369 Fifth Street WestSonoma, CA95476
United States
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Organization Information
Mission Statement
To provide adults with autism an innovative, supportive residential community that challenges each individual to reach his or her highest potential. Founding Principles Celebrate and support the full range of autism spectrum disorders. Encourage active resident involvement in their home, neighborhood and surrounding communities. Provide access to productive enriching choices that support a life with purpose. Offer the potential for lifetime residency. Utilize autism-specific design, which addresses both safety and sensory issues. Nurture long-term, high-value relationships between residents and support staff. Accommodate a broad financial spectrum. Create and foster a model that can be replicated nationwide.
Description
In 2009, a group of families, professionals and civic leaders came together and founded Sweetwater Spectrum. We have been collaborating toward meeting an extraordinary need: appropriate, high-quality housing choices in the community for adults with autism. Our pilot community has been developed in Sonoma, California. It is intended to embody best practices for housing adults with autism, with the expectation that it will be replicated elsewhere. We have built for adults with autism an environment typically not available to them--a place where they have a sense of community and belonging. Sweetwater Spectrum attempts to maximize residents’ individual development and independence so they can live with both purpose and dignity with access to a variety of opportunities. NEXT SPRING PLANT SALE ON SATURDAY, May 10! April is National Autism Awareness Month! Check out this Sweetwater Spectrum event. April 23, 2014: "Insight into Autism" Welcome to Sweetwater Spectrum In 2009, a group of families, professionals and civic leaders came together and founded Sweetwater Spectrum. We have been collaborating toward meeting an extraordinary need: appropriate, high-quality housing choices in the community for adults with autism. Our pilot community has been developed in Sonoma, California. It is intended to embody best practices for housing adults with autism, with the expectation that it will be replicated elsewhere. We have built for adults with autism an environment typically not available to them--a place where they have a sense of community and belonging. Sweetwater Spectrum attempts to maximize residents’ individual development and independence so they can live with both purpose and dignity with access to a variety of opportunities. This residential community is a completely new model. We have researched sites and programs across the country and selected the best elements of existing residential options in a design of a community which is compassionate and pragmatic in the choices it offers adults with autism. What we have created on a small scale is the first critical step in realizing a concept that can be reproduced in communities around California and the U.S.
