Friends of Children With Special Needs
Friends of Children with Special Needs is a 501c3 nonprofit organization dedicated to providing support, friendship, and life skills training to developmentally disabled individuals and their families. FCSN started out in 1996 with 10 families, and has now membership of over 1000 mostly Asian American families, serving over 600 individuals with autism, Down’s syndrome, cerebral palsy, and other developmental disabilities. In response to the needs of the growing special needs population, FCSN opened its Headquarter in Fremont in September 2006 and a Center in West San Jose/Cupertino in April 2008. In 2017, the South Bay Center moved to its new center in San Jose. We have over 40 programs in the Bay Area serving children and adults with special needs.
Purpose and Objectives:
- Offer special needs children an environment that is accepting, educational, and fun
- Provide resources, information and support to families
- Advocate full-inclusion educational systems that allow special needs children to interact with their peers
- Promote the understanding of developmental disabilities for family members, friends, and students through volunteer programs
ADULT SERVICES:
Adult Day Program
FCSN Adult Day Program empowers you to be independent, productive, healthy, and happy. Our training and support are offered in both site-based and community-integrated settings.
Living Services
FCSN offers two types of Living Services:
- Supported Living Services provides living skills training and support for you to live in your own place and grow independence. 24/7 services can be provided if needed and approved by the Regional Center. FCSN SLS Program is tailored to meet your needs and interests for a successful and fulfilling life.
- Independent Living Services offers living skill training and support for the ones with a goal to live on their own. Through 1:1 training, you can be more independent and self-reliant in your living arrangement.
Supported Employment Program
FCSN Supported Employment Program works with you to set career goals, sharpen job skills, secure competitive employment in the community, learn job tasks and requirements, and maximize job performances so you can be productive in a competitive and integrated workforce.
Tailored Day Service
FCSN Tailored Day Service provides flexible schedule and intensive support to individual participants who seek personal growth, volunteer opportunities, employment, and community integration.
CHILDREN SERVICES:
East Bay After School Program
The After School Program (ASP) provides a safe, fun and healthy enrichment program for children with special needs during after school hours. We offer positive guidance, assistance, and encouragement to help students reach their maximum potential.
For more information, please contact us at [email protected] | 510-739-6900 x3318.
Children’s Enrichment Programs
FCSN’s Enrichment Program’s purpose is to discover and develop talents and abilities within our special need individuals. These programs include cooking, STEM, math, sports, music, arts & craft, social skills training, life skills training, and work empowerment Program for youth.
FAMILY SUPPORT SERVICES:
In-Home Respite Services
In-Home Respite Service is vendorized by the San Andreas Regional Center (SARC) and the Regional Center of the East Bay (RCEB). There have been many inquiries by FCSN members/parents about how to sign FCSN up as their respite providing agency.
- You need to notify your case manager of your wish to use FCSN as your Respite services agency.
- FCSN can hire your current respite caregiver to continue providing Respite for you.
For more information, please contact Respite Services | [email protected] | 510-739-6900 x3320.
Regular Family Gatherings (Bi-Weekly)
Special needs children and adults, their families, volunteers, and friends are gathered together for fun activities at our Family Support Gatherings. These Family Support Gatherings are held every Saturday alternating between our Fremont and San Jose centers.
For more information, please contact Dora Chou | [email protected] | 510-739-6900 x3323.
Asian Empowerment Project
The Disparity
Recent data from the regional center shows that Asians make up 19% of its client population but are only utilizing 13% of its services. The disparity indicates a significant portion of Asian families do not understand their entitlement to access resources and services.
FCSN supports and empower Asians with disabilities to access regional center services.
1) Our Goals:
- Educate and inform Asian families about services available in the community.
- Improve Regional Center services more accessible for Asians.
- Increase referrals of potential Asian clients for Regional Center intake.
- Empower clients to fully utilize their approved services.
2) What We Do: Partner with the Department of Developmental Services:
- Host events and resource fairs to help families access and utilize services.
- Hire bilingual staff to increase service capacity for Asians.
- Build network with community organizations to support Asian families.
Virtual Services
SNTutoring! (Year-Round Virtual Program- 1:1 customized subject/activity)Is your special needs child having too much alone time? Maybe having tutors or playmates will help your child to be gradually more social and active in addition to learning things that interest him/her?
FCSN youth volunteers can work with your special needs child 1:1 online on any academic subjects or non-academic activities of your choice. Furthermore, with our support, you can work with the tutor to select/design materials customized to your child’s functioning level, interest, and needs. To assure the quality of the tutoring sessions, an experienced supervisor will routinely review parents’ feedback and tutors’ after-class-reports, then take actions as needed.
This is an on-going program, you can register at any time. If you are interested in learning more about this program, please click HERE to visit SNTutoring website.
Contact: Yvette Ying | [email protected] or Linmei Chiao | [email protected]
FRIENDS COFFEE & TEA:
Through two and a half years of long preparation, Friends Coffee & Tea celebrated its grand opening on April 19, 2018. Friends Coffee & Tea extends FCSN’s mission by offering job training and employment opportunities for individuals with developmental disabilities to sharpen job skills, pursue productive life and secure competitive employment in the community. The coffee shop also promotes artworks of special needs artists by displaying their artworks and products for sale. The location of our coffee shop is located at our South Bay Center in San Jose.
Friends Coffee & Tea is located at 1029 S. Bascom Ave., San Jose, CA 95128. For more information, please contact 408-725-8811 or visit www.friendscoffeetea.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fcsn1996/
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