CHICAGO, Feb. 26, 2014 –The Lloyd A. Fry Foundation announced today that ICO would receive a two-year, $230,000 grant in support of services provided at both the college and its community partners to meet the vision and eye care needs of underserved adults and youth. The grant will also support an evaluation study of the impact of vision care on student learning.
“We are pleased to again receive funding from the Fry Foundation. This latest grant will support two of our programs—Chicago Vision Outreach and Vision of Hope Health Alliance—and include a new research component to help us affirm the impact on students’ school work following successful diagnosis, treatment and remediation of visual problems,” says Mark Colip, OD ’92, vice president for student, alumni and college development at ICO. “Another important new initiative is to increase community awareness of the importance of vision care and the availability of this care, regardless of ability to pay, at the Illinois Eye Institute.”
The Fry Foundation supports Chicago-based organizations committed to improving conditions for the city’s low-income, underserved residents. Its funding areas are arts learning, education, employment and health. The relationship between ICO and the Fry Foundation began in 1989. Since 2011, the foundation has funded ICO at the level of $100,000 or more per year, in support of ICO’s partnerships with community healthcare centers and the Chicago Public Schools. A typical grant from the Fry Foundation ranges between $20,000 and $50,000.
“ICO is the only vision care grantee that we have,” says Soo Na, senior program officer at the Fry Foundation. “ICO has done an incredible job of expanding its vision care services through very innovative partnerships.”
About the Illinois College of Optometry The Illinois College of Optometry is among the world’s leading optometric institutions and has provided exceptional clinical education since its founding in 1872 by Dr. Henry Olin. Located in Chicago, ICO is also home to the Illinois Eye Institute. The heart of the college’s clinical division, the IEI is a nonprofit multi-specialty eye center with more than 100,000 annual patient visits.
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