What is CDC Resources?

CDC Resources, Inc. is a not-for-profit human services provider with a long tradition of focusing on the advocacy and service needs of children and adults with developmental disability.

This commitment is reflected in our mission statement and our services. The organization is governed by a volunteer Board of Directors from communities served [Benton, Carroll, Jasper, Newton, and White counties] and up to two at-large members with a developmental disability.

Currently, CDC serves over 450 children, adults, and families per year. The organization also serves as an important community resource to the general public, area businesses, and local governmental bodies. The organization also supports the Hoosier Prairie Arc and the Arc of Carroll County in outreach efforts with local families.

CHILDREN SERVICES are principally available in Rensselaer where the agency provides a Preschool class for the Special Services Cooperative and operates The Playscape, a fully licensed and inclusionary daycare center. The agency offers a broad range of community and agency based ADULT SERVICES fully accredited by CARF. This includes Day Services for pre-vocational and life skills training, Supported Living Services for home and community based supports, Group Homes for 24 hour residential services, Heartland Employment Services to develop/maintain community employment opportunities and CDC Industries offering packaging, custodial, assembly, salvage and inventory management to area businesses as well as venture activity to provide income and work experience for consumers who want jobs. CDC has also developed and sponsored HUD subsidized apartment projects in recent years through its Access Housing initiatives.

Community partners include Twin Lakes Kiwanis Club, Rensselaer Rotary, White County Community Foundation, Jasper Foundation, Carroll County Community Foundation, Newton County Community Foundation, Knights of Columbus (Monticello, Rensselaer, Delphi), Monticello Lions Club, White Co. Healthy Families, United Way of White County, Arc of Carroll County, Jefferson Township Community Fund (Kentland), Center Township Community Fund (Fowler), and the Morocco Lions Club, KV Works, Chamber of Commerce [Monticello, DeMotte, Carroll County & Rensselaer], Wabash Valley Mental Health Center, KIRPC, and Monticello Rotary.

History

In 1953, a group of determined Monticello parents and supporters incorporated to initiate services for children with mental retardation. These pioneers were frustrated because there was nothing available for disabled kids. Families joined together to bootstrap activities and raise community awareness. We remain indebted to these individuals for their foresight and spirit.

The next year an unrelated group from the Remington/Rensselaer area incorporated and began the Opportunity School in Rensselaer. Over the years this program grew to serve children from Newton and Benton Counties until 1966 when the state encouraged this Easter Seal affiliate to join with the operation in Monticello. Within a year the Arc of Carroll County had been formed and classes were expanded to the Methodist Church in Delphi. Programs were offered in churches and storefronts in Monticello, Rensselaer, Kentland, and Delphi over the next several years. Monticello programs were extended to provide craft projects for young adults and was based on S. Main Street in what is now a carpeting store. During this period in the late 60's, the organization moved facilities from Rensselaer to the Jordan School, east of Brook on S.R. 16, programs were offered for children and adults from this location for many years.

In 1971, the organization had reached the point where a name change was made to Comprehensive Developmental Centers, Inc., aka CDC, and its first professional executive director was hired. As the agency continued to grow plans were made for a campus to be constructed on county property south of Indiana Beach. Ground was broken on this grant funded project in 1974 and occupancy occurred the next year of first the Workshop building and then the main Administrative Center. These facilities still serve individuals from Carroll and White Counties and serve as the administrative hub for the organization.

The Jordan School was abandoned by the mid-70's and programs operated from the former Rensselaer High School until a new Rensselaer facility was opened at the east end of Angelica Street in 1979. That facility, expanded in 1998, remains the hub for services in Jasper, Benton, and Newton Counties.

During the early 1980's, CDC opened up its first Medicaid group home. At present, the agency has three group homes plus sponsorship of HUD subsidized housing in several rural communities. The agency also initiated successful Heartland Employment Services based in Monticello and Rensselaer in 1993. CDC continues to advance the quality and effectiveness of its rural services.