Office of Borough President James P. Molinaro
Staten Island, New York
Borough President Molinaro announces capital funding for Eden II programs
Directs $2.3 million toward new autism center, computers, document storage system
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. – Borough President James P. Molinaro today announced his Fiscal Year ’09 capital funding for the Eden II Programs, the not-for-profit school for autistic individuals.
At the school’s request, Molinaro has provided $2.3 million towards the property acquisition for Staten Island’s first state-of-the-art Autism Center, as well as for computers and a document storage system.
“The number of children being diagnosed as autistic has risen dramatically over the last 10 years, affecting an estimated one in 150 births today,” said Molinaro. “As an early supporter of Eden II and President of the Borough with one of the highest rates of autism, I am committed to doing everything in my power to help Islanders cope with this
little-understood disorder, which has seemingly touched every family.”
Joanne Gerenser, Executive Director of Eden II Programs, said, “Everyone at Eden II, from parents to staff to volunteers, is overwhelmed by our Borough President’s extreme generosity and support. Our goal is to raise $5 million for the creation of Staten Island’s first state-of-the-art Autism Center. Children and adults with autism throughout the Island and surrounding boroughs will benefit from the programs and services Eden II will be able to offer. Our gratitude goes out to Borough President Molinaro, his staff, and the people of Staten Island for taking our mission into their hearts.”
The largest portion of Molinaro’s funding, $2.2 million, is dedicated to the acquisition of property for a new Autism Center to increase the size of Eden II’s facilities, which are currently spread out across four buildings in the Borough and are full to capacity. The new building would add 20,000 additional square feet and consolidate all three of the educational programs in one building, as well as provide new services, such as an outreach center, a training center, and an evaluation site.
The remaining $142,000 portion of the funding will be divided equally between the creation of new computer labs in the Autism Center, and the purchase and implementation of a document storage system that will house both electronic files as well as “hard copy” items, by scanning and converting files to pdf documents.
August 6, 2008