Vision To Learn Receives $200,000 for Even Bigger Idea

Last month, the inaugural Even Bigger Idea grant was awarded to Vision To Learn.

DECEMBER 13, 2016

 

The $200,000 award will provide funds to help support the organization’s expansion into several new states. In 2015, Vision To Learn was selected as the Rathmann Challenge Recipient.

“With the help of the Rathmann Challenge, Vision To Learn has piloted and continues to improve a unique delivery model for student vision care in low-income communities,” said Vision To Learn’s Founder and Chair, Austin Beutner. “This Even Bigger Idea grant will help us serve additional communities in need across the country.”

Founded in Los Angeles in 2012, Vision To Learn utilizes mobile vision clinics, staffed with licensed eye doctors and opticians, to provide quality vision care to kids where they are every day – at school. The program is innovative both in its delivery model (which provides access to kids who otherwise would not receive care) and in its sustainable public-private funding model. By credentialing as a Medicaid provider, Vision To Learn creates a bridge to eye care for students who have vision insurance, but no available provider to get the glasses they need to succeed in school, and in life. Vision To Learn has served over 330,000 kids in 138 cities in California, Delaware, Hawaii, Iowa, Maryland and Michigan. This Even Bigger Idea grant will support efforts to replicate and grow this model to serve students in additional communities.

“The Rathmann Challenge has been proud to support Vision To Learn’s transformation from a scrappy, not-for-profit serving kids in one school district, to a national trailblazer aligning Medicaid funding to support student vision health. This grant will support Vision To Learn’s strategy of pairing private philanthropy dollars with federal funding sources to support the establishment of mobile vision clinics in cities across the nation, serving tens of thousands of additional children,” said Richard Rathmann, Executive Director of the Rathmann Family Foundation. “Leveraging Even Bigger Idea funding to make a difference for many is of great interest to the Rathmann Challenge. We hope to have similar impact with the 2017 Rathmann Challenge – Mitigating Climate Change by Expanding the Use of Compost.”

Learn more about Vision to Learn here.