Disability Services Fair Brings 30 Service Providers to Pasadena Saturday

Families of individuals with Down syndrome can connect on Saturday with about 30 service providers offering education, employment, legal, medical, financial and social resources at Club 21 Learning and Resource Center’s annual Resource Fair.

The three-hour event, part of Club 21’s monthly Second Saturday programming, concentrates vendors that families of individuals with developmental disabilities typically must seek out individually [CORRECTED from “often spend months locating individually”] — from Pasadena law firms to healthcare nonprofits to employment agencies — into a single morning at the organization’s North Lake Avenue location.

Club 21, founded in 2009, serves families of individuals with Down syndrome in the greater Los Angeles area. The organization’s stated mission is to provide educational tools and resources that enable individuals with Down syndrome to be fully included, according to the Club 21 website.

Vendors span six categories. Education providers include the Center for Developing Kids, Justine Sherman Speech, Recess Therapy and the State Council on Developmental Disabilities, among others. Employment resources include New Horizons and Tierra del Sol, and legal services will be offered by Hahn and Hahn LLP and Vanaman German LLP, according to the Club 21 website.

Medical vendors include Young & Healthy, a Pasadena-based nonprofit that connects uninsured and underserved children to free healthcare through a network of more than 350 volunteer providers, according to the organization’s website. Inspire Sleep Apnea Innovations, OneWell Health Care and Clinical Education Achievable Health will also participate.

The social category is the fair’s largest, with 12 vendors listed, including Southern California Music Therapy, Echo Motion Fitness, the PALS Program and Zooz Fitness, according to the Club 21 website.

The Resource Fair takes place Saturday, February 14, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Club 21 Learning and Resource Center, 539 N. Lake Ave., Pasadena, CA 91101. For questions, contact Monica Cathren at together@clubtwentyone.org or call (626) 844-1821. More information is available at www.clubtwentyone.org. Vendors interested in participating can also reach organizers at that email address.

Nancy Litteken, executive director of Club 21 and a co-founder of the organization, has said the nonprofit’s work extends beyond individual families.

“This is not just for your own child… this is for the culture and the community at large,” Litteken said, according to a statement on the Club 21 website.