It was a bold idea for its time. Melwood started in 1963 when a small group of parents and supporters decided to teach plant care to young adults who were considered by most to be untrainable, and unemployable. Their goal was almost unheard of: jobs for people with developmental and intellectual disabilities.

Andrews Air Force Base donated seven acres of undeveloped land along rural Dower House Road in Prince George's County, along with one surplus tent, and Melwood´s first trainees went to work growing plants.

In 1966 Earl Copus became Director — and at the time, he was Melwood’s only full-time employee. Over the following decades, Melwood would pioneer many new milestones in the field that would be known as social-entrepreneurial ventures: businesses with the ´double bottom line´ of providing revenue as well as jobs and independence for people with developmental disabilities.