How It All Began!

In 1959, a group of Ocala parents of children with intellectual and developmental disabilities embarked on a journey that we proudly carry forward today by forming the New Hope School for Children.  In the early 60s these groups formed all over the U.S. and soon formed into the Association of Retarded Children (ARC).  In the early 1970's they changed the name to Association of Retarded Citizens to encompass all ages.  In the 80s we dropped the acronym, and we just became known as Arc.  However, in February 2007, the ARC Marion Board of directors decided to change the name once again, since we are not affiliated with either the state or national Arc.  Our name is Advocacy Resource Center (ARC), because that's what we do; advocate for our clients!