WWe - Conklin Center for the Blind

perspective
ROBERT KELLY,
Executive Director
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
2006 – 2007
PRESIDENT
Carl Franklin
1ST VICE PRESIDENT
Donna Spencer, PDG
2ND VICE PRESIDENT
Nina Vilaomat
3RD VICE PRESIDENT
Delores Farris, PDG
SECRETARY
Robert Respess, PDG
TREASURER
Ron Melvin
ASSISTANT TREASURER
Robert Hughes, PCC
IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT
Don Cohn
MEMBERS
Estelle Clark
Georgianna “Sam” Hester
Pearl Salsbury
Ted Mosely, Pres., Conklin Center
Student Council
Kevin Murphy
Jackie Pappas
Hillen Rife
Cynthia Slater
Tim Sullivan
Erna Vanselow
Robert Williams
William Wyrough
Joseph Young, Pres., Conklin
Center Alumni Associates
It is an honor to provide you with
the annual report for the year
ending June 30, 2007 - a celebration
of the achievements of students,
graduates and staff of the Florida
Lions Conklin Center for the Blind.
The Center’s students, who are
blind and have at least one
additional disability, face seemingly
overwhelming challenges. To
achieve their goal of becoming selfreliant,
fully participating members
of the community, they come to the
Conklin Center from throughout the
state of Florida. Since its inception
in 1979, the Center remains the
only facility that can provide -
under one roof - an array of
training options to meet the highly
specialized needs of these
significantly disabled individuals.
During fiscal year 2007, as it has
every five years since 1979, the
Center completed a self-evaluation
for renewal of its accreditation by
NAC – the National Accreditation
Council for Agencies Serving
People with Blindness or Visual
Impairment. In its final report, the
NAC team (experts in the field of
blindness training) affirmed some
of the Conklin Center’s strengths:
“Services provided by the Conklin
Center to people with blindness and
additional disabilities are unique
and can be viewed as a model in
FLORIDA LIONS
the field of vision rehabilitation.”
And “the organization is highly
effective with the placement of
their clients into their maximum
level of employment, and in placing
clients into the community at
competitive wages.”
The NAC team also made several
recommendations to improve
services. The most pressing is to
hire an additional, qualified teacher
for the Infant and Preschool
program to reduce the work load of
the current staff. The current staff
consists of one Early Intervention
Specialist who provided services to
46 children who are blind and 65 of
their family members last year.
This will be one of our goals for the
coming year. With the support of
dedicated staff and volunteers and
friends in the community we remain
committed to helping multi-disabled
children and adults work hard to
achieve their potential.
Robert T. Kelly
Executive Director
FOR THE BLIND