Highlights include:

Creative Center: Creativity promotes career opportunities as well as life skills like problem solving, adaptability, stress reduction and confidence building. The state-of-the-art studio will include training on digital media such as graphic design, coding, game design; visual arts such as painting, photography, filmmaking; craftswork such as woodwork and jewelry making; and music such as songwriting, audio production and music mixing.

Culinary Arts Center: The Friendship Café and Teaching Kitchen will give culinary students hands-on learning experience to train for careers in the hospitality and culinary industries. The Center will teach the basics of reading recipes, cooking skills, and techniques. It will also feature menu design, safety & sanitation, plating, serving, hosting, and more.

Recreation Center: Friendship Foundation believes physical fitness helps promote mental fitness and overall well-being. The new recreation center will offer a place for the whole community to come together to train, play, socialize and get fit with an adaptive curriculum and equipment. Basketball, volleyball, rock climbing, pickleball, dance, yoga, meditation, martial arts, social programming are just some of the things that will be offered here.

Multigenerational Mentoring: In keeping with the goal of integrating the entire community, the campus will work with area older adults to mentor younger students, encouraging them to use the services offered themselves while providing professional expertise and life experiences. Connecting the ideas, perspectives and experiences of multiple generations benefits everyone with improved problem solving, creativity, confidence and stress reduction for all involved.

“We’ve learned a tremendous amount serving our special needs community since 2005, working with 10 school districts, numerous partners and hundreds of participants to create integrated programs,” said Rabbi Yossi Mintz in a statement. “The children who started with us 15 years ago have become young adults and are now asking for help finding gainful employment. Each and every one of us wants a purpose in life and a way to contribute to society. That’s what our new campus is all about.”

Mintz added: "We hope to create a gold standard program serving teens and young adults to find their passion beyond high school. Our dream would be to educate, innovate and inspire students, teachers and the broader community worldwide to serve the entire person. Michael Greenberg, president of Skechers, helped us start more than a decade ago to get started and together with their generosity, as well as many other donors, we are making this ‘big idea’ a reality today.” 

The new campus is estimated to be completed fall 2022 and cost $36 million.

$27 million of the budget (75%) has already been committed from private funding including Founding Donor Greenberg Family/Skechers; Legacy Donor Harris & Linda Toibb; Founders Circle Donors Ted & Claudette Schwartz and Josef & Chana Malka Gorowitz; and Visionary Donors Jon & Nicole Hirschberg, Mike & Rose Kaplan; Jarrod & Celi Dogan; Dr. Miriam & Dr. Ben Landau; Paul & Georgia Solomon; and Margaret Haueisen.

To see a full list of donors or participate, please visit www.friendshipfoundation.com.

The Friendship Foundation is dedicated to building an integrated, accepting and unified community for children and young adults. It was founded 15 years ago by Rabbi Yossi Mintz and the Jewish Community Center Chabad of the South Bay with the goal of providing children with special needs the same advantages of their peers to enjoy and experience life.

The organization has developed programs that allow children with and without special needs to play, grow, develop and thrive together. The success and growing demand from the Foundation’s existing programs have expanded the vision to include an innovative new campus centered around turning special needs into special contributions to society.