ABOUT US

Our Mission

Allison's AAC's is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization aiming to provide augmentative and alternative communication devices to non-speaking people who may not be able to afford an AAC device. Our mission is to empower individuals with communication difficulties by providing them with access to the latest AAC technology, training, and support. We believe that everyone has the right to communicate and we strive to make that a reality for our clients.

Meet the Team

Meet our amazing board of directors!

President

Allison Cooper

Allison is 22 year old licensed real estate agent and special education teacher. She currently works at a high school where she teaches nonverbal students on the Autism Spectrum. Through her job, she learned about the importance of Augmentative and Alternative Communication devices. In 2024 she won the Global Beauty Award for Best in Education.

Secretary

Jamie Pitts-Garcia

Jamie has been involved with non-profits for the last 27 years, starting when she was in high school. She has a passion for supporting and helping others. She volunteers for many organizations throughout our community in addition to working at MORE (Mother Lode Rehabilitation Enterprises, Inc.). Eight years of her community involvement was spent working at Big Brothers Big Sisters. Jamie's most important role is being a Mom! She is the proud Momma to a very handsome young man named Gabriel. She enjoys sharing all of the rewarding community involvement with him and hopes he will love to volunteer and support his community one day as well.

Treasurer

Judy Knapp

Judy Knapp, Founder and President of Exhilaration Station Family Resource Center and Director of PreventionWORKS, has over 25 years of experience in the development and implementation of violence prevention education programs for people of all abilities ages three through adult. Her signature programs include Healthy Relationships, My Body Belongs to Me for children, Personal Safety for People with Disabilities, Bully/Cyber Bully Prevention, Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs): Time Does Not Heal All Wounds, and more. She co-founded the El Dorado ACEs Collaborative in 2015 and is working on changing all community systems to use trauma-informed approaches and services. In addition, she teaches social emotional skills to children, drug prevention to teens, parenting classes at the jail, human trafficking prevention in schools, and more. Judy is a certified Suicide Postvention Trainer, Violence Prevention Trainer, Crisis Counselor, and Educator. Judy earned a B.S. degree in psychology from UC Davis and spent the first 15 years working as a zookeeper, creating and implementing educational programs, as well as a behavioral enrichment program for wild animals. The next fifteen years, Judy was Director of Education and Training at The Center for Violence-free Relationships (formerly the El Dorado Women's Center) and was the first coordinator of the El Dorado County Child Abuse Prevention Council. Judy has won several awards, including the National Points of Light Volunteer Program of the Year, Soroptimist International's 2016 Ruby Award for creating prevention programs that support and empower girls and women, and the 2017 Life Serving Award.