Employment Programs for the Blind and Visually Impaired
The Lighthouse is empowering persons who are blind and businesses in our community!
Our Employment Programs
The Lighthouse Job Readiness Program helps individuals like Angel and Jesse to develop skills blind employees need in the workplace.
There is an over 70% unemployment rate nationally for persons who are blind and visually impaired, and the Lighthouse needs your help to reduce this statistic in our area which has over 700 working aged persons who are blind. The Lighthouse is developing jobs for blind persons-jobs they can be proud of and that will enhance our community.
The purpose and vision of these employment initiatives are to:
- Create employment opportunities for persons who are blind.
- Create work experience training opportunities for persons who are visually impaired and need to develop additional work skills to enable them to acquire employment in the community.
- Create additional revenue streams for the Lighthouse to build programs and support current services for persons of all ages who are blind.
The employment initiatives the Lighthouse is working on include:
E-Commerce–WebStore
Theresa is a 40 year old woman who is legally blind and had not worked in over 10 years. She is now working in the LVIB WebStore and doing an amazing job using the job skills she learned at the Lighthouse. She has collected over 15,000 donated items to sell, and she says her confidence in herself and her ability to take care of her family have increased dramatically. Theresa will go far-and all she needed was an opportunity to develop her confidence and skills!
Contact Center Services
Angel had over 20 years of experience in management and customer service, but when he experienced vision loss 2 years ago he lost his job. He is now working as a customer service representative for the Lighthouse and doing a great job. Angel has demonstrated the high level of computer skills he learned at the Lighthouse, combining these with the customer service skills he already had to work on the new LVIB Contact Center initiatives. The Lighthouse plans to expand the Contact/Call Center with many interested employees who are blind, as soon as we get contracts.
Learn more about our Contact Center Services.
Manufacturing
The Lighthouse is working with National Industries for the Blind to acquire federal contracts to produce a product for the federal government. As an associate agency of NIB the Lighthouse has priority for federal contracts.
How You Can Help:
- Donations to support employment training for potential employees who are blind and visually impaired.
- Donations for equipment for build out of manufacturing facility.
- Donations for equipment to set up call center (monetary or in-kind), including cubicles, computers, desks, office furniture, etc.).
- Donations of books, audio books, CDs, and DVDs for the WebStore/e-commerce.
- For a list of how you can help people with vision loss become more independent, please visit http://lvib.org/help/donate.
For more information, please contact the Lighthouse.
