Society for the Blind lands stimulus funds

By Kelly Johnson Staff writer

Society for the Blind has been awarded $499,701 in federal stimulus dollars for a program that provides intensive training to seniors experiencing vision loss.

With the money, the local service agency that serves Northern California will be able to reinstate its Senior Impact Program that it discontinued three years ago because of lack of funding, a news release said. The program provides a week of intensive training in a residential setting for seniors experiencing vision loss.

“This will allow the Society to bring back and restructure the residential portion of the project and re-introduce the element of peer support and leadership to our senior program. It will have a huge impact on community development,” Heather Frank, the nonprofit’s director, said in the release.

Society for the Blind also will be able to hire between four and eight full- or part-time new workers to staff the program.

The week-long intensive training includes daily living skills, cane travel, Braille and computer skills — abilities that enable seniors to maintain their independence. The residential experience also allows seniors to meet other seniors experiencing vision loss and participate in seminars on blindness and activities in the community, the release said.

Society for the Blind is moving in February to new headquarters at 13th and S streets in Sacramento, where the nonprofit will quadruple its space.

Source: Sacramento Business Journal