About Us

The Florida Lions Conklin Center for the Blind is a nationally-accredited human service organization in Daytona Beach, Florida. We are widely respected for being the first and only agency in the United States dedicated to providing coordinated vocational and independent living services to individuals who are blind and have one or more other disabilities. We are owned and administered by the Lions Clubs of Florida.

Since our inception, the Conklin Center has significantly changed the lives of hundreds of adults and children. We serve about 145 individuals annually. The approximate 100 adults we assist every year learn employment and daily living skills, enabling them to be productive and more self-sufficient. They are young people who could rely on welfare; instead they choose to work, earn their own way, and contribute to their community. Most are Floridians, but students have come to us from the rest of the United States, South America and the Caribbean. The 35-50 children we serve annually are aged birth through five, and we help teach them skills to prepare them for kindergarten and a life of independence.

The Conklin Center takes great pride that over 80% of students who complete our vocational training program every year become gainfully employed, graduate to further academic or vocational training, or gain sufficient skills to be more self-supporting. In recent years, the Center’s reputation has generated a substantial increase in requests for services. Incoming students must now wait several months to enter our programs. Our community-based programs have been providing post-training lifelong supported employment and supported living services since 1987 to help graduates maintain competitive jobs and live on their own. Some of our graduates have been living and working on their own for 10 years or more with assistance from the Conklin Center’s supported employment and supported living programs.