News and Knowledge

OAR takes great delight in announcing the fall 2022 winners of the Peer Education Grant program. Launched in 2020, the Peer Education Grant program supports projects that aim to promote autism awareness and acceptance among nonprofits, communities, libraries, and K-12 public schools using OAR’s peer education resources. This fall, OAR awarded $25,522 to support 11 projects. With these grants, OAR has helped educate more than 167,000 children through the Kit for Kids since 2012.

Congratulations to these fall grant recipients!

AnnMarie Bates
2022-2023 MPPS Autism Acceptance Lessons
Central Michigan University, Mount Pleasant, Mich.

Focusing on the effects community insensitivity has on the well-being of autistic individuals, Bates and her colleagues will offer an autism education and acceptance outreach program to local fourth and fifth graders to encourage empathy and compassion.

Natalie Dohner
“Together We’re Better” – The Arc Maryland & Garrett Park Elementary School
The Arc Maryland, Columbia, Md.

Dohner and the team plan to engage K-5 students at Garrett Park Elementary School in a program that promotes a welcoming, inclusive, and safe environment and educates students on how to combat bullying. The team will provide resources to ensure ongoing attention to inclusion, awareness, and commitment to autism throughout the school.

Darla Farmer
It’s Cool to Care
Hope For Three, Sugar Land, Texas

Serving public and private K-8 grade students and their educators, Farmer and the Hope For Three, an autism advocacy organization, plan to curate an interactive and engaging program. This program will encompass anti-bullying and empowerment exercises, as well as strategic tips on how students can be better friends to those with differences.

Terri Fullerton
Cub Scout Pack 211 Inclusion Training
Oxford Lions Foundation Inc., Oxford, Ga.

Cub Scout Pack 211 will use the materials and grant resources to host Autism Awareness Nights. These events will allow the local community to engage in inclusion and diversity activities, adaptive sports, and discussions around invisible disabilities to help build autism awareness.

Yongsheng Gu
Knowing the Difference for Better Acceptance
Open Arms Helping Hands Corporation, Cumming, Ga.

Gu plans to hold small camps for autistic children and peers to cultivate relationships among them. In addition, his initiative will offer sessions to the local community on the types of communications skills used by autistic and neurotypical peers.

Kathleen Lefcourt
Elk Hill Peer Education
Elk Hill, Goochland, Va.

Elk Hill teachers will use the Kit for Kids materials and grant funding to educate students about social skills. The program will be implemented in classrooms and will focus on understanding that people have different needs and encouraging empathy and compassion.

Deanna Ragland
Holt Junior High LINKS
Holt Public Schools, Holt, Mich.

Ragland will use the grant and the Kit for Kids peer education materials for general education and in a peer mentoring program. The Kits will be used to educate seventh- and eighth-graders and their mentors to learn about autism and what they can do to support the community.

Michael Taylor
All Means All
Bryant Public School District, Bryant, Ark.

The Bryant Public School District will educate K-8 students in eight different schools in the district. The focus will be on how to promote diversity and inclusive practices and build a supportive community for autistic students.

Kristina Vargo
Listening, Sharing, and Learning: Educating Teachers and Students about Autism
Sam Houston State University, Huntsville, Texas

Vargo will carry out the project as a formal research study, engaging the students and teachers from a K-6 grade school to see the impact of the Kit for Kids and Autism Tuned In on participants’ awareness and knowledge of autism as well as the likelihood they will reuse the materials in the future.

Henry Yin
Peer Education Project
Peer 1 on 1 Norcal, Lafayette, Calif.

Yin and the Peer 1 on 1 Norcal organization will use the grant and Kit for Kids resources to educate local volunteers. The organization hopes to build a more autism-friendly community by increasing the discourse and awareness of how to support residents with autism.

Ellen Zerafa
Hawkins Elementary – Peer to Peer Program
Brighton Area Schools, Brighton, Mich.

Zerafa and her colleagues plan to use the grant to expand autism training, education, and awareness to the whole school. They will use their mentor training program throughout Brighton Area Schools to allow more students to participate and learn more about autism.

Submit an Application

Youth group organizers, parents, autism professionals, teachers, and administrators are eligible to apply for $500 to $5,000 grants. The current application period began on September 16, 2022, for projects starting as early as April 1, 2023. Applications are due on January 20, 2023.

OAR supports projects that use the Kit for Kids and Autism Tuned In to increase autism awareness and acceptance. Example projects include awareness campaigns, workshops, and presentations. Eligible expenses include but are not limited to OAR’s peer education materials, print costs, honorariums and travel expenses for guest speakers, venue rental, and refreshments.

For questions or comments, contact OAR at programs @ researchautism.org.