Prior to 1950 there were only a few local
associations for retarded children and no state or national Arc's existed.
In 1950, there were 9 local Arc's in Minnesota and a few others scattered
throughout the US. Most of these early parent groups served a major city
area, such as Minneapolis, St. Paul, Rochester, Austin, Red Wing and Albert Lea.
There names and purposes were varied, but most of them were known as the
"Association of Parents and Friends of the Mentally Retarded", and they were
usually organized to operate a services for local retarded children, such as
school and recreation programs.
In 1950, Mildred Thompson, Minnesota's first
supervisor for a then new department know as the "Minnesota Department of the
Feeble Minded and Epileptic" invited all known parent organizations serving
people who are mentally retarded to a meeting. At this meeting, held in
Minneapolis, held in September 1950, the "National Association for Retarded
Children" was organized.
In 1951, the Minnesota chapters of the
National Arc organized to form the "Minnesota Association for Retarded Children"
These organizations were loosely organized and staffed by volunteers, but they
felt the need for state wide and nation wide organization to help them achieve
their goal for providing services for Intellectual Disabilities and Intellectual Disabilities disabled people and move to
translate this need into action.
Minnesota and the "Minnesota Association
for Retarded Citizens" have been considered the pioneer in planning and
providing services for persons with Intellectual Disabilities.
Many of the nations leaders have come from Minnesota's local chapters and public
agencies. The states attitude along with the local chapters has always
been "Let's set the pace".
The The Arc of Mower County was founded in 1952 and
was incorporated in 1956. Parents of individuals with persons with
Intellectual Disabilities were the founders of our local
chapter. There goal was to develop a project that would enhance the lives
of their children in the areas of special education, vocational training and
recreation.
In 1956, Oak Grove Achievement Center was
developed. This was a major project for The The Arc of Mower County. From 1956
through 1975, Arc had lost it's mission of what some of the real needs were.
From approximately 1975 to 1981, Arc was non-existent. Then in 1982 a
young president had visions. Visions of what really needed to be a mission
for Arc. The chapter has lost focus on legislative issues, support for
young parents, residential issues and most importantly school issues and Oak
Grove was serving just the adult population.
This young man brought the membership of
8 to 146 during his first term and began pounding the pavement promoting The The Arc of Mower County and what its mission was. During those years a strong board
of directors was established. They set and achieved their goals which were
establishing a group home in the Adams area and support group for parents
entitled "Project Faith" which is now a program for the Parenting Resource
Center.
Because there was such a strong need for
small school age children, Arc was instrumental in providing the first
pre-school for children with Intellectual Disabilities a.
This was established in 1975 and was spun off from the school system in 1976.
This program in presently the SEEC (Special Education - Early Childhood)
program.
This brings us up to the present.
In 1985 another strong president was at the reins of The The Arc of Mower County. It
was recognized that if this organization was to be a viable organization it
would require day to day attention. So in 1986 the first Executive
Director and Bookkeeper was hired. Arc had shared office space with the
Mower Council for the Handicapped. This arrangement was until February of
1987, when Arc required space of their own. Arc then moved to the north
wing of the Professional Building (Dr. Reeves and Keller) offices until a new
mission was initiated and adopted. The project was to develop a recreation
center. Because of the strength of the Board this was accomplished in
September of 1987, when the Our Place Recreation Center opened its doors in the
former Suskovic Jewelry store (Indulge Store). This project was managed by
a "volunteer coordinator" and "volunteer supervision". Because this
project mushroomed immensely there was a need to hire a "Recreation Coordinator"
and an assistant. On May 1, 1988 the two staff were hired.
On July 5, 1988 a new program began
entitled "Special Care". One staff was employed as the first care provider
with four children enrolled. We currently do not offer this program.
1988 was a very innovative year as this
the first year we were a site for Charitable Gaming. We along with the
Minnesota Multiple Sclerosis Society became partners in Austin Bingo for
charity. We currently are not participating in charitable gaming with the
MS Society at ABC Bingo in Mapleview. The way it was explained to us, we
thought all of our prayers were answered. Needless to say, headaches and
heartaches were abundant. Arc suffered many bumps, bruises and lashes from
the community. But we survived! Charitable gaming was approximately
66% of our budget.
In September of 1988, the program grew to
the point that we were bursting at the seams. So yet another move was
required. This was to the Fantles building. We remained in that
location until May 15, 1991 when moved to the old Country Kitchen restaurant.
YMCA of Austin owned the building and leased it to Arc until October of 2005.
In 2000, Arc was flooded and had about 18" of water inside the building.
In November of 2005 Arc made a temporary move to the Mower County Senior Center
in Austin, due to a flood that completely destroyed the building we were
currently in and everything inside.
Another point of interest is the name
changes that Arc has gone through. They are as follow:
1952 - Austin Friends of Retarded
Children
1956 - Austin Association for Retarded
Children
1960 - Austin Association for Retarded
Citizens
1975 - Mower County Association for
Retarded Citizens
1981 - Association for Retarded Citizens
- Mower County
1991 - The Arc of Mower County (Current Name)
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