Lauren Branch on Leveraging Technology and Advocacy to Make Her Org the Largest Employer of the Blind in Oklahoma

Katie and Steven sit down with CEO Lauren Branch, as she talks about building NewView Oklahoma into the largest employer of people who are blind in the state. 

BIO

LAUREN BRANCH has been with NewView Oklahoma, formerly the Oklahoma League for the Blind, since 1997. A native of Houston, Texas, Lauren received her bachelor’s degree in accounting and business administration from Texas A&M University in 1986. She is also a certified public accountant.

Under Lauren’s leadership, NewView Oklahoma has undergone unprecedented growth, employing more than 150 individuals, most of whom are blind or low vision and serving thousands of Oklahomans with vision loss. NewView is now the largest employer of people who are blind in the state and has been recognized both locally and nationally as one of the premier organizations in the country providing comprehensive low vision services for people losing their vision. Over the years, NewView has received numerous awards and recognitions including National Industries for the Blind Employment Growth Award, Oklahoma ABLE Tech Partner of the Year, Oklahoma Attorney General Keith Boyd Employer of the Year Award, American Optometric Association Apollo Award, DHS Aging Services Achievement in Aging Program of the Year, Blue Cross Blue Shield Dr. Rodney L. Huey Memorial Champions of Oklahoma Health Award, Oklahoma State Use Program Organization of the Year Award, and Oklahoma Center for Nonprofits “One Award” Finalist in Self-Sufficiency.

Lauren is very active in her community, having served in various capacities over the years in the non-profit and business sectors. She currently serves on the board of National Industries for the Blind and is the current chairperson of VisionServe Alliance, a national organization dedicated to improving the quality of life to and for people with vision loss. Lauren is also a member of Leadership Oklahoma City, Class XXVIII and Leadership Oklahoma Class XXVII . She is a member of Rotary Club 29 in Oklahoma City and has been since 2004.

WEBSITE

nvoklahoma.org

HOSTS

Steven McCoy

Katie Corbett

www.innovatinginclusion.org

Transcript

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ANGIE CASTRO: Welcome to Innovating Inclusion, Everyone. Today, we continue our series of interviews recognizing National Disabilities Employment Awareness Month, NDEAM, as Steven and Katie speak with the CEO of NewView Oklahoma, Lauren Branch.

With the organization since 1997, Lauren has led NewView through unprecedented growth with over 70% of their workforce being blind. 

They are now the largest employer of people who are blind in the state and have been recognized both locally and nationally as one of the premier organizations in the country providing comprehensive low vision services for people losing their vision. Lauren currently serves on the board of National Industries for the Blind and is the current chairperson of VisionServe Alliance, a national organization dedicated to improving the quality of life to and for people with vision loss. 

Enjoy today’s episode. We are privileged to be speaking with her.’

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KATIE CORBETT: Thank you so much, Lauren, for coming on Innovating Inclusion with us. We're really excited to have you. 

LAUREN BRANCH: I'm excited to be here. I'm really honored that you thought of me and invited me to be on your show. 

STEVEN McCOY: Absolutely. 

KATIE: I'm gonna get us kicked off with the question that we ask all of our guests here on the podcast. What does innovating inclusion mean to you? 

LAUREN: I think the word innovation sounds really high tech and sophisticated. But I think that it can be pretty simple. It really speaks to intentionality regarding designing, adapting, and rethinking processes.

I think that you can really innovate in any kind of space. And I think that it also speaks to culture. It is more than just accommodating, but really speaks to inclusion and creating systems and processes that people can thrive, contribute and lead. 

STEVEN: And you do many of those things just starting with NewView, Oklahoma. I don't see how you do it all. 'cause I'm like, wait a minute, this lady has a husband, children, you operate various Boards, working with different organizations. So, before we get into how much of a balance you have to set, tell us a little bit about NewView. Oklahoma. 

LAUREN: Our organization just turned 75 years old. We were founded in 1949 and really started as a job training and employment organization.

And we have a rich history within the blindness community. We were founded by six blind individuals who saw the need for job training and employment for people who are blind. And as a matter of fact, one of our founding fathers is actually considered the father of ACB, the American Council of the Blind.

So NewView's mission, obviously is to empower individuals to live their fullest life. And so we do that in a variety of ways. A lot of people don't know that we're the largest employer of people who are blind here in the state of Oklahoma. And we have a 90,000 square foot manufacturing facility right here in downtown Oklahoma that supports a number of meaningful jobs for people who are blind from, true manufacturing to, supervisory, to our Vice President of Finance.

We're also the largest service provider and the only comprehensive service provider of vision rehabilitation services here in the state as well. So we have low vision clinics and vision rehabilitation services. We serve birth through older adults and everything in between. And a lot of people don't know that we serve all 77 counties here in the state. If you're getting true comprehensive vision rehabilitation services in the state of Oklahoma, more likely than not you're coming through NewView.

KATIE: I'm a big fan of the phrase, "nothing about us without us", so I love that a NewView was started by people who are blind. I'm blind myself, and it's so great to see when organizations start from that little seed of a need and grow. And I'm really curious, what innovations or strategies made that growth possible over the years, would you say?

LAUREN: I think it's really about inclusiveness, ingenuity and imagination. So people who know me well know my nature is a visionary and I am a big idea person. And I also am very committed to collaboration and teamwork and being able to pull resources together. And I feel like a lot of it, we did on a string and a prayer. 

When I became the Executive Director of NewView, which back then it was the Oklahoma League for the Blind, honestly, I think I was too young and stupid to know I was too young and stupid to do these things, but. At the time our organization was really struggling, and I didn't know it. I came out of the private sector and really was looking for a job 'cause my job had relocated out of Oklahoma to Florida. And at the time I had three small children and one on the way. And, relocation wasn't in the cards. And they were hiring, actually a controller. And, my background is finance and accounting and fell into this, but fell in love. Literally fell in love with the mission and the people, but also didn't know anything about the mission or the people.

And through reaching out really to some great mentors nationwide realized pretty early on that our organization at the time was doing honestly, a real disservice to individuals who were blind in our community. We didn't have people in leadership roles and I think we had some board members.

I don't wanna mischaracterize, thinking “we're doing such a great job for these poor, blind people, right?” I think that we've all can relate to that space, right?  But the reality of it is that we were really holding people back. We weren't providing the services that people needed to be able to advance. We weren't providing the educational support and the skill development. And unfortunately at the time in the state of Oklahoma, the only access to services were through our state voc rehab program. And it was pretty deficient. And, we were not doing a great job with educating our kids and providing the services. And we had a lack of trained professionals. And if we're not gonna do it, who's gonna do it? We just started really small, but had a strong commitment to ensuring that we were doing the right thing, with our community and the people we serve. And a lot of the programs and services that we started, now we're statewide we have large clinics and rehabilitation services, but they were originally started to support our own people so that we could have opportunities for leadership development and upward mobility and make more money and support your family and put your kids in school and buy homes and that was really the genesis of what we started years ago that has really grown into something that I think our people and organization are really proud of And have modeled to other organizations across the country. 

One of the things that we're proudest of is that we have people who are blind in leadership positions in very untraditional type positions. For example, my Vice President for Finance Accounting is blind. And, you don't find a lot of blind accountants out there, or engineers or those types of positions. And I just think that we've over the years have been able to create a culture that embraces and encourages and supports that.

STEVEN: I've been a person who has absolutely witnessed the amazing initiative that you guys established over the years. I was able to collaborate with the Oklahoma Human Services, which is one of your biggest partners as well.

What has been the biggest challenges that you guys needed to dig and figure out. How did you get those opportunities to be able to go in and say, okay, this is what we need to change rather than painting a picture as if everything is okay? 

LAUREN: I think for some of it, it was very intentional on an individual basis, because there still exists really challenging systemic issues that create a lot of barriers to opportunities. 

One of the things that we see in Oklahoma is children who are blind and low vision coming through our school system still are not getting the appropriate services that they need to be able to effectively access and participate in their education. And parents don't know what they don't know. I think that all of us as parents want the very best for our children, but for the parents that we came in contact with, more often than not, their child is the only blind child that they have ever known, and they haven't had to navigate the system and nor do they know the types of services and opportunities that are available and how to advocate on behalf of their kids.

We've been intentional about trying to get to the parents early and give them the supports and the education they need to be able to advocate for their children. And then when the schools won't provide the services, then we step up and do that at no cost to the parents.

I think that funding for services continues to be an issue. As we know, most individuals lose their vision as adults, things like diabetic retinopathy, traumatic brain injury. We see more adults than children born blind and access to services because of the way that blind services, rehab services are funded, excludes a lot of people to be able to access them. And so I think that, we've really tried to break down some of those funding barriers and access more non-traditional type funding because the traditional funding mechanisms that we were trying to access just were not working at all in our community. Those systemic issues, until we figure that out we're going to continue to be challenged with barriers that prevent individuals from really, gaining the skills that they need and accessing the opportunities.

But what we've committed to within our organization, that we're not gonna have those barriers within NewView. And so if someone is interested in something, if they have an aptitude for something, we're gonna support them in any way that we can. And, in some of those ways, we've paid people, literally their regular salary and supported them in going through school and college. They can work a half a day, they can go to school a half a day, but their pay is not impacted because you still have to put food on your table and support your family and when you lose your vision as an adult, I think about this a lot. I spent the vast majority of my adult life as a single mom with four kids. If something had happened to me, I still was responsible for my family and it is unrealistic to think that I could not work and just take all this time to have to go through rehab services.  We would've been out on the street. We wanna take that issue away from the people that we're working with and that we're serving and make it easier for them in a very complicated and challenging and often traumatic, environment and event.

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KATIE : Lauren, you are also doing that work on a larger scale serving on the Boards of the National Industries for the Blind and Vision Serve Alliance. Can you talk about the impact of both of those organizations?

LAUREN: We are affiliated with National Industries to the Blind. And over the years, I think I've spent a total of 16 years on the NIB board, like off and on. And, I think that programs like the ones under National Industries for the Blind are still very important.

The unemployment rates amongst individuals who are blind are still really high and unacceptable. And I think that organizations like ours do provide avenues for skill development, for meaningful employment. And it's a choice, right? It's not gonna be for everyone. But I do think serving on the national boards give you a place to really inform policy at the national level, which I think is extremely important. We all need to be active on the national level and be on the forefront of advocacy and policy. Because sometimes policy lags, right? It lags way behind and we need to figure out how to speed that up. But we also need to be on the forefront of innovation and trying new things. And we need to be doing that at scale, right? And I think the only way that you know what's going on in other places and trying and learning new things is to be engaged. And I really do see my role now as really a national leader and a national voice which is why I participate at that level.

But with Vision Serve Alliance, that is the place where you have the broadest representation of organizations serving people in our field, from educators to guide dog schools to the national alphabet soup of organizations, ACB, AFB, AFR, NIB, whatever.

And so it's a place where we can really drive policies around the really big challenging issues in our field. And I think that some of the most important work that we've done at the national level is really around data collection. For years and years, we just didn't have a lot of data around the characteristics of individuals who are blind in our communities at a granular level: comorbidities, demographics, income levels, education levels. And for the very, very first time through our big data report initiative, we have that data available for individuals who are 65 and older and for working age adults, ages 18 to 64. And I think that there were some real surprises in that data that have enabled us to frame issues differently. 

I think you mentioned Steven, the work around poverty and blindness.This data was really eyeopening. You talk about social determinants of health. Individuals who are blind are significantly impacted by social determinants of health. The vast majority of them who are working are still making wages that are not livable wages. It's just incredible.

And, without that data, we can't tell that story, and we can't change policy without data and story that's not just anecdotal. I can talk all about what I see, the people that I see coming in here, but without aggregated statistically valid data that supports it, we're not gonna be able to change a lot of the policy, including funding policy.

One of the things that we've been working on at the national level, and I've been working on for years, is that the only real funding stream for vision rehabilitation services is through voc rehab. And the policy around services under voc rehab have changed so much.

So many people are left out of being able to access services. And there is no other funding stream. It was totally left out of our public health policy. And you have to be able to live to work. If you can't live, if you can't think about how you're gonna cook your next meal or navigate out of your house and the critical services that you need to be able to do that, you can't access because you can't articulate a vocational outcome. That's insane. That is insane and discriminatory. And I think one of the biggest things we have to do is sever that connection that people who lose their vision need to have access just like everyone else. If I'm in a car accident tomorrow and I break my leg, I'm gonna get surgery, I'm going to get rehab, I'm gonna get metal equipment, I'm gonna get a walker, I'm gonna get a physical therapist, I'm gonna get all that stuff. If I lose my vision in that same accident, I get nothing. A white cane is not covered under insurance. Mobility instruction is not covered under insurance. It's insane the way that we treat the payment of rehabilitation services. And I think that's one of the biggest issues. The fact that vision rehab is not covered under Medicare. Come on. How many millions and millions of older individuals are losing their vision and don't have access to services? It's crazy.

STEVEN: Absolutely. Will you be able to speak to us about Oklahoma Without Limits? 

LAUREN: Yeah, of course. So we have our summer camps programs that we call Oklahomans Without Limits and, or OWL Camp. And we started those, over 20 years ago. And quite frankly, it was hard, trying to convince parents to give you their kids for a week without any parental supervision. And, the very first camp we had, we only had seven kids. I could only get seven parents to trust me with their kids.

But over the years it's really grown. And I think two really great things that have come out of it is really being able to play a part in the growth and development of these children. And when you get them young enough, and no dissing on parents here, but, we can be a little bit overprotective. And then when have kids who may have other issues like blindness or other disabilities, we tend to wrap 'em in bubble wrap and not want them to get hurt. And it's not because we wanna harm our kids in any way, we wanna protect them, but, at the same time, these kids are gonna have to survive in the real world. And they need to understand they're like everyone else. And they can participate in the communities like everyone else. And one of the tenants of our camp from the very beginning was no parents allowed and we get 'em overnight. And in a fun way, they start learning personal responsibility. 

It also gives them the freedom to try things. And I can't tell you how many parents over the years have said, my kid and I home from camp, they've never even made their bed, and now they're asking to help do chores and, they wanna help cook and they wanna go outside and play, and it's really great. And so the kids that have come through those programs, then they become mentors too. So then, the model is for them to become buddies as they get older, with the new kids coming in and then become counselors and mentors. And last night at our event, our guest speaker was a young man who is 23 now. And he came up through our programs here at NewView and he said last night, that's where he developed his community and his confidence. And so he has his own business now. He's an entrepreneur. He sells real estate. And he's gonna reach his million dollar mark this year. And it's because of these experiences that he has, and also developing community with other people who are blind, but developing community with people who aren't. 

And so one of the unintended outcomes of this camp too is that we also engage sighted kids to come in and have the same experiences and interact.  And you know what, I tell these kids when they come in and they wanna be counselors or buddies and they're sighted. I wanna in orientation with them and training. I tell them, one day you're gonna be me. You are gonna be making decisions about people. You are gonna be making, hiring decisions. You're gonna be making these other really important decisions and your perspective is gonna be different because of this experience. And that has proven out to be true. These kids have maintained friendships over the years. They have stayed connected. They view people with disabilities as not different than them at all. We all had fun. We all climbed rocks together. We did archery, we swam, we told ghost stories, we sat by the campfire. We all wanna do the same things and have the same dreams and aspirations. And I think that it's a really great equalizer for people. That's how you start developing inclusion, right? Like true inclusion policies. And it's not an afterthought. It's something that happens organically. 

KATIE: That is so beautiful. I really hope that, through the example you're leaving and the legacy you're leaving, that you know these wonderful, messages and lessons will continue forward. And I know with NewView's, 75th anniversary approaching , how are you balancing celebrating history with also preparing for the next 75 years?

LAUREN: I've really been thinking a lot about legacy. And I think we always have to be forward looking. Things are changing faster now than they've ever changed before. Honoring our founding fathers, they laid a great foundation, right?

They were true visionaries. And in honoring them, we have to be visionary. We have to embrace the forward momentum in the forward looking. I will tell you, I'm an early adopter. People are like oh my gosh, we're scared of AI and we think it's gonna be, do all these horrible things. I'm like, dude, the train's left the station. We need to get on board and we need to embrace this in a way that enables our people to do more. And they are doing more. 

We were one of the first ones around to buy a 3D printer. We use 3D printing for orientation and mobility and designing workspace design because we're in a 90,000 square foot facility. Sometimes they only knew the path that they were in and the workspace that they were in. So we figured out that with 3D printing that we could, to scale. 3D print, like work cells and work areas and that allowed our individuals who were blind to participate in improving workflow.

And we bring people in who wanna make it happen. And you know what, they're really creative, right? Everybody wants to utilize this great technology to move things forward. I wish we had Waymo's here or, self-driving cars here in Oklahoma, I'd be first on board to try to figure out how to access this technology.

So we're trying to figure out ways right now to better utilize AI, and tools. Anybody that I can talk to that's doing innovation in this space. We're bringing them in and bringing them on board. I don't think AI is ever gonna replace the creativity and the emotion and the humanity, but I think that it can enhance the way that we do things. 

The thing that I want too with people in their jobs is, I think we've all seen this, people get in jobs and then, everything's not totally accessible, and so someone has to come in and help them. And so there are certain pieces that they can't really do. And our commitment is we're gonna get you guys involved and figure out the ways in which we can create a work environment that you're completely independent, right? You can do your job regardless of the level of vision that you have. And then also creates flexibility within   our workforce as well. You can move people around. They're not limited to the things that they're doing. There are challenges to that. Sometimes the world around us doesn't cooperate as much as we would like them to.But, we certainly are committed to that. 

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STEVEN:    I always enjoy conversations about legacy and how we’re able to instill and empower within our individuals with disabilities. Is that another reason why collaborations are important to you so that we become better allies to the community?

LAUREN: Absolutely. I think in any space you have to collaborate. I will say it's frustrating to me now that we're having these conversations about diversity, equity, inclusion in a way that doesn't honor and support and encourage, because, I'm a strong believer that the more diverse we are, the better we are.

The more perspectives that are on the table, the more you know, the more inclusive, the stronger, the better we reduce barriers. And and I've seen that in action. And it is not just collaboration in our field either, right? It's collaboration across everything. And I know that our society is better when we're inclusive across the board, and that we respect individual perspectives and differences but we make community inclusive for everyone. 

This is a simple example, but, universal design. When I go into a hospital, and I'm taking my mom who or grandma who doesn't see very well, and you go in and it's holy cow, it's white on white and these bright lights and glare and all that stuff. Simple design modifications that cost absolutely nothing would make it friendlier for everyone. 

How many older people with low vision trip and fall because they don't see the step. They don't see the curb. They run into the doorway. They stumble. If we applied the principles  of universal design and friendly environments, and you make it friendly for someone who's low vision or blind is friendly for everyone.

I had a friend, Chris Downey out in San Francisco. He's a blind architect and he went blind after brain tumor surgery, and he was a successful architect before, and then after he lost his vision, he still works in that space, but in universal design making public and private spaces accessible and inclusive for people with disabilities. And he doesn't call it universal design. He calls it “universal delight” which I think is really inspirational because when we make environments more inclusive, they're more delightful for everybody.

It just makes things easier and it makes us better.    

KATIE: Absolutely. If you could leave our listeners with one challenge or one call to action around innovating inclusion, what would it be?

LAUREN: I would challenge them to try to shed your preconceived notions. About what people can do and can't do. Open your mind to the possibilities. You can start small, right? Reach out to people who are working in this space and say, Hey, listen, I wanna think about things differently. What can we do? Small baby steps. Let's do a pilot. Let's collaborate, let's do something. But I think that the biggest challenges are really these preconceived notions that we have.

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The other thing is that for those who are really in this space, we need to do more in terms of advocacy. We need to be intentional about advocacy. We need to be intentional about how we're shaping policy at both the grassroots level and at the national level. We gotta be working from the bottom up in the top down and everything in the middle. And I think that we all need to be talking more, advocating more, trying more things out.

People that know me well if you ask my leadership team, like the descriptive of me, they're gonna call me tenacious. It's you know what? I'm gonna go over, above, around, through to get my message heard. And I think it's incumbent upon us to all be doing that, right?

This is important work we're doing it. It is really important. It impacts people's lives and there are more and more people out there in our communities who are losing their vision, who have other disabilities that are being left behind. And they need a voice. And we need to use our voice and we need to teach them how to use their voice.

I think probably the last thing is thought we do need a broader understanding of the impact of blindness and vision loss in our communities. And I think that if people really understood the economic impact of not. Supporting inclusive environments, supporting jobs, supporting, better health outcomes, better educational outcomes. I think that we have a big story to tell and we need to be way more intentional as a group and leverage our collective voice to be able to tell that story. 

Over and over again, in our field, what I've seen is that a lot of times in our various organizations, we focus on where we have policy differences and can't get on the same page, and we really need to be focused on our commonality and how powerful we could be if we spoke with one voice in a big way, I think we could make significant change. 

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NARRATOR: Innovating Inclusion is a production of the Fox Family Foundation whose mission is to break the link between poverty and disability. Explore more of Lauren's work at New View at nvoklahoma.org.

Our theme song today was written by Girgore Ionut Cosmin, with incidental music by Travis A.King and Bruce Maginnis.  Today’s episode was produced by Akira Nakano.

Please visit our website, innovatinginclusion.org.

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