- The Carmen B. Pingree Autism Center for Learning in Salt Lake City plans to relocate to improve access for Utah families.
- The new location, yet to be determined, aims to address accessibility challenges and boosting autism services.
- Relocation is expected by 2028; current services will continue without disruption.
SALT LAKE CITY — The Carmen B. Pingree Autism Center of Learning is one of the state's most cherished environments for care and support for families with children living with autism spectrum disorder.
The center has stood at its location on Guardsman Way near Sunnyside Park and Rowland Hall on Salt Lake's upper east side since 2001. As the organization looks toward the future of autism services in Utah, it will also include building a new location.
The Pingree Autism Center, part of Valley Behavioral Health, announced on Monday that it will relocate.
An exact location for the new center has yet to be determined, but Julie Winn, vice president of children, youth, and family services at Valley Behavioral Health, told KSL on Tuesday that the organization is eyeing somewhere on the west or southwest side of the Salt Lake Valley.
One major factor for the relocation, she said, is making services more accessible and convenient for families the center serves.
"About 75% of our clients live outside of Salt Lake City, particularly ... about 30% are within the West Valley area," she said, adding that some families have reported challenges due to their distance from the facility.
"We do provide some transportation, but that is a big barrier that we're seeing for a lot of our clients," she said.
Those hurdles are heightened for those already facing financial restraints.
"You have the rising gas prices and (for) people with Medicaid — it's, do I pay for the gas to get to the facility, or do I pay for food? And so really, the biggest focus for us is being able to bring our facility to where our clients are," Winn said.
More than 80 children are enrolled in programs at the Pingree Center. The organization says it's confident that relocation will help it reach existing clientele more effectively and treat new clients more efficiently.
According to Winn, the goal is to gather input from families currently using the service and resource providers to determine what, if any, gaps in care should be addressed and what other needs a new facility could include.
"Pingree was built in 2001 — autism services, ABA (applied behavior analysis) services, mental health services, have definitely changed, and we've outgrown what our building is able to do," she said. "And so part of this process is we have parent groups, we have community providers that we work with, and we'll be working with them over the next year and a half to really evaluate, OK … what are some of the missing services in autism services — and being able to bring that to the facility."
Autism awareness has also continued to grow. One in 31 children nationwide are on the autism spectrum, according to recent data from the CDC.
The Pingree Center said plans for its new facility include increasing its capacity to serve 100 to 120 children in day treatment and providing additional outpatient services.
Though a move likely won't happen until sometime in 2028, Winn said the process of selling the current property is underway. However, services there will not be disrupted until they are ready to relocate.
"We don't want people to freak out that we're not providing services, or the center is closing," she told KSL. "We want to communicate (that) we're still providing services."
Leaders at the center said they're committed to maintaining the care and support that families of children and adolescents with autism rely on them for.
"Throughout the transition, families can expect to receive the same level of support and attention that they deserve. We can ensure that this project behind the scenes is being managed in a way that ushers in a seamless transition for Pingree Center families and staff with as little disruption as possible. We will continue to remain as transparent as possible as new developments arise and will do our best to communicate those to our Pingree Center community effectively," a statement from the organization reads.
Those who want to keep up with the process can visit the Pingree Cnter website.
