Newport Beach special education teacher continues advocacy with new nonprofit
Nicole Fusaro has always been an advocate for children with learning disabilities.
She has touched countless lives in her 17 years in the Newport-Mesa Unified School District. Most of that time has been spent at Corona del Mar High, where her passion has led to inclusive new programs.
About seven years ago, she started the CdM special athlete team called Sparkle, which pairs up with the CdM cheerleading team. She’s also the club adviser for Best Buddies, which meets each Thursday in the small gym and is designed to integrate students without special needs with their peers who have disabilities.
These connections lead to special relationships. Catherine Raack gushes about the bond her daughter Julia, 20, has with Fusaro.
Julia is a 2022 CdM graduate who remains in the district’s Seamless Transition Enrichment Program. She was born with Rubinstein-Taybi syndrome, a rare chromosomal disorder.
She is short in stature and her mental state is that of a 5-year-old, Catherine Raack said, but Julia walks, talks and is very happy.
“Nicole and Julia are very, very close,” Raack said. “Once a week, they have what we call ‘best friend day,’ just because they have such a great relationship. My daughter adores Nicole. She’s been really great to our family and we see her all the time.”
Helping children and young adults like Julia is paramount to Fusaro, 52. Her new nonprofit gives her another avenue to do so.
Fusaro launched Building Futures & Friends, or BFF, last week with a gathering at the Place in Corona del Mar. The goal is to support individuals with disabilities through consultation, advocacy and enrichment programs.
The nonprofit could help individuals attend her popular summer camp, a limited liability company which is separate from her work at CdM. The camp has a different activity each day of the week like going to the beach, the movies or bowling.
But there are other benefits to the nonprofit. Each child has an individual education plan, known by the acronym IEP.
“A parent may feel they need some extra support at school or understanding the paperwork that is given to them,” Fusaro said. “They might say, ‘Hey, I need an advocate, can you read this IEP and help me with it?’ Or they just need someone to talk to and get some consultation.”
Fusaro already has 10 moms — some with disabled children and some who are just big advocates like herself — on an executive board for Building Futures & Friends.
“I want to help the underserved,” she said. “There’s underserved in Newport that we don’t always realize. There are families that can’t afford extra things.”
She started her Fusaro’s Activities, Visions and Experiences (My FAVE) camp six years ago. It provides socialization and activities for kids with disabilities from age 6 all the way to 35, from Aliso Niguel north to Huntington Beach.
She said there are more than 50 families in the program, which started just in the summertime but expanded to any school breaks or holidays. This year, Fusaro and her staff added activities on Saturdays, and the benefits are obvious for local families.
“It can be hard to take Julia out in public to the market or to the movies,” Catherine Raack said. “She always wants to go home when she’s with me. When she’s with Nicole and that group, she gets to see more, she gets to do more. She gets to be with her friends.”
Maryann Sharpe is another big fan of Fusaro’s and attended the Building Futures & Friends launch celebration last week. Sharpe’s daughter Rebecca, 18, is in the special education program at CdM.
Rebecca is a triplet, and her siblings Audrey and Spencer recently graduated from Newport Harbor. They are typical students, but Rebecca is considered on the autism spectrum as the result of a seizure disorder.
The Sharpes met Fusaro through the Sparkle program at CdM, and Maryann is excited about the new nonprofit.
“I just think Nicole can offer so much to parents who are struggling with understanding IEPs and what they’re entitled to, how they can advocate for their kids,” Maryann Sharpe said. “There’s really a need for that, and I think because of her long history working in the school district, she’s really got all of the knowledge to bring to the table.
“In addition to the fact that she’s going to be super-good at it, she cares, she’s loving. You don’t feel like she’s somebody who’s just doing a job. It’s her life devotion, her passion. The kids absolutely love her, and the parents do too.”
Fusaro, who for several years taught at the Phoenix Day School for the Deaf in Arizona before coming to California, has a master’s degree in special education from the University of Arizona. In her time at CdM she has been a longtime scorekeeper for the boys’ basketball team, and recently started doing the same for the boys’ and girls’ volleyball program.
She has no children of her own, but that’s only true in a biological sense.
“I think she feels like these are the kids she never had,” Sharpe said. “She has that energy to give to them.”
Fusaro said she’s received a bevy of support since she launched her nonprofit, with plenty of emails, phone calls and text messages.
“People can make a donation for any kid, or if they have a specific kid in mind they want to sponsor,” Fusaro said. “Life’s expensive, so any support is great.”
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