Dear Friends:

We are pleased to present to you the 2007 Annual Report of The Arc of Jefferson County. We know you will enjoy reviewing the activities, progress, and achievements of The Arc during the past year.

Our most important achievement during the year was the development of four new homes to serve adults with mental retardation and their families in Jefferson and Blount Counties. This brings the total number of homes now operated by The Arc of Jefferson County to sixty one.

We had a site visit conducted in October 2007 by the Alabama Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation. We are pleased to report to you that all programs and services of The Arc achieved a two year certification, the maximum possible.

Toward the end of the year, we were in negotiations to purchase a building in Cleveland, Alabama. This will serve as a sheltered workshop and provide additional office space for our Blount County operations. In addition to these expansionary activities and preparation for site visit certification, The Arc continued all of its services, programs, and other activities with and for people with mental retardation and their families in Jefferson and Blount Counties. In this way, we achieved another outstanding and productive year.

Again, we hope you enjoy reading about the accomplishments and developments at your Arc during 2007. More importantly, I hope you will find a way to visit an Arc program or service, volunteer, make a contribution, or just befriend one of the individuals that we serve. Your help has been instrumental in our continued success throughout 2007.

We hope we can count on you in the future for similar assistance on behalf of the persons with mental retardation and their families whom we serve in our community.