After a lifelong career in social work and as a family court services mediator, Diana Figueroa never thought her path would end as a nonprofit founder. That is, until she had to fill a service gap in her own family.
In 2023, Figueroa founded Casa de Mosaic, a day program for adults with autism located in Rolando Village.
The idea came after struggling to find a program that fit the high-support needs of her son with autism, who, at the time, was aging out of high school.
“When I was looking for a program for him, I wasn’t finding anything that would have him be out in the community for even part of the day. He would be indoors and just kind of watched for the day, and that wasn’t acceptable to me,” Figueroa said. “So, I decided to make my own program. That’s how it got started. It got started with him, and then just other parents were sort of in the same situation.”
Casa de Mosaic is one of more than 200 adult day service programs in San Diego County, all differing in size and the variety of services provided.
A key facet of Casa de Mosaic, thanks to Figueroa, is to get the participants outside working in the community and making their own healthy meals. All this is to hopefully prepare them with necessary skills to be successful adults in their own right.
“I think what I like is that they’re out in the community, they’re getting sunshine, they’re eating good food. They’re able to do things that their peers are doing; we just adapt it ’til it works,” Figueroa said. “And that’s what I like. I like that they’re getting sunshine, they’re with community. I think that’s what a good life and good health include.”
The transition out of high school is a difficult one for many individuals with autism spectrum disorder. Research varies, but one Drexel University study reported that one-third of adults with autism did not find a job or continue with their education after high school. A total of 36% attend postsecondary education, 19% live independently and 32% found a job within two years of their high school graduation.
Casa de Mosaic offers another option, and three years in, Figueroa has developed a successful weekly routine that no longer requires her to be there 60 hours a week.
“First year was a lot of ‘What did I do?’ And second year, we were growing … We were getting more comfortable with, ‘Okay, now we have a routine,’” Figueroa said. “We had collaborations with the community. We started a collaboration with the elementary school. Communities were starting to reach out to us, and we were starting to have a little following.”
Now, these community collaborations are weekly programs nearly set in stone.
Work and fun go hand-in-hand
Every week, the participants water plants at a coffee shop, clean and restock Barlando, another local business, and help with school lunches and collect compost at Rolando Elementary School.
The Casa de Mosaic team takes a pontoon ride in Mission Bay. (Photo by Diana Figueroa)There is also plenty of room for non-work activities, between exercising with an occupational therapist at Copley-Price Family YMCA, participating in adapted storytime at the College-Rolando Library and taking adventurous day trips, such as to SeaWorld or kayaking.
“I’m not sure which [activity’s] my favorite. I like the collaboration with Rolando [Elementary], I think that’s really cool. They’re so supportive. We have our own space to work there. They have meaningful jobs for us to do there. I like [Barlando] as well. I don’t know. It’s hard to pick. I think there’s something about every day that I like,” Figueroa said.
‘A win-win’
With all the support Casa de Mosaic provides for the community, Figueroa says she definitely feels it’s reciprocated.
“Everyone’s impacted by autism in some way, in their family or friends … And I think we bring so much to the community between all the cleanups that we do and the partnerships that we have,” Figueroa said. “The building that we are housed at used to be at one point, and this was a city worker that told me, I guess it was like a drug house … And so I think the community is just, like, really happy we’re there. It’s like a win-win.”
With the expansion of autism spectrum disorder research and diagnostic criteria, autism is becoming much more prevalent. Among babies born in California from 1987 to 2013, the California Department of Public Health reported that autism diagnoses increased tenfold, from 0.11% of total births to 1.1% of births. In 2021, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that 1 in 26 eight-year-olds in California had been diagnosed with autism.
While Figueroa is not currently planning to expand the program – it has six participants, seven staff members and one volunteer (herself) – to meet the growing need, she hopes to soon get a grant for a program manager who can continue her hard work.
“Our goal is, at the five-year mark, that the program will be self-sufficient, that it will, even when I step out and maybe I’m not as involved, that the things that I’ve started will continue. Especially the cooking,” Figueroa said.
“I want this to continue forever, and that’s what I want my legacy to be. I plan to donate the building space and to keep it so it’s self-sustaining. And hopefully, if it will have growth, someone else can take that on. I would support that as well.”
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