The Colorado Center for the Blind provides training that changes the lives of blind people for the better, and infuses in our students the resilience and determination to pursue their highest dreams. Safety of the thousands of students, staff, and community members who come to the Colorado Center for the Blind is our highest priority. This is an update regarding this important matter.
The National Federation of the Blind’s Special Committee has completed an eleven-month investigation, and the NFB Board of Directors released the final report on December 8, 2021. This report addresses the three NFB-affiliated training centers, including the Colorado Center for the Blind.
The Board of Directors of the National Federation of the Blind authorized the formation of a Special Committee on January 6, 2021 to investigate allegations of sexual misconduct against the Federation and its training centers as well as how these entities handled such allegations. The Special Committee was also charged to “recommend organizational and policy changes to prevent sexual misconduct cases from occurring in the future.” The Special Committee hired an external law firm, which had never previously worked with the Federation or the training centers, to conduct the investigations and gather all relevant information. The Colorado Center for the Blind cooperated fully with the Special Committee’s independent investigator and furnished them with documents and aural reports.
We have reviewed the Special Committee’s findings, and we welcome its recommendations. The CCB has never tolerated sexual misconduct, and in the last year, we have been working to revise our personnel and student policies to further enhance the provision of a safe and healthy environment. We will incorporate the recommendations of the Special Committee’s report into our process, in which we have been engaged along with our fellow NFB training centers to also develop clear response protocols. The Board of Directors of the Colorado Center for the Blind supports the work begun by Executive Director Julie Deden in this regard.
The Colorado Center for the Blind, including our board, management team, and staff reaffirms our mission to provide the most meaningful, challenging, and rewarding blindness-skills training in the safest, most enriching, and empowering environment possible at our center.