L.A. Foundations Back Renovation of a Historic Facility Serving Children with Visual Impairments

Photo courtesy the blind children’s center.

Since 1938, the Blind Children’s Center in Los Angeles has provided early care and education for young children with visual impairments and other disabilities. Now, with the help of several philanthropies, the historic building where the center is based is undergoing a major renovation to update its facilities and expand its reach. 

The renovation project is a public-private partnership supported by a mix of government dollars and major gifts from private funders — including the Ahmanson, Rose Hills and W.M. Keck foundations — in order to revive a facility that has historical significance and provides a unique level of care for children with disabilities. The renovation effort is just the latest in a long history of philanthropic support for the Blind Children’s Center, which offers free services for any child with visual impairment, while contending with sparse funding for the field.

As IP reported in its brief, Giving for Early Childhood Education, early childhood overall is an area that could use far more philanthropic support. And disability causes is another area in which philanthropic funding is scarce, as a report by the Disability and Philanthropy Forum found last year. Meanwhile, government support for both early education and people with disabilities is also lagging.

“State funding for services for the blind and visually impaired are extremely underfunded — especially in California. I am a firm believer in public-private partnerships,” said Sarah Orth, the center’s chief executive officer. “Government can't do it alone. And private philanthropy can't do it alone.”

The three leading foundations that came out in support of the project are all a little different, but are united by their commitment to projects in Los Angeles and Southern California, each with a long history of funding regional services and institutions.

W.M. Keck is largely a research funder backing science, engineering and medical research; it also backs Southern California projects. Meanwhile, the Rose Hills Foundation supports vulnerable communities in Los Angeles County, covering education, arts, human services and at-risk youth and families. And the Ahmanson Foundation similarly funds arts, medicine, education and human services, and has demonstrated a rare willingness to support capital campaigns like this one.

“They can come to us”

A raft of research over the last several decades has established the lifelong, intergenerational value of quality early care — beginning even before a child is born. Early intervention and education are particularly important for children with disabilities, including visual impairment.

“We can do a lot in the first five years that can really change the trajectory for a child, if we get to them early, in terms of how they adapt their orientation mobility at a young age, and work on Braille pre-literacy,” Orth said. “What really makes [the Blind Children’s Center] unique is that we have a center-based environment versus early intervention home visits, when someone comes in for 30 minutes to do PT and then leaves. You're not getting the kind of in-depth services that can help that child at such a critical time.” 

The center, which serves children ages 18 months to five years old, works closely with parents and caregivers to help them promote their child’s development. The center is a Head Start, Early Head Start, and California Sate Preschool program, and its services are free. Children with visual impairments can attend, even if their families don’t meet Head Start financial guidelines, because there are so few other services available.

“Any child in L.A. who has a visual impairment diagnosis is categorically eligible for our program, regardless of their income,” Orth said. “There's nowhere else for them to go, so they can come to us.”

Built by philanthropy

Philanthropy is deeply woven into the history of the Blind Children’s Center. The school was started by a group of L.A.-based Delta Gamma alumnae volunteers in 1938. The Delta Gamma Fraternity (an international women’s organization founded in 1873, before the label “sorority” was adopted) identifies “Service for Sight” as one of its primary areas for giving. The L.A. volunteers staffed the original, home-based nursery school, which was then called the Nursery School for Visually Handicapped Children. The Nursery School, which won recognition as a model program for visually impaired children, was the first of five schools Delta Gamma founded throughout the country. In the 1940s, when it became clear the school needed a larger and more permanent site, Delta Gamma chapters around the country contributed funding.

To design the building at its new location in Hollywood, the renowned architect Paul Revere Williams provided his services at a reduced rate. Williams, a Black man, became a successful architect at a time when few African Americans entered the profession. (According to NPR, Williams learned to sketch buildings upside down “to accommodate white clients who might not want to sit next to him.”) Dubbed “Hollywood’s architect,” Williams gained wide popularity among movie industry elite, with clients including Frank Sinatra, Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, Cary Grant and the Beverly Hills Hotel, where he designed a major renovation in the 1940s. The Blind Children's Center opened its doors at its current Hollywood location in 1953.

Today, the 70-year-old building is badly in need of upgrades, and philanthropy is stepping in to supplement government funding for the project. The renovation will include remodeled and updated classrooms and playgrounds, as well as upgrades to the building’s plumbing, lighting and flooring. The addition of an elevator and ramps will put the building in compliance with the Americans With Disabilities Act. Center administrators are applying to have the building designated a Historic Cultural Monument to honor Paul Williams and Delta Gamma.

The three primary private funders supporting the project, Ahmanson, W.M. Keck and Rose Hills foundations, all have deep roots in Los Angeles and the surrounding area.

The Ahmanson Foundation, which contributed $500,000 to the renovation project, has backed a number of SoCal-based capital projects, including affordable housing, as IP reported. Founded in the early 1950s by financier Howard F. Ahmanson, the family foundation was an early major donor to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the California Museum of Science and Industry, and other local institutions.

Rose Hills ($250,000) funds organizations “whose work supports underserved communities across Los Angeles County,” including Mychal’s Learning Place, which provides support and career opportunities for young people with disabilities. The foundation has an interesting origin story tied to L.A. history, founded with proceeds from the sale of Rose Hills Memorial Park, which was first established 110 years ago as a small cemetery in the growing county.

W.M. Keck ($300,000) has been a leader in medical research and science, including major telescope projects, as IP has reported; early childhood education in Southern California is also a priority. Keck was founded in L.A. during the 1950s by Myron Keck, who was the founder of Superior Oil Company.

Other project funders include the center’s board of directors, Thomas and Dorothy Leavey Foundation, the Doheny Foundation, the Sunair Children’s Foundation, and the Los Angeles Trial Lawyers’ Charities.

Paul Williams’ original watercolor rendering of the building is guiding the renovation, according to Orth. “We're using that as our inspiration for revitalizing and restoring the exterior and the paint,” she said. “So color selection — we've picked a lot of midcentury modern — everything is inspired by the time period and keeping the beauty of what Paul Williams had in mind.”