Grassroots and growing

Nanaimo Unique Kids Organization was established in 2005 by parents of five children with "unique" neuro-developmental needs. The parents met and shared their needs, hopes and dreams for the children and their first initiatives became the creation of a society and to establish a Learning Centre for their children.

In order to establish a Learning Centre with programs in Nanaimo, the parents had the opportunity to withdraw their children's registration from School District # 68 - Nanaimo-Ladysmith, and re-register the children with School District #71 - Courtenay. The parents working with North Island Distance Education Society (N.I.D.E.S.), also in Courtenay, were offered supervision for their proposed Learning Centre programs. They found a facility to house the fledgling program, hired staff/tutors and the Nanaimo Unique Kids Learning Centre was officially in place.

Since those humble beginnings, Nanaimo Unique Kids Organization (NUKO) has become a registered provincial non-profit society and a federally registered charity. NUKO has successfully evidenced it's work in the community and has partnered repeatedly to improve programs and services for disabled children while always keeping focused on their vision and dream to support disabled children and youth as well as their families.

NUKO's most recent achievement has been to obtain funding from Service Canada to cover costs to complete a survey of needs, programs and services for neuro-developmentally disabled infants, children, youth and young adults.

The organization's vision is to:

• build their own Learning Centre facility in partnership with the community, to offer a permanent home for programs and services.
• create fully funded respite service facilities to better support families with disabled children or youth.
• attain accreditation toward evidencing excellence in programs and services offered.
• expand programs and services to better meet the needs of the many children on our waitlist.

If you have any questions please contact our staff by email at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it