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Fast Facts Did you know... • In 1954, seven families of children with varying degrees of developmental disabilities created The Clark County Association for Retarded Citizens. • They had been told their kids were uneducable and unemployable… throw away people. • They believed in the potential of their children and they loved them and the vision of a future Opportunity Village was born. • When the CCARC was formed in the 50’s, children with intellectual disabilities were denied an education.
• In the mid 60’s, public laws took effect and children with this disability were admitted into special education classes. CCARC evolved into an employment training center and became known as Opportunity Village. • OV presently serves 3,000 people a year and 935 clients every day in three state of the art campuses and employment training centers- named after our donors. • Over 50% of OV’s enrolled populations are served in community based programs. • Economic impact studies are commissioned each year for Opportunity Village. In 2010, OV saved taxpayers $22 million. • One third of the people OV serves became disabled after accident or illness. • We own our three campuses outright, having raised all of the money locally; we are in our buildings debt free!
• In 2010 OV was responsible for 3 million dollars in wages paid to people in community jobs throughout the Las Vegas Valley. • OV has 935 client employees and more than 100 have a profound disability. • OV owns and operates a document destruction business, shredding 15 tons of documents every day. This business generates 1.5 million dollars each year. Our document destruction business is NAID (National Association of Information Destruction) certified. Companies currently under contract: IRS, Clark County, Caesars Entertainment Group, St Rose Hospital Group, UMC, NV Energy. • OV cleans over 1 million sq ft of office and industrial space and another million in parking lot and landscaping projects. (Clark County Govt. Center, McCarran Airport Concourse C, Veteran’s Administration Buildings) • OV serves almost 1 million meals annually to airmen at Nellis AFB. OV also runs the Nellis AFB Postal Services and Base Information Transfer Center. • OV is the original manufacturer of the Elvis Presley scarf. Elvis was a customer and Colonel Parker would come to OV regularly. OV made Elvis’ “Live at the Hilton” buttons and made the ribbons for Elvis “Hound Dogs”. • OV clients shred, shrink wrap, package, mail, collate, heat seal, promotional buttons, document imaging, rag out, industrial washing and more.
• Almost every person that we serve has multiple disabilities. The primary disability is mental retardation (intellectual disability) an IQ of 70 or below. Related disabilities include; developmental disabilities, blindness, deafness, cerebral palsy, wheelchair and heart disease. The people we serve tend to die sooner than the general population because they do not complain and go undiagnosed. • Disabilities include; Down Syndrome, Autism, TBI, Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, Prader Willy, Fragile X, Williams Syndrome. • In addition to the 935 adults, Opportunity Village each day serves over 200 school age children. They are served daily in collaboration with Clark County Special Education District…. Job Discovery, Career Exploration and the Windsong Grant Program. • In a unique collaboration with the school district, the Job Discovery Program is a program for young adults who are ready to graduate from special education. Supervised by OV program staff, children receive employment training at Springs Preserve, Boys and Girls Clubs, The Lied Animal Center, Variety Early Learning Center, The OV Thrift Store and the YMCA. |
• For the first 15 years of its existence, CCARC was a school, recreation center, thrift store and an employment training center serving people age birth-65. 
• In 2010 OV paid over 3.6 million dollars in training wages to people who most consider unemployable.
• OV is governed by two boards of Directors comprised of some of the most influential community leaders. The combined boards include 85 members. The OV Board of Directors set the standard for boards across the country.