Empowering Connections: Supporting Mental Health for San Diego’s Autism Community

Who the Grant Will Benefit: The $3,000 grant from the Dudley T. Dougherty Foundation will benefit families, caregivers, and individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and intellectual/developmental disabilities (I/DD) in San Diego County, where autism affects 1 in 22 children - double the national average. This includes approximately 400 attendees of the 3rd Annual Autism Social & Mental Health Conference on February 20, 2026, with 20% being autistic adults or adults with I/DD, as well as underserved low-income and multilingual households (e.g., Spanish and other threshold language speakers), fostering self-advocacy and family support.

How We Will Achieve These Results: ASSD will deliver transformative outcomes through a hybrid conference featuring a keynote by Dr. Amy Van Hecke and expert-led sessions on friendships, grief, autism in women, relationships, and technology, supported by live Spanish and threshold language interpretation. We will provide scholarships for 10-15 low-income families, leverage our 687,500 online reach for promotion, and measure success with immediate and 3-month follow-up surveys targeting 85% enhanced mental health knowledge, 75% improved social skills, and 80% new connections.

How the Grant Money Will Be Used: The $3,000 will fund expert speaker fees and travel to ensure high-quality content, support expanded interpretation services in Spanish and other threshold languages to remove language barriers, and provide scholarships for 10-15 low-income families, enhancing access and aligning with the foundation’s focus on direct services, with indirect costs kept below 20%.