From Small Beginnings
Researchers and therapists who work with children with blindness or low vision have demonstrated a direct correlation between early intervention and future developmental and academic success. Armed with this knowledge, a group of concerned parents and community volunteers founded Visually Impaired Preschool Services (VIPS) in 1985. Their mission was to enhance learning opportunities by providing early intervention services to young children with blindness or low vision and their families in the Louisville area. They began with grants of $10,000 each from Metro United Way and the WHAS Crusade for Children. VIPS started modestly with one employee providing eight families with home-based early intervention services once a week.
As awareness of VIPS grew, so did the demand for services. In January of 2002, we began a $2.3 million Capital Campaign with the goal of additional space for office and support services as well as a Classroom Wing for center-based preschool services. VIPS purchased the building at 1906 Goldsmith Lane, renovated the space, and moved in December of 2004. In the Summer of 2008, the Kosair Charities Kids Town and the Kentucky School for the Blind Charitable Foundation Classroom Wing were completed. In the fall of 2008, young children who were blind, visually impaired or deaf-blind from across the region came to VIPS for preschool. VIPS is the first preschool for children with blindness/low vision in the Commonwealth of Kentucky.
Our Mission
Visually Impaired Preschool Services (VIPS) empowers families by providing educational excellence to young children with visual impairments in order to build a strong foundation for reaching their highest potential.
Central Kentucky’s first office opened in Lexington in 1990. To better prepare for our growth, in 2015 we entered into a collaboration to locate our office at the Lexington Hearing & Speech Center and started a program for two-year-olds.
Because our mission knows no borders, in August 2011 we opened a satellite location with two employees in Bloomington, Indiana. VIPS has grown exponentially to serve children in need across Indiana. We moved the Bloomington office to Indianapolis in May 2014 to expand our reach. After a few crucial years of growth at the Indiana Interchurch Center (IIC) building, VIPS moved to its new home at 1212 Southeastern Avenue in Indianapolis! The Simon and Estelle Knoble Family Resource Center is a 6,300-square-foot facility hub for families in Indiana with features that include; a relaxing parent living room with an equipped kitchen, a resource and lending library, a Toddler Town and Sensory Room, a teletherapy room, two large activity rooms as well as expanded office space for the VIPS team. We also have our very own adaptive playground with a sensory garden.
Today, VIPS services children statewide in Kentucky and Indiana with an annual budget of over $3.6 million. In the fiscal year 2023/2024, VIPS served 745 children, from birth to age five, with critical early intervention and educational support. Our teachers and interventionists continue to drive hundreds of miles across both states to provide direct services to young children who are blind or have low vision--wherever they may live. VIPS was the first and continues to be the only nonprofit agency in Kentucky and Indiana providing vision-specific services to this population of children in need.