Proudly Serving Our Community for Over 130 Years as a Nonprofit Leader in Education and Workforce Development.
Vision Services
Addressing the Vision Needs
of Eastern Ohio and Western Pennsylvania
Youngstown Area Goodwill Industries provides a wide range of vision services designed to address the special needs related to vision issues or vision loss.
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Radio Reading Service
Operating over the sideband of WYSU-FM, this service makes a variety of information accessible to individuals who are unable to read printed materials. Specially tuned receivers are provided free of charge to qualified listeners. Volunteers and Staff read newspapers, periodicals, and host talk shows so that persons who are sight impaired have access to news and entertainment.
The Youngstown Radio Reading Service is available worldwide through our streaming platform. You can listen on any computer, tablet, smartphone, or by using Amazon Alexa and Siri on iPhone. To get started, just say 'Alexa, enable the Goodwill Youngstown Radio Skill' — you only need to do this once. After that, simply say 'Alexa (or Siri), Goodwill Youngstown Radio' to listen anytime, anywhere.
Children’s Vision Screening
Youngstown Area Goodwill Industries, through a generous grant from the United Way of Youngstown and the Mahoning Valley, offers free vision screenings for preschoolers to detect vision issues. Amblyopia, or "lazy eye," is common in preschoolers and happens when the brain favors one eye, causing the other to develop poor vision. The longer eye conditions are left untreated, the more likely they are to worsen, affecting learning ability, athletic performance, and self-esteem.
Knowing early detection is key, Goodwill offers children between ages 3 and 5 preventative vision screenings to help detect any vision issues in Mahoning, Trumbull, and Columbiana counties.
Information indicating a possible vision problem is sent to the family, who is encouraged to take the child for a professional vision exam. Follow-up contact is made by our program coordinator. Treatment is crucial for this age group to prevent permanent vision loss and typically involves patching the stronger eye, using eye drops in the stronger eye, or getting corrective glasses or contact lenses to force the brain to use the weaker eye.
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To learn more about our preschool vision screening program or to schedule a screening at your preschool or daycare, contact us at 330-759-7921, ext.1217 or email Joe Paloski at j.paloski@goodwillyoungstown.org
VIP Vision Support Group
The VIP Vision Support Group was created by Youngstown Area Goodwill Industries for visually impaired persons and very important people! We are proud to bring a support group to the valley as a safe space for individuals who are visually or print impaired.
Our goal is to offer valuable support and provide a connection to resources that can help improve the individual’s quality of life.
Monthly meetings will be held the third Thursday of each month at 10 a.m. at Youngstown Goodwill’s main office, 2747 Belmont Avenue in Youngstown. The sessions will offer peer support from Goodwill team members in addition to an open forum for discussion and guidance. Some meetings will also feature guest speakers who can offer insight or helpful resources related to vision or vision issues.
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2025 MEETING DATES (starts at 10 a.m.): November 20 and December 18.
2026 MEETING DATES (starts at 10 a.m.):
January 15
February 19
March 19
April 16
May 21
June 18
July 16
August 20
September 17
October 15
November 19
December 17
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Unable to attend? You can join remotely at 971-224-6619 code 657435.