Keith Larsen from The Arc of Mesa county was the only advocate on the Western Slope of Colorado for over 30 years. He served as many families and individuals as possible from well over 20 counties. As he is nearing retirement and The Arc funding was more consistent, he began to find the individuals that would create and maintain new chapters of The Arc on the Western Slope.
Our Founder, Danielle Angotti, is one of those people that showed the passion and drive in serving families with children with special needs. Danielle is involved in the Families In Leadership Training (FILT), a program run by Family Voices. For her final project in FILT, Danielle was going to start a support group for families with children with special needs. She put together an evening of professionals that she felt local families would be interested in hearing about including; The Colorado Children’s Campaign, Decoding Dyslexia, and The Arc of Mesa County. After this meeting, Keith persuaded Danielle to start a more formal advocacy network- The Arc of West Central CO. Danielle knew she already had the support of her friends and community to form this new nonprofit. Through the support and guidance of The Arc of Mesa County, The Arc of WCCO completed the nonprofit paperwork, was accepted by the IRS as a 501c3, and completed the bylaws appropriate to being an Arc affiliate.
In January of 2016, The Arc of US formally recognized The Arc of WCCO. In March of 2016, The Arc of Colorado finalized the counties to serve and recognized The Arc of WCCO as an official organization.