T. Rowe Price Supports Project for the Visually Impaired

LINC received a $10,000 grant from T. Rowe Price to fund technology services for individuals who are blind and visually impaired. These funds enabled LINC to serve these individuals through consultation services, workshops, telephone technical support, home visits, open lab hours, and demonstrations. LINC works to create specific and unique access solutions that address the vision loss needs of each individual. With this grant, LINC 's goal was to increase the client's quality of life, personal enjoyment and work productivity through these access solutions. LINC provided comprehensive services for 20 individuals and reached out to an additional 100 family members, professionals and friends.

Sylvan Learning Company

The Sylvan Learning foundation has joined the many corporate contributors who have made a financial commitment to support LINC‘s services. The Foundation has chosen the Summer Computer Arts Camp to support with a $5,000 grant. The Summer Arts Camp offers a unique educational opportunity for children with and without disabilities to be involved in computer based literacy and art activities. Many of these children live in the inner city. Children improve their computer knowledge, participate in creative writing activities, and join in cooperative learning situations.

Themes for the projects are linked to educational trips they take to arts organizations in the Inner Harbor area. Campers use the adaptive technology and software resources available at LINC to create their own stories and works of digital and graphic art. Some examples include software programs that read and highlight text to help children with learning disabilities master the reading and writing process; and hardware such as single switches, touch windows and customized mouse solutions that enable children with severe physical disabilities to control computers.

Mercantile-Safe Deposit & Trust Company

The Mercantile Fund awarded LINC a grant of $2,000 to help support our Home Services Project. This program targets adults with disabilities who are unable to travel to LINC because of the severity of their disability, transportation barriers, or specific needs. Services include: assessment of assistive technology needs; loans of equipment and software; assistance in setting up equipment; trouble-shooting malfunctioning equipment; training on the use of adaptive hardware and software; and telephone technical support.

Individuals in this program have disabilities such as blindness, low vision, multiple sclerosis, quadriplegia, paraplegia, stroke, cerebral palsy, and traumatic brain injury. Many participants have multiple disabilities. This project enables people to be more independent, to contact their family and friends using email, to use the telephone independently, to learn to use and find information on the Internet, to take classes via the computer, and in some cases,to become employed.

Baltimore Gas & Electric

Baltimore Gas & Electric, a member of the Constellation Energy Group, gave LINC a contribution of $2,000 to go toward services for children with disabilities who live in low-income Baltimore City neighborhoods. LINC has helped these children maneuver the rapidly changing world of computers to find out what technology tools work best for them.