About Us
Our vision is for everyone to see what is possible !
VISIONS has been in the business of training people who are blind and their families since 1926. VISIONS offers free services to improve the quality of life for people who are blind of all ages. VISIONS encourages community integration. Services are provided by licensed and certified professionals.
How We Got Started
to meet the needs of blind people of all ages so they may be integrated into all aspects of community life
The products and services we offer
Recommendations Received (91)
"I have a few friends who are blind and Nancy makes their life much easier. Her and her staff..."
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"I have a few friends who are blind and Nancy makes their life much easier. Her and her staff provide excellent assistance for them and it truly to be commended "
"very nice people"
Products & Services
free training to enable a person of any age with vision loss to manage independently learning to use one's other non-visual senses and adaptive equ...
assisting people who are blind with becoming job ready and finding employment
contact VISIONS to learn about the skills offered by blind employees and how to offer internships for blind job seekers
Gallery
Recommendations Given (69)
"Great services Leader in the aging network"
"Jonathan is an amazing artist of jazz performers. It is wonderful to watch him sketch and portray..."
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"Jonathan is an amazing artist of jazz performers. It is wonderful to watch him sketch and portray the essence of each performer."
Recent Activity
We are requiring masks at all times whether vaccinated or not, requiring vaccination or weekly testing for all staff, interns and volunteers and maintaining all the extra cleaning, social distancing and HEPA filters. We are a social service agency and have been open for in person services since...
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We are requiring masks at all times whether vaccinated or not, requiring vaccination or weekly testing for all staff, interns and volunteers and maintaining all the extra cleaning, social distancing and HEPA filters. We are a social service agency and have been open for in person services since July 2020 with no cases of Covid contracted from our programs or services. Delta is a big concern for us since we serve people who are blind. They are not able to see if someone is masked or 6 feet away.
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VISIONS offers a multitude of free programs for blind youth, blind adults and blind older adults in the summer. It is our busiest season at our overnight residential training center and at our older adult center.
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VISIONS offers a multitude of free programs for blind youth, blind adults and blind older adults in the summer. It is our busiest season at our overnight residential training center and at our older adult center.
I am the CEO of a 95 year old nonprofit organization providing no cost services for people of all ages who are legally blind or severely visually impaired. We are always looking for referrals of people we can assist living in New York State. We also provide work readiness and job placement...
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I am the CEO of a 95 year old nonprofit organization providing no cost services for people of all ages who are legally blind or severely visually impaired. We are always looking for referrals of people we can assist living in New York State. We also provide work readiness and job placement services for NY and NJ residents with blindness or severe vision loss.
We are offering virtual presentations and if you would like to talk about your work experience, your business and how you become successful we would love to have you as a panelist to talk to our blind job seekers.
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We applied for, received and got forgiveness for a PPP1.0 loan and we are now waiting to be approved for a PPP2.0 loan. It takes work and savvy to apply and not every business or nonprofit has the expertise. We are fortunate to have a very experienced staff and a very active and knowledgeable...
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We applied for, received and got forgiveness for a PPP1.0 loan and we are now waiting to be approved for a PPP2.0 loan. It takes work and savvy to apply and not every business or nonprofit has the expertise. We are fortunate to have a very experienced staff and a very active and knowledgeable Board of Directors including CPA's and financial managers.
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I have not met many referral sources at virtual events but I have met new referral sources through Alignable
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I have not met many referral sources at virtual events but I have met new referral sources through Alignable
Yes we are better prepared but it will still be a tremendous hit to our operations. We provide free in-home training for people with severe vision loss and blindness. If we can't provide in person training in the home we don't get paid on our state contracts. Some of our services are provided...
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Yes we are better prepared but it will still be a tremendous hit to our operations. We provide free in-home training for people with severe vision loss and blindness. If we can't provide in person training in the home we don't get paid on our state contracts. Some of our services are provided remotely on our city contracts but even those contracts are reduced when we can't provide in person services. We ae very concerned that after a lockdown it takes weeks or months before people are comfortable having us provide in person services.
We were able to keep all 106 of our nonprofit staff employed with the PPP loan we received through Chase. We are very fortunate that we have been able to reopen on July 7 our face to face training services provided in the homes of newly blind persons. With foundation grants related to COVID-19...
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We were able to keep all 106 of our nonprofit staff employed with the PPP loan we received through Chase. We are very fortunate that we have been able to reopen on July 7 our face to face training services provided in the homes of newly blind persons. With foundation grants related to COVID-19 emergency funding we will be okay for this fiscal year ending September 30. Our biggest concern now is next fiscal year starting October 1 when the emergency funds may no longer be available and our increased costs for PPE, cleaning, etc. is not covered through contracts or grants. If there is a new stay at home pause we will be greatly impacted negatively. Our state contract is outcome funding meaning we only get paid if we provide the services and our blind participants learn the skills we are teaching.
Because one third of our staff and our clients are blind, we need to be particularly mindful of keeping the physical space clean and disinfected throughout the program day. We are anxious about being able to purchase enough PPE's and making sure everyone remembers to wear a mask (which we will...
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Because one third of our staff and our clients are blind, we need to be particularly mindful of keeping the physical space clean and disinfected throughout the program day. We are anxious about being able to purchase enough PPE's and making sure everyone remembers to wear a mask (which we will give them at our cost), washing hands frequently and staying home when they feel sick.
VISIONS is currently offering virtual paid work experience training for blind youth and adults. Some organizations we parter with have virtual work experience training assignments but so far not enough for the 60+ blind youth that will be seeking paid remote work experience training this summer....
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VISIONS is currently offering virtual paid work experience training for blind youth and adults. Some organizations we parter with have virtual work experience training assignments but so far not enough for the 60+ blind youth that will be seeking paid remote work experience training this summer. We are currently offering work readiness and pre-vocational services training remotely as well as resume writing and mock job interviews. We are also offering remote services for our blind older participants. VISIONS social workers are offering remote counseling.
There is so much information available that could be helpful but it is hard to keep up. So I have been sharing information that I think is helpful with my colleagues serving blind people throughout New York State. I have been advocating with the primary state government agency that funds our...
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There is so much information available that could be helpful but it is hard to keep up. So I have been sharing information that I think is helpful with my colleagues serving blind people throughout New York State. I have been advocating with the primary state government agency that funds our services to be more flexible in overseeing our contracts. We are very pleased that the New York State Commission for the Blind has been responsive to our requests. This is one of the most difficult times for nonprofits in my 32 year experience as CEO of VISIONS/Services for the Blind and Visually Impaired.
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Our Recognition
