STEP Center
Anchorage
Local resources
Websites listed here have local information for parents who live in the Anchorage School District. Links to the organizations below will take you out of the STEP Center's website and will open in a new browser window.
Access Alaska
Access Alaska is a private, non-profit, consumer-controlled organization that provides independent living services to people who experience a disability. As an Independent Living Center, our mission is to encourage and promote the total integration of people who experience a disability to live independently in the community of their choice.
Alaska Autism Resource Center
www.sesa.org/content/aarc-home
The AARC serves the needs of individuals with autism spectrum disorders, their families, caregivers, and service providers. The Alaska Autism Resource Center (AARC) is a project of the Special Education Service Agency (SESA) located in Anchorage, Alaska.
Alaska Center for Resource Families
The Alaska Center For Resource Families (ACRF) provides training, referral services, individual support and information to those who are or are interested in becoming foster parents, adoptive parents, relative caretakers or guardians.
Alaska Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired
The Alaska Center for the Blind & Visually Impaired acts to make sure that vision loss is not the barrier to Alaskans meeting their vocational goals or living safely and independently in retirement.
Alaska Chapter of National Down Syndrome Congress
The Alaska Chapter of the National Down Syndrome Congress is a nonprofit organization of parents, relatives, professionals and friends of individuals with Down syndrome. Its membership includes families and professionals from around the state of Alaska.
Alaska Youth and Family Network
A peer-run, peer delivered service, to create a more effective and inclusive behavioral health treatment system for Alaska's children, youth & families.
The Arc of Anchorage
From birth to old age, The Arc of Anchorage has a full array of disability services for Alaskans with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The Alaskans we serve and their families are free to choose disability services that best meet their needs.
ASD Multi-Sensory Instruction Program
The Multi-Sensory Instruction approach teaches the student HOW to learn by teaching traditional subject matter in a non-traditional manner. It does not cure learning difficulties…it "goes around" it.
Catholic Social Services - Family Disability Services
Family Disability Services was established in 1981 to provide services for people, both children and adults, with developmental disabilities and offer a support system for their families. Trained providers work with people in their homes or out in the community.
Challenge Alaska
Challenge Alaska strives to improve the lives of people with disabilities and the whole community through adaptive sports, therapeutic recreation and education.
Community Safety and Development
https://www.muni.org/Public_Safety/Pages/default.aspx
The purpose of the Human Services Community Safety and Development is to develop and maintain community prevention and intervention systems which provide collaborative and multi-disciplinary strategies, education, and planning in the areas of substance abuse in high risk populations, homelessness, and near-homelessness.
Denali KidCare
https://health.hss.state.ak.us/dhcs/DenaliKidCare/
DenaliKidCare is a State of Alaska program designed to ensure that children and teens of both working and non-working families can have the health insurance they need.
FOCUS
Family Outreach Center for Understanding Special Needs provides quality support to individuals and families by respecting their values and sharing their hopes.
Governor's Council on Disabilities and Special Education
https://health.hss.state.ak.us/gcdse/
The Council uses planning, capacity building, systems change, and advocacy to create change for people with disabilities.
Hope Community Resources
Provides services and supports, that are requested and designed by individuals and families who experience disabilities, that result in choice, control, family preservation and community inclusion.
Mental Health Association in Alaska
The Mental Health Association in Alaska (MHAA) is dedicated to the promotion of good mental health, the prevention of mental illness and ongoing improvement in the care and treatment of the mentally ill through advocacy, education, referral, research, legislative input and the monitoring of existing programs.
National Alliance for the Mentally Ill-Alaska
www.nami.org/MSTemplate.cfm?MicrositeID=111
NAMI Alaska is a nonprofit, support, education and advocacy organization of consumers, families, and friends of people with severe brain disorders such as schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, bipolar disorder, major depressive disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, panic and anxiety disorders, and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder.
Office of Public Advocacy
The Office of Public Advocacy (OPA) provides legal advocacy and guardianship services to vulnerable Alaskans.
Parenting classes
https://courts.alaska.gov/parentingclasses.htm
A list of parenting classes compiled by the Alaska Court System's Self-Help Center: Family Law.
Programs for Infants and Children, Inc.
Programs for Infants and Children, Inc. provides early intervention services for children ages 0 - 3 with developmental delays or disabilities.
SERRC – Alaska's Educational Resource Center
SERRC provides customized direct student services, school and district support services, and community services (including adult education) to students of all ages, educators, schools and school districts throughout Alaska.
Special Education Service Agency
SESA provides consultation and training to support the unique educational needs of individuals and the Alaskan communities that serve them.
Special Olympics
Special Olympics Alaska provides year-round sports training and athletic competition in a variety of Olympic-type sports for people eight years of age and older with mental retardation, giving them continuing opportunities to develop physical fitness, demonstrate courage, experience joy and participate in a sharing of gifts, skills and friendship with their families, other Special Olympics athletes and the community.
Stone Soup Group
Stone Soup Group is a statewide non-profit agency based in Anchorage, Alaska that provides assistance and support to families of children with special health, disability, mental health, and/or special education needs.
thread
thread is Alaska's statewide child care resource and referral network of professionals who work individually with families and early educators to ensure that they are knowledgeable and supported in guiding children to lifelong success.
University of Alaska Anchorage, Center for Human Development
www.uaa.alaska.edu/centerforhumandevelopment/
The mission of the UAA Center for Human Development (CHD) is to improve the quality of lives for people who experience disabilities and their families, across the life span, through interdisciplinary training, technical assistance, exemplary service development, applied research and dissemination of information.
Volunteers of America
Each year Volunteers of America Alaska provides treatment services and assistance to over 600 adolescents and their families. In Volunteers of America Alaska's treatment services, chemically dependent and substance abusing adolescents are given the tools necessary to build a strong and healthy future
Women's, Children's and Family Health, Specialty Clinics
www.hss.state.ak.us/dph/wcfh/specialty.htm
Specialty clinics improve access to care for children in need of consultation, screening, and follow-up. HCS brings medical specialists to regional centers to officer specialty care in or close to communities where children and their families reside. Efforts are made to involve local health practitioners in these clinics to insure coordination or care.
