16 Feb Children’s Center for the Visually Impaired (CCVI) Receives Grant $127,000 from the North American Savings Bank (NASB)

Children’s Center for the Visually Impaired (CCVI) recently received a grant for $127,000 from the North American Savings Bank (NASB) to support technology upgrades and infrastructure supports.

Funding from NASB pays for contract IT support services to project manage the day-to-day needs of CCVI and support services, help desk services, software subscriptions to for integrated scheduling and billing, laptops for teaching assistants, hotspots, and training for staff. 

Having dedicated service contracts, and key staff and contractors who are qualified and trained to support the network will insure that CCVI has access to the expertise and is prioritized when there is a need for service. Additional hardware (laptops with high quality cameras) requested will equip program staff for long-term adaptation to COVID-19 or other public health emergencies if they need to deliver virtual services. This allows staff to see more children, which also allows CCVI to keep billing the counties and school districts, the agency’s primary revenue stream. Currently therapists, while in the field, must be able to connect to data that is housed at the main office, and they must be able to logon to various agency sites to submit reports.  This means they either need to drive back to the office or go to a location (McDonalds, Library etc.) to use public Wi-Fi to carry out these functions or they must return to the office between visits.  Private hotspots will improve security and allow the therapists to be more efficient in connecting with data, they can do it from anywhere, even their home.

The recent pandemic demonstrated first-hand the important role technology plays in an agency’s ability to pivot service delivery. CCVI is carefully navigating the challenges created by the COVID public health emergency and the potential impact on the agency’s sustainability. Thanks to the support of NASB and other foundation and corporations, CCVI made a significant investment in the network infrastructure that positioned the agency well for the transition to virtual and hybrid service delivery.

Since 1952, Children’s Center for the Visually Impaired (CCVI) has educated more than 10,000 children (birth through age 6) who are blind or visually impaired and their families. Our mission is to prepare children with visual impairments, including those with multiple disabilities, to reach their highest potential in the sighted world.