Hi Focus: Art Fans! We’ve got some exciting news: We’re teaming up with Groupon Grassroots, the philanthropic arm of Groupon, to fund a project that impacts our community—coming soon!

Grassroots is a community outreach initiative within Groupon that brings people together to do good, have fun, and create positive change in their community. With this initiative, we’ll be aiming to enhance our program with the addition of a new sewing machine and by beefing up our scholarship fund.

Since you are essential to our success, we want you to be the first to know about our campaign. It’s important that we build momentum for our campaign—here’s how you can help:

1. Subscribe to Groupon (http://www.groupon.com/subscriptions/new) in Anchorage before the campaign launch. 2. Visit the Groupon site on May 23, when the campaign launches. 3. Be the first to give by supporting Focus: Art’s Groupon Grassroots Campaign and spread the word to friends and family, encouraging them to do the same. Our campaign will only be active for one week, so join early and spread the word to encourage others to do the same!

We’ll keep you in the loop and send another update once the campaign launches. Thank you for your support!

The Executive Director serves as the general manager of the agency and is the primary contact person for the Board of Directors. This position is also responsible for the direct management of all programs that do not have an assigned program director. A primary function of this position is to provide leadership, which inspires shared visions that foster individual growth and result in a valued, successful organization. Reports to the Board of Directors.

This job description illustrates the essential duties of this position. It does not prescribe or restrict the tasks that may be assigned or modified.

For more information, please visit our Careers web page < www.focusoutreach.org/careers >.

Please join me in welcoming our Family Focused ABA staff! A couple months ago we introduced you to Focus’ newest program ABA, which stands for Applied Behavior Analysis. This program serves the needs of individuals who experience Autism Spectrum Disorders.

While autism does not have a cure, it has a treatment.  One manner to deliver this treatment is through the use of Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) and you need Board Certified Behavior Analysis therapists to carry out this program.  We have found two women to head up our ABA department here at Focus, Pam and Dakari. We have also hired four ABA tutors to work directly with children 20 hours a week in an intensive behavior analysis program.

This program works by tying the family to a highly specialized therapist, who they will work with on a weekly basis.  As the child grows and changes, the plan will change with them.

We want you to know that this program has the highest success rate of any autism intervention. This is an opportunity where we can do real and lasting good for families.   The real beauty of the program is the fact we are just making it accessible.

Since we launched this program in January we now have six children enrolled! Pam has started a series of ABA trainings, the first one was in April and we heard wonderful things about it. The ABA program is partnering with our Summer Camp program, which starts June 10^th, to educate our Care Providers on ABA. They are also meeting with our Infant Learning Program to conduct an ABA training for our staff. Needless to say, we are working hard over here at Focus and we are excited about the progress we are making in such a short amount of time.

Here is what a mother of one of our ABA students had to say about Focus ABA, “My four-year-old son is non verbal, so far. Since starting Focus ABA he has began using sign language and utilizes picture exchange. After only one week of Focus ABA my son initiated ‘patty cake’ for the first time. After only a month my son signed ‘I love you’ to his grandparents, his sister and I. I believe Focus ABA has shown my son the purpose of communication, resulting in a motivation to attempt to communicate on his own.”

To learn more about the ABA program please feel free to call 907-694-6002 or schedule a visit to the office. We look forward to sharing more information about this exciting program as it develops.