Fostering Community for All Kinds of Minds

With your support, The ACRES Project is helping to create a more inclusive community for Autistic & Neurodivergent adults every single day!

In 2022, your support allowed ACRES to provide regular group instruction in life skills, self-advocacy, and workplace readiness to more than 100 students at three local high schools. You made it possible for us to host on-site programs fostering employment, life skills, and community for teens and adults with autism and other disabilities. You helped us grow our entrepreneurial programs and start an on-campus peer network supporting over 100 neurodivergent Penn State students. Thanks to community support, we hosted 13 different programs and supported over 200 people in 2022. And we're just getting started!

According to CDC data, approximately 1 in 36 people are on the autism spectrum. That means over 3,600 people with autism likely live in Centre County alone, and many more are undiagnosed or are neurodivergent in other ways. Our mission is to reach as many of these people as possible to provide the support they need, and we need your help to make it possible.

As a community-funded nonprofit, approximately 80% of ACRES' annual funding comes from individual gifts like yours. Every tax-deductible contribution is critical to keeping our lights on, staff paid, and programs running.

Even a small gift makes a big difference:

• Just $10 provides supplies for individuals with autism to grow, harvest, and sell three trays of microgreens in our aquaponics greenhouse, fostering community connections and further funding our mission

• $25 provides a sensory bag for our Sensory Friendly Centre County initiative, which provides free sensory toys and other items to local venues in our community to help them better support the 1 in 5 individuals affected by a sensory processing disorder.

• $50 makes friendships and memories for local adults with autism by funding a special event for our social group. Special events could take place in the form of a pizza party, ice skating, or another social opportunity.

• $100 sponsors 10 hours of real-life work experience for an individual honing their job skills at ACRES. Research shows that programs like these significantly increase the likelihood of a person finding and keeping sustainable employment in the future.

• $500 can fund a 6-week after-school program for underserved high school students, who are often not provided with the opportunity for social interaction and growth outside of the classroom.

At the ACRES Project, we believe that nobody ever outgrows the need for a supportive community. If you agree, please consider giving a gift today to invest in a brighter future for adults with Autism and other neurodivergent conditions.

Not only do we need your support, but we also need your help to spread the word. Please tell your friends and family why you believe in our work and encourage them to support us too!