History & Accomplishments

Founded as an educational facility that would address the needs of infants and children with visual impairments, the Kansas City Nursery School for the Blind opened its first class on September 27, 1952, with eight children who were visually impaired and five sighted peer models. In 1982, the organization became known as the Children's Center for the Visually Impaired.

Financial and volunteer support initially came from the Kansas City Association for the Blind (now called Alphapointe Association for the Blind), the Junior League of Kansas City, Missouri, and the Delta Gamma Alumnae Chapter. Today, CCVI continues to receive wonderful community support from corporations, foundations, individuals, volunteers, United Way and the states and local school districts.

Having rented space for more than 40 years, CCVI finally moved into a home of its own on the Children's Center Campus located at 3101 Main Street, Kansas City, Missouri.

CCVI celebrated its 50th birthday in 2002. From the first class of eight preschoolers to the present enrollment of 199 infants through school age students, CCVI has helped thousands of Greater Kansas City's children and their families.

Accomplishments

• In December 2005, CCVI received the maximum five-year reaccreditation from the National Accreditation Council for Agencies Serving People with Blindness or Visual Impairment (NAC).
• In August 2005, CCVI received the maximum five-year accreditation from the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC).
• CCVI's Executive Director, Mary Lynne Dolembo, celebrated her 25th anniversary as executive director during the 2004-05 school year.
• In October 2004, Mary Lynne received the first-ever Missouri AER Award for Professional Excellence given by the Association for the Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind and Visually Impaired (AER).
• CCVI's culminating celebration of its 50th birthday was a Gala held January 10, 2004, with Jose Feliciano, blind singer/guitarist and six-time Grammy winner, performing for 700 guests and netting $200,000.
• CCVI remains the only school in the Kansas City area that offers specialized instruction for children from infancy who are blind and visually impaired, including those with multiple disabilities.
• CCVI continues to find the means to serve all referred children without a waiting list. CCVI is currently providing services to more than 200 children who are blind or visually impaired birth through kindergarten plus more than 20 sighted peers.
• One of CCVI's alumni won the National Federation of the Blind's "Braille Readers Are Leaders" competition every year from 1999 through 2002. In June 2004, he was a finalist in the National Braille Challenge Invitational sponsored by the Braille Institute in Los Angeles, California.
• CCVI was inducted in 2001 into the Mid-America Education Hall of Fame.
• CCVI was able to include sighted peer models in every class in 1999 for the first time since the 1960s due to our additional classroom space. CCVI now has more than 20 sighted peers in the Preschool/Kindergarten Program.

Did you know …

Our major fundraising event, the annual Sabates Eye Centers Trolley Run, is the largest four-mile run/walk in the U.S. with more than 10,000 adults and children participating! More than 600 volunteers work on the run, some year-round. Since 1989, the Trolley Run has raised more than $2.5 million for CCVI.