Here are a couple of draft proposals for funding for our group. The Word document is a slightly updated version of the text portion of the pdf. It would be great if anyone had any feedback on the proposal...updates, additions, criticisms, or support. Please add anything you think of in the comments below or email peiautisticadults@gmail.com Additionally, if you're interested in working on anything discussed in the proposal please mention that in your comment or email, that would be great! I expect we will be a group of volunteers without any paid staff so there will be lots of work to do. The deadline for the proposal is July 31, 2023

I sent a similar message to the non-profit group yesterday but I thought I'd post it here in case anyone would like to contribute who hasn't joined the non-profit board yet. The first things we need to do are figure out the point of our group and then capture that in our mandate or mission statement. When we first discussed forming the non-profit we talked about autistic adults and autistic seniors who are not currently supported, those who would be considered 'high functioning' or 'low support needs' although we also acknowledged those terms aren't valid as people can move from high to low depending on various factors. Since then we have also discussed supporting all autistic people including children and also educating parents of autistic children (parents who are presumed to be non-autistic) We need to determine who we'd like to serve, what their unmet needs are and how we could help fulfill those needs. The documentation I have looked at recommends not competing with existing non-profits for the same clients but instead joining them. Once we know who our target group is we can develop our mission statement or mandate. I have a draft statement I made by adding to our existing mandate, just as a starting point for editing, rewriting, etc. The overall mandate/mission of PEI Autistic Adults is to be a community of autistic adults and autistic seniors...to share, accept, and support each other with a bit of celebration and promotion of the positive aspects of autism. Through our non-profit, we contribute to autistic people having an equal opportunity to achieve and maintain the best possible well-being throughout their lifetime.  Our focus will be on autistic people who are not currently supported by any other group. I'm using the word well-being as it includes "having good mental health, high life satisfaction, a sense of meaning or purpose, and the ability to manage stress." But that might make it too vague. Also, It's a little clunky so I hope people will help rewrite it. And if the target group changes it will have to change too. Comments would be great even if you're not in the non-profit group.

Attended by: Robbie, Stephanie, Liv, Terri, Georgina, Aaron, Riley Jane, Luisa, True Robbie prepared the minutes! May 6th Meeting Minutes: 1)Many things discussed but important to focus on 3 goals: -Awareness of the needs of Autistic Adults -Advocacy for ourselves -Acceptance from neurotypical communities. 2) Non-Profit Requirements: -3 board members, some discussion was had about whether the three board members should be formally diagnosed, topic is still being discussed. -1 AGM (Annual General Meeting) required per year. -Define committees and member requirements and goals of the organization. -Registration fee is $180 and the annual renewal fee is $50, approximately 30 day waiting period to hear back. 3) Current tasks: -Robert is the meeting secretary and will distribute the meeting minutes after each formal meeting. -Terri knows a lawyer who can help up with the paperwork needed to start a nonprofit and will talk with him. -True and Jane to write a first draft of the organization’s mission statement. 4) Resources: -Charlottetown Chamber of Commerce, MRSB and United way offer courses on running nonprofits and being a board member. -Terri and Aaron have been a part of nonprofit boards in the past and have experience doing this. -Think of Starsforlife and the Autism Societies as resources and not competitors even if we don’t agree with parts of their philosophy. -Fiscal sponsorship possible from the Northstar fund, Makeway and Launch Pad. 5)Proposed advocacy activities/strategies: -Offer information sessions so employers can better understand how to support autistic employees. -Making a list of ‘rights’ for disabled people to advocate for to keep the group on task. -Work with ‘Autism consultants’ or as an alternative to ‘Autism consultants’ in schools to help with the transition to adult hood, finding appropriate supports and teaching how to self-advocate. -Focus make presentations on ‘Autistic Success’ to demonstrate a life well lived as an autistic adult. Stephanie and Luisa were very interested in this. -Establish communication between autistic parents and parents of autistic children. 6) Other considerations: -There is a significant overlap between the autistic community and the LBGTQIA+ community and we could possibly have a vendor booth at the pride parade (July 24-31, doesn’t need to be every day) -Do we want to cover the costs of running a non-profit with membership fees or should this be by donation or according to funding.

We've decided to become a non-profit so as to provide more support as well as position ourselves to become advocates for autistic adults and autistic seniors on PEI. Currently, there is no autistic-centred group led by autistic people on PEI that does that. As a non-profit, we could apply for funding for our group as well as develop initiatives and projects of interest that would support our community that we would then propose to the government and NGOs. We may meet with other non-profit groups, mental health or other organizations to learn more. I'd like to protect against burning ourselves out by having a large group, with the expectation that people would participate as their time and spoons allow. There will also be different ways for people to contribute and learn from each other. At its core, our group will remain a peer support group with our main role to provide peer support to each other. Helping someone else can be powerful and provide a needed boost to your self-esteem and self-confidence. So far Aaron Brown, Jane Boyd, Robbie Shea, Liv Lewis, Stephanie Campbell, Terri Walsh, Madison Wood, Georgina Bassett, Luisa Dumas, and Lynn Zipp are involved along with me. We will start by meeting the first Saturday of each month - the first meeting to take place over Zoom on Saturday, May 6 at 3 pm.