That’s right, as part of our parking lot construction project, power will be cut to the building on Friday, August 24 so that the new, entirely underground electricity cables can be linked up to the building and Xcel Energy’s trunk line. That means more than just no lights, which isn’t a big deal to us anyway. It also means no computers, fire safety alarm or telephones. In fact, our phones will just ring and ring because the answering and voice mail system run on a computer in the building.

Oh yeah, it also means no WiFi! Ask yourself, what can you get done without WiFi? Even drinking a cup of coffee feels weird without WiFi.

As a result of the power shutdown, our Seniors won’t be meeting this Friday.

Yes, summer is racing to its conclusion, and our Summer Earn and Learn students are finishing up their jobs this Friday. For many, it’s their first paid employment experience, and it’s been a great success!

Through the Summer Earn and Learn program, students have worked in various positions, gaining valuable work experience and building confidence. The program not only provides employment opportunities but also emphasizes the development of essential skills such as time management, communication, and teamwork.

As the program wraps up, students reflect on their experiences and the growth they've achieved. The skills and lessons learned during this summer will undoubtedly serve them well in their future endeavors.

We congratulate all the participants for their hard work and dedication. Here's to the next step in your journey!

We hope you’ll bear with us this summer with a project that will result in some dust, noise and truck traffic on neighborhood streets. Construction caution fencing is already going up around our parking lot as a projected 87-day construction project begins today.

As the photos show, the Colorado Center for the Blind’s parking lot has deteriorated badly in recent years. Rather than simply repave, we decided to use the opportunity to do more than just lay new asphalt. The total project will put utilities underground, upgrade parking lot lighting, provide more walkways and landscaping around the parking area, build a concrete dumpster pad to withstand heavy trucks, and reconfigure the front of the building and the sidewalk approaches to it. Time to complete the planning and permitting processes for this project are the reason we let it go so long.

Editor’s Note: This letter has been widely distributed this week, but we decided to risk repeating ourselves by posting it here because we very much hope you will join us for the NFB of Colorado Comcast 6 Dot Dash on Sunday. It’s going to be a lot of fun!

Dear Family and Friends,

The NFB of Kansas President dropped by for a quick visit and tour this afternoon. Tom Page and his friend Nicole are in the area with Tom’s string band, the Haymakers. They played in Colorado Springs last night and will be in Denver at Cervantes’ Other Side tonight. Though a number of Kansas students have come to CCB for training over the years, this was Tom’s first chance to see the Center.

“The energy is amazing,” he said.

Tom and Nicole bumped into another Kansan this afternoon while visiting. Luther Fuller is part of the Summer for Success (College Prep) Program this summer. He’s just graduated from high school and is off to college in the fall to major in Music and Computer Science on the side.

Yesterday we gathered 106 people into the meeting room for an ice cream social. It’s an event we hold every June because of course it’s summer and it’s hot and so ice cream tastes great! But we also do it to mark how exciting June can be with our usual Independence Training Students and staff in the building with our Seniors, who are joined by the Confidence Camp kids and the older summer students in the Middle School, High School and College Prep programs.

And since this is the year that the Colorado Center for the Blind turns 30, it’s a moment to reflect on how far the Center has come, and how far our many students have gone since leaving.

As Julie Deden pointed out, Diane McGeorge started the Center in 1988 with just five initial students.

“It’s amazing to think that we started with five students,” said Assistant Director Brent Batron, “and today we have six programs running in the building at the same time!”

That was one of the first lessons of the first day of summer for Confidence Camp kids this morning.

“If someone asks you what your backpack looks like, what are you going to tell them?” the lesson continued.

Yes, Monday began with learning for the 10 5 to 12-year-olds. It went on from there, including making lunches, and there will be plenty more lessons in independence and fun over the next two weeks. Lots of fun too – their day ended with a trip to the pool for a swim. Now that’s summer!

And then there were the 23 teenagers in our Earn & Learn and College Prep programs in their first day of classes. they will be with us for 8 weeks, including a trip to the National Federation of the Blind 2018 Convention in Orlando!

Dear Friends –

We want to bring your attention to an exciting event taking place here at the Colorado Center for the Blind on Sunday, June 24. At least, it will start and finish at the Center, because it is the national Federation of the Blind of Colorado’s first 6 Dot Dash 5K, and we invite you to register and walk, run or roll! Funds raised go to the NFB of Colorado, the organization that founded the Colorado Center for the Blind and whose fund-raising kept the doors of the CCB open for many years afterward.

The practical application of the philosophy we teach here at the Center is the philosophy of the National Federation of the Blind, whose tag line is “Blindness is not what holds you back. You can live the life you want.”

No matter what the calendar says, it’s the first week of summer. The temps are in the 90s, the garden is being planted and summer staff are shadowing their ITP staff counterparts. Friday 25 teenagers (summer students) begin arriving and on Monday the elementary Confidence Camp kids start too.

So here’s another first or two. Above, Amber uses a spade for the first time out in the garden. When asked if she’d dug with a shovel before she promptly answered, “I’m about to.” And then she proceeded to do it. In the process she and classmate Annette planted this year’s pumpkin and zucchini hills.