Collins Lake Autism Center
Grants Awarded
We are creating a family camping program for families with one or more children with disabilities, focusing on traditional outdoor activities while also providing support services for parents and siblings. The desired outcomes include improved family bonding, enhanced coping strategies for family members, and greater community awareness of the challenges faced by families with disabled children.
The Collins Lake Outdoor Learning Center plans to expand its facilities by adding a new classroom and upgrading existing water and septic systems to better serve the growing demands of the community. This initiative will enhance outdoor recreational opportunities, ultimately benefiting program participants and fostering community engagement.
This program seeks to enhance the fire suppression system at Collins Lake Ranch, ensuring the safety of its educational and recreational facilities. By improving fire protection, the initiative will contribute to a safer environment for participants and foster community resilience against fire hazards.
The program will establish an additional classroom yurt and accompanying facilities to support the increasing demand for Environmental Education. This initiative will enhance educational opportunities for participants, fostering a deeper understanding of environmental issues while benefiting the local community through increased awareness and sustainable practices.
Collins Lake Autism Center (dba Collins Lake Ranch) is located in Cleveland, NM and is part of a 300-acre ranch. Our primary mission is to support individuals with autism and other developmental disabilities. This includes Supported Living, Respite Care and Employment Services. An offshoot of that is a campground area that we have created to allow children and adults with a wide range of disabilities to experience the outdoors. We have accommodations for up to 40 summer campers. In 2020/2021 we opened up the campground area to local students that were completing their classwork remotely. From that experience, we saw firsthand just how powerful outdoor education can be. This experience triggered our desire to create a year-round Outdoor Education Center at the Ranch. Our initial foray into this effort was a partnership with the Highlands University Conservation Service Center and Mora ISD. During the 2022-23 school year, we are hosted classes here at the Ranch most Friday’s for students from Pre-K through high school. Class sizes have ranged from 40 – 60 students and we have had over 300 students attending these sessions during the past year. In addition to our cllaboration with the public schools, we work with the Mora Home School Learning Cooperative and host 30-40 students and parents every Wednesday. We are also partnering with Mora ISD to provide summer tutoring classes here at the Ranch. Our third focus area is therapeutic services, including Behavioral Therapy, Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy and various Wellness programs. The 2022 wildfires has greatly increased the demand for counseling and therapy and we are working with other community providers to expand services to meet these needs.