Every child deserves tools that meet them where they are.

The Kes Foundation is raising $235,000 to build a learning world where autistic children, children with disabilities, and under-resourced youth have the tools, care, representation, and opportunities they need to thrive.

This campaign is about more than funding a program. It is about changing what families are allowed to expect.

We believe a child should not have to become easier to teach before they are considered worthy of being taught. A parent should not have to become a full-time systems expert to secure basic support. A young person should not lose access to opportunity because the world was not designed with their mind, body, family, or future in view.

We are building something different.

We are building technology that adapts to the child.

We are creating stories where different minds are the heroes.

We are helping families access assistive tools, therapy, advocacy, training, and community.

We are preparing young people for careers that recognize their talent instead of measuring them only by their ability to fit in.

And we are making the research and creative tools behind this work open so that the impact can travel farther than any single organization.

Why The Kes Foundation exists

The Kes Foundation began with a mother's notebook.

Its pages held IEP language, evaluator names, waitlists, therapy options, unanswered questions, and the hard-won knowledge families are often forced to gather alone. At the center of those pages was Kes, an autistic child who is brilliant in ways that traditional systems were not built to recognize.

Again and again, Kes was asked to meet the system where it was.

His mother decided to build something that would meet him, and every child after him, where they are.

Today, The Kes Foundation is a recognized 501(c)(3) public charity building bridges between technology and the children who need it most. Our work is grounded in four connected pillars:

Interactive learning tools and assistive technology
Autism support and family navigation
Workforce readiness for under-resourced and neurodivergent youth
Direct assistance for therapy and specialized care

Across every program, our north star is belonging.

Meet Superpowers

A major part of this campaign will fund Superpowers, our Interactive Learning initiative for young children and their families.

Superpowers combines an adaptive early-language app with a short-form animated series. Together, they give children both a way to practice and a place to see themselves.

The Superpowers app

The Superpowers app is designed for children ages 2 to 5, with particular care for neurodivergent learners.

Instead of forcing every child through the same lesson, the app begins with the child.

A caregiver shares what their child loves, what they can already do, and how the day feels. Superpowers then selects three small activities based on the child's interests, learning needs, and sensory mode.

There is no fail state.

There is no leaderboard.

There is no punishment for needing another try.

Trying is the win.

Our prototype is already clickable from beginning to end, with eight screens, real interactions, and a complete visual identity. This campaign will help us turn that prototype into a secure, accessible, family-tested product and place it in the hands of 250 families during year one.

Explore Superpowers:
https://thekesfoundation.org/#/superpowers

The Superpowers animated series

The Superpowers series follows two brothers, James and Miles, as they solve the everyday mysteries that other people overlook.

James is autistic. His ability to notice patterns, details, and connections is not treated as a problem to overcome. It is central to how the brothers understand their world.

These are stories where different minds are the heroes.

Every episode is designed to be visual-first, predictable, brief, and highly repeatable. No essential meaning is carried by sound alone. Captions, audio description, and American Sign Language are considered from the script stage instead of being added as an afterthought.

For young autistic children, repetition and predictability are not simply creative choices. They can make the difference between content that is available and content that is truly accessible.

The app is the daily practice.

The series is the mirror.

Together, they tell children: You are not behind. You are on your own path, and we are walking it with you.

Introducing MOSAIC

Superpowers is also powered by MOSAIC, our open-source character engine built to represent the full, complex range of humanity.

Too much children's media still reflects a narrow version of family life. Children deserve characters whose homes, languages, cultures, disabilities, relationships, and communities feel real.

MOSAIC helps creators develop complete characters from a simple human description.

A second-generation Ghanaian American eldest daughter of three.

A five-year-old from the Bronx who dreams in two languages and moves at full speed.

A child who communicates differently, notices everything, and experiences the world with extraordinary intensity.

MOSAIC develops each character's appearance, voice, behavior, family, and world using cited research and lived-experience writing from the communities represented.

One rule holds throughout the system:

A child's identity may shape their circumstances, but it never determines their personality.

James and Miles set the quality standard for MOSAIC, but the project is designed to belong to everyone. The character resources, research files, and development framework will remain free and open so educators, creators, researchers, and community organizations can build more authentic stories without starting from zero.

Your support will help us expand MOSAIC, compensate community reviewers, strengthen its research base, create new character resources, and maintain it as an open public tool.

How we will use $235,000

Every contribution will help move this work from prototype to families.

$90,000: Build and test the Superpowers app

This funding will support product development, adaptive learning features, accessible design, child-safe data practices, curriculum creation, caregiver tools, usability testing, and a year-one pilot serving 250 families.

$55,000: Produce the Superpowers animated series

This funding will support writing, story development, animation, voice production, music, editing, captions, audio description, American Sign Language integration, and accessible distribution.

$30,000: Expand the MOSAIC open-source character engine

This funding will support research, community consultation, cultural review, character development, documentation, open-source maintenance, and the creation of new character bibles that educators and creators can use freely.

$30,000: Put tools directly into families' hands

This funding will help provide tablets, AAC devices, sensory-friendly learning kits, curriculum access, and family training so that technology becomes a lasting resource instead of another device placed in a home without support.

$20,000: Strengthen family navigation and advocacy

This funding will support IEP advocacy, caregiver education, therapy navigation, resource coordination, and direct guidance for families trying to make sense of systems that are often fragmented and overwhelming.

$10,000: Measure, protect, and share what works

This funding will support impact measurement, privacy and security, financial accountability, program evaluation, and open reporting. We will document what works, what needs to change, and what other organizations can learn from the pilot.

Total campaign goal: $235,000

What your gift makes possible

Your gift helps build a future where:

A child can learn through the interests that already light them up.
A caregiver can open an app and find support designed around their actual day.
An autistic child can watch a story and see a mind like theirs solving the mystery.
A family can receive an AAC device, tablet, or sensory tool along with the training needed to use it well.
A parent can enter an IEP meeting with an advocate on their team.
A creator can use MOSAIC to build an authentic character grounded in research and lived experience.
A young person can be recognized for their ability instead of screened out for being different.
Every lesson we learn can be shared openly and used to help more children.

Why now

The prototype exists.

The creative vision exists.

The research foundation exists.

The first characters exist.

The families who need this work already exist.

What we need now is the funding to build responsibly, test carefully, compensate the people whose expertise makes the work authentic, and place these resources into families' hands.

Early supporters will do more than fund year one. You will help shape what Superpowers becomes, who it reaches, and how far it can travel.

Join us

We are not trying to teach children to disappear into systems that were never designed for them.

We are building tools that listen first.

We are creating stories that treat difference as possibility.

We are helping families replace isolation with support, confusion with navigation, and closed doors with real options.

Most of all, we are building a world where every child can hear:

We see you. We believe you. We built this with you in mind.

Help us raise $235,000 and put Superpowers into the hands of 250 families in year one.

Give today. Share this campaign. Invite someone else into the work.

Together, we can build a learning world that meets every child where they are.

The Kes Foundation, Inc. is a recognized 501(c)(3) tax-exempt public charity. Contributions are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law.

EIN: 42-3119652

Help Us Build Superpowers: A Learning World for Every Child