What sets Erik’s Ranch & Retreats apart is that they are run by the residents who live there.  They  combine home and workplace, to promote learning and personal/social growth, as well as sustainable employment.

Their mission statement sums it up better than I can:

Erik’s Ranch & Retreats provides safe and unequaled living, working, social and recreational environments for young adults with autism, using its guiding principles of lifelong learning, individual community building, and bidirectional integration through voluntourism . We’re committed to giving each of our residents a rewarding life on his/her own terms, experiencing dignity, compassion and the joy of continuing possibility.

When Kathryn Nordberg, CEO and founder of Erik’s Ranch & Retreats, searched for options four years ago that would provide her son Erik, a moderately functioning young adult on the autism spectrum, an active life,  one full of possibility and purpose,  she found nothing.

According to the website,  ”She quickly found that there were few good options for moderate to high functioning adults with autism, including those with Asperger Syndrome. Despite years of hard work, even those high-functioning individuals often look for a community and desire some level of structure and support in their lives – with living accommodations, relationship building, work and recreation.”

So Kathryn, along with a team of psychologists, attorneys, architects, and marketing and business professionals,  developed innovative residence facilities for young adults with autism: Erik’s Ranch & Retreats, with locations in Edina, Minnesota, a suburb of Minneapolis, and in Montana’s Paradise Valley, not far from Bozeman.

Ms. Nordberg has held executive positions with organizations in technology, finance and healthcare, and has leadership experience in organizational planning, management and marketing. And, for the last decade, Nordberg has helped run the largest privately held assisted living facility in Minnesota seeing, firsthand, how residents benefit from a consistent caring and dedicated staff.

To that end, she streamlined the documentation process and improved efficiencies to allow nursing staff more time for personalized care.

For more information about Erik’s Ranch, click HERE to go to their website.

Besides their many children’s programs, they also offer many individualized programs for adults, including a new, integrated work and community inclusion program.

With a primary goal of promoting independence in their clients…

• HOPe completes an in-depth profile of the individual to determine preferences and appropriateness of placement.
• Clients are provided with career options and assistance in defining recommended job goals.
• Our staff helps the individual with specific training to be able to perform the job consistently and effectively.
• HOPe’s staff continues individual support through job interviewing, procurement and on-site job supervision until our client is satisfactorily confident in his/her position.

Thumbnail photo from their site.

We are in the very early stages of the project.  We are looking to locate in McIntosh County, Georgia, right off I-95, inbetween Savannah and Jacksonville, Florida.  Our Chamber has told us that over 49,000 cars pass us daily.

We are looking for people and money resources.  We have found a 44 acre farm that already does some organic farming.  We hope to sell the produce locally and commercially.  We also want to do a bakery/restaurant using products from the farm.  We also want to rescue shelter dogs and train them as therapy animals. Our hope is that not only will our autistic kids (they are all kids to me) get job skills training, but healthy life skills training as well.  I have seen too many autistic young adults with talents, skills, and intelligence be overlooked or delegated to menial tasks.  These kids need to have a sense of pride in what they do and be able to have economic independence.  We welcome anyone with ideas and their willingness  to help.  One of our goals is to be able to create a plan that other communities can replicate so that more kids would have the opportunity to get involved.”

For more information on McIntosh Farmstead, including how to help this dream become reality… send an email to beachmama4ever (at) yahoo (dot) com (Be sure to write “McIntosh Farms” in the subject box or it won’t be read!)

photo from http://stillisstillmoving.com/willienelson/willie-nelson-and-farm-aid-call-for-more-mid-sized-farms/

We live in a small town in Mississippi. I’m terrified thinking about what would happen to him when something happens to me. I am interested in trying to open a small group home with job coaching provided (specific to autism). I do not know how to get started or who to contact.

Can you help with suggestions?”