Guild for the Blind

Quick Facts

Guild for the Blind, located in Chicago, Illinois, serves the entire Chicago metropolitan and suburban areas. Founded in 1947, by William F. Lynch, the Guild provides free services to people with vision loss.
There are 289,730 non-institutionalized individuals over the age of 18 living in Illinois who are blind or visually impaired (American Foundation for the Blind using data from the National Health Interview Survey-Disability Supplement)
Each year the Guild serves over 1000 people with direct services and in excess of 4,000 people through resource and referral services.
The largest growing sector of individuals with new vision loss is seniors. The Guild's New Visions and Next Steps programs specifically address their needs.
The Guild works in partnership with more than 50 local organizations in communities throughout Chicago and the surrounding suburbs to bring our services directly to the people who need them.
Over 50 volunteers assist, facilitate and complement the services offered at the Guild.
The Guild treats each person’s needs individually – we realize no two people are the same so we adapt our training techniques and focus our training to meet individual needs.