Base Supply Center News

In 2024, several additional AbilityOne Base Supply Centers® (BSCs) opened, bringing the total number to 162 nationwide. The AbilityOne BSC program harnesses the resources of a nation-wide network of providers to offer thousands of quality products to government and military customers. Located on military bases and federal installations across the country, BSCs offer one-stop shopping to […]

Procure with Purpose: NIB Streamlines Federal Acquisition

For 85 years, National Industries for the Blind has championed diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility through its enduring mission to create employment opportunities for people who are blind. Seventy percent of working-age people who are blind in the United States are unemployed. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the jobless rate for people with […]

More Than 900 People Attend the 2024 NIB/NAEPB Training Conference and Expo

The 2024 NIB/NAEPB Training Conference and Expo was a smashing success, with over 900 registrants from across the country attending the four-day event held at the Hyatt Regency Crystal City in Arlington, VA. New this year were panel discussions with NIB associated nonprofit agency CEOs – including one composed of female CEOs who shared the […]

Carroll Center for the Blind: More than 87 Years of Helping Those With Vision Loss

From its modest beginnings in 1936 as the Catholic Guild for All the Blind, to its internationally respected rehabilitation center, The Carroll Center for the Blind in Newton, Massachusetts, is at the forefront of vision rehabilitation for people of all ages and all stages of vision loss. Today, the NIB associated nonprofit agency is among […]

Meet NIB’s 2024 Class of Advocates for Leadership and Employment 

Advocacy makes legislators aware of the needs of their constituents, including people who are blind, and nobody is better equipped to tell the NIB story than the people who live it.   NIB launched the Advocates for Leadership and Employment program in 2012 to help people who are blind represent their community to their elected officials. […]

Alicia Howerton: Advocacy Provides a Platform to Confront Stereotypes and Break Down Barriers

Alicia Howerton was advocating for members of the blind or visually impaired community even before her involvement with NIB as an Advocate for Leadership and Employment. Her professional advocacy journey began years earlier, in the Ohio statehouse, where she and others from the Cleveland Sight Center (CSC) worked diligently with legislators advocating for insurance coverage […]

Rebekah Grieb: Forging Her Own Path to Career Success

Rebekah Grieb wasn’t concerned at the age of 12 when an eye doctor recommended she have some tests done. She was an athlete, active in basketball, volleyball, and softball. “There was no vision loss in my family that glasses wouldn’t fix,” she says, “or that wasn’t related to old age.” The eye specialist told Rebekah […]

NIB Celebrates 2023 Milton J. Samuelson Career Achievement Award Winner Craig Ellis 

Despite having a successful 12-year career in management and owning a flooring business for 13 years, Craig Ellis struggled to find employment after he became blind due to macular degeneration. “Most of my flooring business was tied to new construction, so I was hit hard by the housing crash of 2008. After I lost my […]