The Seattle Lighthouse for the Blind

At the Committee's November meeting, members and staff had the pleasure of hearing from Seattle Lighthouse for the Blind's Jodi Mitchell about the Impressions program — the Seattle Lighthouse's innovative approach to creating employment opportunities for people with severe disabilities under the JWOD Program.

The Impressions program (which includes Awards and Recognitions) involves a coalition of 16 JWOD-participating agencies that produce customizable and award-related products, such as Seattle's business cards, ECVC's certificate frames, and the Chicago Lighthouse's logo clocks. Such partnering between NIB- and NISH-affiliated agencies allows each to bring an area of expertise to the project. Seattle acts as a Central Order Processor (COP), and the other agencies supply a quality product line that supplements Seattle's own items. Acting as COP allows Seattle to do what they do best — provide great customer service. Through a unified catalog and ordering system, Seattle handles orders for customized products and awards for all agencies involved. This streamlined process eliminates the need to contact multiple vendors to get all the items needed, saving Federal customers both time and money.

The Seattle Lighthouse currently employs over 250 people who are blind, deaf/blind, or multi-disabled blind and is currently the largest employer of people who are deaf/blind in the world. Every year, over 400 people from across the country and across the world receive quality services, training and employment from the Seattle Lighthouse.

For more information on Seattle Lighthouse products, visit The Seattle Lighthouse store at www.lighthousestore.com