December 17, 2009 (RALEIGH, NC) – Sam K. Hedrick, president of RHA Howell, Inc., in Raleigh, has been elected to the board of directors of the American Network of Community Options and Resources (ANCOR), a nonprofit trade association representing more than 800 private providers of services and supports for Americans with disabilities.

Hedrick has served as president of RHA Howell, a network of residential and community-based services for people with disabilities across North Carolina, since 2007. Prior to this position, she served as chief operating office and associate counsel from 2003-2007.

A licensed attorney, Hedrick has also served as RHA Howell’s business and legal consultant. As a registered nurse, she has worked at North Carolina Memorial Hospital in Chapel Hill. She is also the mother of a child with disabilities.

As a member of the ANCOR board, Sam Hedrick will be directly involved in the organization’s efforts in the area of public policy, federal legislative and regulatory initiatives, judicial results, state-level initiatives, and in the culling of leading practices that have positioned ANCOR as a national presence for private providers of services for Americans with disabilities.

“Congress and federal agencies turn to ANCOR as the authority in our profession,” according to the ANCOR web site. “ANCOR has always been and will continue to be [a private provider’s] eyes, ears, and voice in Washington, DC.”

For more information on ANCOR, visit www.ancor.org.

For more information on RHA Howell, Inc., visit www.rhahowell.org.

About RHA Howell, Inc.:

RHA Howell is a not-for-profit 501 (c) (3) organization that has been helping people with disabilities and special needs, and their families, make choices to live more independently for more than 35 years. Integrity, high standards for quality, hard work are at the core of every RHA Howell disability assistance program. Proven leaders in caring for people, RHA Howell, Inc. is a pioneering force in the field of human services, particularly supporting infants and children. For more information, go to www.rhahowell.org.

About ANCOR:

The American Network of Community Options and Resources, founded in the 1970s, represents almost 700 agencies and associates that, with the agencies served by state organizations that are members of ANCOR, together support more than 160,000 people with disabilities nationwide. For more information, go to www.ancor.org.