ACCC celebrating milestone, lookiing to next 65 years

Since opening its doors in Jamestown on Sept. 21, 1941, Anne Carlsen Center for Children has provided education, therapy and residential support to children and young adults with special needs.

“Those needs have evolved over the years, but our underlying mission remains the same,” says Chief Executive Officer Dan Howell. “We are committed to helping individuals become as independent as possible.”

That doesn’t always mean providing residential services. “We are focusing much more effort on developing outreach programs to support individuals in their home schools and communities,” he said.

“While there is always going to be a number of children who will need residential support, whether for the short- or long term, we recognize the need to support efforts to keep children at home and in school. When that happens, everyone succeeds,” Howell said.

Howell said a number of outreach services are in place already and as part of the organization’s strategic growth efforts, plans are being developed for additional services based on results of a marketing survey the Center commissioned.

“We surveyed people around the state who are working with youth who have special needs,” Howell said, “to determine if needs are being met and what other needs people have.”

The survey revealed a need for many of the things already being done by ACCC. “But we also found out people are not overly familiar with what we do on an outreach basis. That’s something we will be working to change,” Howell said.

65 YEARS: A LOOK BACK

CEC starts here

We have been looking through our history books as we celebrate our 65th anniversary and found a significant connection to North Dakota’s Council on Exceptional Children (CEC) chapter. As reported in our newsletter in 1944:

The North Dakota Chapter of the International Council for Exceptional Children was organized at a meeting held at the Crippled Children’s School in 1944. ACCC’s first superintendent, Rev. Schoenbohm, was elected president.

"Although the North Dakota Chapter is primarily interested in the furthering of educational opportunities for crippled children, possibilities of extending services to other types of exceptional children will be considered," according to the Ambassador.