In 1936, Sarah F. Gavin learned that 12 disabled teenagers had formed a social club. She and Mildred C. Mallory set out to aid the group by expanding its program to include profitable handicrafts.
In 1939, the group became formally organized under the leadership of the Indiana Society for Crippled Children, later known as Crossroads. The mission of the organization was to change how the world viewed disability and to make positive differences in people’s lives. The group also established Crossroads Industrial Services that offered manufacturing, assembly, and supply chain services while focusing on hiring people with disabilities. A year later Crossroads became an affiliate of what is now the National Easter Seal Society and leased a building at 39th and New Jersey streets.
In 1956, the organization moved to a new two-story structure at 3242 Sutherland Avenue. Expanded programs included physical, occupational, speech and hearing therapy, developmental, preschool, psychological and social services, vocational evaluation, work adjustment, and training programs. Two years later Crossroads became a affiliate.
Through the 1960s and 1970s, Crossroads experienced more growth. A new wing was built in 1963 to accommodate expanded psychological and social services, education programs, developmental programs, and research projects. Along with the building’s growth came growth in the number of vocational clients, doubling their previous total. Marking a first in Indiana, Crossroads developed a communications therapy program in 1970 for the deaf as well as for children with disabilities. By 1973, the organization created another program aimed at developing job-seeking skills.
Career and skills training increased throughout the 1980s with classes such as Computer Programmer Training, supported by IBM, and the Disabled Driver Evaluation and Training program. In 1986, Crossroads established a Sensory Aids Technology Center with funding from the Indiana Bureau of Vocational Rehabilitation to aid people who were blind or visually impaired to access computers through assistive devices. That same year marked the organization’s 50th anniversary by which time it had served 50,000 clients.
By the mid-1990s, Crossroads boasted one of the nation’s most comprehensive rehabilitation programs, headquartered in a five-story building at 4740 Kingsway Drive. Crossroads also operated a work center, which provided employment for adults with disabilities through subcontract jobs for industry. The work center offered supported employment programs to increase opportunities for mainstream community employment as well as a consulting service to help employers comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Since the introduction of computer programmer training, Crossroads became a recognized leader statewide in the use of technology to create opportunities for persons with disabilities.
In 1999, Crossroads received a grant of $1 million, which funded the Ruth Lilly Assistive Technology Center. A year later, Crossroads assumed the Indianapolis Speech and Hearing Center, and Deaf Community Services became part of the organization. Another large donation, thanks to United Way of Central Indiana and the Lilly Endowment, provided funds for an $800,000 renovation of Crossroads Industrial Services in 2005.
Now known as Easterseals Crossroads, the organization opened another location at South Emerson & Edgewood avenues in 2006. The next year would prove even more significant for Crossroads’ growth. In 2007, it continued its expansion with its Assistive Technology Center growing to eight regional sites throughout Indiana.
Crossroads also started multiple projects including the INDATA Project, created to be the statewide provider of the federal Assistive Technology Act services, and Project SEARCH, an immersive program for high school students with significant disabilities that provides employment and educational opportunities. Both of these programs opened at Community Hospital East—the first site in the state of Indiana (the second came in 2011 at Community Hospital North).
The Lilly Endowment provided two grants during 2007 as well. Crossroads was awarded $1.5 million to provide innovative autism services that resulted in the opening of the Autism Family Resource Center in 2009. The organization was also awarded $500,000 to begin Respite Care services.
Crossroads continued its long-established pattern of growth through the mid-2010s. In 2015, Crossroads received a building on East Thompson Road as a donation where it was able to expand the Adult Day services, employment and veterans’ services, and therapy services. United Way Capital Projects also provided a grant of $600,000 to renovate the new location.
Crossroads was able to establish a permanent endowment in 2017 after the Lilly Endowment awarded a $10 million grant. Two years later, Crossroads acquired the Brownsburg firm Techna-Fit and formed Crossroads Manufacturing Services LLC. It also created a transition employment program for young people at Community Hospital South.
By 2020, Easterseals Crossroads had 291 employees and was serving just under 9,000 individuals with disabilities per year through its many programs and services.
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