ABOUT US

Outreach Autism Services Network, Inc. (OASN) is a non-profit organization founded May 12, 2011 by a parent that has children with autism, solely to offer one service; a monthly support meeting.

OASN support meetings were initially offered at College Road Baptist Church. That same year, we had our first Christmas party at this church. In year one of our young organization, parents expressed a need for programs and services. In April 2012, we incorporated what was then known as Ocala Autism Support Network (we changed our name in 2015 to reflect our outreach to autism families that needed support and services in the entire state of FL) and became a non-profit organization. Our first grant was for respite care that was provided at College Road Baptist Church. Our next grant was for summer camp that was held at College Road Baptist Church, later at Redeemer Lutheran Church and was also offered one year at Brick City Center for the Arts.

For many years, we met at churches (we are grateful to all the churches that have assisted us over the years) and Christian organizations for our support meetings, programs, and services. OASN has always been an expression of faith (Christian), founded to help autism families that have struggled with finding support, services and receiving a formal diagnosis. Since we have been able to receive donations, we have always sought funding to provide services based on what OASN families have expressed a need for. In 2015, seventy percent of the calls we received were for education.

In December 2015, after lots of prayer and mindfulness, OASN started the process to open our subsidiary school, Ocala Preparatory Academy, an inclusion school. After being in two smaller offices, we were excited to move to our current building in March 2016. This move was done as a huge leap of our faith by our board members that our executive director would be able to raise the funds to be able to stay in our current building long term. We have since outgrown this building and need a larger space. We appreciate your prayers and donations to find our build a larger facility.

Everything we do has always been done within the framework of our Christian faith. In the past, our faith has taken a sideline because we did not want to turn away federal funding needed for OASN programs and services. In the spring of 2022, OASN learned that there was an Executive Order issued May 3, 2018, to ensure that faith-based organizations have strong advocates in the White House and throughout the Federal Government. This has not been the case in the past for faith-based organizations. Moving forward, we are faith based in all that we do.

EMPLOYMENT

We are always accepting applications for ESE/Inclusion paraprofessionals and teachers for positions that may become available. Please note, we are a small non profit organization and do not offer medical benefits. We offer small class sizes and are support holistic teaching methods (including lots of outside time and hands on learning). We never teach to the test. If you are interested in learning more, send us your resume to hr@oasn.info.