Dedicated to providing trained assistance dogs to people with disabilities in order to increase independence and self reliance, through educational and vocational programs.

Centers to Support the Independence of Specific Populations , Human Services

Our foundation: 1 dog: 1 client in fy 2016-17, we placed two of our fully-trained assistance dogs to serve clients with disabilities, and an additional two dogs completed the owner self-training program. These four new assistance dogs mitigate their handlers disabilities in tailored ways for which they were specially trained. 1 dog: many people, courthouse and facility dogscourthouse facility dogs work in child advocacy centers, court appointed special advocates (casa) agencies and with judicial districts special victim advocates to assist children, teens and adults during traumatic criminal justice proceedings. In fy 2016-17, we placed nine courthouse facility dogs serving judicial districts based in the following cities: two in san francisco, ca; three in roswell, nm; two in los angeles, ca; one in fresno, ca; and one in austin, tx. Additionally, one facility dog was placed in taos, nm, with a clinical social worker who provides psychotherapy to teens and families. New and permanent home: adw training campus in february, 2017, adw moved from our long-term rented office space in santa fe to a much larger space which was renovated to meet our specific needs, to serve as our main training campus and headquarters. Located at 1590 san mateo lane in santa fe, adws new campus includes spacious indoor and outdoor training space; a kitchen in which to prepare the dogs nutritious meals and treats; more efficient office space to optimize administrative and trainer staff productivity; storage space; and even a dog exercise yard complete with agility course and dog swimming pool! This space reflects adw as a premier assistance dog training and placement organization, and allows for greater efficiency in training and administration. We continue our commitment to not kennel our dogs. All our dogs in training continue to live in trainers homes and with volunteer puppy raisers. Student trainer programscore to our organizations mission and training methodology, adw continues to operate the largest assistance dog student trainer program in the world. In fy 2016-17, we continued our weekly in-school student trainer programs, integrated into the educational curriculum, with our decades-long partners in santa fe at la mariposa montessori school and desert academy high school. Our after-school student trainer programs also continued to be held twice per week at full capacity as well, with youth ages 8-18 participating. Summer 2016 saw the third year of adws summer camp, a student trainer program where youth participate in a weekly, full day summer camp experience. Summer camp remains so popular that many youth signed up for two, three, even four weeks of camp over the summer, and there was a waiting list of others interested. We also continued to offer a weekly student trainer program to the high school students of the kiva program through santa fe public schools. Kiva, which stands for keeping independent visions alive, serves students ages 18-22 with developmental and intellectual disabilities, teaching them skills to increase their post-high school employability and independent living. We served 12 kiva students through the 2016-17 school year. All of our student trainer programs and summer camps are inclusive to students with disabilities, and those without disabilities, as well. We are proud of the friendships and community inclusion that result. Adw provides scholarships to student trainers in need, making this enriching opportunity available for all members of our community. Over 150 youth in santa fe were served by our student trainer programs in fy 2016-17. Adw youth boardadw offers the opportunity to exceptional student trainers to continue their leadership and volunteer service by serving as members of our youth board. Our fy 2016-17 youth board was made up of eight youth ages 11-17 years old. They each demonstrated commitment and passion to furthering adws mission through their organization and implementation of public outre