REACH grew out of the dream of a group of local families who wanted to organize activities for their children with disabilities. In 1977, REACH opened its doors in the basement of the Resurrection Lutheran Church in Juneau. What started out as a small, family-run group meeting in a church basement has developed into an agency now employing 300 staff and serving 400 individuals.

REACH Chronology

• In 1978, REACH incorporated and its first Board of Directors was elected.
• Initially, REACH focused on providing job opportunities for adults with disabilities. In 1984 REACH developed Ready Mail, a bulk-mail business, as a sheltered workshop for its clients. In 1985 REACH clients started cleaning the KTOO building as part of a vocational program and in 1987 the Custodial program began with a contract to clean the Federal Building. This program eventually expanded its contracts to state and federal facilities in Juneau as well as Ketchikan, Sitka and Skagway.
• In 1981, REACH’s first assisted living home opened as a result of a major gift to the organization. Thereafter in the 1980s, REACH opened two more group homes for adults and children with developmental disabilities.
• In 1988, the Infant Learning Program and Respite were added to the REACH umbrella. (The Infant Learning Program has since expanded with staff based in Petersburg and Haines, thus providing services to other small communities in northern Southeast Alaska.)
• In 1989 REACH started the Independent Living Program. (These services are now provided through Respite, Support Services, and the Assisted Living programs.)
• In 1991, REACH began providing semi-independent accessible housing with the construction of a six bedroom apartment complex.
• In the 1990s, following national trends, REACH closed its two children’s group homes and replaced those services with home-based support so children could live with their families.
• Also in the 1990s, the State of Alaska changed the way it addressed the needs of people with disabilities through the Medicaid program, providing individualized funding and more security to those covered.  Accordingly, in 1994, REACH secured Medicaid and Medicare certification to provide services under a Home and Community-Based Care Waiver which “waived” the need for services to be provided in an institution.
• In 1995, REACH constructed a second apartment complex for people with developmental disabilities and also opened the Haines office.
• In 1997 REACH developed its Intake and Resource Program for improved service delivery. In the same year, the supported work program was renamed Juneau Works and redesigned in an effort to meet employers on their own terms and to market the program as an employment service for people with disabilities. By this time, REACH Custodial had contracts to clean over 1 million square feet of office space each day.
• Again, responding to national trends, in May 2002 REACH closed its bulk-mail sheltered workshop and shifted focus to supporting community-based employment. A new Day Habilitation program was implemented to provide an alternative to employment for those clients unable to work in the community.
• In 2006, REACH terminated the existing Day Habilitation program and began the Canvas Art Studio so as to enhance the living skills and experience of REACH clients as well as life experiences of other people they interact with. Also in that year, REACH started a new enterprise, REACH Shredding, as an entry level jobs program for its clients.
• The Canvas Community Art Studio and Gallery celebrated a grand opening in 2008
• In 2009, ground was broken for a new Assisted Living Home in the Mendenhall Valley.

While the organization has grown in the past thirty years, the mission of REACH has stayed the same – to promote the independence and well-being of persons with developmental disabilities in the community of their choice.