Mission
“To prepare children with visual impairments, including those with multiple disabilities, to reach their highest potential in the sighted world.”
Value Statement:
CCVI leads with the values of collaboration, trust, innovation, compassion, and integrity to positively impact the lives of children who are blind or visually impaired, their families, and our community at large.
vision:
By 2027, CCVI will ensure all children with visual impairments, ages birth to 21, living in Missouri and Kansas receive high quality, vision-related educational services.
Beliefs and Values:
Children have a right to reach their highest potential.
Families provide the most significant role in the healthy development of a child.
Our staff offers exceptional expertise, compassion, and hope for children who are visually impaired and their families.
Our volunteers and contributors most generously dedicate their time, talent, and funds.
Educating the community and advocating for children who are blind or visually impaired is our responsibility.
We define inclusiveness to encompass both cultural diversity and the underlying respect we have for the needs, viewpoints, and contributions of all people. We never discriminate on the basis of race or ethnicity; religion; national or language origin; socio-economic status; age; gender; gender variance or identity; sexual orientation; marital, military, or immigration status; or physical or mental disability.
Be Inspired
Featured
CHILDREN’S CENTER CAMPUS
Located in the heart of Kansas City, CCVI operates from the state-of-the-art Children’s Center Campus. The facility, uniquely adapted and customized to safely provide worldly experiences to children with visual impairments, hosts the CCVI Center-Based Program, an onsite nursing staff, therapeutic professionals, and an aquatic center.
When a child participates in an Orientation and Mobility session at the Children’s Center Campus, they exist in an environment specifically designed to provide them with locators and experiences. For example, by speaking out loud, a student can listen for the echoes in the main hallway. They can exit through the accessible doors and take a walk with their specialist outside to practice crossing the street safely. Historically, children have even been able to access the KCMO public transportation system with their instructor to learn self-sufficient behaviors.
Within the walls of CCVI, children can grow, thrive, and learn together.
Special thanks to special people.
KC DELTA GAMMA ALUMNAE
As one of CCVI’s founding partners, Delta Gamma alumnae have devoted countless volunteer hours in CCVI classrooms and helping with fundraisers. The braille room in the Children’s Center Campus is proudly named in honor of Frances Hecker and the Greater Kansas City Delta Gamma Alumnae Chapter.
ALPHAPOINTE
Alphapointe Association for the Blind is one of CCVI's founding partners. They provide low vision screenings for CCVI students and partner in advocacy efforts on behalf of the visually impaired community in Kansas and Missouri. Alphapointe also strives to provide career opportunities to individuals who are blind or have low vision.
LIONS CLUB INTERNATIONAL
The Lions Clubs International supports fundraising efforts through dozens of area clubs, while also volunteering at the school and CCVI events. At the Children’s Center Campus, the Assistive Technology Lab is named in honor of the Belton Lions Club and was renovated with funds from Lions Club International Foundation and the Greater Kansas City Area Lions Clubs.
HEALTHY VISION ASSOCIATION
In 2015, Healthy Vision Association championed an initiative to build a Sensory Garden behind the Children’s Center campus. Since then, they have continued to support the mission by subsidizing tuition at CCVI, along with their work promoting vision and overall health.
Who does CCVI work with?
educators
CCVI is contracted by school districts in Kansas and Missouri to provide early childhood instruction, preschool programming, therapeutic guidance, and specialized visual impairment services to children. CCVI works in collaboration with educators in the child’s home district in correlation with the case goals, as part of the Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP) and the Individualized Education Program (IEP). School districts and educators often refer children to receive a Functional Vision Evaluation (FVE) or a Learning Media Assessment (LMA) conducted by a CCVI professional. County Boards of Service also can offer funding and grant opportunities for prospective students.
industry professionals
CCVI often performs vision evaluations based on the recommendations and referrals of medical professionals, social workers, daycare facilities, and more. Ophthalmologists, Optometrists, Pediatricians, or doctors in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) may suspect or diagnose a child with a visual impairment and refer the family to CCVI. CCVI performs the initial Functional Vision Evaluation (FVE), which sets the baseline for visual functioning and generates strategies into home and educational settings to allow a child to perform to the best of their abilities. The FVE provides insight into the visual needs of the child in relation to their participation in the educational environment and how it needs to be adapted.
Parents and family members
At Children’s Center for the Visually Impaired, supporting the whole family is part of the mission. A CCVI parent has the opportunity to master the necessary tools to help their child grow and thrive with helpful hands available along the way. Parents can receive frequent consultation about adopting strategies into their every day life in order to better enhance the learning experience of their child. In addition to the resources provided by CCVI professionals, parents can take part in a parent group of other guardians who care for a child with a visual impairment. These shared journeys create lifelong connections well past graduation at CCVI.
The Kansas City Community
As a 70-year-old non-profit organization, CCVI has a cemented legacy in the Kansas City area. CCVI is one of only a few like it in the community that provides treatment and educational instruction specifically for children with visual impairments. Some of the organizations that Kansas City has partnered with in the past include: Alphapointe, Lion’s Club International, Healthy Vision Association, Greater KC Delta Gamma Alumnae, Kansas City Chiefs, Sun Life, and more!
Strength in Numbers
Supporting 44 counties in MO and KS
employer of 12 certified teachers of the visually impaired
serving nearly 350 families a year
history
In 1952, the trajectory of life of kids who were blind in Kansas City changed forever. Children’s Center for the Visually Impaired began as an educational facility addressing the needs of infants and children with visual impairments. Originally named the Kansas City Nursery School for the Blind, the organization officially became known as the Children's Center for the Visually Impaired in 1982. With strong support from the community and help from local corporations, foundations, volunteers, and more, CCVI has helped thousands of children and their families in the Greater Kansas City area.
The host of the iconic Trolley Run, Children’s Center for the Visually Impaired has become a staple in the community. It is one of only five privately-funded schools in the country to provide its services and programs to populations of children with visual impairments.
CCVI primarily serves children ranging from infants to eight-year-olds; however, there are many opportunities to contract with CCVI for children until they turn 21. From cradle to kindergarten and beyond, the organization continues to fulfill the mission by helping children with visual impairments reach their potential and thrive in the world around them.
To find out more, reach out online or schedule a visit at the Children's Center Campus located at 3101 Main Street, Kansas City, Missouri.
