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The mission of the Elaine Clark Center is to enable children of all abilities to become confident and contributing citizens of the community through an innovative model of education, therapeutic play and experiential opportunities.
About us
For over 50 years, The Elaine Clark Center has offered unique programs in an inclusive environment where children with special needs learn and play alongside children who are typically developing.
For five decades, our organization has supported children with special needs and their families by providing an innovative model of education and therapeutic play that maximize the developmental growth of our students. During the mid-1960s, Sister Robert Therese of the Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church in Atlanta began tutoring young children with developmental disabilities who were unable to attend traditional school. The center was incorporated in 1969 and has since built a reputation of providing superior support for children with special needs that have traditionally been underserved in the Metro-Atlanta area.
Our History
Our journey began in the 1970’s when we began serving children up to the age of 20 years old with developmental disabilities. We provided services to families during school hours that were not available in the public school system. As trends changed in the late 1970’s with IDEA laws mandating public k-12 education for children with developmental disabilities, our program also changed. By the mid 1980’s, the Center shifted focus to serving only children birth through 3 years old.
During the next decade, service ages increased to 5 years old following trends in early childhood programs and parental childcare needs. In the 1990’s, the Center became an inclusive child development program that provided a diverse community of learning that benefited both typically developing children and children with special needs. The organization was accredited by the National Association of Young Children (NAEYC) in 1999, and we have maintained our accreditation ever since.
In 2001, the Frank Clark Memorial Scholarship Fund was established to ensure children had access to services regardless of their families’ financial means. In 2003, the Center’s leadership launched its community outreach initiative, aiming to integrate child development, social services, and educational training to meet the needs of young children at risk for developmental delay. Then in 2007, a therapy program was added to the already expanded program to meet the speech, occupational, and physical therapeutic needs of our students.
During the summer of 2009, the Center merged with Heart of Hope Academy, an accredited nonprofit organization that served children with developmental challenges between the ages of 5 and 22. The merger established the organization as Atlanta’s foremost non-profit agency providing comprehensive services for children and young adults with special needs between the ages of 6 weeks to 22 years old. In 2010, the Center embarked on a $3.5 million capital campaign to double the size of the facility. Fast forward to 2018, we completed the building renovations, adding 9000 square feet to our facility.
In 2019, we celebrated our 50th Birthday in our new facility with a commitment to programming and the ability to expand that programming. In 2020 and 2021, we faced many challenges with the emergence of Covid-19 and the effects of a prolonged global health pandemic. We have emerged from the pandemic stable with an increased passion to provide in-person services to a population that needs to connect interpersonally with their community. This year, the STABLE Program, designed to stabilize childcare amid the Covid-19 pandemic, ended. Yet, we push on providing services to our families in need. As we start our new fiscal year, we have completed a new strategic plan with goals to increase enrollment, strengthen impact and outcomes for students, and prepare for extending our impact beyond the campus!
