About Us

Our mission

The Arc of Hancock County promotes and protects human rights of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities(i/dd) and supports their full inclusion and participation in the community throughout their lifetimes.

Our Purpose

A. To promote the general welfare of persons with developmental disabilities in Hancock County and elsewhere

B. To foster development of programs in their behalf

C. To encourage research related to developmental disabilities

D. To advise and aid parents in the solution of their problems and to coordinate their efforts and activities

E. To develop a better understanding of the problems of persons with developmental disabilities by the public

F. To cooperate with all public, private and religious agencies and professional groups in the furtherance of these ends

G. To associate with and support the Arc of Indiana and Arc of the United States to promote the common cause

H. To serve locally as a clearinghouse for gathering and giving out information about developmental disabilities

Our History

The Arc of Hancock County is a nonprofit, nonpolitical, and nonsectarian organization that was formed April 1961 by concerned parents of children with Intellectual & Developmental Disabilities(I/DD).

Meet Our Executive Director

Joanne Tedesco

Back home in Indiana after spending a year in North Georgia, where she created the Cumming Mayor’s Disability Council, Tedesco, a disability advocate and mother of two amazing girls, one with a disability, worked with (then) City Council Member, Scott Willis, and Mayor Andy Cook to implement the Westfield Mayor’s Council on Disabilities where she focused on breaking down barriers (housing, employment, transportation), issues that individuals with disabilities often face.

Tedesco is also no stranger to the Arc, as an Arc of Indiana Advocacy Network team member, she has fielded calls from Hoosiers throughout the state looking for disability-related assistance, resources, and support and sat on the Board.

Back on the ground, Tedesco continues to explore opportunities where she can utilize her gifts to help those underserved, misunderstood, and often forgotten. As the Executive Director of the Arc of Hancock County, she will support current initiatives, advocate, educate, and build partnerships within the community to deliver positive change so that people with disabilities can lead a quality life where all things ARE possible.

Before her advocacy work, Tedesco worked as a public and media relations professional where she serviced an array of clients with integrated communications and marketing challenges in Chicago and Pittsburgh and rebranded Columbia College in Columbia, MO.