The Concerto Project has announced the launch of a $10 million capital campaign to fund the purchase of Mount Baker Farm and Scenic Railroad on Orcas and the construction of five homes for staff and participants. The Concerto Project started in 2013 to create a living and learning residential transition program in the Pacific Northwest. Its mission is to provide young adults on the autism spectrum with the vocational, social and practical skills necessary for sustainable living through a two-year program. In addition to self-advocacy, Concerto’s programs will teach young residents to modify their environments to suit their needs; to seek friendships that will support them; to develop the daily living skills they need to be healthy and settled; and to find gainful work that will sustain them.
“The Concerto Project presents a valuable opportunity that helps to meet the increasing needs of young adults on the autism spectrum,” said Kristine Lytton, House Majority Floor Leader, Washington State Legislature. “It will address a huge gap by providing vital services that develop the skills of this underserved population.”
Mount Baker Farm is 80 acres and was originally a dairy farm. In the 1980s, Burton A. Burton and his wife, Rosie, moved to Orcas Island, where they transformed the farm into a unique wonderland that includes a full-gauge railroad that runs the perimeter of the property, complete with train stations.
The site already includes a community kitchen and dining room, classroom space, meeting rooms, woodworking and mechanical shops, a huge barn, a gymnasium, a silo conference room, stables and paddocks, caretakers’ quarters, parent guest accommodations, and much more. By utilizing the existing facilities at the farm, The Concerto Project has reduced its original budget by $2 million.
The Concerto Project will provide “a program for mid- to higher-functioning 18- to 25-year-olds that addresses the gap between high school graduation and sustainable adult living,” according to the Project’s Executive Director, Marian O’Brien, parent of a 22-year-old daughter on the spectrum.
Concerto is recruiting staff in occupational therapy, speech and language, medicine, nutrition, psychology, social skills development, vocational supports, special education, therapeutic arts and music, computer applications, graphic arts and intellectual property development.
Executive Director O’Brien and her husband, Keith Whitaker, are hopeful that Mount Baker Farm is within reach of The Concerto Project.
Informational sessions are being planned in the Seattle area. Concerto aims to welcome its first group of young adults in September of 2016. O’Brien can be reached at marian@concertoproject.org or visit the following for more information: http://www.concertoproje
