New Business Venture to Train and Employ the Blind
Enterprise Will Also Help Secure Economic Future of Local Nonprofit Organization
ATLANTA – The Center for the Visually Impaired (CVI) recently announced the establishment of a new enterprise – a contact center – to train and employ people who are blind and visually impaired. Called “ClearAnswer,” this business will create new local jobs while helping secure CVI’s economic future.
“This new entrepreneurial venture will provide employment for a population that has a 70% unemployment rate, and will also create a revenue stream to lessen the Center’s dependency on traditional funding sources,” said John T. Rhett III, chair of CVI’s Board of Trustees. “It will help us meet the service needs for the ever-growing population of Georgians with vision loss.”
When CVI developed its 2010-2015 strategic plan, Trustees identified the crucial need for the organization to earn a portion of its revenues as a balance to the decline in outside funding. After extensive research and discussion among business leaders from the Board and the community, it was determined that a contact center (a newer term for call centers that includes contact through various technologies in addition to telephone) would be the best business opportunity for CVI to reach its goals.
“Atlanta is recognized for its strong global presence in contact center business, an industry that is predicted to experience strong, long-term expansion,” said Mac Martirossian, chair of the task force created to investigate potential business opportunities. “By using a variety of assistive technology that either reads from the computer screen or magnifies it, CVI clients have already been successfully employed in a variety of contact centers for local businesses including AirTran Airways, CarMax, IRS, MSA Global and Comcast.
Jim Carruthers is the new Managing Director for Contact Center Services, and he brings more than 20 years of contact center industry experience to CVI from companies such as American Express, LoyaltyWorks and Rollins. ClearAnswer’s offices are located at CVI’s headquarters at 739 West Peachtree Street in Midtown Atlanta and were built out in a portion of underutilized space on the fourth floor. In support of CVI’s mission to empower people impacted by vision loss to live with independence and dignity, all contact center agents hired will be blind or visually impaired.
This spring, CVI began a $2.25 million campaign to raise the funds necessary to start and sustain this entrepreneurial venture for three years, and to date has received over $1,225,000 in grants and gifts. The first gift in support of the effort was for $800,000 from the Joseph B. Whitehead Foundation of the Woodruff family of foundations. By 2014, it is anticipated that increasing contact center customers and contracts will cover operating costs and provide an income stream to help fund the Center’s programs.
“CVI has helped guide thousands of visually impaired individuals and their families to hopeful futures where vision loss is not a barrier to an active, fulfilling life,” said agency President Subie Green. “Creating a contact center is an important step in helping people become financially independent – turning tax users into tax payers – while providing revenue that can fund and expand CVI’s mission and programs in the future.”
For further information on using ClearAnswer contact center services, contact Managing Director Jim Carruthers at 404-602-4341 or jcarruthers@cviga.org.
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