Special Report
ACHIEVING DREAMS / ON THE COVER
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Enriching lives and erasing
barriers for Jews with
developmental disabilities.
Keri Guten Cohen
Story Development Editor
A
grassroots effort started in 1969
by Detroit Jewish parents of chil-
dren with developmental dis-
abilities has grown into a model program
that today helps more than 600 adults and
children with disabilities to live inclusive,
dignified lives in the community.
JARC, based in Farmington Hills, is cel-
ebrating its 40th anniversary this year and,
though new programs have been added, its
mission remains constant: to enable people
with developmental disabilities to live rich,
meaningful lives as respected members of
the community in settings of their choice;
to access a Jewish way of life; to provide
support to families; and to educate and
sensitize the public about people with dis-
abilities and their value to society.
The founding parents worried about the
future of their adult children. After they
died, what would happen to their children?
Forty years later, founding board member
Sara Mitteldorf knows her 65-year-old
daughter Barbara will be well cared for.
Mitteldorf, 89, lives at Meer Jewish
Apartments in West Bloomfield. Barbara
lives less than two miles away in one of
JARC's 20 group homes and works at an
Arby's restaurant. Many of the women
Barbara lives with are friends she's known
since she entered a group home at age 35.
Some she's known since childhood.
"She's phenomenal," Sara said. "It's
amazing how she's grown; I never would
have believed it."
She recalls the early meetings among
the like-minded parents.
"One night I said, `What would every
Jewish mother want for her child? A home.
A Jewish home."
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The fundraising began. A useful tool
that cost the fledgling group $10,000 was
producing a professional film, Barbara
and Yetta, starring a young Barbara
Mitteldorf and Yetta, a young Jewish
woman in a state institution. The film
effectively contrasted their lives and the
conditions in which they lived.
Barbara and other young adults with
disabilities are shown doing Israeli danc-
ing at the Jewish Community Center;
Yetta sits in a large dining hall, lost in the
crowd.
Adding their own donations to those
they raised in the community, the group
opened Detroit's first Jewish group home
in 1972.
"It was a very innovative idea — young
Jewish adults safe in a Jewish setting;'
Mitteldorf said. "We didn't want a home,
but a Jewish home. It's been a great thing
for me. And Barbara — well, I'm the
luckiest mother in the world."
Out Of The Shadows
A major change came in 1977, when
Michigan legislation went into effect
that allowed group homes with six or
less people to open in any neighborhood
without permission of a local zoning
authority. Previously, a permit was need-
ed; not granting one was a way to keep
group homes out.
Rather than having "mental-health
ghettos" in the inner city, often filled with
people from state mental institutions
that were closing around that time, group
homes now could be sprinkled among
suburban neighborhoods.
JARC's founding parents knew a
change was needed. They reconstituted
their board, bringing in broader commu-
nity representation — and a new leader.
Joyce Keller became executive director in
1978 and would lead for 30 years.
"A new board, a new law — my timing
was impeccable Keller said. "There were
a lot of opportunities.
"When the second home opened in
Oak Park in 1978, there was a lot of
pent-up demand and excitement — 500
people came to the dedication."
Such community support helped forge
a relationship with the local public fund-
ing agency, Macomb Oakland Regional
Center (MORC). Three more group
homes opened that year; the last was
fully funded by MORC.
"It was a very exciting time Keller
said. "We took almost everyone in a
[state] institution out — all the Jews and
7'
some not Jewish. All factors played into
us being able to burst forth."
It wasn't without difficulty. Some com-
munities still didn't want group homes
in their neighborhoods. Protests were
mounted. And, in 1982, a home was
firebombed before it opened. But JARC
didn't relent and rebuilt the home, hiring
24-hour security for a while.
Soon success built upon success.
Money began being donated for more
homes, which were named after the
donors. Awareness of JARC (then the
Jewish Association for Residential
Care) and the people it served spread.
Volunteers now number 1,000.
JARC at 40 on page 12
October 8 • 2009 11