Each year, NIB recognizes associated nonprofit agencies for outstanding efforts to carry out our mission in three categories: Overall achievement, the Quality Work Environment initiative, and AbilityOne Base Supply Centers®.
Overall Achievement
NIB recognizes three associated agencies that achieve excellence in compliance, contract performance, and efforts to retain or increase employment for people who are blind, or in job placement and upward career mobility for people who are blind. For 2021, the small agency winner is Lighthouse Works!; the medium agency winner is Lighthouse Louisiana; and the large agency winner is Travis Association for the Blind, also known as the Austin Lighthouse.
Quality Work Environment
The Quality Work Environment (QWE) initiative is a collaborative effort with the U.S. AbilityOne Commission® to strengthen the commitment of associated nonprofit agencies to enhance daily work experiences and develop future growth opportunities for people who are blind. Since establishing its QWE Committee, this year’s winner, Beacon Lighthouse in Wichita Falls, Texas, has put in place a process for employees to make recommendations to upper management, implemented safety improvements in the manufacturing area; developed a cross-training program aimed at training all employees to perform any job in the plant; and seen an increase in the number of employees enrolling in online training courses.
Base Supply Center Excellence Award
The AbilityOne Base Supply Center (BSC) program does more than provide retail jobs for people who are blind. As an outlet for sales of SKILCRAFT® products, it also provides people working in NIB associated nonprofit agencies opportunities for employment and training in manufacturing. NIB recognizes outstanding service and performance at BSCs in three categories – small, medium, and large – with the BSC Excellence Award.
Small BSC: Camp Atterbury Operated by LCI
Despite its small footprint, the Camp Atterbury BSC maintains the highest inventory turn of all the LCI retail facilities and received best practice scores of 100% on its last three compliance visits. It provides an incredible level of support to the State of Indiana Joint Force Headquarters, which serves as a major training site for individual, collective, and joint operations.
Medium BSC: Whiteman Air Force Base Operated by Envision
The Whiteman Air Force Base BSC has solidified itself as the center of gravity for supply requirements on the installation. To improve the customer experience and efficiencies and accountability in retail operations, the store initiated a transformation that improved merchandising of products and reconfigured its warehouse to more efficiently manage individual equipment elements for warfighters. The Whiteman BSC represents the AbilityOne® Program with strong customer relations and an overall best practice score of 98%.
Large BSC: Naval Station Great Lakes Operated by Beyond Vision
Since 1997, the Naval Station Great Lakes BSC has supported the Navy’s training mission and other federal government customers as a one-stop, ready-source of SKILCRAFT and other AbilityOne products. Naval Station Great Lakes is the Navy’s largest training installation and home of the Navy’s only boot camp. Over the last two compliance visits, the Naval Station Great Lakes BSC received best practice scores of 100% and 99% respectively.