Partial Funding Secured to Restore NFB-NEWSLINE® in Michigan

NFB-NEWSLINE® to Resume Service Temporarily with Financial Support from the Michigan Commission for the Blind

DEARBORN HEIGHTS, Mich., Jan. 5, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The National Federation of the Blind of Michigan is pleased to announce that partial funding has been found for NFB-NEWSLINE® -- the free service that provides independent access by blind and print-disabled people to hundreds of local and national publications and job and TV listings -- to temporarily restore service in Michigan as of today.  The $20,000 in partial funding provided by the Michigan Commission for the Blind will continue the service, which helps enable print-disabled Michiganites to access the news they need to succeed in work, school, and community life, for several months.

Dr. Marc Maurer, President of the National Federation of the Blind (NFB), said: "We are pleased that we can restore NFB-NEWSLINE® to blind people in Michigan with this funding.  This vital service, which offers the blind and other print-disabled people unprecedented, round-the-clock access to news and information, continues to grow, regularly adding new publications and new features.  We remain hopeful that the additional $60,000 of funding needed to support the service for the rest of the year can be found."

Larry Posont, president of the National Federation of the Blind of Michigan, said: "Due to budgetary issues discovered earlier this year, it was understood that we would be unable to continue offering NFB-NEWSLINE® to blind and print-disabled individuals in Michigan.  I am delighted to learn of the finding of funds that will support NFB-NEWSLINE® in our fair state, which will in turn support members of the blind community in all the roles they play.  The discovery of $20,000, allowing for several months of this important service, is certainly good news, and I am eager to do what I can to ensure continued service provision in the future once this funding runs out.  I wish to hear from anyone with ties to foundations offering grant opportunities or to other revenue sources."

NFB-NEWSLINE® allows those who cannot read conventional newsprint due to a visual or physical disability to access newspapers and magazines by download to a digital talking-book player, over the telephone, or on the Web.  NFB-NEWSLINE® offers over three hundred newspapers and magazines and is available 24 hours a day.  In addition to offering national newspapers such as the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and USA Today, NFB-NEWSLINE® offers over twenty-five prominent magazines, including the Smithsonian, Time, Rolling Stone, Popular Science, and Wired.  NFB-NEWSLINE® offers several Michigan-specific papers in addition to the Michigan Associated Press feed; these include the Detroit Free Press, the Flint Journal, and The Mining Journal.  Additionally, NFB-NEWSLINE® offers a new job-listings feature that allows subscribers to search through hundreds of thousands of job listings from all across the country by category and keyword, and will be of substantial help to reduce the estimated 70 percent unemployment rate among the blind.  

To learn more about NFB-NEWSLINE®, please visit www.nfbnewsline.org.  Those interested in subscribing to the service may fill out the online application form, write to [email protected], or call (866) 504-7300.  In order to be eligible for NFB-NEWSLINE®, an individual must be a U.S. resident who is legally blind or has a physical or learning disability that prevents the independent reading of newspapers.  

About the National Federation of the Blind

With more than 50,000 members, the National Federation of the Blind is the largest and most influential membership organization of blind people in the United States.  The NFB improves blind people's lives through advocacy, education, research, technology, and programs encouraging independence and self-confidence.  It is the leading force in the blindness field today and the voice of the nation's blind.  In January 2004 the NFB opened the National Federation of the Blind Jernigan Institute, the first research and training center in the United States for the blind led by the blind.

SOURCE National Federation of the Blind of Michigan