Governor Mike DeWine Launches New 'Children's Vision Strike Force' at Vision to Learn School Site

CLEVELAND, May 16, 2024 (Newswire.com) - Governor Mike DeWine made history today by launching the first-ever statewide plan to ensure every child who needs glasses at school gets glasses. DeWine outlined the goals of his “Children’s Vision Strike Force” during a visit to a school site served by Vision To Learn, the nation’s largest charitable provider of mobile school-based vision care.

Addressing the audience at Oxford Elementary, the most recent of over 180 Ohio public schools visited by Vision To Learn since 2021, Governor DeWine said, “Experts tell us that 80 percent of a child’s learning comes through their sense of sight. Fortunately, we have leaders who are doing innovative work to help connect more students with supports like eye exams and glasses. These models are making a real difference. Now, it is time to bring these proven solutions to more schools and more communities across Ohio.”

“Vision To Learn salutes Governor DeWine for his leadership in setting out to end the ‘glasses gap’ for every child in Ohio,” said Austin Beutner, founder of Vision To Learn. “When a child comes to school, we make sure they’re provided with food, along with the books and school supplies they need. Why not glasses? Every child in every school, everywhere in the country, should have the glasses they need to succeed in school and in life.”

Approximately 1 in 4 children need glasses to see clearly at school, but in many low-income and/or rural communities, children often go without access to eye care. In Ohio, an estimated 250,000 students lack glasses, despite children vision screenings provided to children at school every other year. Vision To Learn (VTL), a non-profit charity, seeks to address this issue by providing vision screenings, eye exams and glasses to children at schools in low-income communities across the country. They have provided more than 3 million children in 17 states and the District of Columbia with vision screenings, 570,000 with eye exams and 470,000 with glasses, all at no cost to children or their families. 27% of children provided with a vision screening by Vision To Learn needed glasses and more than 90% of those who needed them did not have them. 

Vision To Learn started helping children in Ohio in 2021 together with the Foundation for Appalachian Ohio and the Ohio Optometric Foundation's iSee program at Cambridge Primary in Cambridge. The effort has since expanded to Youngstown with the support of Sight for All United and the United Way of Youngstown and the Mahoning Valley, and to Cleveland with the support of Ford Motor Fund and The Kaulig Foundation. 

Vision To Learn operates the most comprehensive and cost-effective, school-based program for children's eye care in Ohio and has provided more than 36,000 children with vision screenings and 10,000 with glasses in the state. An essential component of its public-private model is collaborating with local partners, including philanthropic organizations, eye care professionals, school districts, and state and local government. 

In 2021, Vision To Learn's program in Southeastern Ohio became the first program funded by the pay-for-success program ResultsOHIO. Over the next two years, Vision To Learn exceeded every program metric established with ResultsOHIO, helping kids in 24 rural counties receive school-based eye care.

About Vision To Learn 

Vision To Learn, a non-profit charity, was founded in 2012 by Austin Beutner and the Beutner Family Foundation. Vision To Learn serves the needs of the hardest-to-reach children; about 90% of kids served by Vision To Learn live in poverty and about 85% are Black or Latino. Vision To Learn has provided more than 3 million children with vision screenings and about 480,000 with glasses, in 17 states and the District of Columbia, all at no cost to children or their families. For more information on Vision To Learn, please visit www.visiontolearn.org.

Source: Vision To Learn