Amy Johnson_NPN_Contributor

NPN is known for helping families find childcare, research schools, navigate developmental differences, and get parent-to-parent advice. Helping families navigate developmental differences is one part of our mission that is especially meaningful to me and the rest of the staff team. NPN’s Developmental Differences Resource Fair (DDRF) began about thirteen years ago. After listening to parents discuss the need for easy access to resources and information, NPN felt compelled to help. With guidance, direction and support from Lorell Marin from LEEP Forward/ Quantum Leep Academy, and leaders from respected providers such as Tuesday’s Child and others, DDRF was born. The goal of the first DDRF was to help parents of children with a range of developmental differences including developmental delays, sensory processing disorder, Autism, ADHD, PDD-NOS, mixed receptive-expressive language disorder, Down Syndrome, physical disabilities, and more. That mission remains the same today. Traditionally, DDRF is an event with an exhibit hall of vendors (therapy providers, therapeutic schools, enrichment activities, medical professionals, and more) and educational breakout sessions for parents on topics such as IEPs, paying for services, managing challenging behavior, and more. This year’s event will be similar, with some exciting changes. DDRF will kick off with a drum performance from Victoria Boeteng at 2:00. Opening remarks will start at 2:30, followed by a lively, intimate, and casual panel discussion, hosted by advocate extraordinaire, Kimberly Johnson of Chicagoland Autism Connection and Board President of The Arc of Illinois. In the panel discussion attendees will hear from teens and adults who are living and thriving with developmental differences. Before, after, and between speakers, families will be able to talk with expert professionals at the exhibitor tables. (See our growing list of exhibitors here.)Throughout the two-hour event, families will have an opportunity to have a professional family photo, connect with old and new friends, win raffle prizes, and enjoy refreshments. I hope you will join us at DDRF this year. It is happening on Saturday, September 7th from 2:00 - 4:00 pm at Wolcott College Prep Arts & Athletic Center, 1950 W. Hubbard St., Chicago, IL 60622. There is a free attached parking lot and plenty of free street parking. NPN members have free entry. Non-members are asked to make a $10 donation, or join NPN for $20 and then attend DDRF for free. Registration is required. You can learn more and register here. Because NPN is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, DDRF is only possible through the support of our parent, business, and non-profit community. We are grateful for the support of our parent members and our sponsors. DDRF’s growing list of sponsors includes Black Bear Academy, Blue Bird Day, CST Academy, Dabney Behavioral Health, and Lyons Family Eye Care. We are also grateful for the support of the professionals and parents who make up our Developmental Differences Advisory Committee: Evelyn Perez-Horita, Family Child Advocate at North Shore Pediatric Therapy; Kimberly Johnson, Board President The Arc of Illinois; Laura Baginski, former chair of NPN’s Developmental Differences Parent Support Group; Lorell Marin, founder of LEEP Forward and Quantum Leep Academy; Michelle Paris, Founder and Clinical Director at Patterns and Threads: Psychotherapy & Consultation; and Tareema Jean-Baptist, Early Childhood Special Education Family PD Specialist Starnet Region V.

Here's a look at NPN’s year-in-review as well as our plans for 2024! Successes in 2023 We stayed true to our mission to connect a diverse community of families by providing support and resources to solve the challenges of parenting in Chicago. As you know, NPN helps Chicago families research schools and navigate developmental differences through parent education sessions, our annual Preschool & Elementary School Fair, and the Developmental Differences Resource Fair. In October 2023, we held our first Education & Community Fair at Kennicott Park in Hyde Park, complete with performances by the Kenwood School of Ballet. We created and relaunched even more opportunities to foster connection within our community. NPN members find social support and parent-to-parent advice at our monthly playdates, in our Developmental Differences Parent Support Group, on virtual Parent Chats, at in-person Member Networking Coffees, and New Parent Group meetings, not to mention the discussion forum and our Parent to Parent newsletter. (Stay tuned for the next issue of Parent-to-Parent which will hit your mailbox in March!) Looking forward to 2024 Goal: Grow our membership while providing more support to new and expecting parents and parents of older children. Our challenge this year is to increase membership, especially among new and expecting parents. To that end, we are planning a special new and expectant parent event this spring with some of our favorite partners. Stay tuned for more information! We are also developing a new format for our parent education sessions (a podcast!), and creating new programming for parents and their older elementary school children to enjoy together. We look forward to planning more support for post-high-school planning as well. There are so many new things in store for NPN and I’m excited to share them with you throughout the coming year. How you can help. Invite a friend to join NPN? Our strength is in our membership, and every member counts. NPN welcomes families of all cultures and backgrounds, gender, gender identity, race, ethnic origin, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, age, and ability. Your friend is welcome here, so please invite them! Share promo code Member30 with them so that they can save $30 on their first year of membership. Here is a blurb you can use for inviting friends to join: Thank you for your support of NPN. Your membership keeps the organization going and provides resources to families across the city. We are so grateful for you and hope to connect with you online or in-person in 2024.

Many of us have experienced that warm and fuzzy feeling that comes with giving. During this fundraising season, the NPN staff team asked ourselves how can we as an organization be generous while doing the critical work of raising money? Enter the NPN Dreams Come True Family Vacation Sweepstakes. In the spirit of generosity, we’ve put a twist on our end-of-year fundraising campaign. This year, for every $40 you donate, you will have a chance to win the NPN Dreams Come True Family Vacation Sweepstakes. If you win and you are an NPN member, we will give you an additional cash prize of $100 - $1,000 depending on the amount of money raised. You can donate to enter the sweepstake and see all of the details here. The funds that we raise in November and December are critical to NPN’s operations. As a member, you are just as critical to NPN’s success. Every time that you engage with NPN by renewing your membership, attending an event, commenting in the discussion forum, sharing social media posts, or forwarding a resource to your parent community, you help NPN flourish. I hope you catch that generous feeling every time you engage with NPN, because every engagement is a form of giving. When you win the sweepstake (why not you?) NPN will celebrate three times. Once for having raised the funds we need to operate next year, once in celebration of your generosity and support, and finally, we’ll celebrate because you won a dream family vacation! I hope you have fun with this campaign and share it with your friends. Should you make a donation and enter the sweepstakes, I hope you win! Truly, you make a difference in the lives of every Chicago family who depends on NPN for support and resources. I can not thank you enough for your generosity. With gratitude, The NPN Team

NPN's biggest fundraiser of the year, which allows us to continue to bring programming, events and school-choice help to Chicago parents, opens for bidding on Wednesday, March 13th! Open to the public, our Online Auction is bigger and better than ever, with more than 150 items up for bid. Once you've had a chance to see our $65,000+ in goodies for Chicago families, make sure to place bids asap! We know how crazy life can get—set your max bid and rest easy. You can stop back in and visit your items or check your email notifications to make sure you are still in the lead. Bidding closes at 10pm CST on Sunday, March 17th. This is the perfect opportunity to buy things you already know you want or need—like summer camps, kids classes, museum memberships, restaurant gift cards, sports tickets, jewelry—and help NPN, a 501(c)3 non-profit that depends on your bids to keep its lights on! How to bid: Go to biddingforgood.com/npnparents. If you are new to Bidding For Good online auctions, click the Register to Bid button in the top center of the homepage. Enter the necessary contact information and click Submit. If you already have a Bidding For Good account, type in your username and password and click Sign In. Click the View All Items button to peruse more than 150 amazing items or click on individual categories to shop item by interest. Select the item(s) on which you’d like to bid. Enter your current bid, maximum bid and/or straight bid. (For more information about these types of bids, see below.) Make sure to click the Confirm Bid button to ensure your bid is properly processed. Track your bids by clicking the My Items button. To update your account or credit card information, click the My Account button. Check your email for updates when there is activity on your items. Frequently asked questions: Do I need to enter credit card information into the system in order to bid? Yes. Your bid is considered your commitment to purchase the item at that price. If you win the item, the credit card used will be charged for the item you purchased. What is a “Maximum Bid”? Your maximum bid is the highest price you are willing to spend on an item via proxy bidding scenario. You can always increase your maximum bid if you’d like or if you’ve been outbid. What is a “Straight Bid”? A straight bid allows you to bid higher than the minimum increment immediately, instead of having to wait until the bidding is increased to that level. Enter the amount you would like to bid on an item, and check the "Straight Bid" option. The bid will be placed immediately at the amount entered. Do all items “close” at the same time? No. Every item’s closing time will continue to extend in 5-minute increments as long as there is continued bidding. Individual items will automatically close when there is a 5-minute extension period with no new bids or after 60 minutes past the original close time. Will I be notified via email if I am outbid? Yes. Bidders are automatically opted in to receive bid alerts when they are outbid. Happy bidding! Thank you for supporting the NPN community. Please contact Amy at amy@npnparents.org if you have any questions or need any help.

Many worthy causes are vying for your donations and many organizations tug on your heartstrings, so you may be wondering - why donate to NPN? After all, as a member of NPN, you likely understand that there is a level of privilege here. Topics on our discussion forum include luxurious vacations, elite universities, private jets, and more. But NPN means a lot to many families around the city and we are continuously working towards our mission to connect a diverse community of families by providing the support and resources they need to solve the challenges of parenting in Chicago. Did you know that with the help of the Chicago Park District/Special Olympics, Illinois Action for Children, and Carlson Community Services, NPN has distributed more free memberships in one year than ever before? Sixty-five and counting. Or that we help provide free and discounted membership renewals to parents who couldn't join without one? Or that all of our developmental differences resources are free to anyone, anywhere. We truly strive to be here for every new or experienced parent in Chicago who is researching schools, navigating developmental differences, and looking for parent-to-parent advice. NPN makes life more manageable for parents in Chicago, and every parent who comes to NPN comes with a need. They need a school, a diagnosis, advice, or a friend. One parent might come to NPN and quickly find school information or summer childcare and smoothly move on to tackling the next parenting hurdle. Another parent might come to NPN and find ongoing emotional support in parenting their special needs child, along with expert help in finding special services and therapies. NPN is here to help parents find whatever they need, and NPN is here for you. You are the reason we do what we do, and your membership makes this work both meaningful and possible. However, membership fees don’t cover all of NPN’s expenses. Can you give a little bit more to keep NPN going? Your donation truly matters to NPN. Our financial outlook is challenging. Despite gaining dozens of new members every year, NPN's membership has been declining slowly every year for several years, following the trend of membership organizations in general. We attribute this to families moving out of the city and an increase in parenting resources overall, but we also want to do better. I will explain more about that below. At this moment, a slowly declining membership, an abrupt and extended loss of in-person events during the pandemic, and the continued economic uncertainty faced by our advertisers and sponsors creates the most challenging financial future that NPN has ever confronted in our 42 year history. With that in mind, you may have noticed that NPN has turned to focusing on what we do best: helping parents research schools, navigate developmental differences, and find parent-to-parent advice. This coming year we will partner with local education and special needs experts, add new programming for parents of teens, create hybrid school fairs and developmental differences resource fairs, and elevate parent-to-parent advice. At the same time, we are intentionally working to make NPN more inclusive and relevant to every parent in Chicago, regardless of culture, background, gender, gender identity, race, ethnic origin, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, financial means, age, or ability. We want every parent in Chicago to feel welcome and supported here. As an NPN member, you are savvy, smart, and doing your best for your family. You also want to do the best you can when you give. Please consider what you could do for NPN and the parents who come here for information and support. Even five dollars a month goes a long way right now, while Meta is matching all recurring donations made by 12/31/22 via Facebook. Please consider setting up a recurring donation today by clicking here. The NPN staff team, board of directors, your fellow city parents and I are truly grateful for your support.

During a week in July, my husband and I hosted his family for vacation. Spread between three houses (including ours), were 19 family members, ages 6–70 years old. With a small backyard and a basement only a teenager would love, we had to get out and about in the city. To help inspire anyone who's in a position to play host this fall and beyond, I'm sharing what we did and how it went — both the "goal" and the "reality." Chinatown on a (sweltering) Tuesday ⭐⭐ Goal: Drive to Chinatown, take a water taxi to downtown and back, shop, eat, drive home. Reality: The water taxi was only running on weekends over the summer. Bummer #1. Parking was easy in the Chinatown North Parking Lot (2001 S. Wentworth Ave.). After parking, we met inside the beautiful, air-conditioned library (2100 S Wentworth Ave.). So far so good. We ate lunch at Triple Crown Restaurant (2217 S. Wentworth). Amazingly, they sat all 19 of us right away, at two big tables right next to each other. The dim sum was delicious but it was a severely hot day and the A/C couldn’t keep up. I sweated through lunch. [Related: Chicago date-night ideas that go beyond dinner and drinks] After lunch we tried to stay together, but as a big group on a narrow sidewalk trying to make a decision about where to go next, this was not fun. Eventually we all made it to the plaza together and that was much better. Bubble tea, shopping, finding some shade…everything was OK again. Except for the fact that when we got to the parking lot, we realized that we had neglected to get our parking tickets stamped at the restaurant, and had to pay full price for parking. Sigh. Downtown on a Wednesday ⭐⭐⭐ Goal: Take the El downtown, go to the Skydeck Ledge in the Willis Tower, then to Millennium Park and Maggie Daley Park. Eat lunch along the way. Reality: We purchased tickets to the Ledge ahead of time and took the train to Willis Tower. There was no wait to get into the elevator. So far, so good. The winding line that we stood in to actually walk out onto the Ledge was long, but moved quickly. We were a group of 20 and they allowed 14 of us on the ledge at once. Pictures turned out great! Back down at street level, half of our group went home. The rest of us (ages 6-70) ate lunch outside at Willis Tower and then walked to the Crown Fountains at Millennium Park. Everyone had a good day. Climb Zone on a Thursday ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Goal: Let the kids burn some energy while (some of) the adults do other things. Reality: We had eight kids in our group, ages 7–16. They all climbed and played video games, bumper cars, and laser tag. We ate pizza, chicken strips, and salad. Parking was tight in the lot (2500 W Bradley Pl.), but we had the inside almost all to ourselves. Easy and fun. [Related: Chicago venues that cater to kids with special needs] Miko’s Italian Ice on a Sunday ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Goal: Walk to Miko’s (4125 N. Kimball Ave.), eat Italian ice, be happy. Reality: Exactly as planned!