MAB Community Services history

The labor union movement was also growing, and legislation that provided for vocational training and counseling had been passed in 1918.

In addition, the American Foundation for the Blind, one of the first national, consumer-driven organizations, was created in 1920.

Inspired by a MAB member who was also a Perkins graduate, in 1927 MAB began publication of a news magazine, The Weekly News, printed by what was then known as the Braille Weekly Publishing Company, now the National Braille Press.

Passed in 1935, it provided income support for children with disabilities and people who were blind.

In 1940, the National Federation of the Blind was formed.

In 1946, MAB acquired its first real office space, in downtown Boston, and hired its first paid Director, Muriel Staffeld.

Reflective of that change was the development of a direct service volunteer program in 1959.

In line with its increasing professionalism, MAB hired a Director of Volunteer Services in 1961.

VISION Foundation had been started in 1970 by a group of women who held self-help meetings around a kitchen table.

In 1974 MAB’s first Consumer Advisory Council was established under the leadership of Board President Albert K. Gayzagian.

MAB’s programs were reorganized in 1975 into two departments, Residential Services (the Deaf-Blind Program and the Life Learning Center) and Community Services, reflecting the agency’s philosophical move towards more community-based services.

In March 1976 The Permanent Charity Fund (now The Boston Foundation), funded a feasibility study for joint planning and programming among Greater Boston agencies serving the blind.

By 1979 MAB publications were talking about “a new spirit within the organization, and progress made pushing ahead with new and expanded services.” Aids & Appliances Stores opened in MAB’s three offices, selling items such as canes, kitchen aids, watches, and talking clocks.

The first computers arrived in 1985, partially funded by the Digital Equipment Corporation.

The Worcester office celebrated its 25th Anniversary in 1986.

The agency hired a Development Director in 1988 and began to slowly build an organizational culture committed to raising the funds needed to support its programs.

In early 1990, MAB responded to the Department of Education’s call for educational services for youth with traumatic brain injuries.

In 1993, MAB embarked on a new venture that would raise nearly one million dollars for its services over the next ten years.

In 1997, MAB began a collaboration with the VISION Foundation, a community based nonprofit primarily serving elders experiencing progressive sight loss.

MAB’s dormitory-style residence at 190 Ivy Street was sold in 1998 to enable the organization to create six 4-person apartments for its Adult Services residents.

In the spring of 2000, MAB opened a new satellite office in Brockton, offering local volunteer services and in-home rehabilitation to southeastern Massachusetts residents.