Congratulations to all involved in making this dream a reality for autistic individuals on Martha’s Vineyard! The journey begins.

“Autism Group, Land Bank Join Forces to Buy West Tisbury Farm” Martha’s Vineyard Gazette November 16, 2020

Last week we took a huge first step into our future by signing the purchase and sale agreement on a farm in West Tisbury. The farm will soon be the home of the Island Autism Center. We are partnering with the Martha’s Vineyard Land Bank and the Island Housing Trust to make this dream, long-held among our founders and the families that we serve, a reality!

Learn More about Our Plan

The Moby (Bad Word) fundraiser was awesome. So, we now have t-shirts available for sale here on our website. We are forever grateful for everyone who contributed. And great to see so many people wearing them, in the distance, and online!

Thank you to Sheriff Robert Ogden and the Duke’s County Sheriff’s Office for providing seatbelt covers that identify your child as autistic. In the event of an emergency, these will make a tremendous difference in the ability of first responders to their job and keep everyone safe.

Please let us know if you’d like a free seatbelt cover. We will deliver!

We have great news! Our transportation fundraising campaign has completed and it was a success. Because of the generosity of so many island organizations and caring individuals on Martha’s Vineyard and around the country, we raised $40,000 and can now buy a van to get students to programs around the island.

We raised $5,540 through the Moby (Bad Word) t-shirt fundraiser alone! Thank you to Traeger DiPietro for organizing this inspirational campaign. Over 200 shirts and hoodies sold. You’ll certainly soon be seeing the t-shirts around the island! And if you missed the opportunity to buy one, we’ll have more for sale this summer.

Thank you to our island banks. Martha’s Vineyard Savings Bank and Cape Cod Five both generously donated to our campaign. Thank you to St. Andrews Episcopal Church for an amazing donation.

Because of these donations in the month of March, we were able to match a $12,500 donation from a private donor. Thank you!

Finally, our gratitude goes out to the Permanent Endowment of Martha’s Vineyard for getting us started with a $10,000 seed grant in December 2019.

We are truly blessed with our community on Martha’s Vineyard.

We need a van for autistic kids on MV!

Since 2008, Island Autism Group has sought to provide the means for autistic children and young adults to reach their potential and live meaningful and fulfilling lives on Martha’s Vineyard.  IAG has done this through offering access to high-quality services, programming and equipment at little to no cost to families. As we are entering our third year of afterschool and summer programming, we’re eager to continue expanding upon our success by supporting a growing population of students with new opportunities.  We anticipate opening the Island Autism Center in the near future, and this adds additional urgency to our need.    

The mission of our programming is to offer students after-school opportunities similar to neurotypical students, to engage in therapeutic, social, and enrichment activities.   Our programs serve autistic students as well as a variety of other disabilities. We are one of the only service providers on the island to provide extracurricular opportunities solely for disabled children.

Currently, we are serving 20 students, aged 5-19.  Our 5-10 program brings students each week to the Farm Institute, therapeutic horseback riding at Misty Meadows, programs at the Edgartown Library, the Barn Bowl & Bistro.  Our 11-19 program brings students to Misty Meadows, therapeutic drumming sessions with Rick Bausman, and sailing on the Lagoon with SailMV. At each location, IAG provides trained staff to support the ability of our students to access each program to its maximum potential.  

As we piloted our afterschool and summer programs, a key component of our success was due to the support of transportation provided by MV Public Schools.  However, the school department has requested between $10K to $17K per year from IAG to provide transportation for students to IAG programs. With our annual operating costs of $100K to cover partner fees, staff, insurance and more, this is simply not sustainable.  IAG does not currently have the capacity to provide transportation otherwise.  

A recent donation has allowed us to partner with the VTA to get our afterschool participants to their locations through this winter and spring. 

A van of a similar size to the Ford Transit 350HD (pictured) would provide IAG with the means and flexibility to connect our students efficiently and expeditiously to our partner organizations.  We employ staff who already have a 7D license who could drive as soon as we are able. 

We were thrilled to recently accept a generous $10K grant from the Permanent Endowment earmarked toward the purchase of a van.  But we still need your support to help us reach our goal of $40k. 

Our population continues to grow.  There is evidence that 1 in 45 students in MV schools has an autism-spectrum diagnosis.  This is reflected in the national average. As word of our programs continues to spread, and as we anticipate supporting students on MV as well as summer visitors (we had a few students from off-island join our programs this summer), our capacity to support them needs to expand as well.  We anticipate the need for several vans in the next few years. 

We hope that, with donor and partner support, we will continue on our path toward our vision of all students, of all abilities, living lives to their fullest potential, and having access to the wonderful programs that are offered on the island. It is dependent upon our ability to get them there.