IMPACT Tallahassee's 2024 Year in Review

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Special Note from Our CEO

IMPACT Tallahassee has experienced so many highlights in 2024. From record Academy enrollment to our exploding Applied Behavioral Analysis department to our very successful semi-annual fundraisers, we have been so blessed. We have added personnel to some key positions (new Preschool Director, Development Director & Accounting Administrator). These additions have us poised for even greater success in 2025. We will be moving forward with much needed Academy renovations that expand our ability to educate more students. We will complete the expansion of our Academy/Therapy side playground by installing new equipment and providing a much larger play area. We will be outfitting our Activities for Daily Living (ADL) area. This will provide Academy students and Therapy clients opportunities to learn skills of everyday life and enhance their independence. Everyone reading this “Year in Review” has played a vital role in positioning us for another great year.

A special “Thank you” goes out to all of our Staff Members, Director Team, Academy & Foundation Board Members for their daily support of our Mission “To provide comprehensive services in response to community needs in the areas of education, child development and therapeutic services.”

The education, development and safety of our children, our young adults and support of their families are our foremost priorities.

To learn more about IMPACT’s mission and vision, please click here.

Kevin Kolka, IMPACT Tallahassee CEO
(Pictured at right with the IMPACT Tallahassee Team of Directors)

IMPACT PRESCHOOL

IMPACT ACADEMY

IMPACT THERAPY

53 Students in Preschool

58 Students in Academy

450+ Clients in Therapy

25% increase in enrollment in just the last quarter of 2024.

IMPACT celebrated a 100% retention rate with all of our graduates Pre-K moving on to our Academy in Fall 2024.

Our classrooms receive yearly evaluations on quality of teacher-child interactions through the Classroom Assessment Scoring System. This year, our VPK classes scored very well, with a 6.48/7.

We look forward to welcoming our new Preschool Director, Ms. Patricia Parrish on 1/2/2025.

The 2024-2025 school year saw the single largest increase in enrollment since the school’s inception.

With the recent renovations to our campus, this is Academy’s first year of having 5 classrooms, 5 teachers, and 5 assistants.

Our Community & Career Readiness Program (CCRP) resumed on October 2nd.

Academy continues to use strategies and programs like CCRP to provide the best possible outcomes for our graduates.

Impact Therapy continues to provide ~410 hours of care weekly.

Therapy welcomed 2 new Speech Therapists increasing our capacity by ~45 clients each week.

Received Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) accreditation through Jade Health.

Our ABA department grew over 200% in 2024.

10+ students from OT, PT, and ST programs at FSU, FAMU, UF, and Keiser Universities are being trained through IMPACT’s practicums.

Fundraising

IMPACT Tallahassee successfully held its semi-annual fundraising events in the spring and fall of 2024. The highlight of the season was the 2nd Annual “Clays for IMPACT,” which took place in April at the prestigious Southwind Plantation in Attapulgus, GA. A big thank you to our title sponsor, Sun Stop Stores, and all of our lead sponsors for their generous support.

In October, we hosted the “Notes for IMPACT” event at Shiloh Farm, which turned out to be our largest community gathering yet. Nearly 150 supporters enjoyed a perfect Fall evening, with live music by “Restless Road,” all while celebrating our mission of inclusion and independence.

Thanks to the incredible generosity of our community partners and the dedication of our IMPACT Foundation and IMPACT Academy boards, IMPACT Tallahassee raised over $208,000. These funds will go toward renovating and expanding our facilities, services, and opportunities for our clients and students, as well as supporting the development of our new Community Center.

We are already looking forward to our 3rd Annual “Clays for IMPACT,” set for April 11th-12th, 2025. Stay tuned for more details and we look forward to seeing everyone as we continue raising awareness and support for our mission!

Our Reach & Our Community

IMPACT Tallahassee continues to grow and expand our reach each year, supporting families from 14 Florida counties and 4 Georgia counties. In 2024, our mission of providing comprehensive and inclusive care in one location allowed us to serve over 500 families. To our knowledge, we are the only organization of our kind in Florida.

This year, IMPACT was honored to be selected as a recipient of the Inland Family Foundation Golf Tournament, receiving a generous contribution of $13,500 toward playground improvements. Additionally, the Children’s Services Council of Leon County awarded us $25,700 to support our Academy, enabling us to offer two weeks of camp at no charge to our families.

In June, we had the privilege of welcoming Florida Senator Corey Simon to our campus. We’re grateful for his visit, during which he engaged with our students and spoke about the importance of the work we do every day. As the need for our services continues to grow, we are pursuing an appropriation request to expand and renovate our campus in 2025. Senator Simon’s support marks a significant first step, and we look forward to him championing IMPACT’s mission.

Our IMPACT Academy’s Community & Career Readiness Program (CCRP) is also growing, with 10 students currently participating. Thanks to partnerships with Jeremiah’s Italian Ice, Publix, and Maclay, our students gain valuable on-site workforce training. We are deeply grateful to our partners for providing such meaningful opportunities to our students.

Since 2006, IMPACT has worked to create a community where all children, especially those with special needs, could thrive.

IMPACT was founded in 2006 to provide families with a central location for children to receive first-rate therapeutic treatment from expert, individually licensed therapists. By 2012, services had expanded to include a wide variety of therapy types, including speech, music, and physical therapy, as well as the addition of IMPACT Academy and IMPACT Preschool.

Started by parents with a need for specialized programs, IMPACT is focused on building a community for all children, especially those with special needs. IMPACT serves children aged 6 weeks to 22 years old with varying disabilities, including but not limited to Cerebral Palsy, Down Syndrome, Traumatic Brain Injuries, and Autism, and is the only full-service, comprehensive private education center in the region.

Over the last 15+ years, IMPACT has grown but remained focused on empowering and educating all children with a model that utilizes therapeutic intervention to provide a solid foundation for each child to have positive social, emotional, physical, and academic success. Whereas traditional schools cannot provide individualized care for each student, IMPACT understands that every child has the potential to succeed and deserves quality educational opportunities based on their individual developing strengths.

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