The Pennsylvania Association of Resources for People with Mental Retardation (PAR) has recognized Carol B. Mitchell, President, CEO and co-founder of Verland, as the first PAR National Advocate of the Year. The award was presented at the 2003 PAR Solutions Conference held at the Holiday Inn Grantville, Pennsylvania on October 29^th.

This year, Carol B. Mitchell achieved 40 years working with and loving people who have mental retardation. She also celebrated 25 years since she co-founded Verland, where she has served as its Executive as it has grown to become a large agency in the Western Region of the Commonwealth.

In naming Carol B. Mitchell the PAR National Advocate of the Year, PAR celebrates Ms. Mitchell’s achievements and the work that she did as Pennsylvania’s representative to PAR’s national association, The American Network for Community Options and Resources (ANCOR), for the last 6 years.  As Pennsylvania’s representative, Ms. Mitchell helped to elevate PAR’s top priority to national awareness.  PAR’s top priority is to address the most serious issue facing the mental retardation system – obtaining the capacity to support Direct Support Professionals with family-sustaining wages, training and support to enable them to stay in the field and develop long-term relationships with people with mental retardation who need their support. 

Carol currently serves as a Regional Director on ANCOR’s Board of Directors and as Chairperson for the Public Relations Committee of ANCOR’s National Advocacy Campaign. In that role, she has been opening new doors to increase public awareness of the workforce issue which now has media spots in over 300 stations across the nation.  Ms. Mitchell was also the first Recipient of the Sinclair Broadcasting "Heroes of Human Services Award" in August of this year. The award is presented to individuals and organizations that have demonstrated outstanding achievement in the field of human services.

In presenting the award to Ms. Mitchell, PAR’s President and CEO Shirley Walker said, Carol has brought energy and caring into our national association, and she has made a great leap forward in helping us understand how to form new partnerships for public relations. 

PAR is a statewide association whose members provide the full range of supports and services to individuals with intellectual disabilities in more than 3200 locations in the Commonwealth in addition to providing numerous non-residential and in-home supports. The focus of the association’s mission is to ensure the continuing improvement of the quality of supports and services provided to individuals with intellectual disabilities.