Florida Division of Blind Services

What Florida Division of Blind Services does

The Florida Division of Blind Services is a state government agency operating under the Florida Department of Education, headquartered in Tallahassee, Florida. Its functional mandate is to deliver customized career and rehabilitation services to blind and visually impaired residents of Florida, including vocational training, job placement and retention support, on-the-job training, orientation and mobility instruction, independent living skills training, career counseling, low vision aids, and job modifications involving adaptive technology. The agency serves three distinct constituencies: blind and visually impaired individuals seeking employment, Florida businesses seeking to hire qualified candidates with visual impairments, and entrepreneurs with visual impairments seeking to operate business enterprises in vending, micro-markets, and food service.

Service delivery is anchored by a state-wide network of field offices, a dedicated consumer-facing portal (BlindJobsFL.com) with an intake form and a separate employer-facing business portal, the Career, Technology, and Training Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired in Daytona Beach (a temporary residential training facility), and the Florida Business Enterprise Program, which provides entrepreneurship training and start-up funds. The organization does not operate proprietary technology platforms; its digital footprint is limited to informational websites and intake forms.

The business model is entirely publicly funded. The Division is financed through awards from the Rehabilitation Services Administration of the U.S. Department of Education, with disclosed awards totaling $28.9 million and 0% of financing coming from non-governmental sources. It does not charge fees to end users; services are provided at no cost to eligible Florida residents. Revenue is therefore grant appropriation rather than market revenue, and the entity is not commercially investable in the conventional PE/VC sense, but is included here for completeness as a public-sector comparator.

Name

Florida Division of Blind Services

Legal name

Florida Division of Blind Services

Website

https://blindjobsfl.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1941

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

The Florida Division of Blind Services is a state government agency under the Florida Department of Education that provides free vocational rehabilitation, training, and employment-placement services to blind and visually impaired Floridians, supported entirely by federal RSA grant funding.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Vocational Rehabilitation Services

NAICS

Vocational Rehabilitation Services (624310), Educational Services (611)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200), Services-Employment Agencies (7361)

akta.pro primary industry

Disability Employment & Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) Programs (EDAAAOAI)

akta.pro secondary industry

Interagency Coordination & Case Management (VR, DD, Medicaid Waivers) (EDAKANAM)

Keywords

• Vocational rehabilitation services
• Disability employment services
• Adaptive technology training
• Independent living skills
• Business enterprise program

Headquarters

HQ city

Tallahassee

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Government Funding: Funded by the Rehabilitation Services Administration of the U.S. Department of Education. Awards totaling $28.9 million with 0% financed from non-governmental sources. Part of the Florida Department of Education.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels2 records

Core offering

The Florida Division of Blind Services is a state government vocational rehabilitation agency that provides customized career services to blind and visually impaired Floridians, including vocational training, job placement and retention, on-the-job training, orientation and mobility training, independent living skills training, career counseling, low vision aids, and adaptive technology job modifications. It also operates the Florida Business Enterprise Program supporting entrepreneurship in vending, micro-markets, and food service, plus the residential Career, Technology, and Training Center in Daytona Beach.

Product overview

The Florida Division of Blind Services operates a unified service portfolio centered on BlindJobsFL.com as the primary consumer-facing portal. The offering includes comprehensive career services (vocational training, job placement, on-the-job training, career counseling, low vision aids, and adaptive technology) supplemented by the Florida Business Enterprise Program for entrepreneurship opportunities and the Career, Technology, and Training Center in Daytona Beach as a residential training facility.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Florida Business Enterprise Program: Program providing opportunities in vending, micro-markets and food service industry for eligible individuals, including training and start-up funds to operate and manage business enterprise facilities in Florida.
• Career, Technology, and Training Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired

Products and services

• BlindJobsFL.com Career Services Portal
• Career Services Program

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Florida Department of EducationcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerParent organization. The Division of Blind Services is an official division of the Florida Department of Education, operating under state government oversight and alignment with educational mission.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves4 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Broad incumbents

• National Federation of the Blind (NFB): National consumer-advocacy organization for blind Americans with affiliated state chapters including Florida. Comparable mission focus on blind empowerment and employment; differs in being advocacy-led rather than a direct VR service provider.
• American Foundation for the Blind (AFB): National nonprofit addressing research, advocacy, and service delivery for blind Americans. Broader mission than Florida DBS (advocacy, policy, research) but overlaps in employment-related programming and AT resources.

Direct peers

• National Industries for the Blind (NIB): National nonprofit that creates employment opportunities for blind Americans through manufacturing and service contracts (AbilityOne). Comparable mission of employing blind individuals, with a national footprint and B2B contract model.
• California Department of Rehabilitation: State vocational rehabilitation agency serving Californians with disabilities, including the blind/visually impaired population. Operates comparable services (vocational training, job placement, AT) under the federal VR program with a similar funding structure.
• New York State Commission for the Blind (NYSCB): New York's designated state agency for vocational rehabilitation and independent-living services for blind individuals — a direct structural counterpart to Florida DBS under the federal/state VR partnership.
• Texas Workforce Commission Vocational Rehabilitation Division: Texas state VR program providing employment and training services to people with visual and other disabilities. Comparable scope, funding structure, and service menu to Florida DBS, scaled to a larger state population.
• Lighthouse for the Blind (various state affiliates): Multi-state nonprofit operating employment, manufacturing, and rehabilitation programs for blind and visually impaired individuals. Closely comparable service portfolio including vocational training and adaptive-technology distribution.
• Georgia Vocational Rehabilitation Agency: Georgia's general VR agency delivering comparable employment, training, and AT services to individuals with disabilities including visual impairments. Operates under the same RSA/state partnership framework.

Emerging players

• Perkins School for the Blind: Education and rehabilitation provider serving blind and deafblind individuals, with programs spanning K-12, transition, and adult services. Comparable population and service mix, with a strong brand in AT and transition programming.
• Hadley: Distance-learning nonprofit providing education and adjustment-to-blindness programming to blind adults across all U.S. states. Adjacent service overlap (independent living skills, AT training) but uses a digital delivery model rather than state-mandated VR.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/florida-division-of-blind-services

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Florida Division of Blind Services