We are a new charity, the Autism Employment Foundation CIO, which will provide grants to adults with an autism spectrum condition to pay for mentoring to help them find and retain employment. There is no public funding available for this purpose and people on the spectrum face a cliff edge when they leave education as suddenly no support is available for the next stage of their life. We will consider applications for grants from adults with an autism spectrum condition living anywhere in England and Wales. It is estimated that only 15% of adults with autism are currently in employment, but many of them are desperately seeking work but lack the skills and initiative to find and retain work and to explain to employers the reasonable adjustments they are legally entitled to. Lack of employment leads not only to financial hardship, but also to serious mental health issues such as depression and anxiety. We will also use our website to promote awareness and to provide information to adults with autism that will help them with their search for work and also to employers who employ people on the spectrum.
We will be fundraising from the trustees' corporate networks and publicly available grants to provide grants to individual adults with an autism spectrum condition to fund employment related mentoring to assist them to find and retain employment or voluntary work to help them achieve their full potential and social inclusion. A grant of £1500 will pay for a full year of mentoring for an individual to assist them in finding and retaining paid or voluntary employment. We will also provide links to relevant resources and service providers on our website, as well as testimonials and blogs from beneficiaries.
