Founded in 2009, the
Autism Alliance of Michigan (AAoM) has served more than 50,000 Michiganders and led countless initiatives to raise expectations and expand opportunities for autistic children and adults, their families, and loved ones.
“We've done significant work in pushing forward positive legislation. We've done significant work in creating resources for families. We've done significant work in being a resource to other nonprofits within the state of Michigan and building what's available across our state,” says AAoM advocate Elisabeth Berry.
Berry serves on AAoM's Young Professionals Board and Employment Committee. Her brother James is autistic. Her parents Stephen and Deborah D'Arcy founded AAoM with Peggy and David Meador.
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Stephen D'Arcy and Elisabeth Berry“We both had family members with autism whose needs weren't being met,” D’Arcy says. “That was 15 years ago. It's really become quite a successful organization. AAoM is doing things that nobody else is doing for people with autism and their families.”
AAoM believes that independence, health, safety and wellbeing are foundational to a full life. The organization strives to provide every family with access to services and professional guidance to meet their needs across the lifespan. AAoM is committed to statewide advocacy to address system reform so that every child receives the earliest diagnosis possible, has an opportunity for a quality, inclusive education as well as readiness for employment, college, or the vocational program they desire. AAoM envisions a world where no family member is limited because they have autism.
“It's an organization that really was founded out of a belief that if the world doesn't look the way that you'd like, if it isn't serving these communities, you have to fight to change it,” Berry says. “The Autism Alliance of Michigan does that every single day for families and for people with autism. And it's one of the most meaningful resources in our state.”
Berry says that AAoM also provides a much needed community for autistic people of all ages and their families. When her parents and the Meadors founded AAoM, few resources for autistic children and adults were available — and few families experiencing autism had a community offering friendship and support.
“This can be an incredibly lonely experience for so many people. As a sibling, the Autism Alliance played a meaningful role in creating community for us to come together during what can otherwise be a very isolating experience,” she says. “It plays an instrumental role in our state in supporting families as well as supporting individuals.”
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Elisabeth Berry and James D'Arcy
Ensuring the long-term mission
Throughout the years, AAoM has funded its programs with help from a variety of sources — state and other governmental grants, donations from individuals, corporations, and foundations, and fundraising events like the
Navigating Autism Today conferences, the annual
Autism Hero Walk, and the
Michigan Shines for Autism Gala.
“We need to raise money to fund all the essential services that we run throughout the State of Michigan,” says Marc Berke, AAoM chief development officer. “We're a nonprofit entity. We rely on the community to support us, to allow us to connect families with critical services and programs.”
While these funding sources have allowed AAoM to meet its short-term financial needs over the past 15 years, its founders decided to create funding opportunities that will sustain AAoM’s operations for years to come. To honor Dave Meador on his retirement, AAoM established the Peggy and Dave Meador Endowment with the
Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan. Donations to the endowment support the full mission of the Autism Alliance of Michigan. To honor their son and brother, the D’Arcy family decided to do the same and established the James D’Arcy Fund for Autism at the
Children’s Foundation.
“It’s completely dedicated to supporting the Autism Alliance of Michigan,” D’Arcy says. “We really need to have enough permanent capital — at least $10 million of endowment. Our goal as a family is to build the James D’Arcy Endowment to $1 million. That would be 10% of what we need. If the Peggy and Dave Meador Endowment does the same, that's 20% of what we need. But we need to convince others to make endowment grants so we can get up to that $10 million that would give AAoM $500,000 a year income, come hell or high water, every year.”
Berry adds that the endowment is an opportunity to make a lasting impact.
“The Autism Alliance is an organization that addresses, supports, and fills the gaps for people with autism and for their families in a way that I've never seen another organization do,” she says. “What we're really committing to and securing is that no family has to navigate this journey alone.”
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AAoM guides parents navigating their autistic children's school experience, drafting safety plans, and finding accommodating health care.
A new development: The Legacy Society
To further the D’Arcy’s family vision of sustainable, long-term funding, AAoM is establishing its Legacy Society to recognize donors today for gifts that will provide dollars in perpetuity.
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Marc Berke“Our Legacy Society members will be recognized on our website, and they will receive all the benefits that our Annual Giving Society,
Bridge Builder Society, and
Founder’s Society members receive," Berke says. "We're hoping that families that have benefited from AAoM would consider leaving us in their estate plans.”
Guiding parents through their autistic child’s school experience, drafting safety plans, finding accommodating health care, educating employers on how to accommodate autistic individuals in their businesses — AAoM has become a state leader in advocating for autistic Michiganders.
“Autism Alliance of Michigan is instrumental in ensuring that families can have access to early diagnosis, that they have someone to call when their IEP isn't going well, they need respite care, or their children are having a hard time navigating the school system, after-school care or sports,” Berry concludes. “Resources are really built for people who are neurotypical. This is about protecting and supporting the entire lifespan of an individual with autism in a way that our state can't, in a way that individuals really can't without the resources that the Alliance brings to bear.”
Estelle Slootmaker spends most workdays as a journalist and book editor. She also writes poetry and will be publishing a new children’s book, “Places Where the Sun Don’t Shine.” You can contact her at [email protected] or www.constellations.biz.
D'Arcy family photos courtesy the D'Arcy family.
Marc Berke photo by Tommy Allen.
Other photo and image courtesy AAoM.
Autism Alliance of Michigan (AAoM) was founded with the vision that people with autism will lead lives that meet their greatest potential. AAoM leads efforts to raise expectations and expand opportunities for people touched by autism across the lifespan.