Rich Center for Autism merits community support

A profoundly personal tragedy 23 years ago provided the spark for an enduring and rewarding public asset for the Mahoning Valley.

On Sept. 8, 1994, Poland natives Paula and Anthony Rich and their unborn child lost their lives when USAir Flight 427 crashed in Hopewell, Pa., just 7 miles shy of landing at Pittsburgh International Airport. As the Riches were godparents to an autistic boy, funds from their memorial were used as seed money for the establishment of the Paula and Anthony Rich Center for the Treatment of Autism at Youngstown State University.

The founders, led by members of the victims’ families, had a dream that from the air disaster would spring hope for those affected by the neurodevelopmental disorder.

Twenty-three years and much hard work later, that dream has been realized. The Rich Center housed at Fedor Hall on the YSU campus has grown in numbers, in outreach and in prestige in carrying out its mission to improve education experiences and outcomes for individuals with autism and their families through teaching, research and community engagement.

Today, however, the limits of its physical confines on one floor of the building have it bursting at the seams and hampered by a lack of adequate space and resources to reach its full potential.

But now with the Youngstown Early College moving out of the second floor of the Fedor Hall and with journalism class space having vacated the basement floor, a golden opportunity has presented itself for the center to vastly increase its physical workspace – and its good works.

To make that happen, however, a significant capital investment will be required. Toward that end, the Rich Center recently launched a $6 million communitywide fundraising campaign titled “Building for Tomorrow.”

The continued success of the Rich Center in fulfilling its goals and the growing need for its exemplary services make the capital campaign one worthy of broad-based community support.

The campaign’s success will immensely enrich the Rich Center, which accepts children on the autism spectrum without regard to their parents’ or caregivers’ ability to pay.

The infusion of resources also would bode well for the institution to serve a larger population with comprehensive care, therapy and instruction. It also would better enable the center to pursue additional grant opportunities to fuel yet further growth.

A fruitful campaign also would bolster the center’s reputation as one of this state’s and this nation’s premiere facilities for autism education, research and outreach.

ELEMENTS OF THE CAMPAIGN

The multi-pronged elements of the $6 million fundraising effort would include:

Increasing space by two additional floors and installing an Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant elevator to double student capacity.

Opening private rooms for behavior analysts, occupational therapists and speech and language pathologists for better one-on-one sessions.

Building more classrooms and upgrading the aging physical plant of the building in flooring, lighting, paint, roofing, sprinklers, bathrooms and nurses’ office space.

Opening a sensory room designed for older students with more sturdy equipment and lighting that meets their unique needs and sensory profiles.

The need for this expansion is great. According to the center, 1 in 68 children in America is diagnosed with autism, which represents a 30 percent increase since 2012.

No signs indicate that such growth in need will subside anytime soon. That’s why the center would benefit best by garnering support from individuals, businesses and organizations sooner rather than later toward completion of improvements by fall 2020, the 25th anniversary of the center.

Already, $2 million, or one-third of the campaign goal, has been reached. That success should motivate others to make a holiday gift to the campaign and its worthy beneficiaries – legions of autistic children. Checks should be made payable to The Rich Center for Autism with “Building for Tomorrow” in the memo line. They should be sent to the center, 1 University Plaza, Youngstown, OH 44555.

Support for the campaign also will improve the vision of the Rich Center, which is to “provide individualized, evidence-based, data-driven, best-practice programming in a state-of-the-art facility to maximize each student’s personal, social and developmental growth.”

The expansion and modernization of the facility will help guarantee that the center remains on the cutting edge of autism education and public service for years to come and that increased numbers of Mahoning Valley children can reap those Rich rewards.