The Carroll Center for the Blind

The Carroll Center for the Blind serves the needs of blind and visually-impaired persons by providing rehabilitation, skills training, and educational opportunities to achieve independence, self-sufficiency, and self-fulfillment and by educating the public regarding the potential of persons who are blind and visually-impaired. Established in 1936, the Center has pioneered innovative methods for blind persons to gain independence in their homes, in class settings, and in their work places. New and evolving technologies, combined with time-tested adaptive methods, individualized instruction, and personalized therapies developed by the Carroll Center staff, have provided thousands of blind and vision impaired persons with diverse opportunities for success and independent living.

The Carroll Center for the Blind's vision is to provide individuals of all ages and all stages of vision loss with the programs, support services, accessibility, technology training, orientation and mobility skills, educational supports, socialization and personal management skills necessary to lead full and independent lives.

Goal One: Develop and implement new vocational skills training program.

Goal Two: Develop and implement digital media campaign.

Goal Three: Develop and implement a Comprehensive Fundraising Campaign.

The Carroll Center for the Blind's Board of Directors has invested resources to engage the leadership team in professional development including an engagement in diversity, equity and inclusion training.

The Carroll Center for the Blind has been a leader in collaboration and mobilizing efforts to provide leading programs and supports for the blind and visually impaired. Founded in 1936 as the first residential rehabilitation program serving the blind in the country, the Carroll Center is a national leader sharing best practices and collaboration with an array of organizations. The Carroll Center networks on the national, regional and local stage as a thought leader implementing an array of innovative programs to enhance the independence of the blind and visually impaired.

Eighty-seven years ago, the Carroll Center for the Blind was founded as the country’s first residential rehabilitation center for newly blinded adults. One of the most significant challenges the field nationally, regionally and locally has faced in the last 18months is the shortage of trained vision professionals. To address this shortage of Teachers of the Visually Impaired (TVIs) and other blindness professionals, the Carroll Center partnered with private foundations and institutions of higher education to create its Carroll Interns designed to provide college students with paid internships at the Center. The result has been that the Carroll Center has been able to increase the number of school districts that it partners with by 20% in the last 18 months ensuring that more children and young adults have access to an equitable education. The Carroll Center has also adapted its workforce development training programs by designing, piloting and implementing its' Screen Reader User Tester Training Program. In an age of rapidly evolving technologies, the ability for persons who are blind or visually impaired to fully participate in community, educational, or employment opportunities demands that they can independently navigate and interact with increasingly complex digital content such as websites and mobile applications. This program provides screen reader training to blind and visually impaired adults from across the country who then are prepared to secure employment in the technology field.