The UAS West Side Transition Academy is more than a place. It is a culture, an environment of caring and empathy and it’s a lot of hard work for our team and our young adults alike. Last year, despite the pandemic, UAS continued to grow our first-of-its-kind Academy program and reached our capacity serving 94 students.
One of our long-time young adult participants, CeCe, who joined us with classmates from Al Raby High School, really had a tough year. For a brief amount of time, UAS lost touch with her and could not have been happier when we heard a voicemail message from her new guardian, Rose.
Above: CeCe and Rose.
Rose found UAS’ information in a pile of CeCe’s belongings and called for help. Our executive director, Heather Tarczan, called Rose and immediately started connecting her and CeCe to resources.
“I am so grateful that I was able to connect with Heather and Urban Autism Solutions,” said Rose. “I learned about all the services that are available to people with autism in the city, and realized how much UAS helped CeCe in both getting her ready to get a job and in her personal life.”
Today, UAS continues to keep in touch with CeCe and Rose. This summer CeCe helped mentor a new group of students at our Growing Solutions Farm. This fall, CeCe started working at a coffee shop on the South Side using all the skills that she learned at UAS.