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About NIB

Helping people help themselves….
Incorporated as a 501C3 not-for-profit organization, National Industries for the Blind (NIB) enhances the opportunities for economic and personal independence of persons who are blind, primarily through creating, sustaining and improving employment. NIB operates under the Javits-Wagner-O'Day (JWOD) Act, a mandatory federal purchasing program, enabling people who are blind to work and provide products and services to federal and commercial customers.

By harnessing the demand and purchasing power of the federal government, NIB and its associated agencies supply federal markets with a selection of more than 3,000 quality products and services under the trade name SKILCRAFT^®— manufactured and provided by people who are blind at more than 80 associated agencies, across the nation. No minor accomplishment, NIB and associated agencies execute the following activities:

• Employ nearly 5,000 people who are blind per year
• Pay 88.5 million dollars per year in wages and benefits for full and part-time employees
• Offer rehabilitative services to more than 130,000 blind persons nationwide
• Operate in 125 base supply centers
• Deliver millions of dollars worth of products and services to federal, state and commercial markets per year

Lending support to agencies...
Like other businesses, NIB and our associated agencies must deliver quality products on time at competitive rates. To accomplish this, NIB mentors and supports our agencies with business development; product and service research and development; program management; distribution channel development and support; marketing; sales; and contract administration.

Employing and training people...
NIB and our associated agencies gauge the federal demand for specific products and adapt their operations to accommodate employees who are blind, and supply the government with the products and services it demands. Similar to all government contractors, associated agencies meet the same provisions for quality and contract requirements. They offer good wages and fringe benefits, meet Department of Labor and other workplace regulations and present promotional opportunities.

In addition to employment opportunities, NIB-associated agencies provide people who are blind with rehabilitative services, such as early childhood intervention, adult literacy, low vision examinations and aids, Braille literacy, nutritional/health services, occupational/physical therapy, personal and career counseling, recreation, transportation, mobility, daily living skills, employment training and more.

Moving forward…
Today, NIB and the JWOD program are considered a model federal program that encourages private/public partnerships and empowers people who are blind to work with little, if any, government assistance. The program also enables the federal government to purchase quality products and services, while saving time, money and personnel on contracts and paperwork.

NIB's strategy for moving forward includes plans to further diversify the types of jobs available to people who are blind; to create product and service awareness within government agencies; to aggressively market products and services; to generate public and private partnerships; and to provide technical and financial services to our associated community-based agencies. As the service industry rapidly expands in the United States and new technologies continue to emerge, NIB plans to deliver new and exciting career opportunities for people who are blind.

"It is a story of challenges overcome and opportunities created, of the thousands of blind and additionally severely disabled men and women who through their determination, dedication and hard work have demonstrated their productive capabilities even to those who most doubted them…"

—US Senator Jennings Randolph (Quoted from "Creating Jobs, Changing Lives," by Irving R. Dickman)