I have some exciting news to share about the Autism Awareness Month Faith Based Initiative! We are growing and taking things to the next level!

In 2016, the Autism Awareness Month Faith Based Initiative was started to promote autism awareness, acceptance and inclusion in faith-based communities. Since then, we have served 32 churches and over 10,800 people have learned about autism at their place of worship! In 2017, we won Honorable Mention at the Patients’ View Impact Awards!

With the increasing growth and recognition that the initiative is receiving, I decided that it was time to start making changes that would push the initiative forward and expand our reach.

I launched a new name, logo and website for the initiative in January. The new name is now the Autism Faith Network! This name works well because we are a network of faith-based communities spreading autism awareness! It’s also shorter, which works better for web addresses and logos. Our tagline is: Equipping faith-based communities to become more autism friendly.

Since our name changed, our logo needed to change too! The logo changed from a picture that my son drew of a church to a blue puzzle piece with the organization’s name. Here’s a picture of the logo:

In addition to the new name and logo changes, we needed to complete our branding process with a website separate from TonyaNash.com. Our new website for the Autism Faith Network is: https://autismfaithnetwork.com. The website gives details on what we do, our history, mission, testimonials, frequently asked questions and more! Check it out whenever you get a chance.

With our branding changes in place, we are now ready to press forward. We are currently recruiting places of worship for this year’s autism awareness month events!

Here’s how you can participate:

• Choose a date and activity for autism awareness month in April.  I have a list of activities to choose from, but you are welcome to choose your own.  Some ideas include: sharing facts about autism in the announcements, creating a bulletin board or display table, and more!  I have templates available, so you don’t have to do much work!

• Get approval from church leadership and pick a Person of Contact (POC).  I communicate with the POC to provide support and guidance.

• Have fun during your activity!  Take pictures of it in action and count the number of people participating.

• After your activity, email your pictures to me, along with your responses to a short evaluation form that I will send to you.

• Participating churches receive a letter of thanks, a certificate of participation and recognition on the Autism Faith Network website and social media networks.

• This year, we are giving out awards in five categories to recognize the amazing work of our participants!

If you are interested in joining the Autism Faith Network and doing an activity for autism awareness month in April, leave a message here and we will contact you as soon as possible.

Thanks for your support over the years! Together, we can make our places of worship more autism friendly!