Alphapointe history

Among the many programs established by the Holts was a workshop opened on East 42nd Street in midtown Manhattan in 1912.

And also in 1916, with just $50, she and a group of friends opened the Catherine Hale Home for Blind Women.

The Association started a workshop in 1918 that made brooms, mats and other handmade items.

Called the River Lighthouse, the camp opened in Cornwall-on-the-Hudson, N.Y. The success of this summer program led to expansion and the launch of Camp Munger in Bear Mountain, N.Y. in 1923.

These large groping hands seed broom corn, refine it, shape it about broom handles, sew it and bind it with wire, cut the corn smooth and label the firm and finished product with the bright red and blue label, 'The Blind Man's Broom is the Best'" Kansas City Journal-Post story February 1925

When the stock market shed more than $25 billion dollars in the autumn of 1929, the crash did more than just instantly wipe out the savings of countless Americans.

Sir Ian Fraser, one of the foremost advocates for blind veterans in the English-speaking world, traveled to Kansas City on a speaking tour in 1942, he made it a priority to visit Alphapointe’s workshop.

In 1945, The Lighthouse won the Army-Navy E-Award for its contribution to the war effort, an honor presented by First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt.

Empowering blind children to succeed in adulthood began in the 1950's and continues to grow today with Alphapointe's Youth Services and connections to Children's Center for the Visually Impaired

When it opened in 1952, the Kansas City Nursery School for the Blind was unlike any other school in the city, a unique learning institution built to convince blind children that they could indeed survive—and thrive—in a sighted world.

It all began, fittingly enough, in 1956 with a few books crammed into an old church bookshelf in Kansas City.

In the mid-1980’s, Alphapointe began providing rehabilitation services to seniors with vision loss.

In 1993, the Kansas City Association for the Blind changed its name to Alphapointe Association for the Blind, to signify the organization’s role as the first point of contact for anyone in the community experiencing issues with vision loss.

In the year 2000, Alphapointe further expanded its services by establishing the regions only Comprehensive Vision Rehabilitation Center to provide training, education and advocacy to people with vision loss.

In June 2013, NYCIB agreed to be acquired by Alphapointe.