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What’s New for Community Partner Meetings in 2026

Partner Post Highlighting Collaboration and Shared Goals

What’s New for 2026

Community Partner Meetings

Thank you for your partnership with State Services for the Blind, and for the important work you do serving Minnesotans who are blind, low vision, or DeafBlind.

Based on feedback and low attendance, we are making changes to Community Partner meetings in 2026 to better respect everyone’s time.

Spotlight Cafés

In 2026 the spotlight meetings will be 30 minutes and focused on learning about our Community Partners and the services you provide. Each partner will be asked to choose one month to present (sign up here) and attend at least that session. This is needed to help educate our staff. Meetings will be recorded and posted on our website for staff and customers to view later.

Access the Spotlight schedule on our website and register in advance.

Forums

In 2026 Quarterly Forums will also be 30 minutes, with dedicated short trainings for partners. January’s topic will be Mandated Reporting, with additional topics planned throughout 2026.

Access the Forum schedule on our website and register in advance.

Seasons Greetings

We look forward to strengthening our work together in the new year and wish you a happy holiday season.

State Services for the Blind provides tools and training for employment, living independently, and accessing print. We assist Minnesotans who are blind, DeafBlind, experiencing vision loss, or have difficulty accessing the printed word.

Questions? Contact Us

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SSB is an equal opportunity employer and program provider.

The Minnesota State Services for the Blind Vocational Rehabilitation program receives 78.69 percent of its funding through a grant from the U.S. Department of Education. For federal fiscal year 2024, the total amount of grant funds awarded were $10,410,449. The remaining 21.3 percent of the costs ($2,817,568) were funded by Minnesota state appropriations.