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March 8, 2023

AUTHOR
Laura Schultz

Executive Summary

New York’s private nonprofit service providers for individuals who are blind offer thousands of clients important services and supports including workforce preparedness, employment, vision rehabilitation therapy, child and youth services, transportation, and wellness programs. In the process of doing so, these providers are major employers in their local communities and generate millions in revenue annually.

New York State Preferred Source Program for New Yorkers who are Blind (NYSPSP) commissioned the Rockefeller Institute of Government to quantify the economic impacts NYSPSP and its 11 affiliated agencies have on New York State. NYSPSP’s affiliated agencies include many of the largest nonprofit service providers in New York State. This study evaluates the jobs supported and output generated by NYSPSP and these affiliates.

Additionally, the report explores the scope and scale of the social enterprises run by these organizations who sell commodities and provide services through New York’s Preferred Source Program. To achieve their goals of creating workforce training and employment opportunities, several NYSPSP affiliates have created businesses that provide a range of products and services to state and local governments and private sector customers. The revenues generated through these social enterprises support the services the affiliates offer to people who are blind.

In 2019, NYSPSP’s affiliated agencies reported $229 million in revenues generated through services offered to clients who are blind. Overall, they:

• Supported 3,116.0 full-time equivalent (FTE) jobs with service providers, their suppliers, and in the regional economy.
• Generated $431.6 million in economic output in New York State. This includes the $229.1 million in revenues generated by the providers, $59.1 million in output for their suppliers in New York, and $143.5 million related to local employee spending.

Additionally, NYSPSP facilitated a $58 million contract portfolio that employed 415 employees who are blind. Through these contracts, social enterprises:

• Supported the equivalent of 655 full-time jobs in all sectors of the economy.
• Generated $105.1 million in economic output in New York State. This includes the $56.5 million in revenues generated by NYSPSP, $23.2 million in output for its suppliers, and $25.4 million related to employee spending.

This report provides an overview of the New York State Preferred Source Program for New Yorkers who are Blind and provides a comprehensive economic impact analysis of the operations of service providers, as well as their social enterprises. The report also profiles the work of the Central Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired (CABVI) in Utica, New York.

Read the full report here.