Respect, Collaboration, and Empowerment at the St. Louis Arc

Posted on September 30, 2025

By Jaqueline Cooper, CQL Quality Enhancement Specialist

The St. Louis Arc is constantly striving for the next level of excellence, ensuring that inclusivity is at the heart of everything they do in St. Louis, Missouri. Here, all are truly welcome! From families, to staff, to people receiving services, the organization continues to build a vibrant community rooted in advocacy, support, and opportunity. Their mission is clear: to empower people with IDD and their families to lead better lives by providing a lifetime of high-quality services, family support, and advocacy; guided by core beliefs of respect, collaboration, and empowerment.

One of the most powerful ways The St. Louis Arc supports people is by fostering self-advocacy. Family Navigators host “Paper Parties” at hubs throughout the St. Louis region, guiding parents through complex systems like Medicaid and Social Security Disability Insurance, while exploring supported decision-making options. The Aging Team provides critical support with palliative care, aging in place, and end-of-life planning, ensuring that people’s voices are central in these important decisions. Meanwhile, weekly Self-Advocacy groups bring people together to learn, connect, and influence law and policy.

The organization also celebrates and invests in its workforce through the Race, Equity, Access, Diversity, and Inclusion (READI) task force. The READI leadership helped to develop Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) that support diverse communities including Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC), LGBTQIA+, Neurodiversity, and Women. Each of these ERGs have a unique mission and set of goals focused on staff members’ mental well-being and inclusion, to ensure their voices are heard and action is felt. 

Beyond advocacy, the St. Louis Arc offers programs that make a tangible impact on people’s lives. Employment Support Services has connected more than 442 people with job opportunities annually, which includes job development and ongoing support to maintain employment. Their Parents Learning Together program ensures that parents with disabilities receive guidance from parent educators, helping families thrive and even preventing unnecessary court interventions. Adding to this strong foundation is an incredible volunteer program with over 400 dedicated volunteers, many of whom have grown into paid roles within the organization!

When it comes to celebrating, the St. Louis Arc shines! During their CQL Accreditation, they launched the week with a spirited opening ceremony that drew 179 participants, including people supported, staff across all levels, and community partners. This gathering showcased interviews with people supported and direct support staff, including the St. Louis Arc staff member who received the 2024 Missouri DSP of the Year Award by ANCOR. The opening ceremony emphasized not only their achievements but also their commitment to moving forward together – one step closer to a future where every person is valued, included, supported, and empowered.

“The St. Louis Arc is proud to have once again achieved Person-Centered Excellence Accreditation with Distinction from CQL—our third time earning this prestigious recognition. This ongoing partnership reinforces our unwavering commitment to delivering the highest quality supports and services for the people and families we serve. We are deeply grateful to CQL for continually challenging us to grow, innovate, and raise the bar in everything we do.” 

Mark A. Keeley, St. Louis Arc President and CEO

About St. Louis Arc

Celebrating its 75^th anniversary this year, St. Louis Arc has been integral to people with disabilities and their families. What started as a small group of parents trying to provide care for their children now serves more than 4,500 people from infants to seniors with autism spectrum disorders, Down syndrome, intellectual, and other developmental disabilities.

This organization provides a variety of services to satisfy multiple needs of people within the St. Louis, Missouri community. Some of their services include support groups and workshops that provide resources and continuous education, equipment lending and embedded early education for children to develop their skill sets, social and recreational programs for people to say active, employment and training services to reach work goals, as well as residential and adult day programs to stay engaged with their surrounding neighborhoods.

St. Louis Arc’s partnership with CQL began in the early 1980s and the organization recently achieved Person-Centered Excellence Accreditation, with Distinction for the third time. We asked Stephanie Scott, Vice President of Support Services and Strategy at the St. Louis Arc, a series of questions about who they are as an organization, along with their experience with the CQL Accreditation process.

What organizational values or practices are you most proud of?

We take pride in our commitment to providing high-quality services. We do this by building relationships and exploring with people how they want their life to look. We collaborate across departments within our organization, with external partners, with the person and their family to work towards their goals. We measure progress along the way to make sure we change our approach as desired by the person.

How do you measure quality at your organization?

We take a multi-prong approach to measure quality at the personal, program, and organizational levels. For many programs, Personal Outcome Measures® (POM) interviews are completed with people during their annual planning process. Program metrics are gathered through surveys and staff documentation. We also utilize agency satisfaction surveys, needs assessments, focus groups and dashboards.

Why did you decide to pursue CQL Accreditation?

Every time we approach reaccreditation, our Quality Enhancement Committee compares CQL’s process to other accrediting bodies. CQL knows policies and procedures are not enough – they partner with organizations to have those in place AND to become more person-centered in their practices. This is what we need from an accreditation process in order to work towards our mission and vision.

What is the impact of accreditation on people you support?

Accreditation results in more people giving input into how we operate as an organization, as well as directing their services and lives. We do more of what they say they like and implement plans addressing opportunities to do things differently. Ultimately, it increases their quality of life.

How have the Basic Assurances® improved your systems and practices?

We have a lot of data about our services, but the Basic Assurances® (BA) help us focus on key metrics that tell us whether our policies and procedures result in positive outcomes for people. We are also working towards better ways to share this information with all stakeholders so they can give input.

How do you envision the future of your partnership with CQL?

We look forward to a long relationship with CQL, where they help us understand current and future best practices. We hope they always push us to be better because we both know quality is a continuous journey. We also appreciate their support in connecting us to other innovative organizations where we can learn and brainstorm together.

Have questions about CQL Accreditation?

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Since 1969, CQL | The Council on Quality and Leadership has been a leader in working with human service organizations and systems to continuously define, measure, and improve quality of life and quality of services for youth, adults, and older adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities, and psychiatric disabilities. CQL offers accreditation, training, certification, research, and consultation services to agencies that share our vision of dignity, opportunity, and community for all people.