Intro: 00:00

Welcome to the Heard & Empowered podcast presented by National Industries for the Blind. We’re on a mission to empower people who are blind or low-vision or visually impaired to build fulfilling careers, gain personal independence, and take the next step toward achieving their own American dream. Guests from all walks of life share their journeys and how they overcame challenges they faced along the way. Whatever your interests, experience, talents, or career goals, listen to, discover important connections and unlock the resources and inspiration you need to chart a new path ready to be heard and empowered.

Dean Thompson: 00:35

Hi, I’m Dean Thompson, welcome to the Heard & Empowered podcast. Thanks for watching. I’m here with Michael Monteferrante.

Michael is with Envision and Michael. What is Envision? Please?

Michael Monteferrante: 00:46 

Envision is one of the largest blind agencies in the United States, headquartered in Wichita, Kansas, but 16 locations in 12 states and a fairly large presence in Wichita, Kansas, and in Dallas, Texas. And we’ve started in 1933 and have been around ever since. And our focus and our goal and our mission is to impact the lives of people who are blind and visually impaired.

Dean Thompson: 01:18

What does Envision do?

Michael Monteferrante: 01:20

We do a lot of things right. We’re we’ve got a fairly large bandwidth of employment opportunities throughout the country, as I just mentioned, and also services, mission services, where we have early child development centers, research institutes, workforce innovation centers, rehabilitation programs, a huge art program that we have that’s been nationally renowned on the NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt and Hi, guys. You know, Sunday morning with Willie Geist. And so some really impactive programs that we have in addition to employment.

Dean Thompson: 02:05

I’m curious about that. What does the art program do?

Michael Monteferrante: 02:10

Art in the area of molding clays, tactile imagery, paintings. And we’re on exhibits throughout the country.

Dean Thompson: 02:25

Wow. That’s very cool. It is what it is. It’s not.

Michael Monteferrante: 02:28

Yeah, it is what it is.

Dean Thompson: 02:29 

Yeah. It’s very nice.

Michael Monteferrante: 02:30

Yeah. And that’s what’s so cool about it. Right.

Dean Thompson: 02:32

So you were in New York for a while. You told me what brought you to Wichita, Kansas, of all places.

Michael Monteferrante: 02:37

Transportation. Transportation is in the. Yeah, in the New York area for mass transit. Chicago, California. Montreal, right.

Built the Acela train for Amtrak. Right. Involved with all of those projects. And then Wichita, Kansas, to operate a city bus manufacturing company headquartered in Wichita. And that’s where I got my involvement with Envision.

Dean Thompson: 03:01 

How did that come about?

Michael Monteferrante: 03:03 

On their board of directors, they didn’t have anyone that was in manufacturing. And Envision is a fairly large manufacturing organization, making products mostly for the United States government. And they didn’t have any manufacturing folks on their board. And so they approached me to be a candidate for their board. I had never met a blind person before.

This is in 2005. So 20 years ago. And so they said, but that’s okay. Come and see what we do and make your decision then. So we went to the manufacturing facility in Wichita that I had never visited before, and they had mentioned to me that 90% of our direct employees were blind and visually impaired.

And so when I came into the facility and I saw this facility just running all these machines and so forth, and I talked to the CEO at the time, Linda Merrill, who was very active. Within National Industries for the Blind. And I said, Linda, I thought you mentioned. That 90% of the people here were blind and visually impaired. And this was supposed to be a one hour tour.

And she said, they are, I go they are. And I raised my hand and I said, I don’t know what we’re going to do for the next 59 minutes, but I’m in. Wow. And I’ve been inspired ever since. And that was 20 years ago.

Dean Thompson: 04:20

That is so cool.

Michael Monteferrante: 04:20  

And in 2013, I had the opportunity to become CEO of Envision.

Dean Thompson: 04:24

Wow. What are you proudest of with Envision at this point?

Michael Monteferrante: 04:29

I am very, very proud of the impact that we’ve had on thousands of lives. We have 550 employees, as I mentioned, in 16 locations in 12 states. But what we’ve done, in addition to employing direct employment, is we’ve impacted thousands and thousands of people through our mission services. And it’s that combination of impact that makes me very, very proud.

Dean Thompson: 05:00

As the people and their families, too, which is absolutely what drew you to or when did you first know about NSITE? When did you first come across them?

Michael Monteferrante: 05:10

Well, that’s a great story, right? I was engaged with NSITE before NSITE was NSITE. Okay. Okay. So about seven years ago, Bill Hudson and I were having a great bill at that time was the CEO of LC industries.

And we were talking about continuing what more impact can we have together and our two companies. And so we started talking about workforce innovation, right. And we started collaborating with NIB in terms of what we would like to do together. And the Workforce Innovation Center, which would provide tools, opportunity, seminars, growth factors, engagement for upward mobility, opportunities for people who are blind and visually impaired, and learning the landscape of digital accessibility in a big way. And then after that, working on placing individuals who are blind and visually impaired, and then conditioning employers about inclusivity in regards to this and to make it an inclusive workforce environment.

And so we collaborated the three of us, LCI industries, Envision and NIB to create a business leadership center. And we hosted supervisor training. And this was the initiation of that. And then from there NIB went to create NSITE, you know, 4 or 5 years ago. Right.

And so we were at that very, from my point of view, forefront of the beginning of NSITE through this collaboration. And then they created NSITE, and now it’s come full circle to where now Envision works very closely with the current NSITE operation in terms of what they’re doing. And there’s so many things going on right now with NSITE that, yeah, I need a piece of paper now to go through all the modules that we’re working on together in collaboration with NSITE.

Dean Thompson: 07:22

So tell me.

Michael Monteferrante: 07:23 

That’s how it started.

Dean Thompson: 07:23

Okay. Well, tell me about those modules. All right. Yeah. Pull out your statistics, please.

Michael Monteferrante: 07:28

Well, yeah, there’s a laundry list of them.

Dean Thompson: 07:30

Right.

Michael Monteferrante: 07:31

And we’re so, so excited because we’re just, you know, halfway through our first cohort. But basically it was building that, you know, the whole BPB what they call the better professional behaviors for people who are blind and visually impaired. It’s like a one-year program. 48 weeks, right? And then right now we’ve established three different cohorts, one of which is about halfway through or through about, I think, 24, 25, 26 of a 48 week program with these cohorts that have, you know, an average of about ten people in them and a very, very focused environment.

And so when we finish this, we’re doing another one, I think, in August. And that will be for Texans and some folks from Michigan. And then there’ll be a third towards the end of the year. But instructor led training seminars, online learning modules, direct mentoring, mentor, you know, documentation, outgoing communities that we’re working with, NSITE staffs very engaged with us. And we have five folks on our staff, mentees, mentors that are beginning to provide acceleration for what NSITE’s doing in a wider geographical area.

And these cohorts now, you know, are rocking and rolling with Texas Workforce Commission and so forth. So it’s pretty cool in terms of how we’re launching mentees and mentors and what Envision did about four years ago, we acquired the assets of the College Success Program, you know, with the Learning Institute out of Princeton, New Jersey. Okay. And so what it was pairing up incoming freshmen because there’s a 85% failure rate of incoming freshmen that go to college that don’t finish right, a 15% success rate. And the College Success Program was created of moving that metric to a more successful model.

And it was then pairing up blind college graduates with incoming freshmen and joining them on their journey from their freshman year on. And what can we do together? And so this program, they were moving more towards dyslexia. And so we took over the college success program. And then now we’ve started to feather this in, you know, based on our mentorship and mentee experiences.

Now with NSITE to accelerate programs of individuals from all ages. But that college success program endeavor helped Envision, really understand the dynamics of mentorship as it relates to blind visually impaired acceleration, learning and impact. And that helped us what we could bring to the table to NSITE, to continue to work on these cohorts together.

Dean Thompson: 10:30

So in this context, what does the phrase or the word cohort mean?

Michael Monteferrante: 10:33

Like basically an assembly of individuals that are now cohorts with an assembly and a learning structure in order to accomplish a goal together. And the goal that’s going to be accomplished is these individuals come out of this program and they’re ready to be launched into the workforce. And then what we do is we use the Envision components of consulting to employers that are more receptive to take on individuals who are blind and visually impaired because they’re just outstanding employees. Right.

And sometimes they may not have got that chance. Right. And so these are the cohorts that come together. So we assemble them, we interview them, and then they’re selected to come into this program. And then it’s therefore a cohort.

Dean Thompson: 11:24

So a cohort is a class moving through each 48-week. Correct.

Michael Monteferrante: 11:28 

Yes. And we’re trying to do three a year. That’s our goal together with NSITE.

Dean Thompson: 11:35

As we have one class completed the 48 weeks as we said, yeah.

Michael Monteferrante: 11:37

We’re halfway through the first.

Dean Thompson: 11:38

Class. Okay. Very cool. Any reaction? Success stories?

Michael Monteferrante: 11:42

Oh absolutely. Right. We’ve got a lot of individuals who’ve been interviewed in terms of their journey so forth, and it’s life changing really.

Dean Thompson: 11:54

In what way? What do you mean life changing is a big thing?

Michael Monteferrante: 11:56

Yeah, it’s life changing in terms of their optimism to enhance their skills and find a great job.

Dean Thompson: 12:04

That’s very cool.

Michael Monteferrante: 12:05

Yeah. For them as you mentioned earlier and their families. Right. Yeah. This has a wide range of impact in regards to in addition to an individual, their families, their relatives and then the employees that are hiring.

Dean Thompson: 12:19

We were talking briefly before we went on there. You have a new facility in Dallas, am I correct? Yes, we do about that. Yeah.

Michael Monteferrante: 12:23

It used to be the Dallas Lighthouse for the Blind, which started in 1931, in Dallas, Texas, which is now called Envision Dallas. Yeah, a new 210,000 square foot facility with manufacturing, workforce innovation programs, art all in one building, early child development where typically sighted and blind visually impaired children from the age of 0 to 4 and a half are scaling together. It’s a fantastic program that we started in Wichita 15 years ago and have now brought that modeling into the Dallas, Texas, which at this time didn’t exist. So it’s early child development rehabilitation, regardless of your ability to pay all under one roof with a large manufacturing organization.

Dean Thompson: 13:07

What do you manufacture? What do you manufacture there?

Michael Monteferrante: 13:10

Okay. In Envision Dallas, we’re making army trousers. So we have a textile division. We make award binders for all the military situations, including Coast Guard. We’re making magic markers and highlighters for the United States government.

And we make all the eyeglass holders for Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard also from scratch. And so a lot of manufacturing there and mostly for the United States government. And then we also have now some commercial products that are doing we do a lot of work for the Texas prisons. And in terms of fulfillment activity, which is a great experience. And so those type of products and then the services that we provide.

Dean Thompson: 13:56

This has got to be a major change for you. You come from manufacturing and being a New Yorker as you were once the MTA. There’s nothing more basic in the world than MTA, as far as I’m concerned. The various services. Then you go to Wichita and you become involved.

What has been the biggest change in your life personally because of becoming involved with Envision Serving?

Michael Monteferrante: 14:15

You know, the old days of mass transit were outstanding. And, you know, while you might think that that New York City Transit Authority is basic, it’s a pretty complicated system, especially now with dual modes of electrical conduits up ahead and 600 volt. You know, as you can remember, you don’t want to touch that rail and get sparked. And now to serve people right that want to work, want to engage, want to progress their lives. And so it’s moving from a situation of manufacturing for the masses to now serving individuals and, and enjoying their desire and abilities to have the best impact in independence they can have.

And it’s fantastic. And so that’s the difference.

Dean Thompson: 15:08

When you first okay, who are you working for and which Tom before Envision if you don’t mind me asking.

Michael Monteferrante: 15:14

Optima Bus Corporation.

Dean Thompson: 15:14

You left there and went to him. Was that a big leap for you personally?

Michael Monteferrante: 15:18

Well, I didn’t actually. I was a board member when I was Optima Bus. Right. And after that, I was working for American Capital Strategy, which is a private equity firm that manufactures a variety of products. And from then is when I went to move to Envision in 2013.

And for me, other than what we just shared in terms of serving people, it’s not really different at all because we look at the same dynamics, right? We look at margin, you know, viability to support the mission. Right. And so what we do is the products that we make from the United States government, while we’re a not for profit, we still make margin on those. But then we redistribute that margin into services for people who are blind and visually impaired, right?

That either the state or the government is not supporting and, and or services that they don’t have access to. So we’re accentuating services with the margin that we make. So there’s still a big focus on manufacturing and making margin on that manufacturing. So to me, there’s really no difference other than instead of distributing that to shareholders, we’re redistributing it to the mission that we serve and the mission that national industries for the blind serve and the ability one commission as a whole are scheduled to serve. So it’s that same ecosystem of productivity that you wouldn’t any other organization or company.

So to me, it wasn’t a big difference in a, in a big shift.

Dean Thompson: 17:00

But you stole my next question. That is there is the community service aspect of this. Does that make it — does that make going to work easier?

Michael Monteferrante: 17:08

It makes it more enjoyable in regards to understanding impact. Yeah. And that’s that’s big to me. We use the word impact a lot at Envision. That’s why we’re all there.

Dean Thompson: 17:20

Yeah. Is this your last stop professionally? Is that an unfair question? Why would you say that?

Michael Monteferrante: 17:25

I just it just is. I’ve got no desire and haven’t had a desire to go back to private equity or any other type of situation. It’s my last stop.

Dean Thompson: 17:35

What’s the biggest? Why? You could ask why? Why?

Michael Monteferrante: 17:39

There’s nothing more fun. I mean, after I’m starting now my 13th year and I go to work every day, just like I did my first year. Wow. Because there’s new people to serve, there’s more that needs to be done. And it’s getting to be more and more complex environment.

So I love the challenge of continuing to stay engaged with the changing dynamics and what needs to be done in the industry that we serve. And so it keeps you rejuvenated and it keeps you sharp. And that’s fun and it’s challenging. And that’s why I know. Yeah.

Dean Thompson: 18:20

How is the working relationship with NSITE helped. Let me rephrase that. Has it helped what Envision does? And if so, what impact do you think you’re having together?

Michael Monteferrante: 18:31

Yeah. At first there wasn’t. Okay. So NSITE’s been been going on now for a few years. But what I’ve seen in the last year and a half, and especially this last year, with what NSITE is committed to doing and what they are now actually doing compared to what was happening the first couple of years, to me, is is very progressive.

And so that’s what I’ve seen. And then now their partnership with Envision, where they’ve really kicked it up a notch. And so have we. What we’ve been able to do together was exactly the, the, the same, you know, strategies and ideation that we had six years ago. And now I see it finally coming together.

And so that’s what I see. That’s different. And so us together are stronger than when we were when we were, you know, for lack of a better way to describe it. Independent of each other to where NSITE was offering some services that maybe we could pay for. Now NSITE’s offering some of these services now at no charge, you know, to all the agencies, which is a great move.

And then now collaborating with some of the agencies to have more impact. And it’s a fact that they are having no more impact than they’ve ever had before. But I think it’s the commitment that NIB has now committed to in terms of the engagement and the support of what NSITE has been wanting to do strategically. Now they’re actually implementing it and there’s evidence of it now. And so that’s the evolutional part that I’ve seen from this collaboration and what NIB is doing currently with NSITE as a whole.

Dean Thompson: 20:22

Can you give me a specific, for instance, an example?

Michael Monteferrante: 20:25

Yeah, I shared one. Now in terms of the services now in many ways are at no charge to the agencies. So that itself was monumental. And then now absolutely collaborating with an agency like Envision right now, in terms of the cohorts that I’m talking about, would have been very difficult for anybody to do without collaborating with an organization like Envision. And that ability to then accelerate the implementation of these programs and to penetrate certain geographical regions that are in desperate need of it.

It was an accelerant for an NSITE for them to do this with us.

Dean Thompson: 21:13

Like most things in life, you’re stronger together.

Michael Monteferrante: 21:15

Absolutely stronger Together. Communication. Collaboration creates the impact of execution. Agreed.

Dean Thompson: 21:25

Anything we’re not touching on Mike. You’d like to talk about here?

Michael Monteferrante: 21:27

No, the NSITE relationship’s been great. The evolution of what’s happening now within the national industries for the blind is fascinating. And like we talked about, we’re stronger together. And I believe that we’re all recognizing that more than ever now when times become more. You know, I don’t use the word difficult, but more challenging in terms of the sophistication of what’s happening now within the United States government.

And the need for that communication and collaboration is now. Bigger and higher than ever. And it absolutely needs to be done. And, and and I believe that NIB in its new leadership recognizes that and I’m excited about the future.

Dean Thompson: 22:19

And to those watching the podcast or listening to the podcast who aren’t familiar, how do they if it’s appropriate, how do they follow up with Envision? How do they get in touch with you and the organization?

Michael Monteferrante: 22:27

Well, that’s a great question. It’s another thing that Envision is very proud of. We love to collaborate. So, you know, a lot of different industry meetings we have at now Envision Dallas because of the facilities that we’ve built. We’ve had a lot of meetings there, a lot of association meetings that have come there.

And so we’re easy to find at envisionus.com and it starts there. And there’s a plethora of information there to where you have the ability to dive and dig into any of the verticals that we’ve been chatting about today. And just really easy to find all the way to the back to where it shows our leadership with a connecting email to any of the folks. And so, you know, we are big collaborators and we like to do things together with other agencies. And there’s a host of examples of what other agencies have teamed up with Envision in terms of research, in terms of workforce innovation, and in terms of programs and services and conferences.

Dean Thompson: 23:34

Would you spell that web address out for me one time, please?

Michael Monteferrante: 23:37

envisionus.com. envisionus.com.

Dean Thompson: 23:44

Very cool. Mike, thank you ever so much. It’s been a great conversation. Thanks.

Michael Monteferrante: 23:47

Thank you Dean. It was a pleasure.

Outro: 23:49

Thank you for listening to the Heard & Empowered podcast. Please make sure to subscribe so you never miss an episode. For more information, visit heardandempowered.org. That’s heardandempowered.org. Join us again next time.