Finding Inner Peace: Itineris clients practice yoga with a volunteer instructor in the building’s new common area.
Itineris, Inc. will host a naming celebration at its newly expanded headquarters in Woodbury to recognize The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation. The building will now be known as the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Building Itineris Baltimore. The Foundation awarded $800,000 to the capital campaign to purchase and renovate the building for the Baltimore-based nonprofit.
Itineris provides the only Work First program in the greater Baltimore region exclusively supporting adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). With the expansion into the entire building Itineris has been able to nearly double the number of members with jobs and the number of employer partners from its earlier years at the Grist Mill. Itineris initially rented a smaller part of the new building prior to acquiring and renovating it this year.
The Finishing Touches: Shawn James of Mural Masters, Inc. paints the logo of The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Building Itineris Baltimore above the building’s entrance.
According to Ami Taubenfeld, Itineris co-founder and executive director, “Thanks to this generous grant and those from our other donors we can now better meet the needs of Maryland’s rapidly growing number of adults with ASD in the greater Baltimore region. Our programs are expanding more quickly than we had hoped to meet the needs of our adults and the employers who depend upon them.”
In a recent study Maryland showed one of the highest rates of autism in the country: it now occurs in one of every fifty births here. As adults, only 26% of people with ASD are employed. Itineris is able to employ 54% of its clients, and 100% are engaged with the community in activities, internships, and volunteering.
The grant is the largest made to the nonprofit’s current $4.2 million capital campaign. Itineris used the funds to purchase and renovate its Rockrose building on Television Hill in Baltimore’s Woodberry neighborhood.
Amenities in the newly finished facility include a large modern kitchen, more computer and technology training space, modernized classrooms, and a flexible and light-filled interior more suitable for the broad range of activities offered to its clients and staff.
A client/employee lounge area is large enough for lunches, professional development and seminars for staff or partners, and regular Friday yoga classes for the adults Itineris serves. It also can serve as a community hub, bringing together the Itineris adults and members of the Woodberry Community.
Itineris workplace partners include WR Grace, Whole Foods, The Baltimore County Police Department, and Intero Advisory among its employers. Itineris adults receive support with workplace training, social skills and on site job coaching. Itineris also provides employer and company training.
About the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation
The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation, one of the largest private charitable foundations in the United States, provides approximately $100 million in annual grants to nonprofits that provide direct services to low-income and vulnerable individuals and families, primarily in the United States and Israel. Grants are focused on meeting basic needs and enhancing an individual’s ability to meet those needs with emphasis on older adults, the Jewish community, and the Foundation’s priority communities of Maryland, Northeastern Pennsylvania, Hawaii, Chicago, New York City, San Francisco, rural communities in the United States, and the State of Israel. The trustees are Chair Robert T. Kelly, Jr., Alvin Awaya, Ambassador Fay Hartog-Levin (Ret.), and Paula B. Pretlow. Rachel Garbow Monroe serves as the Weinberg Foundation’s President and Chief Executive Officer. For more information, please visit www.hjweinbergfoundation.org.
For more information: Emily Grant 443-275-1100 egrant@itinerisbaltimore.org
