Parents Committee & Special Interest Groups

The Parents Committee was founded in July 2022. The key objectives are to support the FCSN mission, that is to help individuals with special needs and their families find love, hope, respect and support through integrated community involvement, (please visit the mission page to learn details about the FCSN mission and core values) and connect the FCSN families with parents’ similar interests through Special Interest Groups (SIGs). There have been a few SIGs formed and over 150 families have been served and have benefited from them. Some ideation has resulted in successful realization.

We want to expand on the success and continue to help connect parents with similar interests in helping their SN children. Nothing beats a group of parents who not only want to help their children but also put it into action by brainstorming ideas and helping each other to help their children better. We welcome more parents to form and lead SIGs and/or to participate in the existing SIGs. 

If you are interested in joining one, here are some existing ones. Please contact the email listed for each SIG to join.

If you are interested in creating and leading one, but are worried about being unable to commit enough time, don’t be! You could team up with other parents in the group to plan the activities. In some cases, it could be as easy as starting a chat group or mailing list.

Please email fcsn-parents-committee-ml@googlegroups.com . The Parents Committee will help you and provide the support. Here are some topics of interest from FCSN families, based on the past survey. Some of past SIGs are also listed to give you some ideas. 

  • Self Determination Program learning group
  • Age based playgroups
  • Girls only and smaller housing projects
  • Starting Business and Creating job opportunities for our SN adults SIG. Description. Closed. But you can write fcsn-sig-business-food@googlegroups.com if you want to learn from the experiences.
  • High Needs support group SIG. Closed.

If you are not sure but simply want to share your topics of interest and are not ready to lead, please fill out your interest form https://forms.gle/yivarYWtjYBNt1Cu5. 

Looking forward to hearing from the enthusiastic and loving fellow parents! Together with the FCSN community, we can help each other and our children even better!

 

Starting Business SIG Description

What we have taken into consideration and have researched:

* Goals & priorities

** Profit vs non profit

** Business profitability top priority?

** Example

Child’s interest & skills & their desired lifestyle

** Examples

* Your (Parent’s) desired lifestyle

* Learn from others

* How to vet ideas

** Cash balance neutral

 

Scouting SIG Description

We are a special needs troop. SVMBC (Silicon Valley Monterey Bay Council) allows us to set no age limit in troop 488. All FCSN families are welcome to join us. Scouting involves much outing, discipline, ceremony, and people interactions. You can assess if it would be a good fit for your kids. Troop 488 has a website – https://www.troop488.org. On this website, we have an event calendar where one can view our troop events in 2025. For general inquiries, one can also write to Troop488ScoutMaster@gmail.com

 

Weekend Outing SIG Description

The weekend outing SIG activities are leveraging the T488 Scouting activities when feasible. We open it up to all FCSN members who enjoy outdoor activities. The outing will mostly involve hiking activities within the Bay Area. This is a good way for families to get to know more about our special needs troop, consider joining our troop, or simply know each other and support each other better.

 

Music playgroup SIG Description

Pilot for Music Playgroup for YOUNG ADULTS

Purpose: To provide an ongoing music class to learn and play music instruments together, like xylophone, bells (with scale notes, ABCDEFG).

Target students: Mid-low functioning young adults who like music, but can’t attend music camp

Requirement: A xylophone/glockenspiel (can be a toy one), bells (desk bells or handbells)

A parent is required to stay and assist his/her child. This is not a drop-off class. Full support and cooperation of the parent is essential.

Lesson content: learn scale notes, rhythm, nursery rhythm and cartoon theme songs.

Location: East Bay FCSN

Trial period: hopefully in the summer. No more than 5 students. As each child’s needs and abilities are different, I will need parents’ involvement in helping me individualize the lesson plan. Then the parents can guide their children’s practice.

 

Housing SIG Description

The former Housing SIG has turned into Dream II Project successfully, in which a few dozens of families have signed up. It was closed. However, there is a WeChat group for parents who are still interested in housing but did not sign up for the Dream II Project. It has been transitioned into “Housing SIG v2”. There is a temporary group chat moderator. But it needs a leader or the leader can coordinate with a few core members to run the group together to reduce the workload. You could decide how to run the SIG. You could simply be a moderator to facilitate the discussions, bring others who have prior experiences to share their knowledge and/or experiences of establishing the housing LLCs. Members could also find other members who are interested in a housing LLC for girls only, or for just under a handful of residents. If you are interested in leading it, please email weiplum@gmail.com