The challenge: Neurodiverse young adults are often isolated and lonely. Many programs are segregated, with young adults all grouped together despite their individual needs and interests and in environments that contribute to their sense of isolation. Social skills need continual reinforcement.
The solution: Alink is working with organizations that provide activities, such as the Sylvan Adams YM-YWHA, to help develop programming that fosters a sense of belonging and responds to individual interests and needs.
Club Alink, the social arm of Alink Foundation, runs a Facebook page that provides information on activities within the community and allows families to connect. Club Alink also runs several activities-all online now due to the COVID-19 crisis, including educational classes as well as a phone buddy program with GenMTL, the young adult arm of Federation CJA.
For more information on those activities, click HERE.
Prior to the crisis, Club Alink, in partnership with Montreal’s Adath Israel Synagogue , organized some in-person activities, including a Sunday morning cooking program to encourage social interaction as well as to develop kitchen skills.
Club Alink’s social inclusion programs have been funded primarily by Federation CJA , The Jewish Community Foundation and Jewish Federations of Canada in collaboration with the Azrieli Foundation.