RCS Learning Center Student Café Ribbon Cutting:
Local nonprofit school serving students with autism to unveil student café to help address extreme inequities facing local children and families
Natick, MA (April 22, 2024) – RCS Learning Center will unveil its renovated student café as part of critical programming needed to combat extreme disparities facing children diagnosed with autism. The café will support the school’s Let’s Get to Work vocational training and Wellness and Nutrition programming aimed at teaching critical independence and life skills. “Not many people know that children with autism are 400% more likely to have unmet health care needs when compared to their peers without disabilities. Employment outcomes are equally disparate with 85% of adults with autism facing unemployment even though many of those adults could become part of the workforce with proper training,” said Denise-Rizzo-Ranieri, RCS President and Co-Founder and the school’s Chief of Design.
Volunteers from the RCS community including staff, families, and Board members will come together on Saturday, April 27th to renovate the student café and dedicate the space to a former RCS family. “We are thrilled to support RCS Learning Center, a school whose work was life-changing for my son and family. We have seen first-hand the inequity facing children and families, and we couldn’t be more excited to see how the school is growing their programming to address these needs,” said Greg Boyle, a former RCS parent and current Board member.
The ribbon cutting ceremony will unveil the updated café and members of the community are invited to join and support the school from 11:30am-12pm. RCS Learning Center is supported by the local community and past and current funders including the Cummings Foundation, Middlesex Bank Charitable Foundation, MathWorks, the Flutie Foundation, Avidia Bank Charitable Foundation, and the Ed Walsh Foundation.
In 2014, RCS Learning Center launched its Let’s Get to Work vocational training program in partnership with local businesses to provide RCS students with essential life and job skills. The school currently partners with nine local vocational partners. The school’s Wellness and Nutrition program was launched in 2023 and will grow this spring to further support RCS students by launching a fully student-run operational model for the café.
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About RCS Learning Center
Realizing Children’s Strengths (RCS) Learning Center is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to provide the highest quality of individualized behavioral and educational services for children with Autism Spectrum Disorders and other developmental disabilities. We believe that every child has unique skills, and we are dedicated to helping each child develop these skills and reach their full potential. Learning Center accepts students of any race, color, sex, gender identity, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, disability, or homelessness. Admitted students are afforded all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded, or made available to students currently attending RCS Learning Center. RCS does not discriminate against students who qualify under the criteria of the school’s admissions policies in admission, administration of educational policies, or in the delivery of programmatic and therapeutic services of any school administered program.