National Inclusion Project - History

History

The Bubel/Aiken Foundation was founded in July 2003 by singer Clay Aiken from the hit TV show, American Idol. His interest in autism issues led him, along with Diane Bubel (whose son Michael is diagnosed with autism and was tutored by Aiken), to found the Bubel/Aiken Foundation, which supports the integration of children with disabilities into the life environment of their non-disabled peers.

Initially, Aiken developed the concept of the foundation as a project to complete credit hours needed for graduation from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Aiken worked on the organization and set up of the Foundation while competing on American Idol and performing with the season 2 contestants during their summer tour. After receiving over $50,000 in donations to the as-yet non-existent organization, Aiken decided to follow through and make the organization a reality. On July 28, 2003, just 2 months after the end of the competition, he officially announced the creation of The Bubel/Aiken Foundation.

In October 2005 the Foundation debuted a new look for its website and a new logo described in the announcement as "The new logo abstractly displays five individuals coming together, representing five points of a star. One is unique from the rest, but is nonetheless included as part of the whole."

In a joint statement, Aiken and Bubel announced on August 5, 2009 that National Inclusion Project was the new name of the Foundation.

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