WHO WE ARE
The Arc was born almost 70 years ago from a grassroots movement of families working vigilantly to create services for children and adults who were being denied day care, educational opportunities and work programs.
Mission and Values
The Arc of North Carolina is committed to securing for all people with intellectual and developmental disabilities the opportunity to choose and realize their goals of where and how they learn, live, work and play.
Guiding Principles
The Arc promotes and protects the human rights of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and actively supports their full inclusion and participation in the community throughout their lifetimes.
Position Statements
The Arc's position statements address critical issues related to human and civil rights, treatment, and services and programs for children and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families.
The Arc of North Carolina is a state chapter of The Arc of the United States. With hundreds of state and local chapters nationwide, The Arc is on the front lines to ensure that people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families have the support and services they need to be fully engaged in their communities. The Arc works with its federation of state and local chapters to create an impressive network of human service agencies ensuring they have the strongest civil rights advocates promoting and protecting their needs at all levels.
Governed by a volunteer board of directors, we work passionately to uphold our vision that every individual and family living with an intellectual or developmental disability has access to the information, advocacy and skills they need to participate as active citizens of our democracy and active members of their community.
Letter From Our Executive Director
Welcome to The Arc of NC!
Whether you have found us through our website, social media pages, podcasts, webinars, listening sessions, services, or any number of associations, we welcome you and we’re glad you’re here. We represent a large and vastly diverse group of North Carolinians who are passionate about helping to improve life for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) and their families and friends in our great state. We hope you will align with us and join our work in a way that makes sense to you.
The Arc of NC began in 1953 as families gathered in living rooms and around kitchen tables to find solutions for their sons and daughters with IDD. Those family leaders took their “kitchen table” conversations to state offices and legislators’ desks to begin pushing for needed changes. Today, after more than seventy years as the state’s leading advocacy organization for people with IDD, we continue the practice of taking the people’s needs to those who can make changes and working through partnerships and processes to continue to move the needle in positive directions. Advocacy is one of our hallmarks and it is the ribbon that weaves throughout every initiative we have.
The Arc of NC also provides an array of community-based services and supports for people with IDD. You can learn more about those services here on our website (www.arcnc.org/programs-and-services). In providing those services, we strive to establish a high standard, and we hope to improve lives and improve the system. There are many challenges in today’s system of services for people with IDD, nationwide, and in North Carolina. The needs are often greater than the resources, and yet we must find a way. Through providing services, we become experts in our current systems, and systems issues, and our lessons learned from services inform our advocacy.
The Arc of NC is part of a large, nationwide network of state and local chapters of The Arc (www.thearc.org). We are so proud of the work of the nineteen other chapters of The Arc in North Carolina and invite you to engage at the local level as well, if you happen to have a chapter near to you.
While each chapter is a separate corporation, each has its own historical wins, regional flavor, and current and future goals for the people they represent. The Arc is not just a group of organizations; it is a movement, a movement focused on disability rights as human rights. Our movement is dedicated to the evolution of our society and our communities in which equality becomes more real and diversity is embraced rather than shunned.
We have a lot to learn from people who happen to have intellectual and developmental disabilities. Belonging matters and I believe that most (if not all) of us desire to be a part of something that is meaningful and is bigger than us. So, come and be with us. Join our work; join our movement. Follow us and contribute to the great work of this incredible organization.
We welcome all of you! -Lisa
