Westchester Arc
About Us
Founded in 1949, Westchester Arc is the oldest and largest agency in Westchester County serving children and adults who have developmental disabilities and their families.
Over six hundred employees provide more than 1,600 individuals throughout the county with a broad range of innovative and effective programs and services designed to foster independence, productivity and participation in community life. Through a process called person-centered planning, Westchester Arc enables those it serves first to define their dreams, and then, with the help of family, friends and staff, to work towards realizing them.
Westchester Arc was founded by a small group of parents seeking companionship for their children with mental retardation. Since no community-based services existed at that time for such children, and since public schools were not required to teach them, they had little opportunity to make friends. But that was then, now is much better. Over the years the agency has grown and families have remained its lodestar. Westchester Arc’s bylaws require that at least fifty percent of its directors be relatives of a person with developmental disabilities.
Westchester Arc offers programs and services to people with developmental disabilities of all ages.
Services include:
early intervention for infants, toddlers and their families
a preschool program
educational advocacy for children from 5-21 years
youth groups for teens
transition planning for students preparing to leave high school
vocational training and job placement
daily living skills classes for adults
independent and group living in forty-two residences
respite care for children and adults
recreational activities including a sleep-away camp
24-hour crisis management
individual and group psychological counseling
self-advocacy training for adults
bilingual (English-Spanish) outreach to unserved or underserved members of minority groups
social work that fills gaps left by other services
guardianship for adults whose families are no longer able to care for them
Westchester Arc is a chapter of NYSARC, Inc., and a United Way agency.
Mission
The mission of Westchester Arc is to empower children and adults with developmental disabilities to achieve their potential based on personal choices, abilities and interests. This is accomplished through person-centered services, support to families, advocacy and leadership, which together inspire the community to value the inclusion of people with developmental disabilities.
Our mission is accomplished one person at a time.
The Westchester Arc Name
To signal the agency’s evolving mission, our name, logo and slogan were changed in June 2005. As Westchester “Arc” rather than Westchester “ARC,” the name can no longer be misread as an acronym. It continues to echo the agency’s relationship with NYSARC and The Arc of the U.S. but also symbolizes our mission. “Arc” refers to bridging gaps and building supportive connections between those we serve and their communities.
These modifications reflect changes in the composition and expectations of the population we serve, who are increasingly diverse in terms of diagnosis, ethnicity and needs. They want to be treated as individuals and are setting higher standards for empowerment and independence.
Our logo symbolizes “reaching for opportunities and journeying to a wider world,” while our slogan, “Envision Possibilities, Explore Choices,” captures the heart of our mission. We are committed to person-centered planning and customized services. We are also inviting the greater community to enrich itself by embracing people with disabilities as students, employees and neighbors.
History
It all began 50 years ago with a $3 ad that was placed in The New York Post by, Ann Greenberg, desperate to find some playmates for her child with a developmental disability.
On April 17, 1949 a small group of equally frustrated mothers and fathers gathered at the Mount Vernon Public Library to discuss ways of helping their children. It was in this little gathering that the Westchester Association for the Help of Retarded Children (Westchester AHRC) was born.
A few months later the new Westchester group purchased the house at 975 Split Rock Road in Pelham and fought and won, through court action, the right to have a school there.
In 1951 they opened the first parents’ cooperative day school for retarded children in New York State. And so, the modest beginnings of Westchester Arc, which is now the largest such agency in the county serving over 1600 children, teenagers and adults with developmental disabilities everyday.
50th Anniversary Highlights
In 1999 we celebrated our first fifty years of serving the needs of people with developmental disabilities.
What better way to tell an organization’s history than to capture the memories of people who shaped its progress.
|
