Phoenix largest city to earn Certified Autism Center Designation

 PHOENIX – The City of Phoenix has achieved the Certified Autism Center™ (CAC) designation awarded by the International Board of Credentialing and Continuing Education Standards (IBCCES), which sets the global standard for training and certification in the fields of autism, neurodiversity, and accessibility. To recognize this achievement, City leadership gathered at City Hall to receive the official certificate from IBCCES. The certification comes after more than 80% of front-facing City employees, including Police and Fire personnel, received specialized training to better support and serve autistic and sensory-sensitive individuals. Today, Phoenix is the largest municipality in the country to earn the CAC designation.

Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego, holding certificate on right, and International Board of Credentialing and Continuing Education Standards Board Chair Myron Pincomb, left holding certificate, pose with city of Phoenix officials and staff on Thursday, Sept. 3 at City Hall to commemorate the IBCCES giving the city a Certified Autism Center designation

As part of the certification process, IBCCES conducts onsite reviews across City of Phoenix locations, providing actionable recommendations and sensory guides to enhance accessibility for those with autism and sensory sensitivities.

The initiative was recommended by the City’s Strategic Workgroup on Accessibility, a taskforce Mayor Kate Gallego called for to create a more accessible Phoenix. Councilwoman Debra Stark chaired the workgroup and led community leaders and City departments in developing a robust framework. Among its efforts, the taskforce successfully introduced inclusive design standards on newly constructed homes, enhanced wayfinding for people with low or no vision, and installed new hearing loop technology in the City’s Council Chambers. Phoenix is also designated as a Dementia Friendly City, an initiative to improve quality of life and reduce stigma for people with memory loss.

“Phoenix prides itself on being a community where everyone is able to thrive—and we are especially proud that the City of Phoenix is now a Certified Autism Center,” Mayor Kate Gallego said. "With thousands of daily visitors to our many facilities, parks and destinations, we are continuously improving to meet the needs of our entire community, including the unique needs of autistic individuals. As we strive to be a global model for accessibility, I’m especially grateful to Councilwoman Debra Stark for her leadership to make Phoenix more welcoming for all.”

“Earning the Certified Autism Center designation shows how deeply Phoenix values inclusivity and access," District 3 Councilwoman Debra Stark said. "Our staff worked diligently to complete this important training, and this certification moves us closer to a city where everyone, regardless of ability, can help improve Phoenix.”

“This distinction reflects Phoenix’s ongoing commitment to becoming a more accessible, inclusive and welcoming city for people of all abilities,” said Nicole Anderson, Chair of the Mayor’s Commission on Disability Issues and member of the Strategic Workgroup on Accessibility. “I am proud to live in a city that trains its employees to better understand and support autistic individuals and people with sensory, communication and cognitive differences. This work helps ensure residents and visitors feel included in the places, services and experiences that belong to all of us.”

“Our work with the City is grounded in collaboration, community insight and shared responsibility. It strengthens Phoenix’s recognition by PBS NewsHour as 'the most autism-friendly city in the world.' Such efforts contribute to a community culture that grows up with individuals of all ages living with autism and/or other disabilities—opening more doors to education, employment, housing and healthcare. This commitment is essential to ensuring that inclusion is not a moment but a lifelong pathway for every person,” stated Denise D. Resnik, Strategic Workgroup Member, SARRC Co-Founder & First Place AZ Founder & President/CEO.

Honored as 2023 Arizona Historymaker, listen to Denise tell her story at https://historicalleague.org/historymakers/denise-d-resnik/

Denise Resnik, 2023 Arizona Historymaker, is leader with First Place Arizona

Denise Resnik, 2023 Arizona Historymaker, respected leader in autism research with First Place Arizona.  

Denise Resnik at Arizona Heritage Center Historymaker Exhibit

August 10, 2025 article in Arizona Republic 

GROUND BROKEN FOR SUPPORTIVE LIVING

NJ apartment project is led by mom seeking independence for son with autism

Olivia Liu

Asbury Park Press
USA TODAY NETWORK – NEW JERSEY

RED BANK, NJ – Karen Fluharty is bringing her son home – a journey that has already taken eight years and will likely take an additional two.

First, she needs to build an apartment building, arguably one of the easier steps in the decade long process.

Her son, Ryan Fluharty, has autism.

Finding housing that will not only fit his needs but allow him to flourish exists in such short supply that Karen Fluharty decided she had to build it herself.

“Failing to plan for his future was simply not an option,” she said. “That quest was certainly much longer and much harder than we expected.”

In the blazing 95-degree heat on July 30, Fluharty’s nonprofit Parents with a Plan broke ground on Thrive Red Bank, a first-of-its-kind apartment building with 32 one-bedroom apartments for neurodiverse adults who would benefit from supportive housing.

In a unique partnership, Rutgers University will send staff and students to get to know the residents and develop customized support and schedules.

One resident’s schedule could involve taking a bus to No Limit Café in Middletown, New Jersey, which employs people with intellectual disabilities, and then spending the evening at a Red Bank church.

Another resident’s schedule could include swimming at the YMCA, learning financial literacy at Manasquan Bank and getting groceries with fellow residents before heading home.

Fluharty estimates that the apartment building could open in early 2027 with rent running $5,000 per month. Five of the 32 apartments for residents would be set aside as affordable, as part of the borough’s affordable housing plan.

As a single mother, Fluharty flew with her only son around the globe marketing Simon Premium Outlets for her day job.

When her son turned 15, she began to worry that he might graduate high school and end up on her couch without anything meaningful to do.

She inquired and visited about 60 programs across the country that would cater to her son’s needs.

“We wanted programs that would grow his independent living skills, that would create a community around him, prepare him for the workforce, develop loving relationships,” Fluharty said. “I thought it would be easy, like picking a college. And (you) look, you go and show up. But it really wasn’t.”

She found wait lists that ran years long, crippling bureaucracy and programs that were either too insulated from the outside world or not the right fit for her son’s needs.

Ryan eventually did land a spot at the supportive housing program First Place in Arizona, but for his mom, that was too far.

Fluharty planned the for-profit apartment building with philanthropists John and Robin Klein, No Limit Café founders Mark and Stephanie Cartier, and the executive director of the Rutgers Center for Adult Autism Services, Dr. Christopher Manente, among others.

John Klein, former CEO of Simon Premium Outlets, is also a developer on the project.

The property is owned by American Real Estate Opportunity Fund LLC, which is in turn owned by Rumson executive Warren Diamond, according to Monmouth County Property Records. The developer had previously gone before the borough’s zoning board for 10 two-bedroom apartments.

Parents with a Plan also received about $200,000 in state grants for workforce development, according to New Jersey state Sen. Vin Gopal.

While one of the goals is to provide housing for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities, the organization stresses that they are not a licensed care facility.

Residents need to be independent enough to eat, clean and get dressed by themselves.

The apartment building cannot support those with violent behavior toward themselves or others.

Since receiving approval by the borough’s zoning board in 2023, Fluharty said her organization has already received 50 applications and more than 5,000 apartment-related inquiries.

What Manente with the Rutgers Center for Adult Autism Services finds appealing with the partnership is the potential – the potential to improve lives, the potential to harness data and replicate their services at scale, and the potential to professionalize a disregarded job.

Christeen Scarpa of Rutgers, who will serve as chief quality officer, plans to spend two or three days every week at Thrive, work with the residents and collect quality of life data points on residents’ adaptability, socialization and safety skills.

Fluharty said she hopes the model at Thrive Red Bank can be replicated in other towns.

Direct support professionals, the title for caregivers to adults with developmental disabilities, is a poorly paid, high-turnover job that needs reform, according to Manente. Nationally, about 7 out of 10 direct support professionals will leave their job in a year, Manente said.

Most are paid minimum wage with limited chances for career advancement.

Many workers take on second or third jobs and lack health care.

“What needs to happen is direct care staff need to make an annual salary on par with what professionals in public schools make. And that is generally at a minimum $40,000 to $50,000 a year,” Manente said. “And those jobs should come with full benefits.”

While special education jobs require a master’s degree and comprehensive training, direct support jobs often only require a high school diploma and a clean criminal record.

The partnership with Thrive Red Bank, in Manente’s eyes, will develop a pipeline of direct support professionals.

Rutgers students “from a variety of academic backgrounds (will be trained) to become effective, compassionate and culturally competent support staff for neurodivergent adults.”

Parents like Fluharty are working to build a society for their children.

Stephanie Cartier, who runs No Limit Café, has a daughter with Down syndrome. She said her daughter was one of the applicants for Thrive Red Bank.

In two years, if all goes according to plan, “she’s going to have her own life and her own goals and dreams and independence because of this,” Cartier said.