Everyone Needs a Community Is A Non-Profit In Marshfield
Thursday, December 26th, 2019 -- 8:27 AM
Everyone Needs a Community (ENC, Inc.), a local nonprofit, is working to build an autism-friendly, affordable intergenerational community in Marshfield.“(ENC) is made up of family and friends of people who have developmental disabilities, particularly autism,” founder, Kathy Meyer told the Hub City Times. “We are people who recognize the unique challenges of autism qualities who wish to create a new model of community. Autism is a whole different way of seeing and experiencing the world. Each person with autism is different, with different sensitivities and different needs. Cause and effect type thinking can be weak in autism, instead there is a tendency for associating two things to go together.” Meyer said that the idea for the community came from several inspirations. Organization members have visited the community and three individuals have worked on site duplication to create a model for autism.
Meyer knows firsthand that there is a need for this type of model, as her son, Matthew, has autism, and she has seen the challenges that the 25-year-old faces trying to live on his own. The group plans to build a cottage court type of facility, similar to the Treehouse Community. Meyer added that this type of facility would not be a claimable service, so the organization will need to seek out help from the public, industry, grants, and foundations to support it. Facility planners already have a site in mind and intend to apply for tax credits in the fall of 2020, hoping for a ground breaking in 2021-22.
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