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- EIN 46-1528487
- info@fi-florida.org
- 1242 Sw Pine Island Rd Ste 42-302 Cape Coral FL 33991 USA
- http://www.fi-florida.org
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- FI_Inc
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Nonprofit Overview
Causes: Autism, Developmentally Disabled Centers, Disabilities, Health, Human Services
Mission: The Family Initiative, Incorporated is committed to engaging in community partnerships to empower families and ensure the safety, permanency, and well-being of children. Utilizing a family centered and holistic approach, our mission is to maintain transparency in collaborating with all we serve.
Programs: At family initiative we believe that every child benefits from the opportunity of creating new friendships and development of social skills. Our autism playgroup provides a safe and supportive environment for youth ages 5 to 16, diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (asd), to meet with our other children to develop socialization skills and to build friendships each week. This year our experienced applied behavior analysis (aba) clinicians provided high level of support to over 300 unique children and their parents by fostering positive social interaction in a fun and safe environment. Through a partnership with alliance for the arts, we have been able to expand our asd support programs with our artplay classes offered next spring. These classes are designed to engage children with asd in the arts with instruction provided by an experienced artist and art therapist. In addition to providing safe environment for children with asd to develop social skills and gain confidence, family initiative also understands the importance of education and support for parents and other family members caring for children with asd. In an effort to provide a supportive setting for parents to meet, network, and talk about how best meet both their needs and their children's we facilitate a monthly asd parent support group. We work closely with the participating families to identify areas and topics which the self-select as challenges or barriers in their lives. We pursue local and statewide speakers to present and educate on these topics each month to provide the families with information which they find extremely valuable. Our most recent initiatives include the launching our asd band together program which involves a partnership with local law enforcement and other community leaders to help protect and support members of the community with an asd diagnosis.