Community Connections
Following the mission of the founding parents, The Arc continues to respond to the needs of children with developmental disabilities, their families, and the Frederick community. Contributions from members, civic groups, grants and the United Way allow The Arc to offer additional needed supports to people in Frederick County. Information and Referral and Educational Advocacy services are available to anyone who contacts The Arc and has a developmental disability or is a family member of someone with a disability. Cooking, computer, creative movement, art, and Adult Basic Education classes are all offered in response to requests from the people served by The Arc. Working Together Self-Advocacy is a support group of adults with developmental disabilities. Parent and sibling support groups are available to support family members as is a free, monthly respite program called Parents Day Out. The Arc has a Hispanic Outreach position to reach the growing Spanish speaking population in Frederick, Maryland.
New initiatives include collaborating with area businesses to locate and create meaningful employment opportunities for students and adults based on their individual talents and preferences. The Arc has also created Real World Weekends for adults to experience independent living situations in efficiency apartments in preparation for moving out of their family home and on their own for the first time.
The first services started by the parents who founded The Arc were educational opportunities for children with developmental disabilities. The early years of The Arc’s existence were focused on educating families, community members, teachers, and lawmakers on the importance of keeping families together as opposed to sending children to live in institutional care facilities. In 1959, The Arc successfully advocated with the Frederick County Board of Education to open Harmony Grove School so children with disabilities could receive an education in the community. The doors of the school opened to twenty-four students with disabilities. Today, Harmony Grove is known as Rock Creek School and continues to operate under the Frederick County Public School district.
In addition to systems advocacy, The Arc formed support groups for parents to share experiences and developed literature to be distributed at the local hospital for families of children born with a disability. Professionals and parents quickly learned that they could depend on The Arc to provide a personal, helping hand. These parents’ early efforts are the cornerstone on which many current Frederick County services were formed.
Read more about this topic: The Arc Of Frederick County
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