In 1998 support agencies for adults living with a developmental or intellectual disability didn't exist in the Eel River Valley. High schools, at the time, provided special day classes for students with such disabilities. Once those students graduated, however, most of them were turned away from colleges and employment leaving them bored, lonely, and uninvited from the community they grew up in. They would have to get up, often times before dawn, to be bussed out of the area and not return home until late in the evening each day. This forced them to lose sleep and valuable time they could be spending with their families.
Fed up with this injustice, a small group of Eel River Valley parents, who had children with intellectual disabilities, banded together to try and create a nonprofit program in Fortuna for their kids, and other adults like them, to attend after graduating high school. Their program idea was designed to help the individuals in attendance grow into happy, healthy, and successful adults living the fullest lives they could. Motivated and determined, they took the matter to the state and fought through bureaucratic red tape for an entire year. Until, finally, they were successful in creating a revolutionary support agency that was the first of it's kind in the Eel River Valley.
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The Diane Cathey Center was named after the daughter, Esther Diane Cathey (above right), of one of our founding parents, Lola Cathey (above left). Lola was instrumental in the establishment of the original program that was created in 1998. Over the years, the agency has evolved and expanded in ways the founding parents couldn't even have dreamed of. Today, the Diane Cathey Center is an umbrella corporation that now offers two programs for clientele to choose from, Community Integration and Independent Living Services. Individuals who wish to receive services from the DCC can choose to take part in one or both programs. Within each program, clients work with their individual support teams to create a plan for services that is tailor-made to fit their unique set of circumstances in order to provide them the best chance for an overall happy and successful life.
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