Agnews Developmental Center: Agnews Developmental Center, founded in 1885 in San Jose, is California’s oldest surviving state institution for people with developmental disabilities. Agnews currently serves close to 350 people at an annual cost of nearly $300,000 per resident.

Closure Planning: The Agnews closure plan is based on the recommendations from an extensive planning process that involved Agnews residents and their family members, Agnews employees, regional centers, community advocates, and service providers.

One Step of Many: During the last three decades, California has closed four developmental centers and reduced its institutional population by 77%. But, in addition to the fewer than 350 people at Agnews, there are still almost 3,000 people with developmental disabilities living in other California developmental centers, and thousands more living in nursing facilities and other large private institutions.

A New Generation of Services: The Agnews Closure Plan seeks to replace an outmoded service model by utilizing long-established community-based services. The plan would also create a new generation of services for people with severe behavioral and medical needs:

• Develops new housing stock, in neighborhoods throughout the Bay Area, for people with significant medical or accessibility needs. This housing would be dedicated for its lifetime to people with developmental disabilities.

• Provides necessary medical care in small community home settings.

• Utilizes former developmental center employees with specialized skills in providing community services. Also, Agnews employees will be able to serve (in their homes) residents with whom they have had a long-term relationship.

• Establishes an improved quality assurance system, through a federal grant, to ensure that people moving out of Agnews have stable, high quality services.

Legal Obligation: California’s Lanterman Developmental Disabilities Services Act (1969) has long embodied the state’s obligation to minimize institutionalization by supporting people to live in integrated community settings.

In 1999, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Olmstead v L.C. and E.W., that the unnecessary segregation of people with disabilities in institutions is a form of discrimination in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Agnews Closure Part of a National Trend: For thirty-five years, throughout the nation, states have closed over 120 large state institutions as they transition to offering more modern and humane services in community settings.

Research Shows People Better Off: Both nationally and in California, people who move from developmental centers to their home communities are better off. This conclusion is based on the analysis by Dr. James Conroy and others of over 115,000 interviews with over 40,000 people with developmental disabilities and 15,000 of their family members. http://www.outcomeanalysis.com/reports.htm

Severity of Disability of People Living In Developmental Centers and Community: An overwhelming majority of people with the most severe disabilities already live successfully in their home communities.