History of Gompers Habilitation Center
About Our Namesake, Samuel Gompers (1850-1924)
Samuel Gompers was born January 27, 1850 in London, England. After a mere four years of elementary school education, Mr. Gompers landed himself a position as an apprentice to a cigar maker in London's east end.
In 1863, his family moved to New York City. There he later became active in the social clubs, fraternal orders and labor unions of the lower east side, then teaming with immigrants from Europe. Unlike many of the other immigrants who were the bearers of European revolutionary traditions, Gompers' ideas were moderate and he exerted a powerful influence in the evolution of American Labor Unionism from radicalism to conservatism.
During the following years, he was a leader in the movement to organize the National Federation of Labor Unions. When the AFL was founded in 1886, Gompers was elected President of the organization and with the exception of a singular year in 1895, Mr. Gompers was reelected annually to that position thereafter to his death in 1924. Perhaps the following quote best embodies what Samuel Gompers believed and stood for:
"What does labor want? We want more school houses and less jails. More books and less guns. More learning and less vice. More leisure and less greed. More justice and less revenge. We want more... opportunities to cultivate our better natures."
But how does the President of the AFL in 1886 come together with a disability agency in Phoenix, Arizona? In 1947, the Maricopa County Crippled Children's Society began serving individuals with disabilities. A name change to the Arizona Easter Seals Society ofr Crippled Children lead to the desire in 1951 to stop renting space and finally put down roots in a home of its own. Thanks primarily to 10,000 members of the AFL donating one hours pay each, Gompers was able to finally reach that goal. In return, all the AFL asked was that we honor the legacy of Samuel Gompers, and thus we became the Gompers Center.
Since those humble beginnings in 1947, Gompers Habilitation Center has been committed to serving adults and children with disabilities in our community. Since those early days, Gompers has grown tremendously and we are proud of our history, our heritage and, most importantly, our more than 300 students and clients we serve every day. It is because of them that we remain committed to providing excellence in everything we do.