Community Partners

Healthy African American Families

This community organization works to improve the health outcomes of the African American, Latino, and Korean communities in Los Angeles County by enhancing the quality of care and advancing social progress. They introduced and developed the idea of Community Partnered Participatory Research. Starting with AIR-B III, CPPR has been the system we at AIR-B use to connect with our community partners for all of our projects.

Dr. Loretta Jones had a profound impact on AIR-B and its development. She died in 2018 and deserves special mention for her role and ongoing influence. She is the founder of Health African American Families and pioneer of Community Partnered Participatory Research.

Los Angeles Unified School District

This is one of the largest school districts in the United States. It covers a broad range of communities across the Los Angeles area. LAUSD and AIR-B work together to overcome challenges and bring cutting-edge research to their diverse students. LAUSD has helped AIR-B do research in their district and charter schools.

Fiesta Educativa

This community partner has grown to provide information, training programs, and home-based services in both English and Spanish to families throughout Southern California. They have helped AIR-B create Spanish-language translations and presentations. They have also helped connect UCLA staff with influential community members and groups.

Korean-American Special Education Center

This community partner was established by a group of special education and mental health experts to help Korean American families get access to services. KASEC offers programs for children with developmental disabilities. They have helped AIR-B create Korean-Language translations and presentations.

Los Angeles Regional Centers

Established in 1966 as a California state agency to help people with disabilities and their families. The regional center system has 7 independent centers spread out across Los Angeles. The regional centers help connect families and adults with our ongoing research. Each center also is a community access point helping us recruit volunteers for interviews and focus groups.

Spectrum of Hope

A charitable organization that helps families connect with service providers. Their focus is on assisting families in navigating the services system after a child is diagnosed with autism. They have helped AIR-B connect with families interested in research as well as influential community members and groups.

Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science

A private, not-for-profit University specialized in diverse health professions. CDU is a leader in health disparities research with a focus on education, training, treatment, and care. They have partnered with AIR-B to help distribute recent findings in autism research and treatment. And they have helped us to connect with families and others who are interested in research opportunities.

Rochester City School District

A school district in the dense city center of Rochester. The Rochester City school district has high diversity and over 85% of students are considered economically disadvantaged. AIR-B has worked with the district to bring the latest tools into the real-world.

Mid-West Family and Community Engagement Centers

They are part of the New York State Education Department Office of Special Education, work collaboratively to build community relationships and support families. They off information about regional resources and supports, as well as learning opportunities for families and stakeholders supporting children and students with disabilities from birth through age 21.

The Family Autism Connection and the Autism Nature Trail

At Letchworth State Park, New York they provide programming for children of all abilities and ages provided by staff from Rochester’s Family Autism Connection. The ANT welcomes those historically underserved in terms of recreational space and engagement with nature.

Arc GLOW, New York

They work to provide children and their families access to support that they need as it is needed, and serves over 2000 people in the Genesee, Livingston, Orleans, and Wyoming Counties. It is a core belief at Arc GLOW that focusing on early access supports helps provide the foundation needed to face their futures. Arc GLOW provides programs for children into adulthood to serve the needs of our community.

Parent to Parent of New York State

Parent to Parent of New York State is a group that builds a supportive network of families to reduce isolation and empower those who care for people with developmental disabilities or special healthcare needs. They have helped AIR-B to connect to families and with researching the service systems that support these families.

Person Centered Services

Person Centered Services offers care coordination in an 18 county region of western New York state. Care coordination helps individuals and their families navigate a very complex system of services. They work continuously with individuals, families, community providers, and organizations to make connections between all aspects of care.

Independent Living of the Genesee Region

A partner with the Public Health Departments of Genesee and Orleans counties to deliver the “Children and Youth with Special Health Care Needs” program. This program connects children and their families to critical pathway providers and helps to with access to needed supports.

Monroe County Early Childhood Development

Supporting Children from birth to age five as they grow, learn and take on new challenges. This agency is here to provide extra support so children that experience developmental disabilities or delays can reach their fullest potential. Through collaboration, guidance, training, resources, and listening; this agency aims to help families and children succeed.

AutismUp

Providing a variety of autism support programs, classes and services in the Greater Rochester and surrounding areas, with the aim of supporting peak performance at every age and ability. An autism diagnosis is not needed to participate, and AutismUp offers training and meet-ups for parents and relatives, as well as in Spanish.

The Golisano Autism Center

Offers lifetime spanning services, with multiple autism service providers working collaboratively under one roof. This one-stop approach to accessing a wide variety of services is transformative. Family Navigators are available on-site to help connect with providers, services and supports within the center.

Starbridge

Supporting student with disabilities between the ages of 5 to 26, ensuring that they have access to a variety of supports, services, programs, and accommodations that allow them to receive an appropriate education and be prepared for adulthood. Starbrdige staff over workshops, conferences, webinars, information on laws and regulations, help navigating special education and school systems, techniques to help work with school teams and additional resources.

Elwyn Early Learning Services

Elwyn was established in 1852 as a school for children with developmental disabilities. Elwyn is the longest-running nonprofit of its kind. Elwyn’s Early Learning Services in Philadelphia provides programs and connects families to services for children with developmental disorders. They have helped AIR-B connect with families of children with autism. They have also helped us connect with children that have recently been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders.

School District of Philadelphia

The school district of Philadelphia covers a dense, diverse, urban area. They have allowed AIR-B to partner with local schools to do research in realistic conditions.

Free Library of Philadelphia

A network of libraries in Philadelphia connected around the large central library. The mission of the Free Library is to advance literacy, guide learning, and inspire curiosity. They have worked with AIR-B to help recruit people for interviews and focus groups.

Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual Disability Services

Part of Philadelphia City’s Office of Health and Human Services. The department is a system that offers behavioral health care, intellectual disability supports, and early intervention services. They have worked with AIR-B to connect families and adults with our research.

Sacramento, Placer, Yolo, Solano and Yuba County Offices of Education

These northern California counties have a mix of sparse urban, suburban, and exurban areas. The county offices worked with AIR-B to do research in their schools. These schools gave us a chance to perform research in exurban, suburban, and semi-rural settings.

California State University, Sacramento

California state universities focus their efforts on teaching rather than research. Sacramento State has a special focus on education services in their College of Education. They worked with AIR-B to help us connect with educators, schools, and their own community partners.

Grass Valley, Folsom Cordova, Sacramento, and San Juan Unified School Districts

These school districts cover sparser, less urban areas as well as medium-sized cities with urban populations. The school districts worked with AIR-B to help us access their schools. They have helped us do research in a greater variety of schools and settings.

Northern California Regional Centers

Established in 1966 as a California state agency to help people with disabilities and their families. The regional center system has 4 independent centers in northern California and 3 centers around San Francisco. These regional centers help connect families and adults with our ongoing research. Each center also acts as a community access point to help us recruit volunteers for interviews and focus groups.

Kansas University Center on Developmental Disabilities

This center is part of the Life Span Institute, a leading research unit at the University of Kansas. The KUCDD has facilities throughout the state of Kansas and supports Air-B associated projects in many communities.

Camp Encourage

A camp to provide youth with autism spectrum disorder meaningful experiences in which they build knowledge, courage, and skills to be empowered. Camps take place at Tall Oaks Conference Center in Linwood, Kansas. They have helped AIR-B connect with community members.

Kansas City League of Autistics

A group of Autistic and other neurodivergent adults engaged in advocacy on both sides of the state line between Kansas and Missouri. They have helped AIR-B  organize focus groups and connect with self-advocates and community partners.

The University of Washington Haring Center for Inclusive Education 

This group provides early childhood education to children with and without disabilities, conducts leading-edge research to advance inclusive learning, and trains education professionals in proven practices to develop every child’s potential.

Metropolitan Educational Cooperative Service Unit

 A nonprofit educational cooperative that was established in 1976 to provide cost-effective, high quality education services and programs to public schools/districts, private schools, and nonprofits. It was founded by the Minnesota Legislature to service the Twin Cities metro area, but also provides an online platform for paraprofessionals to access courses and assessments.

Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction

The primary agency charged with overseeing public K-12 education in Washington state. OSPI has helped AIR-B contact school districts and do research in schools throughout the state of Washington.

Seattle Public Schools

The largest K-12 school system in Washington State. These schools serve the city of Seattle, the largest metropolitan area in the Pacific Northwest of America, and are some of Washington State's most diverse schools. They worked with AIR-B to do research in their schools.

Longview, Central Kitsap, Central Valley, La Conner, Crescent and Renton School Districts:

These districts throughout Washington state have a mix of sparse suburban, exurban, and rural areas. These districts worked with AIR-B to do research in their schools, giving us a chance to gather a wide variety of data.

Northwest Regional Education Service District 189:

The Northwest Educational Service District serves a mix of large to small, urban, and rural school districts in Washington state, including tribal education compact schools and private schools. They have worked with AIR-B to help us connect with educators, schools, and districts.