Learning 4 Life Farm is creating a 7-acre nonprofit farm in Johnstown, Ohio with gardens and therapy alpacas to provide transition job training for teens and young adults on the autism spectrum in partnership with our parent organization, The Learning Spectrum.
Program participants will care for the alpacas and gardens, sell produce and products they create at an on-site gift shop, and learn transition life skills, while working towards employment in the community through our job placement program.
Hand in hand with our students, we are working to develop an animal assisted alpaca therapy program for children and adults on the autism spectrum, which would be one of only a few in the world specifically tailored for autism, and to create organic gardens for food, pollinator habitat, and as a therapeutic space for students and the community.
The Need:
Staffed by The Learning Spectrum (TLS) and overseen by a Board of Directors, Learning 4 Life Farm was established as a 501c3 nonprofit in February 2019 to launch a new and unique transition job training program for teens and young adults on the autism spectrum. Parents, staff and administrators at TLS saw the need for this transition program as students with autism are graduating high school without the skills to succeed in jobs and live independently: an estimated 85% of adults with autism are unemployed or underemployed and only 17% live on their own. Learning 4 Life Farm was established to focus on the root causes of that problem, empower young adults with autism, and make a clear difference in their quality of life.
Parent organization The Learning Spectrum has been providing educational services for students on the autism spectrum in central Ohio since 2005, and currently serves over 200 preK-12th grade students with autism spectrum disorder, with full day education at three charter school sites around central Ohio, and providing OT, Speech therapy, music therapy, 1:1 Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), support groups, and intervention services. Visit TheLearningSpectrum.com for more details.
Our Programs:
Currently, our farm is under construction, as we build the barn and shop, pastures, gardens and greenhouses we need to run our full program. We're actively fundraising to raise our barn and get our working farm up and running. We plan to complete construction and launch our job training program in 2023.
TLS North East and TLS Transition Summer Camp students ages 14-18 created and maintain the Learning 4 Life Farm student organic garden on TLS North East grounds in Johnstown, Ohio, with help from staff and community volunteers and support from local businesses.
Program participants will care for the alpacas and gardens, sell produce and products they create at an on-site gift shop, and learn transition life skills, while working towards employment in the community through our job placement program.
Hand in hand with our students, we are working to develop an animal assisted alpaca therapy program for children and adults on the autism spectrum, which would be one of only a few in the world specifically tailored for autism, and to create organic gardens for food, pollinator habitat, and as a therapeutic space for students and the community.
The Need:
Staffed by The Learning Spectrum (TLS) and overseen by a Board of Directors, Learning 4 Life Farm was established as a 501c3 nonprofit in February 2019 to launch a new and unique transition job training program for teens and young adults on the autism spectrum. Parents, staff and administrators at TLS saw the need for this transition program as students with autism are graduating high school without the skills to succeed in jobs and live independently: an estimated 85% of adults with autism are unemployed or underemployed and only 17% live on their own. Learning 4 Life Farm was established to focus on the root causes of that problem, empower young adults with autism, and make a clear difference in their quality of life.
Parent organization The Learning Spectrum has been providing educational services for students on the autism spectrum in central Ohio since 2005, and currently serves over 200 preK-12th grade students with autism spectrum disorder, with full day education at three charter school sites around central Ohio, and providing OT, Speech therapy, music therapy, 1:1 Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), support groups, and intervention services. Visit TheLearningSpectrum.com for more details.
Our Programs:
Currently, our farm is under construction, as we build the barn and shop, pastures, gardens and greenhouses we need to run our full program. We're actively fundraising to raise our barn and get our working farm up and running. We plan to complete construction and launch our job training program in 2023.
TLS North East and TLS Transition Summer Camp students ages 14-18 created and maintain the Learning 4 Life Farm student organic garden on TLS North East grounds in Johnstown, Ohio, with help from staff and community volunteers and support from local businesses.