The History of the Arc of Mercer County

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The first public meeting ever to be held in Mercer County concerning our mentally
retarded citizens was held in the spring of 1952.  It was conducted by a small group
of mothers of retarded children, and was held at the American Legion home in Sharon. 
The main purpose of the meeting was to inform the citizens of Sharon that retarded
persons in our county were not being properly educated and to look for alternative
solutions to a large problem that had long been neglected.  In June of 1952, the Mercer
County Association for Retarded Children received their charter from the Pennsylvania
Association for Retarded Children (PARC) and the first day care classes began in
September of 1952.

In order to expand the program and services of MCAR, those individuals responsiblefor forming it knew that it would be necessary to gain support of the area school systems and the community.  It took time, but with the success of the pre-school programs, also came the support of the school system and community.  With the eventual acceptance and support of the United Fund of the Shenango Valley Area in June, 1956, the Association was able to rent a home at 30 North Irvine Avenue in Sharon to provide a sheltered workshop as well as the pre-school classes.

In November of 1957, religious training classes began at St. Joseph's Church for the retarded.  In April of 1958, the Sunshine Home, purchased by the Buhl trustees became the Retarded Children's Center, and an Executive Director was hired to administer the affairs of the Association.  As the years followed, MCAR's programs were expanded. Eventually by April, 1964, the staff of MCAR consisted of an Executive Director, Secretary, one Psychologist, a Kindergarten Teacher, one Part-time Instructor, and many volunteers to handle an enrollment of forty-nine consumers.

In 1971, MCAR initiated the Residential Program in conjunction with the Mercer County MH/MR office.  All programs are approved by the Behavioral  Health Commission and the Office of Mental Retardation PA Department of Public Welfare.

With the concept of normalization in mind, the first group home (for twelve (12) women)
was opened in 1973.  It was to be the largest single facility the program would ever
operate in a residential setting.  All the individuals in this home were from Mercer
County. Some had been living in the community and some had been institutionalized.

In 1974, a minimal supervision program was opened.  This program setting was in apartments in a rental complex and provided services to twelve (12) individuals (both male and female).  In some respects, this was a a pilot program in Pennsylvania because there were very few of this kind in operation.  Mel Knowlton, the State Director of Residential Programs, was very involved in promoting this brand new concept on minimal supervision and was closely involved in the MCAR program.

During 1975 and 1976, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania became committed to
the mandate of clients institutionalized.  This mandate began quite  a planning effort in
all regions in Pennsylvania and local counties to bring back individuals from their
respective counties.  Like all other counties, Mercer County surveyed their institutionalized
population, developed a five year plan as to how many people and by what process
institutionalized persons could be returned to this community.

The basic theories changed during those two years (1974 - 1976) as to the type and composition facilities in which the residential programs were to be provided.  It had been decided that the best idea was to operate small family homes where only three (3) individuals lived in a facility instead of eight (8) or ten (10).  While all this planning was going on, the residential program continued to expand its services by opening programs in Greenville in an apartment complex.  Although there were only two (2) or three (3) individuals living in each apartment, it was not a minimal supervision program but a program in line with the concept of three (3) or less people in each facility.  The program provided services to eight (8) men, on the same basis as the large home did for (12) women.

Planning for the deinstitutionalized persons was mainly directed at Polk Center where the majority of Mercer County residents had been committed.  In the past year, the residential program had always taken individuals from Polk, as well as from the community, but previously these people had to fit into” structure of the existing programs or facilities.  The deinstitutionalized process mandated that programs be developed to fit people - a complete switch from earlier mandates.

At the end of 1978, the residential program opened its first small home for former Polk residents and continued opening homes until the middle of 1979.  All the programs were housed in small family - type homes for no more than three (3) individuals.  Mercer County was able to meet its expected quota as proposed in the planning stages, which meant finding a lot of small homes to rent.  In order not to saturate the Sharon area, it was attempted to find small homes throughout Mercer County.  Difficulties arose with transportation costs and getting individuals to and from the sheltered workshop located in Hermitage.  (Now considered a prevocational center.  This is also a mandated service.)

The concept of Residential programs in Pennsylvania was a state concept and the Residential programs were 100% state funded.  Therefore, as state concepts change, so do the concepts of all counties providing residential services.  There had been quite a change in these concepts over the past thirty-(30) years in Pennsylvania.  The Mercer County Residential program, one of the services provided by MCAR, has done its part to provide residential services for persons with varying degrees of mental retardation/cognitive disabilities and to keep us with changes dictated by the system.  However, the basic theory of providing a normalized lifestyle in the least restrictive setting has not changed.

In 1985, MCAR/Residential opened four (4) Title XIX Waiver Group Homes.  These facilities are federally funded through the Medicaid program.  These programs enabled a number of individuals who were still institutionalized to be integrated into the community and prevent institutionalization of others.

Each of these homes served three (3) individuals who meet eligibility requirements under the Medicaid outline.

In 1990, MCAR, Inc. began to expand into community based residential services to include Family Living and In-Home Residential Services.  The Family Living Program provides residential services for an individual in a family setting rather than a group home.  MCAR contracts with an individual or a family, which provides the opportunity for a person to develop and grow as part of a family unit.  The In-Home Residential Program provides staff to work with an individual with mental retardation in their natural home.

By the mid 1990's, the Office of Mental Retardation began developing the multi-year plan, which calls for all state centers to close.  As individuals return to communities, MCAR Residential is dedicated to provide individualized services to meet the health and welfare of each person to assure a safe transition from state centers.

Over the past years, MCAR instituted many philosophical program and administrative changes.  They added approximately 300 individuals to their vibrant staff in order to carry out their new programs.  The Mercer County Association for the Retarded Children is now called MCAR, Inc. and is located on North Hermitage Road in Hermitage.  It is a non-profit organization governed by a fifteen member Board of Directors that is elected by our membership.  It has developed vocational, recreational and residential facilities in order to assist our developmentally disabled individuals to become more independent and contributing members of society.

MCAR's workshop, now considered a prevocational center, has also grown in size since its beginning.  An additional 14 acres adjoining the present MCAR property was donated by the Pennsylvania National Guard Armory in December, 1975.  Also, in that month, a new wing was added to the present MCAR facility.  The Furniture Refinishing Department opened for business in its new building on North Hermitage Road in April, 1995.  The Dan Cinicola Building was constructed to house the Pallet and Machine Shop in 1986.  MCAR purchased the building previously occupied by the Blind Association adjacent to MCAR in 1990, converting it to a facility for Administration offices.  The Mechenbier Center in Greenville opened in August, 1994.