Mission and Stats

Launched in 2008 by the Essilor Vision Foundation, Kids Vision for Life’s mission is to deliver vision services to under-resourced children through a school-based model and eliminate poor vision as a barrier to learning in order to achieve higher academic and social outcomes.

In 2009, Kids Vision for Life St. Louis began serving the St. Louis region with its sponsors: Crown Vision Center, Area Resources for Community and Human Services (ARCHS), the University of Missouri-St. Louis College of Optometry, and the Essilor Vision Foundation.

Kids Vision for Life is a simple, cost-effective approach to removing poor vision as a barrier to learning and focuses on elementary-aged students during critical learning/development age periods.

The Kids Vision for Life St. Louis program has experienced rapid growth, going from servicing 17 schools in the 2009-10 school year to 156 schools in the 2017-18 school year. As of 2018, nearly 25,000 students have received vision exams and over 20,000 eyeglasses have been prescribed.

Statistics from each school year can be seen below:

School Year Schools Visited Students Examined Glasses Prescribed
2009-2010 17 528 403
2010-2011 29 800 528
2011-2012 50 1566 1162
2012-2013 63 1998 1466
2013-2014 65 2389 2017
2014-2015 91 3421 2743
2015-2016 132 4247 3737
2016-2017 155 4981 4300
2017-2018 154 4477 4064
2018-2019 162 4612 4296