Accomplishments & History

Accomplishments – 2011

Talk About Curing Autism (TACA) provides real help for children with autism and their families. We educate, empower, support and connect families with the resources they need to secure the best possible future for their children.

COMMUNITY SERVED

1. TACA’s membership grew to over 28,000 families, nearly 8,000 more than in 2010. On average nearly 500 new families join each month.

2. 27 chapters in 18 states, including the newly added New York Chapter.

PROGRAMS & SERVICES

Ninety-five percent of programs and services continue to be offered at no cost to families.
Read full list of available programs and services.

3. TACA staff and volunteers handled almost 2,500 phone calls and almost 6,500 e-mails from families across the country seeking support.

4. TACA conducted 250 mentor introductions for new families to obtain support and guidance, from experienced and trained TACA mentor parents.

5. TACA held 15 mentor training events.

6. Our Live Chat provided instant online responses to over 1,000 separate support requests messages.

7. TACA provided education and support at almost 250 Chapter Meetings, and Coffee Talks at no cost to participants.

8. TACA distributed 1,850 free Autism Journey Guides (in it’s 6th revision) and over 150,000 “My Child has Autism” information cards to families.

9. TACA, through a grant from the Pacific Life Foundation, continued to provide critical programs for families.

a) Spanish Community Outreach & Materials

This department presented and participated in local educational conferences catering to individuals with disabilities in the Latino community, such as the Fiesta Educativa Los Angeles Statewide Conference, Fiesta Educativa Fiesta Familiar meetings, Autism/Aspergers Annual Conference at University California/Irvine and Pasadena, Orange County Health Fair Expo for UDWA (Home Care Providers Union–Orange County) in Garden Grove, CA, The Exceptional Kids Autism Fair, and the Parent’s Place Family Resource Center Annual Conference and Autism Research Institute Conference answered over 200 calls, 550 emails, and met close to 139 parents at Spanish Coffee Talk meetings.

The department provided assistance and support to 150 Latino parents at its Orange and Los Angeles County Spanish Coffee Talk meetings and an additional 100 parents were provided support through a variety of outreach efforts.

b) Legal Advocacy Program (Orange County only)

This department responded to 558 requests for legal consultation and advice by way of phone call, electronic communication and in-person meetings resulting in one-on-one support to families navigating the IEP process; delivered pertinent legal information to nearly 40 participants through two legal education seminars; and reviewed, evaluated 20 IEP’s and consulted with parents on potential compliance issues empowering parents to advocate on behalf of their child regarding these compliance points and ensuring more appropriate education for their children.

10. TACA provided enhanced parent education programs including five Autism Journey Seminars.

11. TACA provided 32 families with scholarships for treatment and therapies through our Family Scholarship Program, Beautiful Son / Autism Hawaii Foundation and Liberty Me Grants.

12. More than 200 copies of books and DVDs were added to TACA Chapter Libraries.

13. Hosted an online provider resource directory of over 13,000 autism product and service vendors across the United States.

COLLABORATIVE EFFORTS

14. TACA participated as a member of the Global Autism Collaboration, a collection of organizations dedicated to parent-driven research and other united efforts.

15. Through our partnership in AutismCares, TACA and four other national non-profit organizations provided financial assistance to 76 families in crisis.

16. TACA was present at 7 national conferences where TACA Mentors were on hand to provide individualized support to nearly 6,000 attendees.

17. TACA continued its The Autism Book tour featuring author Dr. Bob Sears (co-sponsored with Nordic Naturals)

18. Due to collaborative efforts with the Beautiful Son Foundation/ Autism Hawaii Foundation and Liberty Me Foundation families received more assistance in Hawaii and Pennsylvania.

19. The TACA Physician Advisory Group featuring Dr. Bob Sears, Dr. Jerry Kartzinel and Dr. David Berger continued to help review new medical information and research in an effort to educate physicians about the treatments available for autism.

FUNDRAISING & EVENTS

20. Oakley’s Special Edition TACA Autism Sunglasses launched in April 2010. In 2011, almost 5,000 pairs of glasses were sold to support TACA’s mission.

21. The 10 members of TACA’s Ambassador Committee raised almost $70,000 for TACA and educated their circles of influence on TACA and autism.

22. TACA again partnered with 93.1 Jack FM for Jack’s Sixth Show, a concert benefitting TACA. This six-year relationship has raised a cumulative total of nearly $240,000.

23. TACA’s 8th Annual Family Picnic was a huge success with over 1,500 attendees raising over $90,000.

24. TACA’s 5th Annual Ante Up For Autism held in Orange County CA, raised over $250,000.

25. TACA expanded its outreach through relationships with other organizations, and participated in a variety of collaborative events including; An Evening for Autism, A Ride for Autism, Hope 4 Hanna, and the TBigT Golf Tournament, raising more than $60,000 collectively.

26. TACA received in-kind donations of products and services to help offset expenses with an estimated value totaling nearly $250,000.

LEADERSHIP

27. TACA welcomed Dan Carney to our Board of Directors.

28. For the 8^th year, TACA held a Real Help Now Conference. It was attended by nearly 300 people with participation from six nationally known DAN! Doctors including Dr. Nancy O’Hara, Dr. Anju Usman and Dr. Stuart Freedenfeld. TACA’s own Holly Bortfeld also took part in this conference.

29. TACA held its 5th Annual Leadership Conference in January for 65 Chapter Coordinators and Key Volunteers from 20 states. Attendees received in-depth training on TACA’s Mission delivery, Programs, Services, and Chapter Operations.

MEDIA

30. Thirty national and local media articles featured information about TACA, our Chapters, and highlighted TACA’s relevance in autism related issues.

31. Our website, www.tacanow.org, received more than 1,000,000 visits by users who accessed nearly 1.2 million pages of information. Fifteen new articles and major updates to 25% of our content were added. New teen and adult resource articles were included to address our members’ growing and changing needs.

32. The TACAnow blog was created, and featured 29 unique articles with over 3,200 subscribers.

33. TACA shared information and news updates through social marketing networks including: TACA’s national Yahoo! Group (TACA-USA), Facebook, and Twitter.

34. TACA sponsored the Age of Autism, and has supported the nation’s only daily web news that covers autism-related news for the past six years.

35. TACA’s partnership with 93.1 Jack FM included frequent public service announcements (PSA) about autism and TACA.

36. TACA members received more than 22 e-newsletters and two printed newsletters, each with a circulation of more than 30,000.

AUTISM AWARENESS EFFORTS INCLUDED

37. TACA’s 7^th Family & Friends Campaign produced over 100 personalized family stories and raised over $90,000

38. Autism Awareness Days were hosted by the LA Dodgers, Volcom and Wahoo’s

39. The Autism Youth Ambassadors Program grew from 2 to 22 high school campuses

Past Accomplishments

History

TACA began in November 2000 in the Ackerman’s living room in Huntington Beach, California with 10 families. As of December 2010, TACA serves approximately 20,000 families across the United States.

2000

November – First TACA meeting held in the Ackerman living room with 10 families

2001

November – TACA establishes Chapters in San Fernando Valley, CA & San Diego, CA

2002

TACA sends out its first e-news letter and launches www.TACAnow.org
TACA’s Costa Mesa (Orange County) Chapter moves to larger location due to the increasing number of parents attending meetings
The first version of the Parent Binder is available; it later becomes the Autism Journey Guide
TACA establishes two California Chapters in the Inland Empire and South Bay
200,000 of TACA’s “My Child Has Autism” cards are distributed for the first time

2003

Coffee Talk is held at the Costa Mesa Chapter for the first time

2004

Lisa Ackerman becomes full-time, volunteer TACA Executive Director
TACA establishes the Visalia and Santa Rosa Chapters
Grandma Sharon & Julie Ward present at the first Recovered Kids Meeting
First TACA Picnic is held at Camp James in Irvine, CA

2005

TACA’s 1st Family & Friends Campaign raises $30,000
TACA establishes the 1st Adopt-A-Family Holiday Program

2006

TACA’s first printed newsletter is distributed
Autism Journey Guide & DVD released
TACA & Jack FM team up for Jack’s FIRST Show concert

2007

First TACA Leadership Conference held
TACA establishes the Los Angeles Chapter
1^st Ante Up for Autism raises $370,000

2008

2nd Annual Leadership Conference with 60 in attendance
TACA goes nationwide: new chapters in California, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Minnesota, North Dakota, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin
TACA’s Live Chat launched at TACAnow.org

2009

3rd Annual Leadership Conference with 70 in attendance from 20 states
TACA receives a $300,000 grant from Pacific Life Foundation to begin three new programs for families
TACA adds new chapters in Arizona, Alabama, California, Indiana, Maryland, Nevada, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Tennessee

2010

Oakley – TACA sunglasses become available
4^th Annual Leadership Conference with 60 in attendance from 22 states