MISSION STATEMENT
To train and
provide jobs for individuals who are blind or visually impaired
who are willing and and able to work so that they can become
self supporting members of the community. We are an equal
opportunity employer.
Our
History
 In 1928, the Mississippi Commission for the Blind was formed to administer newly enacted legislation authorizing the State to "aid the blind, whose training is not otherwise provided for, in finding employment....." It wasn't until 1942 that significant progress was made in implementing the law. After Governor Paul B. Johnson, Sr. signed the act, eight blind people started vocational training in Jackson in the basement of the old mental hospital on North State Street where they earned wages in the first year of about $5 a week.
Mississippi can feel proud of the growth in 76 years of that original group of eight trainees to today's 258 skilled, well-paid employees at our Jackson facility and in our satellite plan in Meridian. Twenty-five blind people are in training at all times to attain the level of proficiency for which MIB has earned so many awards.
Since providing jobs for the blind is our continuing prime mission, MIB is constantly seeking to recruit qualified men and women. Our requests are given by the Mississippi Vocational Rehabilitation Department to its counselors throughout the state who arranges interviews with prospective employees. Those qualified are accepted as trainees.
How Did This All Come About?
The Declaration of Independence for MIB -- and for all blind people -- can be dated from 1938 when Congress enacted and President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed a bill called the Javits Wagner-O'Day Act. It established mandatory priorities for the purchase of certain products, such as brooms and mops (and now a myriad of items including postal straps, military gear, mattresses and more), by Federal agencies. Thus assuring a market for high-quality blind-made products.
Congress paved the way for people who are visually impaired to come off welfare rolls and go on payrolls.
Today, MIB is the pacesetter among similar workshops affiliated with National Industries for the Blind, a non-profit organization formed as an outgrowth of the Javits Wagner-O'Day Act. In Mississippi, the goal is to attract an ever-increasing number of our qualified citizens to be trained for industry employment.
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