A Chamblee school serving children and young adults with special needs is slated to host Dress Down Uptown this weekend, a fund-raiser featuring everything from a raffle to designer denim at discount prices.

This is a new event for Chamblee’s Elaine Clark Center, which merged with Heart of Hope Academy last summer. Heart of Hope is an accredited education program for autistic and developmentally delayed children formerly located at Wieuca Baptist Church in Brookhaven.

Kelly Driver, development coordinator for the center, said, “When the organizations merged, one had these events, one had those.

“We’re combining and trying to pick, but also trying new things,” she said.

Dress Down Uptown, located at 3630 Peachtree Road in Buckhead, is scheduled for Friday from 6 until 10 p.m. and Saturday from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m. Friday’s event includes food and drink, live music and a raffle with prizes such as a Sea Island vacation. Tickets are $30 individually or $250 for 10. Saturday’s event is free.

Both will feature “designer denim, brand new, men’s and women’s [clothes], at a 40 to 60 percent discount,” said Ms. Driver.

She said the fundraiser is general in nature, but that the center is currently focusing on scholarships to “[support] deserving families of kids with special needs.”

“We serve a broad range, from low-income to medium- and high-income [families]. Having a child with special needs often presents a financial burden other families don’t experience,” Ms. Driver said.

The Center specializes in interventions for children in a variety of areas, ranging from hearing difficulty to autism to cerebral palsy, Ms. Driver said.

Interventions take many forms and are designed “to help a child with special needs overcome physical and mental barriers to independence,” she said.

The center also offers community-based vocational training for older students, among other services.

Ms. Driver has been with the center since October.

“It has so much variety. Each day, there’s something new: a challenge, something exciting,” she said. “This organization is strong because families of all kinds are uniting to enable children to grow.”

However, “because we’re a nonprofit, we rely on donors to make this happen,” Ms. Driver said.

Beth Schmehling, director of the Center, said Dress Down Uptown should be “a low-key event: no formal dinner, no high heels.”

The denim sale was chosen this year because “families are trying to budget,” she said.

“We’re going to give them something practical,” Ms. Schmehling said. “Spend some money, help a charity, but also get something beneficial to you.”

Information: (770) 458-3251 or visit www.elaine-clarkcenter.org.