IFB Beat – Important Update for May 2, 2023

From Dan Kelly, IFB Solutions President and CEO

This week, with heavy hearts, the IFB Solutions Executive Team and Board of Directors announced several significant changes to IFB’s organizational structure, including the difficult business decision to cease operations at our Little Rock, Arkansas, facility by September of this year and to discontinue IFB’s S.E.E. programming in Charlotte, North Carolina, after this summer’s session.

In Little Rock, production lines at the facility will wind down over the summer, and certain operations will transition to our Winston-Salem facilities. IFB Little Rock Facility employees who are blind will be given the opportunity to discuss relocation to our manufacturing operations in North Carolina or other open positions around the company. For employees who remain in Little Rock, IFB is providing support and connectivity to community resources — including the potential sale of some Little Rock operations to another AbilityOne agency, which may be interested in hiring IFB employees.

In Charlotte, our decision to cease S.E.E. programming at the end of the summer session will impact several part-time employees who operate our S.E.E. Programs in this community. Tracy’s Little Red Schoolhouse and our Community Low Vision Centers in Asheville and Winston-Salem will continue to operate as normal. Other organizational and staffing changes have also been made in our Supply Chain and Finance teams.

These decisions, which impact so many of our IFB colleagues, are incredibly difficult and were made through careful consideration by our executive team and board, after spending several months digging into every aspect of our organization. As we continue to provide updates in the coming weeks and months, we want to emphasize these actions, while difficult, will position IFB Solutions for a stronger future.

If you have questions, please funnel them to Anastasia Powell, IFB Solutions Communications Manager, at apowell@ifbsolutions.org or 336-245-5698 and we’ll work quickly to get you answers.

Sincerely,

Dan Kelly

IFB Solutions President and CEO