Bosma Enterprises celebrates grand opening of new headquarters
The numbers are staggering. According to the National Federation for the Blind, more than 30 percent of adults in the United States who are blind live in poverty. By 2030, the rate of blindness is estimated to double along with the country’s aging population.
Now imagine finding the most qualified candidate for a job, but that person is blind. Or perhaps a long-term employee experiences vision loss as a result of an accident. What would an employer need to do to accommodate that person? Is the employee able to keep the job?
Nationally, people who are blind or visually impaired face a 70 percent unemployment rate. Bosma Enterprises hopes that by showing employers that adapting the workplace is relatively easy and inexpensive, it may lead to additional employment opportunities for this overlooked population in the future.
David Smith, COO, Bosma Enterprises and Mendi Evans, Assistive Technology Specialist, Bosma Enterprises, share more about the grand opening of their new headquarters.
The new facility:
- The grand opening of their new headquarters on Corporate Drive in June represents not only a significant capital investment in the future of Bosma Enterprises, but a move toward their long-term goal of becoming the best in the world at what they do.
- Their goal is for Bosma to become a model for the rest of the world in how to provide visionary solutions for the blind and visually impaired.
- Through the pioneering use of technology and innovative design, this facility will stand as a national center of excellence and will help them create meaningful job opportunities for hundreds of Hoosiers.
- The new building was designed to be extremely accessible, using both high- and low-tech tools. Adaptive technologies like the wire-guided forklifts in their warehouse are creating new job opportunities. Even the flooring and wall covering materials were chosen with navigation in mind.
New Technology:
- With the opening of this new facility, Bosma Enterprises is now one of the first organizations in the U.S. to use the indoor navigation software BlindSquare, a mobile app that uses Bluetooth-powered beacons to help people who are blind navigate unfamiliar territory by providing audio queues.
- Bosma Enterprises understands that losing one’s sight shouldn’t mean giving up opportunities for meaningful work. The organization is on a mission to create opportunities and has a vision of complete equality for people who are blind or visually impaired.
- Bosma has worked to place clients at 24 different companies throughout the community, creating more diverse workforces and changing minds about the abilities of people who are blind.
- More than half of the 208 hard-working men and women employed at all levels of Bosma Enterprises are blind or visually impaired, making it the state’s largest employer of this group of individuals.
- Through their work with AbilityOne, Bosma packages more than 2,200 cases of gloves per day, and last year shipped more than 480 million exam gloves to VA hospitals throughout the country, a service they are proud to provide to the nation’s veterans.
To learn more, visit:
- bosma.org
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bosmaenterprises
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/Bosmaenterprise?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/BosmaEnterprises
SEGMENT IS SPONSORED BY BOSMA ENTERPRISES