Hope Enterprises Partners with AllOne Foundation for Autism Resource Center

WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. – Hope Enterprises, a nonprofit provider of programs for people with intellectual disabilities in Lycoming, Clinton, Northumberland, Columbia, Montour, Snyder and Union counties, has partnered with the AllOne Foundation to offer an Autism Collaborative Center of Excellence on Hope's Children's Campus at 614 West Fourth Street beginning April 1, 2019. Developed by the AllOne Foundation, a Wilkes-Barre based non-profit organization working to enhance the health care delivery system in northeastern and northcentral Pennsylvania, the Autism Collaborative Centers of Excellence are regional hubs designed to identify and address gaps in the existing service delivery network for people with autism spectrum disorder and their families.

"The autism hub on Hope's Children's Campus will connect existing autism support groups in our region, serve as a venue for autism-related events and activities and collect and report data to the executive Autism Collaborative Centers of Excellence hub in Scranton," said Robert Labatch, Hope's president. "Hope currently provides early intervention programs for children, and we are excited to partner with AllOne to offer a hub in our region."

On March 27, John W. Cosgrove, executive director, and Mary Carroll Donahoe, program officer, of the AllOne Foundation presented a check for $396,640 to Labatch for the Williamsport hub. The hub at Hope's Children's Campus is one of five Autism Collaborative Centers of Excellence serving a 13-country region in northeastern and northcentral Pennsylvania. Other hubs are located at the Children's Service Center in Hazleton, Geisinger Autism & Developmental Medicine Institute in Lewisburg, Misericordia University in Dallas and the University of Scranton. The 13-county region includes Bradford, Carbon, Clinton, Lackawanna, Luzerne, Lycoming, Monroe, Pike, Sullivan, Susquehanna, Tioga, Wayne and Wyoming.

For more information about the Autism Collaborative Center of Excellence on Hope's Children's Campus, contact Emily Camerer, community resource coordinator, at 570-772-2491.