The record group includes administrative and publicity material, material documenting resistance to community placement in Michigan, community placement legislation, the closing of the Plymouth Center Developmental Disabilities, and videocassettes.
The Macomb-Oakland Regional Center, Inc. (MORC) is a private non-profit human services agency. Established in 1972, MORC has been a leader in assisting people with developmental and psychiatric disabilities who have chosen to live in the community instead of in institutions, nursing homes, or with their families. MORC's mission statement states that the organization is "dedicated to serving men, women, and children with differing abilities so they may, as true citizens, celebrate life, freedom, and independence in the community." Many of the people served by MORC have challenging needs; nearly all have disabilities which substantially impair life functions and have limited resources available to them. MORC provides support and housing for people with developmental and psychiatric disabilities, respite care for people with developmental disabilities, and general rehabilitation services. In October 2000 MORC provided services for more than 4,500 people with a variety of disabilities.
The original MORC facility was conceived as a traditional facility called the Macomb Oakland Regional Retardation Center and designed to provide housing for 650 people. The 1970s and 1980s, however, saw a growing trend toward placing people with developmental disabilities in "group homes" within the community. Proponents of this new model of supporting the disabled argued that people with disabilities have the legal right to live in the least restrictive environment possible, and that even people with severe disabilities would have a better chance of living fuller lives and developing new skills in small homes rather than large, crowded institutions. By placing people in group and foster homes MORC helped to gradually reduce the number of people residing in institutions in Michigan. MORC, along with the Wayne County Community Living Agency, a State Department of Mental Health agency that MORC staff helped to establish, assisted in removing more than 5000 people from institutions in Michigan. Another 1000 people were able to avoid institutions all together, as they were placed directly into community homes. MORC's community placement efforts were often met with resistance from neighbors who owned property near proposed group homes. The issue generated a large amount of controversy and press coverage, as residents filed lawsuits or resorted to other methods in efforts to prevent group homes from being established in their neighborhoods.
For the first twenty-four years of its existence MORC operated as a state agency within the Michigan Department of Community Health. In September 1996 the state closed the MORC facility, but through contracts with local community mental health boards and authorities, MORC Inc. was authorized to continue to provide services as a nonprofit organization. MORC contracts with local community mental health boards and authorities and the Michigan Departments of Consumer and Industry Services and intermediate school districts and subcontracts with more than 150 nonprofit agencies within its communities.
For more information on MORC, INC., see their website at http://www.morcinc.com/htm/index.htm
