This past Monday night, I listened in and watched over Zoom as the Bayit Association held its first-ever info session entitled “A Roadmap to Housing for Disabled Adults: What Every Parent Needs to Know.” The session was co-led by Adam Chill and Bassie Taubes, board members and founders of the Bayit Association, and was attended by 25+ participants, mostly Northern NJ-based parents of teens and young adults with autism and developmental/intellectual disabilities.

The meeting took place partially as a follow-up to the April 7 article I wrote in this paper announcing the founding of the Bayit Association, of which I am also a co-founder and board member, but mainly because my fellow board members and I wanted to start speaking with and educating parents on making sure that they are accessing all of the government funding and resources to which they are entitled.

Over the past few years, we have learned that there are many steps that parents must take to make sure that their adult children with special needs are fully eligible for housing and accessing the higher levels of funding needed for residential programs. We have also found that some parents are not fully aware of all of the opportunities available to them in terms of strengthening their child’s funding and resources. A significant goal of The Bayit Association is that the homes and apartments that we will be associated with in the future will operate on an annual basis without ongoing community support. The only way to achieve that is through ensuring that every adult is getting the maximum levels of funding available to him or her, which means that parents or their helpers will have to dedicate the time and effort needed.

This space is not the place to get into the myriad details and complexities involved in working with New Jersey’s Department of Developmental Disabilities (DDD), nor do I want to review all of the material that was presented on Monday night on the webinar, but overall I felt the session was a good one and the participants asked good questions such as whether we are looking to open a women’s home (the answer is yes). If you are interested in seeing the webinar, email us at [email protected]

Also, thank you so much to the many who emailed, called, texted, Whatsapped or came up to me and my co-board members in person in the weeks before and during Pesach with messages of support and encouragement. We really appreciated each and every message, and please keep them coming!

Lastly, we at the Bayit Association have set a goal of $1+ million to be raised over the next six months to be used mainly in two ways: First, the monies raised will enable us to provide the grant funding to help renovate the first home, with the renovations expected to be in the $250-300K range. Second, the remaining monies will be used to help us close on the second house and begin renovations on it as well, which we expect will be in the $600-$700K range all told.

To support The Bayit Association of NJ, you can go to our donation site at https://tinyurl.com/2p89mu4n OR https://secure.myonlinepayments.com/bayitassociation

Or just go to our site at: bayitnj.org and click on the Donate Now button on top.

Or you can mail a gift to: The Bayit Association / PO Box 3131 / Teaneck, NJ 07666

Our Tax ID No: 86-1535722. For those wishing to donate through a donor-advised fund, we have been vetted and approved by the Jewish Communal Fund and Fidelity Charitable.

By Moshe Kinderlehrer/Co-publisher, The Jewish Link