The Arc of King County Programs
Local Leadership & Advocacy Trainings
The Arc of King County’s community leadership and disability awareness trainings provide participants with the tools to advocate for themselves and their loved ones, as well as inspire and empower participants to become change agents in their communities. The Arc of King County began as a grassroots movement, advocating for system change and rights to inclusion and education for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Today we are leveraging 75 years of experience to create opportunities for underserved populations, including ethnic communities, to identify, understand and participate in individual and system change through informed individual and community advocacy. The Arc of King County envisions strong and effective leadership, education, service and advocacy for and with individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families leading to more inclusive, informed and empowered communities as a direct result of these training programs.
Parent to Parent
The Arc’s Parent-to-Parent program provides peer support, mentoring and networking resources, as well as strong supportive programming and education, for parents to better understand and support their child with I/DD. Parent-to-Parent matches parents whose children have been recently diagnosed with Helping Parents whose children have a similar diagnosis, and who are trained to provide compassionate, empathetic support, coping skills, and information about disability and community resources. Parent-to-Parent provides evidence-based education and training to parents about the underlying causes of their child's behaviors, positive interventions that reduce stress and isolation, and suggests how best to promote pro-social behaviors in their children to reduce potentially punitive actions by parents. Outreach to immigrant, refugee and African American communities has demonstrated the need to offer Parent-to-Parent trainings and workshops to underserved communities, with appropriate linguistic support for non-English speaking participants.
Information and Referral
Each year, The Arc of King County receives calls and inquiries from individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities, parents, siblings, caring community members and professionals seeking community resources and information. Our information and referral specialists work with callers to identify their specific need and provide the best possible resources or support. The Arc’s growing multicultural information and referral capacity enables us to support immigrant, refugee and African American populations with information and referral specialists who are fluent in Vietnamese, Somali, Korean, Spanish and English.
Recent Successes and Current Challenges
We are proud of the many achievements of The Arc of King County over out last fiscal year.
1006 families were provided with Information and Referral Services to better navigate the developmental disability system
294 individuals were added to the Parent to Parent Support Program support groups for a total of 3357
66 parents of newly diagnosed children were matched to, and received critical support from, trained Helping Parent mentors;
66 individuals were empowered to find and keep affordable housing through Representative Payee Support.
15 individuals graduated from The Arc's Advocating for Change Together class, a series of classes that provide participants with the tools to advocate for themselves and their loved ones, as well as inspire and empower participants to become agents of change in their communities.
134 senior family caregivers received support in caring for their loved ones;
1056 parents, guardians and family members, representing 899 families, advocated for their children through the King County Parent Coalition.
523 agencies across Washington State participate in the Respite Care Coalition.
The Arc of King County seeks funding to: create an inclusive society for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities, expand culturally competent outreach to families, community partners, agencies, and underrepresented community groups, support and empower individuals with an intellectual or developmental disability.