A rendering of the proposed Thrive Red Bank project, as seen from Shrewsbury Avenue. (Rendering by CPA Architecture. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
A proposed apartment building for adults with intellectual or developmental disabilities won approval from the Red Bank zoning board Thursday night.
Advocates called the approval historic, and said it would allow them to create a model for desperately needed housing for neuro-diverse adults.
Seen on a monitor, an architect discusses the design of the proposed Shrewsbury Avenue project. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
A proposed apartment project for adults with intellectual or developmental disabilities would be the first of its kind in New Jersey, which has a critical need for it, sponsors told the Red Bank zoning board Thursday night.
Board members had questions about parking and unit size, but showed no immediate sign of opposition.
Rendering shows the Shrewsbury Avenue side of the proposed building. Access to an interior garage would be at the far left. (Rendering by CPA Architecture.Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
When Karen Fluharty moved her special-needs adult son to a neuro-diverse housing complex in Phoenix two years ago, she was both relieved and devastated. There simply was nothing anywhere near her Rumson home that would allow young Ryan to live an independent life with an overlay of needed support, she said.
“I had to make the choice as a parent, to leave my 19-year-old son, my only child, in Arizona,” she said. “I had to make the choice between the right program and being near family. And no parent should have to make that choice.”
On Thursday night, a nonprofit entity Fluharty created will go before the Red Bank zoning board with an alternative.
It’s a special performance keyed to young audiences with Autism Spectrum Disorder when the Count Basie Theatre hosts the Berenstain Bears Thursday afternoon.
It’s being described by the Count Basie Theatre as “sensory-friendly… a judgment-free, comfortable environment for families who would otherwise be reluctant to attend a live theatre performance.”
It’s a very special Thursday matinee of The Berenstain Bears LIVE! in Family Matters the Musical — and when the touring production based on the beloved children’s book characters of Stan and Jan Berenstain rolls into Red Bank on Thursday, it will represent the first in a projected series of events benefitting POAC Autism Services in its mission to raise awareness of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).
Press release from the English Speaking Union of Monmouth County
Andrew Nowak, an internationally noted scholar in the field of education of students on the autism spectrum, chose central and coastal New Jersey for his recent visit to the United States — and the Monmouth County NJ Branch of the English Speaking Union was pleased to host him.
The London-based educator was announced as the winner of the ESU’s 2015 Walter Hines Page Scholarship, founded by the British English-Speaking Union in the 1920’s to honor the memory of Walter Hines Page, a much-loved American ambassador to England during World War I. This international exchange scholarship enabled Andrew to plan and carry out visits to the nonprofit therapeutic center OASIS tlc in Middletown, the Douglass Developmental Disabilities Center in New Brunswick, and Red Bank Regional High School.