In 1990, Fred was appointed chief executive officer of ARC, Ventura County. Under his leadership, ARC has grown from an annual budget of $3 million to $14 million, and presently serves over 800 adults with developmental disabilities in Ventura County.Fred is a licensed clinical social worker, a member of the Academy of Certified Social Workers and the American Association on Mental Retardation. He serves on boards of the National Conference of Executives of the Arc, the California Rehabilitation Association, and is frequently called to testify at legislative hearings and community forums on issues of importance to people with developmental disabilities.Fred and his wife Sharon are the parents of two sons, and are now living back in his hometown of Santa Paula. He is a member of the Ventura Kiwanis, and has served them as president for three terms. He is on the advisory board for Leadership Ventura, chair of the Ventura County Leadership Academy, and a member of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, where he served as president for two terms and was honored by the Ventura Chamber of Commerce as “Citizen of the Year.”
Frederick W. Robinson, Class of 1963
November 11, 2005
Santa Paula High School
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By B. J. Harding, President, SPUHS Alumni Association
James and Virginia Isbell Robinson had two sons, Fred and Roger (‘64). The boys were both born in Santa Paula.Fred was I the first class at the new Glen City School, after attending Ventura Street School. He then went to Isbell School, and started SPHS with the Class of 1963.Fred’s father was ill, so Fred had to go to work after school to help provide for the family; so he was unable to partake of school time activities. Fred had a job in the circulation department of the Santa Paula Chronicle.But when he could squeeze it in, he would play baseball with his classmates, Jim Colborn and Dick Botke, or pickup basketball with Roy Jennings, who tried to get him on the basketball team at high school. Fred’s other buddies at SPHS were Jimmy McCoy, Jerry Underwood, James Cole and Roy Nance. Teachers special to Fred besides Roy Jennings were Bob Raitt, Gordon Jones, Randall Bryden and Gordon Woods.Following graduation, Fred went to Sacramento State University for a B.A. in History and English and on to San Diego State for his master’s in Social Work. Fred started his career in 1969 as a social worker at Pacific State Hospital in Pomona, and in 1973 became director of case management at Tri-Counties Regional Center in Thousand Oaks. Here he served 4,000 people with developmental disabilities in the tri-counties area.
