InterAgency Council is …

. . . an organization of non-profit agencies that provide services to 75,000 individuals with mental retardation and developmental disabilities, and their families, in the metropolitan New York area.

In 1976, the horrors revealed at the Willowbrook State School in Staten Island resulted in a “consent decree” which called for New York State to engage in a planned process for downsizing its institutions and moving former residents into community-based homes.  A small group of 30 non-profit agencies, mostly founded and operated by parents of children with mental retardation, banded together in an InterAgency Council to work with government in designing, developing and operating a challenging new service system.  While they were excited by the prospect of developing a community-based network of group homes to replace the large institutions, they were also worried that the needs of those at home who had never entered the institutions would take a back seat to the court-mandated services for those leaving the institutions.  IAC’s first goal was an agreement with government that we would help to build and operate the new homes, but only if government funds to develop programs for those leaving the institutions were matched on an equal basis with funds to develop programs for those still living at home.  This “50-50 agreement” stood as one of the foundations of New York State’s development policy for more than 15 years — IAC’s first victory, and a proud legacy!

By 1981, IAC had grown to 40 member agencies with many thousand consumers in care.  It was time for a “real” office and a full-time staff person.  IAC’s first Executive Director came on board to coordinate the activities of the member agencies in advocating for the needs of individuals with mental retardation and developmental disabilities and their families.  The program was highly successful and kicked off two decades of rapid growth and development … successful advocacy resulted in more programs being developed, more agencies joining IAC, and more needs for agency assistance being identified.  Within a year of opening our first office, we began to expand staff capacity — first, someone to take over the Albany advocacy and quickly on those heels, someone to provide technical assistance to members.  As the years passed, IAC’s continued growth has seen the addition of many programs to meet our member agencies’ ever-changing needs:  the Training Institute provides in-service staff training for some 4,000 individuals per year; the Capital Finance Pool provides low-cost, tax exempt group bond financing for capital development projects; the RS Net program brings the resources of web-based productivity to state reporting requirements; special initiatives permit the development of “best practices” manuals in emerging topics; system interface grants develop protocols for collaboration between the mr/dd service sector and its colleagues from health, foster care, day care, and education.  And throughout it all, the advocacy goes on!

Today, IAC counts in its membership some 120 member agencies providing services in New York City and the surrounding suburban counties of Rockland, Westchester, Nassau and Suffolk.  Our 120 member agencies operate some 900 programs for infants, children and adults. Together, they serve about 75,000 people each day in residences, special schools, job training programs, clinical and health services, and supports to families.