The Gentry Foundation

“Supplies 221”

“Bank and PayPal Fees 237”

“Accounting Fees 495”

“Program Support 150”

“Note Payable Beginning of year 3,400, End of year 3,400”

“Identified earlier. One reason the diagnosis age is so high is that low income families have limited choices as to who they can see to get an evaluation, so there are long waitlists, sometimes over 12 months. The mission of the gentry foundation for autism is to raise money through a variety of different fundraisers, and offer scholarships to families who are in need for free autism evaluations from licensed and qualified psychologists in arizona. The gentry foundation for autism is currently 100 volunteer based, we have no paid positions, and our board members are all individuals from the community who have been impacted by autism in one way or another in the past, who give their time, skills and sweat to help us raise funds and keep our foundation running on the ideals from which it was founded.the psychologists whom families can choose to do the evaluation are part of a group of psychologists in arizona who make up what is known as the arizona autism diagnostic network aadn, which is a subgroup of the childrens services network csn. Aadn allows the gentry foundation to have a list of approximately 15 psychologists for families to choose from who are well qualified and expert in evaluating autism spectrum disorders. The gentry foundation for autism is also attempting to set up different screening opportunities for families throughout arizona. Through free screening opportunities, the gentry foundation can help screen larger quantities of children in a short period of time, to be sure that those families who have yet to recognize possible red flags, can get the information they need more quickly. In the fall of 2018, the gentry foundation was able to pilot this service during a health and wellness fair in south tucson, arizona, where trained psychologists were able to screen a number of individiuals and provide information for further testing to parents, when needed. In fact, during that pilot screening, a child was screened and found to have a number of red flags, which the parents were notified about and they were given information about the foundation scholarships that were available. These parents then applied and were granted a scholarship for a formal evaluation, chose a psychologist from the provider list who was close to them, and the child received a diagnosis of autism and is now getting early intervention services he would otherwise still be waiting for had he not been screened that afternoon. In 2018, the gentry foundation awarded 20 scholarships to low income families. All but one of these evaluations has resulted in a diagnosis of autism in a child under 5 years of age. Parent feedback from these evaluations have been exclusively positive, and parents are eager to reach out and thank us for providing a service for the community and their family that they would not have had otherwise. In looking at the data we have collected about the families who are applying for scholarships, we have noted that a few key stakeholders in special populations have found out about the scholarships and have been able to make referrals to these families, such as families on native american indian reservations, rural areas of southern arizona, and head start programs in phoenix.”