MENTAL RETARDATION

Construction Program

RESEARCH CENTERS

UNIVERSITY-AFFILIATED

FACILITIES

COMMUNITY FACILITIES

Secretary's Committee on

Mental Retardation

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF

HEALTH, EDUCATION, AND WELFARE

Robert H. Finch, Secretary

Patricia Reilly Hitt, Assistant Secretary
for Community and Field Services

Washington, D.C. 20201

March, 1969

FOREWORD

Federal support for categorical construction programs is a relatively new principle.

In fact, prior to 1963, no Federal legislation existed to support construction of facilities designed specifically for the mentally retarded.

Since the enactment in 1963 of the Mental Retardation Facilities and Mental Health Centers Construction Act (P.L. 88-164), three different but interrelated construction programs for the retarded have been initiated: Research Centers, University-Affiliated Facilities and Community Facilities. As of March 31, 1969, a total of 12 Research Centers, 18 University-Affiliated Facilities, and 242 Community Facilities had been approved and funded.

These construction programs were designed to provide assistance in three areas of concern: continuing research into the causes and means of prevention of mental retardation; inter-disciplinary training of professional personnel for research and service careers in both present and newly emerging programs; and establishment of a network of facilities where the retarded can obtain services in their own communities.

This publication reviews the current status of these three construction programs for the mentally retarded.

Special acknowledgement is given to Dr. Michael Begab, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and Mr. Vivian Hylton and Mr. Ronald Almack, Division of Mental Retardation, Rehabilitation Services Administration, for their contributions to this publication.

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(Mrs.) Patricia Reilly Hitt
Assistant Secretary for

Community and Field Services

INTRODUCTION

The Report of the President's Panel on Mental Retardation in 1962 resulted in a breakthrough of real significance for mental retardation programs. This Report was a culmination of the efforts of a group of distinguished Americans who studied the problem of mental retardation and reported on their findings. The Report outlined a number of areas for action, and provided a blueprint for planning and implementive programs of comprehensive services to the retarded. The Report in large measure was responsible for the subsequent enactment of a number of Federal laws affecting the retarded, including authority for new construction programs.

Subsequent to issuance of the Report, a special message on mental retardation and mental health was sent to Congress in 1963. The message outlined areas of concern and suggested possible approaches. Three areas given special attention were research and prevention, manpower and community based services. In the same year Congress enacted the first Federal categorical construction programs for the mentally retarded: "The Mental Retardation Facilities and Mental Health Centers Construction Act of 1963" (P.L. 88-164).

Briefly, P.L. 88-164 authorized appropriation of $329 million over a five-year period to provide: grants for construction of mental retardation facilities; grants for training professional personnel in the education of the handicapped and grants for conducting research relating to the education of the handicapped.

Title I, Part A, of P.L. 88-164, authorized project grants for the construction of public or nonprofit centers for research that would develop new knowledge for preventing and combatting mental retardation.

Title I, Part B, authorized project grants to assist in the construction of public or nonprofit clinical facilities for the mentally retarded, associated with a college or university, which: (1) provide, as nearly as practicable, a full range of inpatient and outpatient services; (2) aid in demonstrating provision of specialized services for diagnosis, treatment, training, or care; and (3) aid in the clinical training of physicians and other specialized personnel needed for research, diagnosis, treatment, training or care.

Title I, Part C, authorized Federal grants to States to assist in the construction of specially designed public and nonprofit community facilities to provide diagnosis, treatment, education, training, custodial (personal care, and sheltered workshops for the retarded.

The Mental Retardation Amendments of 1967 (P.L. 90-170) provided for a new grant program to pay a portion of the costs for compensation of professional and technical personnel in community facilities for the mentally retarded.