HRC: The Hidden Hometown Hub

First established in 1973, the Human Resources Center began as a passion project intended to lend a helping hand to a severely underrepresented group of the community. Founded by a collective of local professionals and parents, HRC was established to provide services and support to individuals with disabilities in a time where there were very few options. At HRC’s inception, community acceptance of individuals with disabilities was sparse. But as understanding and knowledge of the disability community grew, so did the Human Resources Center.

What started as a small-scale passion project bloomed into the multi-county nonprofit corporation that we know as HRC today. However, despite public awareness of the disability community increasing, familiarity with HRC’s rapidly growing programs and services did not. The community came to understand HRC as the helping hand to individuals with disabilities -- but the “what” and “how” became shrouded in nuance. We hope you will allow us to re-introduce ourselves to the community in which we have been a part of for over 45 years.

The Human Resources Center provides support services to individuals with disabilities

throughout much of NEPA including Wayne, Pike, Carbon, Monroe, Lackawanna, and Susquehanna counties. Our consumers are individuals who have been diagnosed with an intellectual or developmental disability and seek progressive services options that address individualized goals and interests. Service plans are centered on the individual receiving said services, meaning no two plans are identical, and aim to encourage self-advocacy and independence. So, how do we do this?

All of HRC’s services can be categorized into one of three available programs: Community Participation Support (CPS), Residential, or Employment. CPS is home to two of our more popular programs, the first of which being our Vocational Training Facilities, and the second is a more life skills-based service option called the Day Program. Residential Services are broken up into three groups: Home and Community-Based services, a host family-style service called Lifesharing, and group living services in our Community Homes. And lastly HRC’s Employment services offer Supported Employment in the community, School to Employment transitional services, and HRC Manufacturing, which takes place in our VTC facilities.

At the Human Resources Center, our consumers learn lifelong skills that filter to nearly every aspect of life. Skills such as socialization, hygiene, money management, career coaching, cooking, cleaning, working with others, and so much more. In doing so, we employ over 400+ local professionals to provide the dedicated care and support needed to help our consumers succeed. What began simply as people helping people, blossomed into friends supporting friends, and now over 45 years later, the Human Resources Center is truly a family at its core.