C-PARC Agency Overview

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History

"CPARC is people helping people" (CPARC pamphlet).

Cumberland Perry Association for Retarded Citizens was founded in 1953 by parents of children with mental retardation (www.cparc.org). These parents wanted something more for their children because at the time the only option for people with mental retardation was to go to a state institution (www.cparc.org). CPARC is a non-profit organization that provides facilities and resources for people with mental retardation. These resources include finding a home, making friends, and offering other help when needed. This organization also helps their clients find work when possible, which helps to make them feel more accepted in society. In this way, they become active participants in their community. CPARC's clients are not exclusive to people with mental retardation. The organization also offers services to the elderly, young children, and the families of people with mental disabilities.

Mission

"CPARC'S mission is to improve the general welfare of individuals with mental retardation" (CPARC pamphlet).

The mission of CPARC is to help those in the community who are not able to function solely on their own. They try to ensure that people with mental retardation receive the respect and basic rights that they deserve. By providing their clients with a home, a job, and any care when needed, the volunteers and employees of CPARC help to make their lives more comfortable and enjoyable. As an organization, CPARC strives to integrate people with disabilities into the community in a constructive manner. Before CPARC opened, people with mental retardation were not able to have access to acquiring jobs or housing (www.cparc.org). CPARC works to give people with special needs the rights and advantages that people without disabilities take for granted.

Services Offered

CPARC is active in many different aspects of their clients lives. The organization provides advocacy, care for the elderly, child care, education, vocational services, and community living (www.cparc.org).

Advocacy:

They advocate for equal rights and protection for people with disabilities to ensure that they are treated with respect and are given the same basic rights as any other citizen of the United States (www.cparc.org).

Child Care and Elder Care:

CPARC also provides a day care for young children and a center for the elderly to go during the day. These services are not limited to children and elders with mental retardation, though they do include them. For the elders, they provide care during the day and for the children they provide infant care, toddler and pre-school care, and after school programs (www.cparc.org). In the child care program, CPARC stresses the importance of education and works to teach the children certain pertinent skills (www.cparc.org).

Family Education Services:

CPARC also provides counseling and emotional support groups for their clients and the families of their clients through their family education services (www.cparc.org).

Vocational Services:

Their vocational services offer people with mental retardation a chance to enter the S. Wilson Pollock Center For Industrial Training (CIT) to learn basic industrial skills so they can eventually acquire a job (www.cparc.org). CPARC places an emphasis on its clients being able to gain competitive employment. Through CIT, some clients are employed here at Dickinson College in Dining Services.

Community Living Services:

Finally, CPARC offers community living services to their clients through many different venues. These include the group homes, apartment clusters, apartment living, supported living, family living, and respite care (www.cparc.org). CPARC places clients in these different services depending on the severity of their mental retardation. The group homes are for people who cannot live independently. In the group homes, there is a CPARC employee available at all times, but the clients still learn how to do their own laundry, take care of their own things, and live with others. In the apartment clusters, the people live in their own separate apartments, but there is a CPARC employee available in the apartment complex so clients can acquire help when needed. The apartment living is the most independent form of living that CPARC offers because the clients live solely on their own and are provided with help only when they need it or ask for it. Supported living offers help to clients living in their own homes or nursing homes, family living helps match clients up with families to live with, and respite care offers help for clients who still live with their families (www.cparc.org).