AMERICAN FOUNDATION FOR THE BLIND DOWNSIZES AND RETHINKS MISSION by Kenneth Jernigan May 17, 1993, was a critical day in the affairs of the American Foundation for the Blind, perhaps a turning point in its history. It was then that the Foundation board met in a stormy session and by a narrow margin voted to make severe cuts in the organization's activities and operation. The board went further, deciding to relocate the Foundation's headquarters, change its mission, and chart a new course. Whether these actions will lead the Foundation to a new era of growth and strength or signal the beginning of its decline as a major participant in the blindness field is yet to be determined, but there can be little question that the May 17 decisions will have far-reaching effects. A year ago at the Charlotte convention of the National Federation of the Blind, I discussed the plight of the Foundation at length in a speech titled "Shifting Balances in the Blindness Field." I called attention to the fact that the Foundation had been forced to cut its staff by more than twenty percent, that it had been losing money each year since 1987, and that it urgently needed to rethink its mission and focus its effort. Carl Augusto, President and Executive Director of the AFB, spoke to the convention following my address and laid out the same broadly based and vaguely phrased set of goals that I had been saying were part of the problem. A year has now passed since that Charlotte convention, and with each succeeding month the dangers facing the Foundation have become more apparent. Every year since 1987 the Foundation has spent more money than it has taken in, and even with the draconian cuts of the May 17, 1993, board meeting, it is not clear that the hemorrhaging has been brought under control. In 1987 the Foundation had assets of more than forty million dollars. As best we can determine the figure today would be more like twenty-five million. The annual budget for fiscal year 1994, which is just beginning, was supposed to be fourteen million dollars, down from the all-time high of approximately fifteen and a half million a few years ago--but that was before the May 17 meeting. By all accounts it was a painful meeting. The Board came to the unavoidable conclusion that something radical had to be done to stop the draining of resources. As a starter, the budget for the coming year was slashed from fourteen million to eleven million dollars, and some fifty additional AFB employees were either let go or told that their jobs would soon disappear. This will bring the AFB staff down to approximately 125, according to Augusto. Though these staff cuts have been made across the board, the entire Southeast Regional Center, based in Atlanta, has closed, at least temporarily; and so has the AFB library, including the Helen Keller Archives, though Augusto says that the library will open again as soon as financially possible. Perhaps the most startling decision made by the Board was to attempt to sell the AFB headquarters of four buildings at 15 West 16th Street in Manhattan. The Foundation has been at this address (which is a symbol and a landmark in the blindness field) since the 1930's, and Helen Keller herself helped raise the money for construction of the main building and placed materials in a time capsule in its corner stone. According to AFB staff, however, the current offices are expensive to maintain, and the Board of Trustees hopes to find more economical facilities somewhere else in New York City. Apparently the present complex is in such bad condition that each time one repair is made, a number of others are required so that continued occupancy is simply not financially feasible. When asked if the Foundation would stay in New York regardless of what happens, Mr. Augusto replied that, if someone offered the organization attractive facilities at a good price in another part of the country, they would not refuse to consider the possibility of moving, but that he had a hard time picturing the Foundation's not having a New York office of some kind. For one thing, the Foundation says that it is determined to continue its Talking Book recording studios. Although there are those who would disagree, the Foundation says it believes the program of the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped would be profoundly weakened if it were to lose the pool of talented readers that are based in New York with its theaters and broadcast industry. Other decisions were made at the May 17 board meeting. The AFB plans to phase out its sales of aids and appliances for blind people, though not in the immediate future. The Foundation says that sales are up at the moment, but according to agency officials the probability is that the AFB will ease out of this area completely now that other organizations provide the service. The AFB has already closed its research department and its section for developing special modifications to solve individual technological problems. Some evaluation of equipment is continuing, but it is unclear how extensive this program will be in the long run, according to Dr. Susan Spungin, AFB's Associate Executive Director for Program Services. Although publication of texts and other books for the use of professionals and those studying to enter the field of work with the blind has all but ceased for the time being, the Foundation says that it hopes and plans to resume this work as soon as possible. The Journal of Visual Impairment and Blindness, AFB's monthly publication of research and reports of interest to professionals, will continue to circulate to its 3,300 readers. Those were some of the decisions made by the AFB Board of Trustees on May 17, 1993. Here is the text of the press release that was circulated following the meeting: AFB Announces a Refocus of Its Activities & Services Since its inception, the American Foundation for the Blind (AFB) has been looked to as a leader in addressing the challenges facing people who are blind or visually impaired and the organizations and agencies that serve them. In response to a review of the critical needs of the blindness field and in recognition of the organization's need to achieve fiscal stability, AFB has announced a refocusing of its activities and services and a major reduction in staff. "The magnitude of the staff reductions and expense cuts was deep," stated Carl R. Augusto, president and executive director, "but a comprehensive action was necessary so we can realistically and optimistically focus our energies on AFB's future. It was time to sharpen our strategic focus, redefine our priorities, and guarantee that AFB's tradition of leadership in the blindness field continues." The mission of the organization remains the same--to enable people who are blind or visually impaired to achieve equality of access and opportunity--but, in the future, AFB will more strongly focus on three aspects of that mission: being a preeminent information resource that makes creative use of information to benefit the field of blindness, people who are visually impaired, and the general public; being an objective think tank and problem solver with a view toward making the most significant impact on the most important issues facing people who are blind or visually impaired such as addressing the future of specialized services; and being the leader in public education and affecting public policy regarding the needs and capabilities of people who are blind or visually impaired. Major changes at AFB include staff reductions across all departments; phasing out of the development, manufacture, and support of AFB engineered products; orderly transition from the sale of consumer products to a leadership role in galvanizing efforts to insure and expand the accessibility of products and assistive technology; and until sufficient funds are available, discontinuation of M.C. Migel Library services; deferral of the publication of new books and videos by AFB Press; and closing of the Southeast Regional Center of Atlanta, Georgia. At its May meeting, AFB's Board of Trustees approved a budget for the upcoming fiscal year that reflects these reductions. The Board also authorized initiation of the process of relocating AFB's New York headquarters to more cost effective space within Manhattan and selling the buildings it currently occupies. "We have concluded that we must make these sacrifices now in order to have a greater impact in the future," said Augusto. "As always, we will be looking to all our partners in the field of blindness to work with us to ensure that the significant issues of the day are being addressed." Further information, including new contacts at AFB, shifting of responsibilities, and other details will be communicated as appropriate. ____________________ That is what the press release said, and though it is still too early to tell for certain what all of the changes will mean, it is clear that the Foundation is at last making a serious effort to stop trying to be all things to all people in the blindness field and to sharpen its focus. As Carl Augusto said in an interview, "Instead of trying to implement a hundred good ideas, we are going to have to limit ourselves to choosing ten really good ones and be satisfied with carrying those out." Susan Spungin explained the new focus as a determination to do those things that the Foundation has always done best. Though the staff is still scrambling to develop the vocabulary with which to discuss the new focus, she said that the AFB's activities will flow into each other. She sees the Foundation as developing a strategy center in which problems, particularly those with public policy implications, would be studied and attacked. Naturally arising from this activity would come preparation of materials to assist teachers and professionals in the blindness field. And flowing back from professionals, agencies, and organizations in the field would come information that would be used for further research and development in the strategy center. Will it all happen? Is there a fund-raising base to support such activities? Can the American Foundation for the Blind both focus its efforts more narrowly and still carve for itself this or any other stable permanent niche for the twenty-first century? These are at least some of the questions facing the AFB and the blindness field. The officials with whom we spoke seemed sobered by recent developments but say they are optimistic about the future. Others in the blindness field with whom we talked seemed to wish the AFB well and applaud the agency's effort to narrow its scope. The field is certainly facing serious challenges in the years ahead, and the demise of an institution as venerable as the Foundation would not be a positive element. The forces outside the field that are working to divide and weaken the effort to protect the interests of the blind and the specialized agencies established to give them service would certainly not be saddened by the disappearance of the Foundation. If the Foundation can weather its current crisis and find for itself a future course of action which is truly in the best interest of the blind, everybody will benefit. As a final thought, I am moved to comment that most organizations would be delighted with an annual budget of eleven million dollars and a twenty-five-million-dollar reserve. So why is the Foundation in crisis? One could argue that it has overreached its capacity, that it has become inflexible and immune to change, or that it psychologically lives in a bygone era and cannot accept the new realities. However, it may be that none of these is the real problem. When, after the May 17 meeting, I asked one Foundation official about staff morale, the answer came back, "There is no staff morale." The greatest problem faced by the Foundation could be that it has lost belief in itself and its destiny. If that is the case, its troubles are only beginning. Perhaps the Foundation should contemplate (and I hope they will) the writings of the noted British historian Arnold Toynbee, whose sweeping theory of human development is called "The Cycle of Challenge and Response." According to Toynbee every civilization (and I suppose the same is true of an organization) faces a constant succession of challenges and confrontations, and its viability and soundness can be measured by the vigor and nature of the response. It may meet the challenge head-on, emerging stronger and healthier for the encounter; it may react defensively, desperately--leaving the struggle exhausted; or it may, at the first sign of threat, simply lie down and die.