Awarded Grants
Search & Filter Awarded GrantsDominican College
Orangeburg, NY, USAAbout the Grantee
The aim of Dominican College is to promote educational excellence, leadership, and service in an environment characterized by respect for the individual and concern for the community and its needs. Founded by the Dominican Sisters of Blauvelt, the College is an independent institution of higher learning, Catholic in origin and heritage. In the Dominican tradition, it fosters the active, shared pursuit of truth and embodies an ideal of education rooted in the values of reflective understanding and compassionate involvement.
Purpose of the Grant
To provide continued core support to Dominican Colleges Teacher of the Visually Impaired Programs (M.S. degree and certificate).
Amount
$387,834Term
48 monthsGrant Regions
Entire NY Tri-State AreaHelen Keller International
New York, NY, USAAbout the Grantee
Founded in 1915, Helen Keller International is dedicated to saving and improving the sight and lives of the world’s vulnerable by combating the causes and consequences of blindness, poor health and malnutrition.
Purpose of the Grant
To support the scaling up of diabetic retinopathy diagnosis and treatment in Bangladesh.
Amount
$360,783Term
36 monthsGrant Regions
International, South AsiaHimalayan Cataract Project
Waterbury, VT, USAAbout the Grantee
The Himalayan Cataract Project works to eradicate preventable and curable blindness in the developing world.
Purpose of the Grant
To partner with Nepal’s Tilganga Institute of Ophthalmology in launching and operating a new Community Eye Center (CEC), strengthening and sustaining an existing CEC, and creating a new Secondary Level Eye Center (or “Community Eye Hospital”) in three underserved areas of Nepal. By the grant’s end, these Tilganga units are expected to be delivering a combined total of more than 3,000 cataract surgeries per year.
Amount
$250,000Term
36 monthsGrant Regions
International, South AsiaInternational Eye Foundation
Kensington, MD, USAAbout the Grantee
IEF’s mission is to eliminate preventable and treatable blindness by increasing affordability and access to quality comprehensive and sustainable eye care services worldwide., changing how eye care is delivered and changing systems at eye hospitals and clinics to provide quality eye care in an efficient, productive, and sustainable manner.
Purpose of the Grant
(1) to help four leading socially oriented hospitals in Latin America expand their capacities in providing primary, surgical, and sub-specialty eye care, increase the number of patients served, strengthen their eye care training and research capacities, and provide support to mentee clinics and (2) to strengthen the capacity of IEF itself – together with its Latin America-based partners in eye care training (“the Delta team”) – to manage an increasing number of eye care capacity-building and sustainability projects
Amount
$588,978Term
30 monthsGrant Regions
International, Latin America & CaribbeanLearning Ally
Princeton, NJ, USAAbout the Grantee
Learning Ally is dedicated to helping students with print disabilities, including blindness, visual impairment, and dyslexia. Learning Ally improves the way students learn at home and in the classroom.
Purpose of the Grant
To pilot-test a national program to help 500 U.S. students who are blind or visually impaired learn and succeed in college by: (1) training students to self-advocate with fellow students, professors, and college administrators and (2) providing them web- and phone-based access to mentors in adaptive paths to college success
Amount
$303,560Term
18 monthsGrant Regions
USA Multi-StatemyFace (formerly NFFR)
New York, NY, USAAbout the Grantee
myFace, formerly the National Foundation for Facial Reconstruction (NFFR), is a non-profit organization founded to address the all-too-visible plight of those with facial difference by assuring them access to the comprehensive and highly personalized team care at The myFace Center at the Hansjörg Wyss Department of Plastic Surgery, NYU Langone Medical Center (formerly the IRPS). The Center provides integrative, highly specialized and personalized team care to all those who request treatment, regardless of the type or severity of the anomaly, the length of treatment, or the family’s ability to afford care.
Purpose of the Grant
To underwrite the hiring of a Clinic Coordinator who will interface with patients and families, schedule clinical services and operating room times, manage referrals, and seek insurance reimbursement for patient care
Amount
$120,000Term
24 monthsGrant Regions
NYC Metro AreaPerkins School for the Blind
Watertown, MA, USAAbout the Grantee
Perkins is a progressive, multi-faceted organization committed to improving the lives of people with blindness and deafblindness all around the world.
Purpose of the Grant
To help sustain Perkins’ effort to increase the quality and accessibility of education for children who are blind and multiply disabled in Brazil, Chile, and Peru and to enable the Fundal School, Perkins’s anchor partner in Guatemala, to continue helping make quality, inclusive education more widely available to children who are blind and multi-disabled in Guatemala and neighboring Central American countries.
Amount
$803,805Term
48 monthsGrant Regions
International, Latin America & CaribbeanResearch Foundation of the City University of New York
New York, NY, USAAbout the Grantee
Hunter College, located in the heart of Manhattan, is the largest college in the City University of New York (CUNY). Founded in 1870, it is also one of the oldest public colleges in the country. More than 23,000 students currently attend Hunter, pursuing undergraduate and graduate degrees in more than 170 areas of study.
Purpose of the Grant
To help sustain the Tri-State New York area’s only college training program for teachers of orientation and mobility skills (O&M) to people with visual impairments
Amount
$562,792Term
48 monthsGrant Regions
Entire NY Tri-State AreaTask Force for Global Health
Decatur, GA, USAAbout the Grantee
The Task Force for Global Health provides all people with opportunities to lead healthy, productive lives.
Purpose of the Grant
To work towards eliminating blinding trachoma in four woredas (health districts) In Ethiopia’s Oromia Region, with a combined population of approximately 644,000
Amount
$610,304Term
60 monthsGrant Regions
Africa, InternationalAurora of Central New York, Inc.
Syracuse, NY, USAAbout the Grantee
Aurora of CNY has a long history of providing individual rehabilitation, support and employment services, along with professional Interpreter Referral Services through the Marjorie Clere Interpreter Referral Service. Aurora of CNY is the only area non-profit organization dedicated exclusively to promoting independence and opportunity for people of all ages with vision or hearing loss.
Purpose of the Grant
To develop and deliver a technology exploration and training program for blind and visually impaired school children, and to provide train-the trainer technology workshops for 20 of these students’ TVI
Amount
$373,722Term
28 monthsGrant Regions
Upstate NYBenetech Initiative
Palo Alto, CA, USAAbout the Grantee
Benetech continues to be a nonprofit—with a pure focus on developing software for social good. More than two decades after our founding, we’ve grown to include multiple program areas and initiatives that provide software to improve—even transform—the lives of people all across the world.
Purpose of the Grant
To revolutionize the availability of educational materials for people in India who are blind and visually impaired
Amount
$349,952Term
36 monthsGrant Regions
International, South AsiaBrother James Kearney Scholarship Program
Multiple LocationsAbout the Grantee
The Brother James Kearney Scholarship Program for the Blind (formerly, the Lavelle Fund College Scholarship Program) aims to help make quality undergraduate and graduate education affordable for U.S. residents who are legally blind, financially needy, and attending any of 12 selected private colleges in New York State, Northeastern New Jersey, and Southwestern Connecticut. The program is currently authorized to admit new students through June 30, 2019.
Purpose of the Grant
To provide financial assistance to U.S. residents who are legally blind, financially needed, and studying at any of 12 partnering private colleges and universities located in New York State, Northeastern New Jersey, and Southwestern Connecticut (Phase 3)
Amount
$271,431Term
12 monthsGrant Regions
Entire NY Tri-State AreaCentral Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired
Utica, NY, USAAbout the Grantee
CABVI operates as a not-for-profit agency that serves people who are blind or visually impaired, from newborns to the elderly, offering comprehensive vision rehabilitation, employment and technology services personally tailored to meet an individual’s needs.
Purpose of the Grant
To help underwrite cost-saving and productivity-enhancing improvements in the heating, venting, and air conditioning (HVAC) and insulation systems of CABVI’s large 1920’s headquarters building.to underwrite cost-saving and productivity-enhancing improvements in the heating, venting, and air conditioning (HVAC) and insulation systems of CABVI’s large 1920’s headquarters building
Amount
$175,000Term
12 monthsGrant Regions
Upstate NYDr. Shroff’s Charity Eye Hospital
Daryaganj, Delhi, IndiaAbout the Grantee
SCEH is committed to making a lasting impact on the eradication of blindness and deafness in North India, and to be of the best tertiary Eye and ENT care institution in North India by providing quality care to people across all economic sections of the society.
Purpose of the Grant
To enable Dr. Shroff’s Charity Eye Hospital to build sustainable capacity to train a combined total of 50 new vision technicians and ophthalmic nursing assistants per year
Amount
$473,679Term
42 monthsGrant Regions
International, South AsiaEnrichment Audio Resource Services, Inc. (EARS)
New York, NY, USAAbout the Grantee
E.A.R.S. is a nonprofit public charity, providing, free of charge, audio lessons that teach adaptive daily living skills to the vision impaired and their caregivers.
Purpose of the Grant
To support E.A.R.S.’s continuing operations
Amount
$100,000Term
24 monthsGrant Regions
NYC Metro AreaFreedom Guide Dogs for the Blind, Inc.
Cassville, NY, USAAbout the Grantee
Started by husband and wife team, Eric & Sharon Loori, over 25 years ago, they run a state-of-the-art kennel facility with all the amenities to make guide dogs as comfortable as possible, and structured for training staff. They placed 40 guide dogs in 2017.
Purpose of the Grant
To help drive continuing increases in enrollments at the Northeast’s lowest-cost provider of guide dogs for people who are blind.
Amount
$360,000Term
48 monthsGrant Regions
Upstate NYGoodwill Industries of Greater New York and Northern New Jersey
Astoria, NY, USAAbout the Grantee
Goodwill Industries empowers individuals with disabilities and other barriers to employment to gain independence through the power of work.
Purpose of the Grant
To train 20 blind working age adults for call-center work and place at least 12 of these trainees in paid call-center and customer service jobs
Amount
$160,000Term
18 monthsGrant Regions
NYC Metro AreaLearning Ally
Princeton, NJ, USAAbout the Grantee
Learning Ally is dedicated to helping students with print disabilities, including blindness, visual impairment, and dyslexia. Learning Ally improves the way students learn at home and in the classroom.
Purpose of the Grant
to research, develop, and pilot a faster, more efficient, and more effective method of providing blind and visually impaired students with accessible, on-demand instructional materials like talking books
Amount
$250,000Term
24 monthsGrant Regions
USA Multi-StateNew York Eye and Ear Infirmary
New York, NY, USAAbout the Grantee
New York Eye and Ear Infirmary was established in 1820 to meet the eye care needs of New Yorkers, especially the working poor. In keeping with its heritage, today’s New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai is a voluntary, not-for-profit specialty hospital providing comprehensive outpatient and state-of-the-art medical/surgical care in the disciplines of Ophthalmology, Otolaryngology/ Head & Neck Surgery, and Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery.
NYEE’s outpatient ophthalmology and otolaryngology programs provide primary care and treatment in those specialties for the five boroughs of New York City, with concentrations in the institution’s historic Lower East Side patient base, Brooklyn and Queens. NYEE also serves the regional, national and international communities with unique tertiary medical/surgical specialty services in our fields of expertise.
Purpose of the Grant
To provide free physician-led ophthalmic examinations, assistance with medical benefits, and medical referrals to needy seniors who reside in Brooklyn’s Williamsburg and Midwood neighborhoods.
Amount
$193,000Term
24 monthsGrant Regions
NYC Metro AreaNortheastern Association of the Blind at Albany
Albany, NY, USAAbout the Grantee
NABA provides a wide range of services to individuals with visual impairments. Some of these services include training and placing legally blind adults in professional employment, and providing rehabilitation services to seniors with age-related vision loss. NABA, with over a century of experience, continues to help individuals overcome the challenges of vision loss, enabling them to lead more productive, independent lives. NABA also provides free vision screening for children 18 months to 4 years old through our KidSight Program.
Purpose of the Grant
To support year-round rehabilitative, educational and recreational programming for blind and visually impaired youth ages, 8-17, in the Greater Albany and East-Central New York State Areas
Amount
$256,725Term
36 monthsGrant Regions
Upstate NYOlmsted Center for Sight
Buffalo, NY, USAAbout the Grantee
The Olmsted Center for Sight aims to help people who are blind or visually impaired achieve their highest level of independence.
Purpose of the Grant
To underwrite job training and placement services for 50 Tri-State New York Area residents who are blind and/or physically disabled, including 20 people who are new to the Statler Center and 30 previously placed Statler graduates who need renewed employment assistance
Amount
$259,180Term
24 monthsGrant Regions
Entire NY Tri-State AreaOlmsted Center for Sight
Buffalo, NY, USAAbout the Grantee
The Olmsted Center for Sight aims to help people who are blind or visually impaired achieve their highest level of independence.
Purpose of the Grant
To establish a satellite low vision clinic in Buffalo’s inner suburban ring, thus increasing the combined total of Olmsted low vision patients served from 1,000 at baseline to 1,400 in grant year two
Amount
$208,000Term
24 monthsGrant Regions
Upstate NYSeva Foundation
Berkley, CA, USAAbout the Grantee
Seva works with local communities around the world to develop self-sustaining programs that preserve and restore sight.
Purpose of the Grant
To support Seva Foundation and its consortium of global eye care organizations in building the eye care quality, volume, and sustainability of six developing world eye hospitals
Amount
$405,000Term
36 monthsGrant Regions
Africa, International, Latin America & Caribbean, South AsiaSeva Foundation
Berkley, CA, USAAbout the Grantee
Seva works with local communities around the world to develop self-sustaining programs that preserve and restore sight.
Purpose of the Grant
To improve access to and utilization of five Primary Eye Care Centers (PECCs) and one new eye hospital in Nepal and four Vision Centers (VCs) in North India – and also to increase the efficiency and productivity of these facilities