Since 1946, the Guide Dog Foundation for the Blind, Inc. (www.GuideDog.org), has trained and placed guide dogs, service dogs, and facility dogs to provide independence, enhanced mobility, and companionship to people who are blind, have low vision, or have other disabilities. The Guide Dog Foundation is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization serving clients from across the United States and Canada. The Foundation relies on contributions from generous individuals, corporations, service clubs, and foundations to fund its mission to serve people with disabilities. It costs over $50,000 to breed, raise, train, and place one assistance dog, but the Guide Dog Foundation provides its services completely free of charge to the individuals it serves. Its sister nonprofit organization, America’s VetDogs, trains and provides guide dogs, mobility service dogs, PTSD service dogs, hearing dogs, seizure response dogs, and more for veterans, active-duty military, and first responders with disabilities. The Guide Dog Foundation was the first assistance dog school in the United States to be accredited by both the International Guide Dog Federation and Assistance Dogs International. Apply, volunteer, or donate at www.GuideDog.org.

A world where people with disabilities live without boundaries.

Goal One: Continue to train and place high quality and safe guide and service dog teams while maximizing the impact the Guide Dog Foundation for the Blind has across all constituencies.

Goal Two: Continue to expand our national and regional awareness and create new partnership and relationship opportunities to support and further enhance awareness.

Goal Three: Continue to educate all of our constituencies as we further develop comprehensive diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.

The Guide Dog Foundation for the Blind has invested in and continues to invest in the development of its leadership team and staff with group and individual executive and leadership coaching and management workshops for all management levels within the organization. The Guide Dog Foundation has invested in educating program delivery staff in specialized dog training techniques as well as certifying staff in hearing dog training.

At the Guide Dog Foundation for the Blind , we have been actively monitoring COVID-19 and providing educational guidance and precautionary steps to take as an organization. Our work is focused in three main areas: • Protect yourself and others – we followed CDC guidance and their recommendations to reduce or prevent the spread of COVID-19. • Preparation for impact – o Leadership ensured that we had an adequate supply of essentials such as cleaning supplies, paper goods, dog food, and medications in the event of a short-term supply chain disruption. o We made modifications to our operations including the closing of our campus, moving to remote work, relocating the dogs in our kennels, and only hosted key staff for those dogs or areas that could not work remotely. o We kept up consistent communication with our communities along with our colleagues in the International Guide Dog Federation and Assistance Dogs International to share resources, information, and responses that will best serve our consumers and other stakeholders. • Emergency response – We followed guidance from the CDC, WHO, and the NYS Department of Health on current standards and workplace guidance for COVID-19. We were also actively communicating with the NYS Department of Health to understand our obligations and required actions in the event that a guest staying at our student residence is diagnosed with COVID-19.