Outlook Nebraska delivers despite pandemic

OMAHA  - The National Industries for the Blind recently awarded a Nebraska organization with its 2021 employment growth award.

Outlook Nebraska, which produces tissue and towel products, is the largest employer of the blind in Nebraska. Despite supply disruptions created by the pandemic, Outlook Nebraska used its established relationships with paper mills and paper resellers to achieve nearly perfect product delivery in 2021.

Here is the NIB press release:

OMAHA, Neb. – Since its founding in 2000, Outlook Nebraska has strived to increase employment, retention, growth and upward mobility for people who are blind. National Industries for the Blind (NIB), the nation’s largest employment resource for people who are blind, recently recognized Outlook Nebraska’s efforts with the 2021 Employment Growth Award. NIB honors agencies each year for reducing blind unemployment, and Outlook has consecutively received this award since 2011.

 

Outlook Nebraska, an Omaha-based nonprofit that employs people who are blind and visually impaired, is the largest employer of the blind in Nebraska. Its manufacturing facility produces nearly 40 tissue and towel products. It is one of more than 600 nonprofit organizations that participate in the AbilityOne program, which helps nearly 45,000 people who are blind or have significant disabilities find employment providing goods and services to the federal government.

 

“Our goal is to empower Outlook Nebraska associates to get the job done every day,” said Eric Stueckrath, CEO of Outlook Nebraska. “They do what it takes to serve our customers. From the start of the pandemic to the challenges we face now, Outlook has been successful because of the people working here. We would not be where we are today without them.”

 

Recent events such as the pandemic created supply disruptions in 2021. However, Outlook’s established relationships with paper mills and paper resellers helped the company achieve nearly 100 percent product delivery and fulfillment in 2021.

 

“Congratulations to Outlook Nebraska for receiving NIB’s Employment Growth Award,” said NIB President and CEO Kevin Lynch. “Outlook Nebraska continues to do an outstanding job of creating rewarding career opportunities for people who are blind in Omaha, Neb.”

 

For decades, people with disabilities wanting to work have faced higher unemployment than people without disabilities wanting to work. Outlook Nebraska and other agencies around the country will create more employment opportunities for disabled people by diversifying product sales and creating additional earning opportunities.

 

“It is an honor to be recognized by National Industries for the Blind for our mission to provide new, meaningful employment opportunities for people affected by vision conditions. These jobs provide life-changing opportunities for people who are blind or visually impaired,” Stueckrath said.

 

About Outlook Nebraska
Outlook Nebraska is a nonprofit organization dedicated to positively impacting everyone who is blind and visually impaired. Outlook Nebraska produces paper towel and toilet tissue products under the federal AbilityOne program, which creates employment and training opportunities for people who are blind or who have other severe disabilities. Outlook also continues to expand its reach in other markets outside of the AbilityOne program.  Outlook Nebraska is the largest employer of the blind and visually impaired in Nebraska and the only agency of its kind in a seven-state region. Learn more about Outlook Nebraska at outlookne.org.

About National Industries for the Blind 

Since 1938, National Industries for the Blind (NIB) has focused on enhancing the opportunities for economic and personal independence of people who are blind, primarily through creating, sustaining and improving employment. NIB and its network of associated nonprofit agencies are the nation’s largest employer of people who are blind through the manufacture and provision of SKILCRAFT^® and other products and services of the AbilityOne^® Program. For more information about NIB, visit NIB.org.