Mission Statement

Friends of SCLARC, Inc., in partnership with South Central Los Angeles Regional Center, seeks to improve the lives of individuals living in South Los Angeles who have been diagnosed with mental retardation, autism, cerebral palsy and epilepsy. Friends of SCLARC, Inc. provides South Central Los Angeles Regional Center consumers and families with much needed funding and resources during times of emergency and for crisis intervention. Most importantly, Friends of SCLARC, Inc.  is an advocacy group that spearheads SCLARC’s funding initiatives by soliciting charitable organizations, foundations and individuals for grant money, in-kind services and donations.

Our History

In 1984, The Friends of SCLARC began as a  group of concerned volunteers who joined together in order to help promote public awareness about developmental disabilities in the surrounding community and raise funds for South Central Los Angeles Regional Center (SCLARC). SCLARC one (1) of 21 private, non-profit centers contracting with the State of California's, Department of Developmental Services to provide diagnosis, evaluation, case management and life-long planning to 10,200 individuals who have been diagnosed with mental retardation, cerebral palsy, autism, and epilepsy.

Thanks to a very generous donation from Michael Concepcion, founder and CEO of Grand Jury Records, in April 2005 the Friends of SCLARC  went  from being a small, internal emergency  funding stream within the regional center to becoming a free-standing, incorporated, non-profit entity—separate from, but still in support of—SCLARC.