This year was one filled with both tremendous growth and challenges at HASA.

This year was one filled with both tremendous growth and challenges at HASA. While already operating a non-public school for students from kindergarten through age twelve, we expanded our special education program to include both middle school curriculum and piloted a highly specialized therapeutic program for young children with autism. We created an educational series aimed to bridge the gap between graduation and certification for sign language interpreters. We provided clinical staff with evidenced-based training opportunities offered by international experts to ensure that we are providing our families and clients with high quality and effective intervention strategies. Because of our strong reputation in the community, we were selected to be the Access and Inclusion sponsor for both Artscape and the inaugural Brilliant Baltimore event.

In order to launch these initiatives, we relied heavily on relationships with long-standing community partners (such as the Maryland Association of Nonpublic Special Education Facilities, the Community College of Baltimore County, and the Baltimore CIty Infants and Toddlers program) as well as new connections with groups such as the Baltimore Office of Promotion & The Arts. These relationships, old and new, became especially important to us on Friday, March 13, 2020 when our world changed.

While we are still responding to the ever-changing healthcare and educational landscape, focusing on strategic projects for the upcoming year has been healing and motivating for the team, demonstrating our shared commitment to HASA’s longevity. We thank you for all your commitment to our institutional capacity, growth, and sustainability.

Charles Schulz is quoted as saying “Don’t worry about the world coming to an end today. It is already tomorrow in Australia.” To me, this demonstrates a need for optimism, especially as it relates to situations over which an individual can have no control (such as a global pandemic). HASA’s innovative and nimble response to the COVID-19 crisis tells me that we will emerge even stronger when the sun rises and tomorrow comes.