ABOUT FRA
Our Mission
Fairbanks Resource Agency is a non-profit Alaska corporation dedicated to assuring that Interior Alaskans with disabilities and their families have equal opportunity to be fully included in the community where education, employment, housing, recreation and family services are available in the same places, at the same times, and with the same respect afforded any member of the community.
Our Present
FRA employs over 350 full- and part-time employees providing care to over 400 individuals throughout the Fairbanks community. Agency services are located in the FRA administrative building at 805 Airport Way, the Senior Services/ Adult Day Center, the Family Services Discovery Center Day Habilitation program and the eleven accessible residences/complexes.
We receive funding from both private and public sources and have an active Board of Directors. Proceeds raised benefit the individuals who choose to use FRA program support services.
Our History
In the beginning, Tanana Valley Clinic Physician Dr. John Noyes responded to the plight of a man who he felt deserved the same rights and privileges that the rest of us enjoyed. The man had lived most of his life in a state institution in Oregon, where he was sent -- along with many other Alaskans with disabilities -- to receive support services for individuals with a developmental disability.
When Alaska became a state, the contract for these services was canceled and the man, along with others who had been in the Oregon institution, was sent home. Some of the individuals were sent to Harborview, a newly constructed facility in Valdez; others were sent to live in their home communities. However, many communities, including those in Interior Alaska, had no place for individuals with disabilities to go to and provided no support services to them.
1967
Dr. John Noyes and founding board start Fairbanks Rehabilitation Association (FRA) in order to find employment for people with disabilities.
1980
FRA is the first in the United States to offer Respite Care Services to families.
2005
First Annual Sampler held in Fairbanks.
1990’s – Closet Collections Begins!
Closet Collection begins
2013
FRA becomes producer of the Midnight Sun Run 10k race.
1980’s – People First Chapter
People First Chapter starts in Fairbanks to support self-advocacy for individuals with disabilities.
2009 – Discovery Center Opens
FRA Opens the Discover Center!
1990’s – Adult Day Center Opens
Adult Day Center opens for seniors with Alzheimer’s disease and other disabling conditions.
2017 – 50 Years!
FRA celebrates 50 years of serving Alaskans with disabilities
In the 1960s, a growing movement advocated to take people with developmental disabilities out of large, restrictive institutional settings and return them to their own communities. Dr Noyes was one of many people throughout the country who believed in the rights and abilities of people with disabilities to live and work in their own communities.
In 1967, together with six other concerned members of the Fairbanks community, he formed the Fairbanks Rehabilitation Association (FRA) with the goal of helping Alaskans with developmental disabilities by providing community based supportive services. In 1983, the Senior Services program was founded, offering care coordination, an Adult Day Center, respite care and other services for those experiencing Alzheimer's disease or related dementia (ADRD), and seniors over 60 with frail or disabling conditions.