History

Occupational Development Center is a nonprofit organization that was founded in 1948 as the Child Development Center.  The concept for establishing the Child Development Center, which would provide tutorial instruction to children with developmental disabilities in an attempt to assimilate them into the community culture, was conceived in 1948 by the mother of a child with mental retardation who rejected the agonizing alternative of institutionalizing her son. 

By 1955, the demand for facilities necessitated the decision to undertake a building program.  The location was chosen and the Center was arranged and equipped to accommodate the needs of small children.  When the facility opened in 1956, 66 children with mental retardation under the age of 16 were enrolled in the program. 

In 1958, state legislation passed a law requiring each public school system to provide for the education of children with developmental disabilities until they reached age 16.  Since a state program was now going to be providing services which were the initial objective of the organization, the directors responded to the change by recognizing a need for a program to continue the vocational training and personal development of the individual with developmental disabilities. 

An Occupational Development Workshop was organized and a Federal Sheltered Workshop License was obtained.  The organization’s objective then became an endeavor to provide specific vocational training in an effort to rehabilitate individuals with developmental disabilities so that under constant supervision, jobs would be provided which would guarantee them continuing income in the hope that some day they could become completely self-sufficient.