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Hattie Larlham is an American nonprofit organization that creates opportunities for more than 1,600 children and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities in the state of Ohio. Services provided encompass medical, work training and employment, recreational, educational, and residential, catering to both children and adults.

Named after its founder, Hattie Gadd Larlham, the organization is headquartered in Mantua, Ohio. In 2021, it celebrated its 60th anniversary.

In 2016, Hattie Larlham was named one of the 99 best places to work in Northeast Ohio for the seventh time.

History

Hattie Lena Gadd Larlham created her organization in 1961 and legally established the Hattie Larlham Foundation in 1963. She became inspired to action when, as a nurse, she experienced first-hand the lack of specialized care available for children with developmental disabilities. She took a neighbor's daughter, who was born with inoperable hydrocephalus, into her home to provide care for the child. Not long after, she was caring for ten children in her family's small farmhouse and soon had a waiting list of 100 children.

Larlham drew national attention for her efforts and eventually served as a disabilities issue advisor to U.S. Presidents Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, and George H. W. Bush. Her accomplishments also earned her a place in the Ohio Women's Hall of Fame. She died in 1996 and is buried at the Hattie Larlham Center for Children with Disabilities.

In 2008, Hattie Larlham completed a three-year, $16–million-dollar renovation and expansion of its flagship location, the Hattie Larlham Center for Children with Disabilities.

In 2015, the nonprofit officially expanded its services to central Ohio when it acquired the Association for the Developmentally Disabled (ADD), headquartered in Westerville, Ohio.

Community-based programs

Constant Companions

Constant Companions is Hattie Larlham's adult day support program. The program maintains seven locations throughout northeast Ohio: Uniontown, Twinsburg, Barberton, North Canton, Bedford Heights, Stow, and Middleburg Heights. The program emphasizes community integration, volunteerism, civic engagement, and education.

Hattie's Doggie Day Care & Boarding

Hattie's Doggie Day Care & Boarding was a pet boarding operation with locations in Cleveland, North Canton, and Twinsburg. These facilities offered day care and long-term boarding for dogs, as well as grooming services. Employees with disabilities cared for the animals as they worked alongside professional job coaches. Hattie's Doggie Day Care & Boarding began with a location in Green, Ohio and expanded to a second site in Twinsburg in August 2010. A third location opened near Cleveland on May 14, 2012. The 5,300-square-foot facility is the largest to date.

Past Programs

Hattie's Creative Arts

Hattie Larlham Creative Arts was a program that gave participants with intellectual and developmental disabilities the opportunity to communicate through artistic expression.

In 2013, artwork from Hattie Larlham Creative Arts was juried into the Orange Park Art Festival in Jacksonville, Florida, and into the Gulf Coast Fine Art Festival in Fort Myers, Florida, solely on its merits, with no special consideration given to the fact that the artists had developmental disabilities.

In August 2015, Hattie's Creative Arts developed a presence at the Summit Artspace. Hattie's Creative Arts worked with the Akron Area Arts Alliance to develop the 596-square-foot space on the third floor of the Summit Artspace building.

Hattie's Gardens

Hattie's Gardens was a work training program that employs adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Employees with disabilities learned chemical-free growing practices such as crop rotation to prevent soil depletion, composting, using beneficial insects to manage crop-damaging insects, spreading mulches to suppress weeds, and using disease-resistant cultivars.

Hattie's Gardens maintained locations at Old Trail School in Bath, Ohio and the Akron Zoo in Akron. In addition to employing people with developmental disabilities, Hattie's Gardens at Old Trail School served as a learning center for students and engages them in the entire food cycle. Old Trail School also served produce from Hattie's Gardens in school lunches.

Hattie's Food Hub

In November 2014, The Plain Dealer reported that Hattie Larlham would open a Northeast Ohio Food Hub and Workforce Development Center near the site of Hattie's Gardens at the Akron Zoo. Construction on the project began in the summer of 2015 and was completed in June 2016. Formerly located in the Cedar Douglas neighborhood of Akron, the 4,400-square-foot facility featured a grocery market, a community meeting space, and a commercial processing kitchen. Hattie's Food Hub provided work training to people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Employees prepared and sell fresh produce grown at Hattie's Gardens and by Northeast Ohio farmers. The center sold produce in an area that was previously classified as a food desert, meaning no fresh produce or food was available within a one-mile radius.

References

1. Hattie Larlham "Official Hattie Larlham Website"
2. Hattie Larlham "Hattie Larlham – Contact Us"
3. Smith, Diane (August 14, 2011). "Hattie Larlham's haven of hope turns 50". Record Courier. Retrieved February 14, 2012.
4. "Hattie Larlham wins Northcoast 99 Award for seventh time". Retrieved December 19, 2016.
5. Hattie Larlham " Hattie Larlham – History"
6. Corrigan, Jo Ellen (March 30, 2011). "Hattie Larlham pioneered care for special-needs kids: Women's History Month". The Plain Dealer. Retrieved February 14, 2012.
7. Ohio Women's Hall of Fame
8. Journal of Hospice and Palliative Nursing; volume 9, issue 6; Hattie Larlham Opens New Facility to Provide Specialized Care to People With Disabilities; December 2007.
9. "Hattie Larlham Merger Brings Services to Central Ohio" (Press release). Twinsburg, Ohio: Hattie Larlham. November 3, 2014. Retrieved February 6, 2015.
10. Ketchum, Susan (December 2, 2011). "Program pairs rescued pets with developmentally disabled in Middleburg Heights". Sun News. Retrieved February 22, 2012.
11. Bates, Jessica (December 6, 2011). "Doggy Daycare More Than Just Place to Drop Off Pet". Fox 8. Retrieved February 5, 2015.
12. Wendel, Kim (August 21, 2010). "Twinsburg: Second Hattie Larlham 'Doggie Day Care & Boarding' opens". WKYC. Retrieved March 6, 2012.
13. Ryan, Terrence (May 2012). "Doggie Day Care & Boarding to open this month near the airport" (PDF). News, Views and Notes. Cuyahoga County Board of Developmental Disabilities. Retrieved February 5, 2015.
14. Bernstein, Margaret (June 19, 2011). "Through art, disabled residents at Hattie Larlham Center making huge strides". Cleveland Plain Dealer. Retrieved February 22, 2012.
15. "Artists with Disabilities to Exhibit Work at Popular Jacksonville Art Festival" (Press release). Twinsburg, Ohio: Hattie Larlham. July 2, 2013. Archived from the original on June 10, 2015. Retrieved October 7, 2013.
16. "Hattie's Creative Arts at Summit Artspace: Hattie Larlham". pitchengine.com. Retrieved December 19, 2016.
17. "Hattie's Gardens Blossoms at Old Trail School" (Press release). Twinsburg, Ohio: Hattie Larlham. May 2013. Archived from the original on February 18, 2015. Retrieved February 17, 2015.
18. "Akron Zoo partners with Hattie's Gardens to improve the community" (Press release). Twinsburg, Ohio: Hattie Larlham. April 2014. Archived from the original on February 18, 2015. Retrieved February 17, 2015.
19. Miller, Julie (Winter 2014). "New sustainable garden takes root at Old Trail School". Independent School Magazine. National Association of Independent Schools. Retrieved February 17, 2015.
20. Farkas, Karen (November 6, 2014). "Hattie Larlham to open 'food hub' in Akron to process and sell produce". Cleveland Plain Dealer. Retrieved February 17, 2015.
21. "Hattie Larlham breaks ground on food hub processing center - Akronist". Akronist. August 4, 2015. Retrieved December 19, 2016.
22. Byard, Katie. "Akron vacant lot to be transformed into a "food hub," featuring a produce market and commercial kitchen". www.ohio.com. Retrieved December 19, 2016.
23. "Hattie's Food Hub market, education center opens in Akron". cleveland.com. Retrieved December 19, 2016.
24. "Hattie Larlham to open Akron Food Hub on June 23". Crain's Cleveland Business. June 20, 2016. Retrieved December 19, 2016.
25. "Hattie's Food Hub Is About to Get Fresh". The Devil Strip. April 18, 2016. Retrieved December 19, 2016.

External links

• Official website

• Non-profit organizations based in Ohio
• Organizations established in 1961