Jennifer Levi with her son Jake [Courtesy Jennifer Levi]
A city proclamation was presented to autism awareness advocate Jennifer Levi at a Wednesday Coral Springs city commission meeting. The document proclaims April Autism Awareness Month and recognizes Levi for her work improving autistic children’s lives.
The city’s autism awareness program aims to raise public understanding of autism – a complex mental condition and developmental disability characterized by difficulties in the way a person communicates and interacts with others. Autism, which has no single known cause, can be present from the time a child is born or form during early childhood.
Levi, a Coral Springs resident whose five-year-old son Jake is autistic and nonverbal, told the audience at City Hall she was “beyond flattered to be able to accept this, not only on behalf of my amazing son Jake but the whole autism community in Coral Springs.”
Deputy City Manager Dale Pazdra lauded Levi’s efforts to help kids.
“She is an active mom who is looking to make things better for her children and others in the community,” Pazdra said.
Levi had communicated with Pazdra and other city officials to share “a lot of good ideas with us about things we can do in the city to take things forward and consider for the future,” Pazdra added.
Levi is a member of the Broward ESE Advisory Council, which provides recommendations to the Broward School Board and the superintendent on systemic issues affecting exceptional student education. She frequently communicates with government officials to urge for more special needs programming and resources and works with other parents on advocacy efforts.
“My dream is that one day autism will be so widely known that people will see Jake and know that he is autistic rather than staring at him, and that starts with more programming in our city,” Levi said.
Coral Springs has programs for kids with special needs, including “Serving Up Love,” a free tennis lesson program by instructor Dan Bobrow. The city also offers specialized summer camps, dinner clubs, bowling leagues, dances, and its April 20 Touch-A-Truck event.
But Levi’s son Jake, like many other special needs kids, requires more specialized programming.
“Sadly for Jake, I have to bring him to other cities for adaptive sports and for camp,” said Levi, whose two non-autistic children have no issue finding local programming.
Levi urged commissioners to “look to other cities that are demonstrating real inclusivity, starting right here in our backyard with Pompano Beach. They have four weekly programs for children with special needs, all age groups, plus quarterly events and a sensory van at all city events.”
A choked-up Levi said she dreams that one day people will see her son as an autistic child rather than one with behaviors they don’t understand that keep them from interacting with him.
“They will learn to see the person first and not the disability,” Levi said.
Several residents at the meeting urged commissioners to reallocate earmarked money – including $150,000 for a new mural – and spend it on special needs programming. However, commission members said this is unlikely during the current budget cycle.
Jennifer Levi (middle), honored by the Coral Springs Commission. Two police officers are Hannah Rincon, Community Involvement Officer and Monica Vargas, Community Involvement Coordinator. {City of Coral Springs}
“I just want you to understand, we can’t just change what’s already been set in place, and we have limited resources to work with,” said Commissioner Joy Carter. “But we do care, and we do listen,” and she expects “there will be lots of discussion on how we can make things better in Coral Springs so that everybody is included.”
Mayor Scott Brook said some of the programs advocated by Levi and others are possible, but right now, “there’s only so much that we can do, and as I’m listening and reading the emails, the requests if we monetized all the requests, have got to be seven figures, I imagine.”
“Of course, we can’t pull that out of a hat,” said Brook, who asked advocates for special needs kids to work with the city and be patient.
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