Awarded Grants
Search & Filter Awarded GrantsHelen 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
For general operating support, including the provision of vision screenings and eyeglasses for 200 homeless, school-aged youth in New York City.
Amount
$12,400Term
2 monthsGrant Regions
NYC Metro 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 Helen Keller International’s ChildSight® Program in: (1) continuing to provide free vision screenings and examinations, prescription eyeglasses, and needed referrals to advanced eye care to students in public, charter, and parochial middle schools located in low-income neighborhoods of New York City, together with at-risk students in NYC’s alternative high schools and runaway and homeless youth, and (2) purchasing new optical examination equipment — mostly to replace old and worn equipment.
Amount
$1,500,000Term
48 monthsGrant Regions
NYC Metro AreaLavelle School for the Blind
Bronx, NY, USAAbout the Grantee
Located in Bronx, New York, the Lavelle School for the Blind is a multi-cultural educational institution committed to teaching and training students with visual impairments and additional disabilities. Founded in 1904, Lavelle School for the Blind was originally a Catholic institution, based on the Catholic tradition and the compassion and dedication of the Dominican Sisters of Blauvelt.
As a private, state approved and supported institution, Lavelle School for the Blind educates approximately 150 enrolled students annually from all five New York City boroughs as well as surrounding school districts outside of New York City. Students may enroll as early as age 3 and can continue until age 21.
Purpose of the Grant
To support the Lavelle School’s iSee Campaign.
Amount
$10,000Term
12 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 enhance the College Success Program through: (1) more deeply engaging non-mentored students, (2) pilot-testing a pre-college program with Tri-State New York area students who are blind, ages 14-18, (3) winning service contracts from three additional state commissions for the blind, and (4) annually recruiting and serving 500 new participants.
Amount
$600,000Term
36 monthsGrant Regions
USA Multi-StateNew York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai
New York, NY, USAAbout the Grantee
With 69 certified beds, the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai is one of the world’s leading facilities for the diagnosis and treatment of all diseases of the eyes, ears, nose, and throat, as well as related conditions. Founded in 1820 as the nation’s first specialty hospital, NYEE manages more than 30,000 surgical cases and 225,000 outpatient visits per year. NYEE is regularly ranked as one of the best hospitals in America, according to U.S. News & World Report, and was awarded Magnet status for excellence in nursing care.
Purpose of the Grant
To strengthen services for patients with irreversible vision loss by launching: (1) a sustainable cross-referral service between NYEE’s Low Vision Optometry Clinic and NYC vision rehabilitation agencies like VISIONS and (2) a sustainable low vision optical shop adjacent to NYEE’s Low Vision Optometry Clinic.
Amount
$238,778Term
36 monthsGrant Regions
NYC Metro AreaOrbis International
New York, NY, USAAbout the Grantee
Orbis International is an NGO that brings people together to fight avoidable blindness through a network of partners to mentor, train and inspire local teams to fight blindness in their own communities.
Purpose of the Grant
To support Orbis-India’s work in testing and strengthening the organization-wide alignment of Sitapur Eye Care System’s governance, management, and employees – and training and coaching its Board, top management, and staff in preparing for a transformative hospital change process.
Amount
$35,000Term
6 monthsGrant Regions
International, South AsiaSt. Joseph’s School for the Blind
Jersey City, NJ, USAAbout the Grantee
St. Joseph’s School for the Blind has been providing specialized care, education, and human services to individuals with visual impairments since its founding in Jersey City in 1891 by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace. St. Joseph’s School for the Blind is a nonprofit, non-sectarian agency accepting children of every race, creed and national origin and is licensed by the New Jersey Department of Human Services, Division of Developmental Disabilities and has the approval of the New Jersey State Department of Education.
Today, St. Joseph’s remains the only private school for the blind in New Jersey. The school continues its founding mission to serve individuals with visual impairments and has expanded services to include individuals with multiple disabilities from birth through adulthood.
Purpose of the Grant
To support the buildout and equipping of a new Multi-Sensory Room at St. Joseph’s School for the Blind.
Amount
$50,000Term
6 monthsGrant Regions
Entire NY Tri-State AreaThe Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired
Rochester, NY, USAAbout the Grantee
The Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired (ABVI), founded in 1911, is a premiere provider of vision rehabilitation services to people who are blind or visually impaired throughout the Greater Rochester, Finger Lakes, and Southern Tier areas of New York.
As part of its mission-focused work, ABVI empowers people with vision loss to engage in fulfilling careers by offering a variety of entrepreneurial businesses, including a state-of-the-art contact center, and manufacturing and fulfillment services.
Purpose of the Grant
To support the implementation of the Lavelle-BENNY Initiative in ABVI’s West-Central New York catchment area, using new employer-partnership strategies to increase the number of working-age adults who are blind that are placed in competitive paid jobs.
Amount
$237,756Term
36 monthsGrant Regions
Upstate NYTides Center
San Francisco, CA, USAAbout the Grantee
As a disability rights organization, DeafBlind Citizens in Action (DBCA) strives for a better world for all, and founded by young deafblind adults.
Purpose of the Grant
To help support the continued operation of the leadership program for young adults who are deafblind, nationwide.
Amount
$81,620Term
24 monthsGrant Regions
USA Multi-StateVIA
Buffalo, NY, USAAbout the Grantee
VIA aims to help people who are blind or visually impaired achieve their highest level of independence.
Purpose of the Grant
To support VIA, in partnership with Helen Keller Services for the Blind and VISIONS, in providing the training, mentoring, and evaluation services needed to help strengthen job training and placement capacity and drive increases in competitive job placements at the five Upstate New York vision rehabilitation agencies slated to participate in the Lavelle-BENNY jobs initiative.
Amount
$125,300Term
48 monthsGrant Regions
Upstate NYVIA
Buffalo, NY, USAAbout the Grantee
VIA aims to help people who are blind or visually impaired achieve their highest level of independence.
Purpose of the Grant
To (1) implement the Lavelle-BENNY Initiative in VIA’s Western New York catchment area, using new employer-partnership strategies to increase the number of working-age adults who are blind that are placed in competitive paid jobs, and (2) underwrite the Master’s-level education of an incumbent VIA staff member as an Orientation and Mobility trainer who can prepare newly placed workers to commute safely to and from work.
Amount
$273,000Term
36 monthsGrant Regions
Upstate NYXavier Society for the Blind
New York, NY, USAAbout the Grantee
Since its founding in 1900 by Margaret Coffey, a devoted teacher of the blind who was blind herself and Fr. Joseph M. Stadelman, SJ, Xavier Society for the Blind has assisted blind and visually impaired persons learn about, develop, and practice their faith.
Purpose of the Grant
To support the production of up to 20 new human-narrated talking books in the Catholic tradition.
Amount
$10,000Term
12 monthsGrant Regions
USA Multi-StateAmerican Printing House for the Blind
Louisville, KY, USAAbout the Grantee
The American Printing House for the Blind (APH) is the world’s largest nonprofit organization creating educational, workplace, and independent living products and services for people who are visually impaired.
Purpose of the Grant
To support the development of a five-year business/sustainability plan for the Fund-supported FamilyConnect® web service for parents of children with vision loss and the other blindness-field websites, directories, and 1-800 information/referral services that the agency recently acquired from the American Foundation for the Blind.
Amount
$75,000Term
6 monthsGrant Regions
USA Multi-StateAssociation for the Multiple Impaired Blind
Brick, NJ, USAAbout the Grantee
Residential programs for people with multiple disabilities are what AMIB does with love, patience, and expertise. AMIB operates 14 group homes throughout Ocean and Monmouth County New Jersey and provides supportive services to 66 individuals in residential settings, 17 in day habilitation settings and 3 families with respite.
Purpose of the Grant
To underwrite the purchase of four adpated, handicapped-accessible vans to be used to transport visually impaired and multiply disabled adults from their new AMIB group homes to daily adult daycare programs and to medical appointments.
Amount
$200,000Term
12 monthsGrant Regions
Entire NY Tri-State AreaBenetech 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 provide 500 additional accessible educational textbooks for K-12 schools in India and to train teachers and blind and visually impaired students in 50 target K-12 schools in using Bookshare’s accessible digital library.
Amount
$499,296Term
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
$318,825Term
12 monthsGrant Regions
Entire NY Tri-State AreaCancerCare, Inc.
New York, NY, USAAbout the Grantee
CancerCare® is the leading national organization dedicated to providing free, professional support services including counseling, support groups, educational workshops, publications and financial assistance to anyone affected by cancer. All CancerCare services are provided by oncology social workers and world-leading cancer experts.
Purpose of the Grant
To support CancerCare®’s Financial Assistance and Support Program for People with Ocular Cancers who reside in the Tri-State New York area.
Amount
$517,000Term
48 monthsGrant Regions
NYC Metro AreaDominican 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 help sustain its Teachers of Students Who are Visually Impaired (TVI) Graduate Program and, by grant year three, to increase by 33% the number of new TVI students annually recruited.
Amount
$258,523Term
36 monthsGrant Regions
Entire NY Tri-State AreaEnrichment Audio Resource Services, Inc. (E.A.R.S.)
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 provide general operating support for E.A.R.S’s vision rehabilitation service for NYC seniors who are visually impaired — and also to support the agency’s continuing effort to identify and partner with a much larger NYC nonprofit interested in referring clients with vision loss to E.A.R.S.
Amount
$108,000Term
36 monthsGrant Regions
NYC Metro AreaHadley Institute for the Blind and Visually Impaired
Winnetka, IL, USAAbout the Grantee
The mission of Hadley Institute for the Blind and Visually Impaired is to create personalized learning opportunities that empower people to thrive – at home, at work and in their communities.
Purpose of the Grant
To support a major updating, restructuring, and multi-media recasting of its popular online course, “Introduction to Braille for Visual Learners”: a course for the sighted family members, teachers, and paraprofessionals who care for and/or teach people who are blind.
Amount
$181,906Term
12 monthsGrant Regions
Entire NY Tri-State Area, USA Multi-StateHelen 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 undertake a field study to investigate the barriers that Bangladeshi women face in accessing screening and treatment services for diabetic retinopathy and to identify practical strategies for overcoming these barriers.
Amount
$34,287Term
12 monthsGrant Regions
International, South AsiaHelen Keller Services
Brooklyn, NY, USAAbout the Grantee
Since 1893, Helen Keller Services (HKS) has been committed to improving the lives of individuals who are blind, visually impaired or have combined hearing and vision loss.
Purpose of the Grant
To support a Helen Keller National Center for Deaf-Blind Youths and Adults project to strengthen the Center’s capacity to prepare and place working-age adults who are deaf-blind for and in competitive paid jobs and to increase the proportion of trainees who actually obtain such jobs.
Amount
$308,795Term
36 monthsGrant Regions
Entire NY Tri-State Area, USA Multi-StateHimalayan 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 build and sustain the capacity of five community eye centers that, respectively, serve four remote, mountainous regions in Nepal and one underserved city in the Kathmandu Valley.
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
To develop a detailed plan of action to build the capacity of two public-sector hospital systems in Peru.