Coordinator is working closely with staff from Spark! to coordinate activities and programs. Finally, Shelley Geoghegan, our Fundraising Manager worked hard in this her second year by connecting with numerous businesses and corporate staff in the Upper Valley to raise awareness of SNSC (we are still ‘low on the radar’ of many people in the Upper Valley) and to solicit either direct donations to SNSC and/or co-sponsorships of our fund raising events. She has developed great databases of potential donors, set up standard form letters of appeal, and with Nicki created computer tracking systems for future business and corporate contacts. In addition, Shelley created the framework for an SNSC Planned Giving program that will bear much fruit in future years. She also provided staff support to the Special Events Committee of the Board. SUMMARY OF PROGRAM ACTVITIES Our small full time staff of two combined with several consultants to provide 17 services and programs to more than 624 in the wider Upper Valley in the past year. Some of our unique and valuable contacts were short term like a Information & Referral call to a year- long use of our Educational Advocacy or the ART LAB. Some of our programs reached only a small targeted audience but the newsletter reached about 1000 people and our website and Facebook page to many others. Our Family Support Services include 11 different ones and our Community Partners program total six unique ones. Family Support Services (FSS) Services primarily to and for parents and families Educational Advocacy – This service is one-of-a-kind in the Upper Valley and for the 35 years of SNC existence been one of our more valuable and important offerings. This year we worked with 199 families-111 from NH,4 8 from VT, and 40 from outside the Upper Valley. There were 73 new referrals received this year – from other parents, from mental health professionals, the Internet, etc. We made at least (we can’t track all of them) 825 contacts (by phone, email, in-person) with parents. We attended 128 school meetings – 80 in NH and 48 in VT. Another 30-40 school meetings might have been attended but for scheduling conflicts. With Google and the Internet we also get calls and emails from parents outside the Upper Valley as SNSC comes up high on a search list for educational advocacy in both New Hampshire and Vermont. We have considerable knowledge of the resources in both states and can make appropriate referrals for these parents. We also had 92 contacts of various types with professionals regarding these advocacy situations. This year we were able to do more consultation with parents who were then able to adequately advocate by themselves at school meetings. Each school meeting involves at least 3 hours direct time (including travel time) plus all the parent contacts and time involved in reading evaluations, IEPs, etc. SNSC’s long history of positive working relationships with all schools in the wider Upper Valley (from Bradford and Haverhill in the north to Springfield and Charleston in the south, from New London in the east and Stockbridge in the west) – 20 to 30+ schools in each state – plus our collaborative philosophy and approach result in significant success on behalf of students needing special education services in public schools. Information & Referral – At least 91 contacts were made this year – by email, phone, or in-person for this service for which SNSC staff have special expertise. A number of these contacts also include emotional support (a ‘listening ear’) to parents dealing 24/7 with a child having a special need. Some of these I&R contacts come from parents moving to the Upper Valley and some from other professionals ‘picking out brain’ about resources. Quarterly Newsletter – Unfortunately, due to time constraints we only published three newsletters this year. They go 277 by email and 661 by snail mail. We hope to expand the email list in the next year. Nicki does a fantastic job with her creative layouts of the newsletters. 4 Educational Workshops – As noted above, we organized two workshops in November presented by Maedi and each was attended by 10 parents and professionals. Nathan Hall Library – Our catalog of available books, tapes, etc. is listed on our website using the computer program, Library World. This year we received six boxes of books that are still be catalogued and will soon be on the website. Parent to Parent Matching – We matched up six parents at least this year, plus a number of informal type of connections. Respite Child Care Program – With only limited funds (a $5,000 grant from the HOPE Foundation and $1,000 from the Hanover Rotary Club), Pam was still able to provide respite support money to a total of 7 families – including 16 children and 11 adults. A total 390 hours of care were funded, with 2 families able to make some contribution to the total cost. This service provides valuable time to “take a break” from the 24/7 responsibilities of caring for a child with a special need. With other respite-providing agencies facing financial cutbacks, our program is more and more important. We continue to seek for additional funding sources for this program. Enhanced Family Support – This unique service provides a Board Certified Behavioral Analyst to families who have a child recently diagnosed with autism, or dealing with a developmental or behavioral crisis – for 10 to 12 hours of consultation and education - to get the family going on the journey of dealing with this challenging condition. We contract with S.D. Associates for this service. This year 4 families have been worked with and 7 referrals are in process. Website and Facebook – Nicki does a fabulous job keeping our site and Facebook up to date and looking good and adding informational links on a regular basis. She worked withChisel and Brand staff, who created the website for us, in an annual update. Photos of ART LAB Participants 5 Community Partners (CP) - Programs primarily for children, Teens, younger and older adults with special needs Happenings – One of our favorite and much anticipated programs serves older teens and adults with any kind of special need with a monthly social/recreational activity, including 3 dances, Pizza & Bingo nights, picnic, apple picking, etc. This year total attendance at 11 events was 653 (duplicated) involving 109 client participants in 107 families. ART LAB – One of our most special programs and especially loved by the staff at AVA Gallery where the 42 weeks art classes are held. Led at the beginning of the year by Lynn VanNatta, art educator who retired to full time art work herself in the fall, we welcomed back Murray Ngoima, our original educator. Assisted ably by founder and parent, Sylvia Dow, 45 adults participated in most of the four terms this year. Volunteers – Bryan Upton, Anne Webster-Grant, and Josh Yunger – were integral to the success of the class. We had another art display this year of 40+ pieces at DHMC. Some of the art works were also displayed during the Delicious Art fundraiser held at Pam Blair, Programs Coordinator AVA in November. Connections – Our Big Sibling program that matches Dartmouth College volunteers with kids having a special need for weekly contacts made 12 connections this year, with one other request pending. At the end of the academic year, 5 of these matches ended due to the graduation of the Dartmouth student, and one of them will be re-matched next year. ASPIRE (Assisting Special People thru Integration, Recreation and Education) - These three playgroups for kids on the autism spectrum are organized and led by Dartmouth College students and meet weekly during the college terms. At least 25 volunteers rotate their assistance to the younger group that was attended by 10 kids and 2 sibs, the older group that was attended by 6 kids and 3 siblings, and a swim group held at the Upper Valley Aquatics Center that was attended by 5 kids and 2 siblings. SNSC provided a Consulting Coordinator, Anna Dulac to the group for training, consultation, and activities resources. STAR (Steps Toward Adult Responsibility) – This small but extremely valuable program provides monthly meetings for teens with a chronic health condition to meet with Dartmouth College students who are also dealing with a chronic health condition - for supper and discussion group led by Pam and a D.C. student. Parents also attend the supper and then meet in their own support group led by Philip. The teens and mentors also meet once a term on their own to attend a college sport event or similar activity. A special and important aspect of STAR this year was the significant bonding the mentors did this year among themselves that provided their own support group network. Six teens, 8 parents, and 17 mentors participated this year. Education Classes – We offered three classes again this year, with Gloria Murray leading two on “American History Made Easy” and the annual cooking class held at the UV Senior Center led by Sylvia Dow on “Healthy Twist on Casseroles” and ably assisted by Tim Rockwood, a parent of a student. The three classes had a total of 23 students with 16 of them unduplicated. Photos From Our Annual Happenings Cookout 6 2014-2015 Grants and Contracts The Jack and Dorothy Byrne Foundation Kettering Family Foundation The Lane and Elizabeth C. Dwinell Charitable Trust Cogswell Foundation Ledyard Bank HOPE Foundation Couch Family Foundation Claremont Savings Bank Hanover Rotary Club Granite United Way PathWays of the River Valley John M. Shapiro Charitable Trust A Very Special Thank You To Our Leadership Circle of Donors! These donors have either donated $500 or more or have increased their donation by $200 or more Jim and Brooke Adler Barbara Hall Susan Williamson Anonymous (6) David and Joanne Harris Vince and Lucia Mennona Pete and Ruth Bleyler Charlotte Harris James and Tanya Callan Ann Bracken Kevin and Punam Keller Meg and Bruce Seely Jean-Anne Brown Father Francis Belanger, OP Adam Cole Jo-Anne Unruh and Ken Kramburg Hans Copeland Bill and Geraldine North Tracy and Zane Rodriguez Mary Cunningham Marilyn Paganucci Rick Elsner Tricia Lanter-Dufty and Kirk Dufty Roger Phillips and Robin Cushman Phillips Barbara and Jack van Hoff Philip and Janet Eller Rick and Linda Roesch Bob and Joyce Fieldsteel Jim Rose Wayne Griffin Lori and Mike Shipulski Michael Guay Peter and Jill White 7 Win Piper Neal Corbett Kelly McCarthy Elizabeth Masure Lauren and Don Sharkey Thanks to the 289 People Who Contributed To The 2014-2015 AGC If we missed your name, please let us know. We want to honor all donors unless you’ve requested to remain anonymous. Tony and Barbara Abbate Jim and Brooke Adler Susan Almy Anonymous (30) Pat Appleton Maren Ardell Peter Armstrong Larry and Jane Armstrong Winslow and Nancy Arnold Julie Arnold Kenneth Baker Bronwen and Bob Ballou Stephen Bartels and Elizabeth Tomlinson Bob Bauman Mark and Amy Belaire Father Francis Belanger, OP Clif Below Sue and Jim Berg James and Judith Bernat Janet Bernier Pete and Ruth Bleyler Brooke Blicher Tom Blinkhorn Put and Marion Blodgett Karin Bonnett Paul and Karen Boucher Robert Boyes Bill and Susan Boyle Virginia Brack and Clay Block Ann Bracken Marilyn and Jerry Bracken Dan Brand Patricia Briggs and Sekhar Ramanathan Sharon and Matthew Brown Jean-Anne Brown Barbara Brown Ann Bunnell James and Tanya Callan Deb Cantlin Samuel Casella and Danielle Basta Jon and Katy Chaffee Joe and Amy Cheevers Ann Christiano David and Ann Cioffi Ray and Tina Clark Marion and Delbert Cloud Adam Cole John and Leslie Connolly Hans Copeland Neal Corbett Elizabeth Coulter Mary Cunningham Karen Currier Shepard Cindy Dale and Alice Murphy Norman and Susan Dame Larry and Beth Danyluk Robert and Mary Ann Darnall Emily Davis Robert and Susan Deluca Adina and George Desaulniers Allen Dietrich and Ardis Olson Bobbye and Paul Donohue Rodney and Carol Dubois Patricia Eckels Emily and David Eckels Kirsten Elin Philip and Janet Eller Jeff and Sally Elsner Rick Elsner John Engelman Charles and Charlotte Faulkner Mike and Sue Ferrick Bob and Joyce Fieldsteel David and Barbara Fittro Sheila and John Fleming Cheryl and Tom Foote Deb Ford Carolyn and Milton Frye Stephen Fucini Jessica and Chris Gilbert John and Catherine Girard Amanda Gleason Paul Glover Michelle and Steve Goldsmith Dennis and Laura Beth Goodman Gail and David Goodness Bill and Joan Grant Alan and Frances Green Glen and Christine Greenough Wayne Griffin James and Debbie Griffiths Clark and Happy Griffiths Bobbi Gross David and Agnes Guay Michael Guay Pete and Diane Guay Barbara Hall Charlotte Harris David Harris and Joanne Blais Constance Helfat Dave Herrell David and Kate Hewitt Elizabeth Hoffman Roberta and Jeff Hollinger Jack Hoopes Marjorie Hudgens Peter Isquith Jim and Ann James Ron and Pam Jaynes Christian and Margaret Jernstedt Jim Jerry David and Marilyn Johnson Stuart and Penny Johnson Jennifer Johnson Stephen and Amy Jurewicz Dick and Ann Justice Gene Kadish and Karen Fryer Jeff and Rachel Kahn Dennis and Sue Kaufman Denis Kelemen and Joanne Foulk Kevin and Punam Keller Robert Kerin-Herrick Robert and Carrie Kibbie Paul and Joyce Killebrew Bruce and Mary King Frank Klymn Roy and Ellen Knights Mark Knott and Rachel Hochman Debra Kraemer and Robert Walker Angela Krapovicky and Lisa and Quinn Chartier Toni LaMonica and Larry Young Patricia Lanter-Dufty and Kirk Dufty Philip Lapp John and Sheila Larsson Maria Laskaris Anthea Lavallee Barbara and Joel Lazar George and Carol Little Susan Lloyd Edith Loeb Steve and Margot Maddock David and Ann Malenka Carolyn Maloney Kathy Marshall Peter and Lu Martin Jim and Pat Martin Peter Mason and Laurie Harding Lee and Linda Masten Elizabeth Masure Barbara McCarthy Kelly McCarthy Audrey McCollum ElizabethMcCormack Scott and Catherine McGee James McGlinn Phyllis and Timothy McKenna Ann McKinney Jayne McLaughlin Bruce McLaughry Erin McNeely 8 Hugh and Barbara Mellert Ron and Jenny Menning Vince and Lucia Mennona Mary Lou and Vincent Mennona Peg and Ed Merrens Debra Merone and Ed Patriquin David Millstone and Sheila Moran Lianne Moccia and Allyn Field David and Joyce Milne Bill and Maggie Montgomery Susan Mooney Mike and Carol Moriarity Winifred Morrissey Rita Murdoch Jim and Wendy Murphy Henry and Amy Nachman Donald Neely Julia and Jeff Neily Dick and Sharon Nordgren Bill and Geraldine North Helen and Emmett Norton Karalyn Obey Ernst and Linda Oidtmann David and Mary Otto Marilyn Paganucci Chad Pasho Beth Pastor Barbara and Henry Payson Don and Abbie Penfield Sue Perry Robert Phillips, DMD and Robin Cushman Phillips Bill and Liz Pierce Win Piper Robert and Sharon Racusin Jennifer and John Randolph Athos Rassias and Marcia Procopio Ann Raynolds Mark and Laurie Reed John Reese Timothy and Karen Reynolds Margaret and Matt Rightmire Joanne and Frank Roberts Walter Rockwood Tracy and Zane Rodriguez Rick and Linda Roesch Jim Rose Andy and Cynthia Roth Alan Rozycki and Diane Kittredge Paul and Sue Rump Fred and Mary Ann Salvatoriello John and Karen Sanders Carl Sandin John and Jill Schiffman Ben Schore Meg and Bruce Seely Anne Segal Lauren and Don Sharkey Bernice Shaw Patti Shaw Jim and Patti Shaw Pam and Robert Sherman Lori and Mike Shipulski Michael and Marion Simpson Nancy Smith Kate Soule Sherry Sousa Patricia and Thomas Spencer Orson St. John, Jr. David Stiger Marybeth and Phillip Stocken Tom and Sally Stone Skip and Marilyn Sturman Robert and Maryellen Sullivan Cindy and Pete Swart Thomas and Nancy Tantillo Sheila Tanzer David and Mark Taraboulos Toni and Andy Taylor Martha and Mark Tecca Joel Teenyanoff and Jill Glassmith Jean and Chuck Townsend Nancee Tracy Michael and Joanne Truell John Trummel and Arifa Toor Jo-Anne Unruh and Kenneth Kramburg Mark and Susan Valence Miriam Voran and Andrew Faunce Timothy and Susan Wagg Michael Wagner and Laura Rice Carol Weingeist Kathy Westwood Bob Wetzel Huntley and Lynne Whitacre Peter and Jill White Susan Williamson Martin and Yolanda Witschi Jim and Susan Wright Bill and Sarah Young Art and Jeanne Young Mary Ella and Paul Zietz Financial Information SNSC Pyramid of Giving 2015 Annual Giving Campaign Financial Summary July 1, 2014-June 30, 2015 REVENUE Local/State Contracts AGC Special Events Corporate Foundations Granite United Way Program Income, etc. Other TOTAL REVENUE $15,000 $54,404 $17,695 $808 $64,500 $13,250 $9,660 $2,271 $177,548 EXPENSES Staff Expenses Professional Services/Contractors Occupancy Office Expenses/ Staff Support Program Expenses TOTAL EXPENSES $109,284 $17,616 $15,742 $22,182 $28,604 $193,428 Total # of givers - 289 Cash on hand 7/1/14 $65,548 14-15 Corporate Donors Gallagher, Flynn & Co. Shaker Hill Bed & Breakfast Black Diamond General Contracting Granite Value Capital, LLC The Carriage House Cole Electric, Inc. Griffin Electric, Inc. The Help for People Foundation Deer Creek Psychological Associates HDR Architecture, Inc. The Helping Hands/St. Denis Rectory Delta Dental Lang McLaughry Real Estate Timken Aerospace Engelberth Construction, Inc. Mascoma Dental Associates LLC TomTom Evergreen Capital Partners, LLC 14-15 Corporate Co-Sponsors MG Electric LLC Gernard Associates Upper Valley Endodontics RedRock Farm AVA Gallery and Art Center Good News Training Rockwood Agency Goodwin Groundskeeping Rockwood Land Services Goodwin Properties Systems Plus Indeco, North America The Frazer Agency Family Pharmacy Lake Sunapee Bank, FSB Tyler, Simms, & St. Sauvuer Farnsworth Surveys Special Event Supporters Ledyard National Bank Eastman Community Center Vanessa Stone Real Estate Rum Brook Market (In-Kind and Product Donations) ForeUGolf Center S.G. Jewelry Design Blue Sky Restaurant Group/Jesse’s Co-op Food Stores Crown Point Country Club Eastern Mountain Sports Golf & Ski Warehouse Von Bargen’s Mascoma Savings Bank VT Farmstead Cheese Company Country Real Estate Dutille’s Jewelry My Brigadeiro, LLC & Castleton Crackers 7 Woodstock Inn & Resort River Valley Club 9 A Look Ahead to 2016 Fiscal Year Next year is expected to hold significant challenges and changes for SNSC. In its first 35 years SNSC has had only four Executive Directors, the present one since 2006. Philip will be retiring from this full time job toward the end of this year and the hunt for a suitable replacement will occupy a lot of time and effort by the Board of Directors and staff. The Board is working diligently on this task having already created a Strategic Planning Committee to update the strategic plan made in 2013 – that will include this task. A new Executive Director job description has been written - that will incorporate many of the duties of Shelley Geoghegan’s Fundraising Manager position of the past two years. With this tentative plan made it was decided to end Shelley’s official position on June 30, 2015. We will miss her hard work, expertise, dedication to SNSC, and her team work efforts – Best wishes Shelley in your future professional endeavors. We enjoyed working with you. The Board is developing time lines for recruiting a new Executive Director and planning for an appropriate overlap of time for the challenging transition; discussing new responsibilities for Pam and Nicki; and the ways for re-allocating the significant Educational Advocacy duties – including the possible need for a part time person to cover at least part of this important SNSC service. The SNSC family will be kept informed of all these plans in the quarterly newsletters and other means of communication. One new program will be started in the fall 2015 – a social thinking group (yet to be named) for junior high aged youth with higher functioning autism conditions. The group will meet bi-weekly and be led by Deb Campbell, a speech pathologist with years of experience using the Social Thinking curriculum created by Michelle Garcia Winner, the ‘best practices’ approach to assist these students with the challenging social issues of young adolescence. This group will address a long recognized program gap for this population. In the fall SNSC will be hosting a Dartmouth College psychology practicum student, Christian Ledesma, who will be introduced to our unique services by observing a number of our programs and activities, and will especially focus as an assistant in the Social Thinking group. Finally, we will be working closely with the new Spark! Community Center to appropriately coordinate some of our two programs and activities and possibly passing the torch in some of the Educational Class work. Pam will be leading this effort and in collaboration with the new Special Needs Coalition. So – FY’16 will be a time of change and challenge for SNSC. We request support from all our SNSC family and welcome your input, ideas, and commitment during this year of transition to a renewed and revised SNSC. We look forward to carrying on the SNSC legacy in the 2016 fiscal year! 2016 Board Of Directors Barbara van Hoff, President Nancy Barrington, Treasurer Vince Mennona, Vice President Ann Bracken Jo-Anne Unruh, Secretary Anthea Lavallee 10 Kate Medeiros Risa Mornis Meg Seely Sherry Sousa