I visited Cafe Arpan a couple of years ago and have been following YCT ever since. I've witnessed such awe inspiring journeys and wonderful people!

**Meet Rita**
At 24, Rita is smart, determined, and a hard worker. Speaking to strangers used to overwhelm her, causing her to freeze up. Like many neurodivergent adults, Rita didn’t lack talent; she just lacked an inclusive environment that recognized her unique strengths. After training at Café Arpan, Yash Charitable Trust's own café and with tailored, step-by-step support, Rita is now thriving in her very first paid internship. She is living proof that with the right community, true independence is possible.

**The Barriers**
Stories like Rita’s are far too rare. Across India, neurodivergent adults face invisible barriers to employment, community connection, and independent living. Not because of a lack of ability but a lack of pathways built to include them. Without tailored resources and inclusive workplaces, immense talent goes unrealized and capable individuals are left isolated and behind.

**Our Approach: An Inclusive Pathway**
Since 2014, Yash Charitable Trust has worked to help neurodivergent adults build the capability to live independently, the livelihood to sustain themselves with dignity, and a place in a community ready to include them. Our Employability Skills Development Program (ESDP) trains neurodivergent adults for real, paid work, and our Adult Support Kendra (ASK) provides the counselling, therapies, and holistic support that makes that work sustainable. At the same time, we prepare families, employers, and society to open the door, so that independence, income, and belonging grow together.

Your support helps us grow this pathway. 

Our **$50,000 fundraising goal** will directly fund: 

-        **Job Readiness:** Tailored vocational training and structured internship programs through ESDP.
-       **Placement Support:** Dedicated job placement and ongoing workplace transition coaching.
-        **Life Skills:** Hands-on training in budgeting, cooking, commuting, and daily independent living.
-        **Social Well-being:** Counselling, peer connection clubs, and specialized mental health support through ASK to fight isolation, along with community sensitization sessions that prepare families and employers to include neurodivergent adults, not just accommodate them.    

 **Why a US Gift Matters Here**

Yash Charitable Trust is a registered Indian public trust (Bombay Public Trust Act, 1950) and is FCRA-registered to receive foreign contributions. Through our partnership with Myriad USA, US donors can support this work with confidence that funds reach India and are used exactly as intended. Domestic funding for adult neurodivergent services in India remains scarce. Your gift helps build real pathways to independence, employment, and dignity—where they're needed most.

**What Your Donation Supports:**
• **$100** funds a community social connection event- building lifelong friendships and peer networks to reduce isolation    
• **$250** provides one week of intensive, tailored independent life-skills training.
• **$500** fully sponsors a local, supportive internship placement like the one that gave Rita her first job. 

**Every dollar helps write a different future. One where neurodivergent adults work, belong, and thrive on their own terms. Not because they need to be included as an afterthought, but because they have real value to add, given the chance.**

***Click the 'Donate Now' to change a life today, and please share Rita's story with your network!***

Empower Neurodivergent Adults In India to Live, Learn & Earn

Yash Charitable Trust provides avenues for neurodivergent adults to live and work in the community with dignity and self-respect.

Yash Charitable Trust (YCT) was founded in 2014 by Dr. Sushama Nagarkar with the aim of enhancing the quality of lives for neurodivergent adults - particularly those with autism, intellectual disabilities, ADHD, specific learning disabilities and so on. 

The vision of YCT is to provide opportunities for neurodivergent adults to live and work in the community of their choice with dignity and self-respect. 

Our mission, therefore, is two-fold: 

To provide training and development of skills and competencies required for employment through the Employability Skills Development Program (ESDP). 

To provide all other wrap-around services, including counselling, consultation, ancillary therapies, and support for different models of employment (supported employment, customized employment, self-employment, and competitive integrated employment or open employment) through the Adult Support Kendra (ASK). We also regularly conduct seminars, workshops, and sensitization sessions both online as well as offline. Our neurodivergent team, consisting of self-advocates, is an important part of the sensitization sessions.

YCT has grown organically and we continue to see a deep impact in the lives of each of our team members. 

The genesis of ESDP goes back twelve years. In late 2014, we started with a small kitchen that was equipped to run a tiffin service and at the time employed five neurodivergent adults as a part of an inclusive team. It was an innovative venture and one that generated a lot of positive media publicity. We also realized through the whole endeavour that the neurodivergent adults that we worked with were very eager to contribute their unique talents and wanted to work alongside neurotypical colleagues. But as more and more adults requested to join our team, we ran out of space.  

In 2018, we expanded to launch Café Arpan, Mumbai’s first café to be operated by neurodivergent adults. The café has since become a symbol of what neurodivergent adults can achieve if provided with the right opportunities. In its current avatar, the café is almost entirely manned by neurodivergent staff who are provided support as and when needed. 

Between 2015 (when our first tiffin was delivered) and 2019, we continued to train on the job at both the kitchen and Café Arpan. We soon realized, however, that with our burgeoning numbers, we needed to have a structured training curriculum focusing on F&B and employability skills development. In 2019, we found a suitable space for a Skill Development Centre and began to lay the foundation for a sustainable skill development that could lead to employment opportunities. Till date, our journey has included collaborations with partners such as Accenture, where we established a café in 2019, and newer ventures such as Arpan Bakery and our café counter at 360 ONE in 2024. These initiatives showcase our ongoing commitment to creating inclusive employment opportunities for neurodivergent adults.

More recently we have added life skills training in areas such as cooking, and digital literacy, training in housekeeping and urban farming using hydroponics technology.

The ASK vertical was formalized in 2017. ASK provides wraparound services that our adults need to live fulfilling adult lives. For example, we provide counselling and other mental health support services. We provide consultation services including person-centred planning and futures planning for families who are struggling with answering questions and planning for the kind of life their adult would lead. We offer workshops and seminars on important topics such as financial planning, developing meaningful relationships, preparing adults to live independently and so on. Our adults learn self-advocacy skills and present at the frequent sensitization and awareness sessions that we conduct for various entities such as schools, colleges and businesses. 

Everything we do at YCT is geared to help adults assume valued roles and lead fulfilling lives within their communities. 

Our core values of Acceptance, Inclusion and Empowerment are the fundamental beliefs that underlie our work, how we interact with each other and what strategies we employ to fulfil our mission.

The value of acceptance allows us to accept reality, ourselves, and others as the way each of us truly is. Acceptance is not something that can be forced. It just is. And being accepted for oneself, as diverse as each of us is, has shown to positively affect self-esteem and well-being. By accepting diversity, we find ourselves growing both intellectually and spiritually. Acceptance is a gift that gives back. It helps us to treat another with the same degree of respect that we would like to be treated.

And while to accept someone is to acknowledge differences and say it is okay; to include someone is to intentionally pursue ways to make them feel welcomed, heard, and valued. Inclusion creates a supportive energy and commitment from others. There is a sense of belonging. Every person is respected and feels essential to the success of the organization. By adopting a core value of empowerment, we are helping our team members, our beneficiaries, find their voice and express themselves. We believe in everyone’s capabilities to be independent, to make decisions in a way that helps them do their work to the best of their ability as well as create an enriched life for themselves. 

We work hard. Nevertheless, over the years, we have had some challenges in meeting needs and fostering learning and development for some of our adults. These challenges have occurred for various reasons: at times there has been a gap between family expectations and what we are able to provide through our programs and activities. Challenges with the individual’s ability to self-regulate in a group setting have impacted their learning and the learning of others. Irregular attendance is another challenge that we have faced. With consistent expectations, policies and procedures in place, these challenges are now few and far between. 

Yash Charitable Trust

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