August is Children's Eye Health and Safety Month, and 2022 is the "Year of Children's Vision" at Prevent Blindness. The volunteer eye health and safety organization is offering a wide variety of free resources, including educational toolkits, fact sheets, webinars, and more to provide parents, caregivers, teachers, school nurses, and public health professionals the information they need to help keep children's eyes healthy and ensure that children are ready to learn and succeed in school, activities, and development.

The National Center for Children's Vision and Eye Health at Prevent Blindness (NCCVEH) has an extensive library of free informational resources about vision health for children from infants to teens. Programs for professionals include the "Small Steps for Big Vision" toolkit, vision screening certification training, children's vision and eye health data and reports, facts sheets in multiple languages, and shareable social media graphics.

Available in August, Prevent Blindness and the NCCVEH will offer several programs, including a new episode in the online Focus on Eye Health Expert Series, "Partnering With School Nurses for Children's Vision and Eye Health." In addition, a free webinar in a two-part series, "Vision Screening: Birth Through High School," will be presented by Kay Nottingham Chaplin, education and outreach coordinator at Prevent Blindness, on Tuesday, Aug. 16, at 2 p.m. Two Facebook Live discussions with BlackDoctor.org will be held in partnership with the Children's Vision Equity Alliance, including "Children's Eye Safety" on Aug. 16 and the "Healthy Kids Summit" on Tuesday, Aug. 23.

Prevent Blindness and the NCCVEH will also offer an updated "Star Pupils: Healthy Eyes for Healthy Futures Curriculum" for educators. The free materials include a teacher classroom presentation guide, reference eye exam diagram, and in-class worksheets. Also available are presentations and video recordings on a variety of topics on children's eye health from "The Children's Vision Forum" session held at the 2022 Prevent Blindness Focus on Eye Health National Summit.

Prevent Blindness and its affiliates also partner with companies throughout the year to provide vouchers for free children's vision services. Since 1999, Prevent Blindness and VSP Eyes of Hope have provided nearly 125,000 students in need with free vision care and glasses, the equivalent of up to $48 million. In the United States, Prevent Blindness also partners with OneSight from the EssilorLuxottica Foundation. Since the program's inception, OneSight has served 10 million people in more than 50 countries, providing permanent vision care access to more than 42 million people.

In 2022, Prevent Blindness debuted The Zenni Scholarship to Advance Children's Vision, providing professionals with free enrollment in the Prevent Blindness vision screening certification program. Once certified, screeners can play an important role in identifying children's vision problems early and connecting children across the United States to eyecare. Zenni Eyewear provides vouchers for free prescription Zenni eyeglasses to those who are eligible.

For more on children's eye health and safety, visit https://preventblindness.org/your-childs-sight/. For information on the NCCVEH and programs, visit https://nationalcenter.preventblindness.org/. For financial assistance resources in English and Spanish, visit http://preventblindness.org and search for Financial Assistance Information.