Jefferson Rehabilitation Center is expanding its annual membership appeal beyond employees to have more representation on the board of governors of NYSARC Inc.

Increased representation with JRC’s parent company would mean JRC would have more input on policies that affect the agency and the people it directly serves, according to Michael C. Capone, JRC’s community relations manager.

JRC provides education, training, residences, inclusion and advocacy for individuals with developmental disabilities. According to the NYSARC website, its board of governors forms the agency’s positions on key policy issues, charges NYSARC management and sets the organizational platform to be adopted by NYSARC’s delegate assembly.

“In tough economic times, agencies like ours need a larger voice on the state and national levels,” Mr. Capone said. “One way to do that is a larger representation on the NYSARC board. To increase this representation, we need more members for our chapter. It’s like Congress — the more members, the more representation we have.”

Mr. Capone said the goal is to have 1,001 members, which would guarantee more representation on the NYSARC board. With staff alone, JRC is already at 325 members. The annual membership fee is $5, the lowest amount allowed by NYSARC.

Lifetime memberships are $100, and corporate annual memberships are $50.

With continued state and federal funding cuts each year, Mr. Capone said, JRC faces challenging times ahead.

“The key issue is we want to provide service as we always have, and we want to make sure there’s no change in our programs and services,” he said.

Members will be invited to all JRC events and will receive a quarterly newsletter, Mr. Capone said.

For information or to become a member, call Mr. Capone at 836-1260.

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