Mission
Training people with intellectual and other developmental disabilities for success in life and work. In 1951, at a time when there were no special education classes or services for children or adults with disabilities in Orange County, several parents got together in Anaheim to form a support group with the goal of creating services for their children. Within a year, they launched classes for children with intellectual disabilities taught by three volunteer teachers on the grounds of Orange Coast College. A few years later, they formed the first public school class for children with intellectual disabilities in Garden Grove and would eventually operate Hope Haven school programs in Costa Mesa, Orange, and Huntington Beach. In 1955, the organization formally incorporated as the Orange County Association for Retarded Children (OCARC), a name that would later be changed to Orange County ARC to reflect person-first language and a shift away from using the word “retarded” in the field of disabilities.