NICEVILLE — The Emerald Coast Autism Center has approached Northwest Florida State College about building a facility on its main campus.
Under the proposal, the center would “lease” land from the college to build a “state-of-the-art school for special needs children.”
“There’s some synergy that could potentially be created,” NWF State President Ty Handy said as he started discussion about the potential partnership during a board of trustees meeting last week.
The co-founders of the Autism Center approached Handy several months ago with the concept. At his urging, they drew up an overview of the facility they’d like to build and how they would fund it.
Staci Berryman and Heidi Blalock started the Autism Center in August 2009 with five students and five therapists. Today they have 43 employees and 55 students at two locations in Niceville.
With the new facility they could expand and help more families while giving NWF State students more opportunities to intern and eventually work at the center, Blalock said.
While trustee Paul Foster asked what other options the group had considered before bringing their proposal to the college, another board member with a background in mental health services didn’t hesitate to voice her support.
“This has got so many positive things for us and I think there are not enough service sites for these children,” Rachel Gillis said. “ … It’s a win-win in every way possible for them and for us. I fully encourage it.”
The board seemed to support continuing the discussion. Board Chairman Brian Pennington has asked the Autism Center to present a timeline for the project at the trustees’ next meeting.
Contact Daily News Staff Writer Katie Tammen at 850-315-4440 or ktammen@nwfdailynews.com. Follow her on Twitter @KatieTnwfdn.
