2015 Outcomes and Results | DSB - Wa Dept of Services for the Blind

Results of Federal Fiscal Year (FFY) 2015 include:

One hundred sixty-nine (169) customers (PDF) (Download Adobe Reader) gained or retained competitive jobs with an average wage of $20.34 per hour.
Our Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) program served 1,341 customers in FFY 2015.
- 300 of these customers have been identified as Transistion, the average age at the time of VR application was 17 years old.
The Orientation and Training Center (OTC) served 76 customers, which included:
- Thirty-five (35) full-time residential students
- Ten (10) full-time or part-time commuting students
- Twenty-one (21) students attended the OTC's intensive workshops
- Ten (10) students took the distance Braille course
Our Business Enterprise Program (BEP) provides opportunities for our customers to operate successful food service businesses in government buildings that benefit the state and our economy as a whole. In FFY 2015:
- Twenty-one (21) facilities combined had total gross sales of $7,346,284.
- $552,993 had been collected as sales tax from all facilities.
- $218,789 had been collected as payroll tax from all facilities.

In the Independent Living Part B Program, we provide services to adults who are blind or have low vision, aged 21 - 55, and do not choose employment. Some of these individuals choose an employment track after receiving our IL services. In FFY 2015, we served 119 individuals in this category.
1,502 individuals over the age of 55, and not seeking to return to work, received services.

The DSB Youth Employment Solutions (YES) provided 38 high school students who are blind or have low vision with paid summer work experiences in a variety of job settings.
The Bridge program enrolled eleven (11) high school graduates in summer courses at Eastern Washington University, where they learned how to advocate for and secure accommodations in higher education programs, experienced life in the dorm, and developed systems for navigating the college campus.

We served 110 children from birth to age 13.
DSB sponsored camps, Summer Camp for Independent Living Skills (SCILS) in Seattle and Spokane, for 16 students, ages 9 through 13. The focus of the camps were on the expanded core curriculum: independent living skills, recreation, technology and orientation and mobility.

For more information, contact us at 800-552-7103 or info@dsb.wa.gov.