Public Policy

The 2025 NIB/NAEPB Public Policy Forum (PPF) took place May 19-21. The event, which has taken place annually for more than 15 years, was held at the Westin Old Town Alexandria and, on its final day, the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. This year’s advocacy goals include a continued effort […]

After a short hiatus, NIB’s Heard & Empowered podcast is back with a new host, Dean Thompson, who has an extensive background in television and radio. Thompson has been an interviewer and producer for the majority of his adult life. He moved to New York from Cincinnati after graduate school and has worked for ABC […]

NIB launched the Advocates for Leadership and Employment program in 2012 to help people who are blind, low vision, or visually impaired represent their communities to their elected officials. Each spring, NIB’s public policy team welcomes a new class of Advocates from NIB associated agencies across the country who take part in a two-year training […]

The focus of this year’s advocacy is to work with elected officials to encourage the formal adoption of a 1% AbilityOne Program utilization goal for the Department of Defense (DOD) to grow employment for people who are blind or have significant disabilities. From 2018 to 2021, the Panel on Department of Defense and AbilityOne Contracting […]

National Industries for the Blind (NIB) – in partnership with the National Association for the Employment of People Who Are Blind (NAEPB) – held its annual Public Policy Forum May 13-16 in Alexandria, VA.   The event, which has taken place for more than 15 years, was held at the Westin Old Town Alexandria, with 42 […]

After retiring April 30 from a 44-year career at National Industries for the Blind and its associated agencies, Kevin Lynch, president and CEO emeritus, was honored May 14 with the R.B. Irwin Award.    The recognition took place during the General Session of the annual NIB/NAEPB Public Policy Forum. During the ceremony, Lynch was presented with […]

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 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 […]

Despite experiencing poor vision throughout childhood and progressive vision loss as a working adult, Gary Wagner lived most of his life trying to adapt to the sighted world. It wasn’t until he connected with NIB and the AbilityOne® Program through Visually Impaired Advancement (VIA), an NIB associated nonprofit agency in Buffalo, NY, that he began […]

On May 8, Jeff Mittman, president and CEO of NIB associated nonprofit agency Bosma Enterprises and president of the National Association for the Employment of People Who Are Blind (NAEPB), spoke with FOX 5 DC, the network affiliate in Washington, D.C., to discuss NIB’s recent Advocacy Day and some of the challenges people who are […]