The Earle Baum Center of the Blind
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About the EBC
The Earle Baum Center of the Blind (EBC) is a nonprofit regional community center, serving the blind and visually impaired from the Golden Gate Bridge to the Oregon border. The Center opened on October 1, 1999 and provides instruction in the following areas:
- Daily Living Skills
- Orientation & Mobility
- Adaptive Technology
In addition, sports, recreation and social opportunities are fostered at the Center. A tandem bicycling program for both young and old is in place. A beep baseball and recreational field is featured on the property's rural expanse. The EBC has a limited fitness program.
The EBC is a certified vendor of the State Department of Rehabilitation and receives referrals for training. Local support groups and other organizations that serve the blind meet at the facility. They include the California Council of the Blind, Blind Veterans Association, Veterans Administration VIST Program, Santa Rosa/Sebastopol Macular Degeneration Support Group, Thursday Thinkers Support Group, Blind Babies Foundation and others. The Sonoma County Office of Education, Teachers of Visually Impaired, works with the EBC to provide opportunities and activities for blind children. The EBC also interacts with schools from Marin, Lake and Napa Counties.
EBC History
A Blind Farmers Legacy
Earle Baum was born in 1896 on his family farm just west of Santa Rosa. This homesteaded property had been in the Baum family since 1856. By 17, Baum was totally blind, most likely from retinitis pigmentosa, the number one cause of congenital blindness. With his aspirations of being a journalist dashed, Baum remained determined. He worked the farm, tended the animals and planted, cultivated, pruned, and harvested the farm's seasonal bounty. Baum was both remarkable and ordinary. His farm-based life was certainly ordinary for the times in which he lived, yet most remarkable in the vivacious way he went about living it. He remained on the farm until his death at the age of 90, in 1986.
The Earle Baum Center is providing the means and facilities by which blind and visually impaired people of all ages develop the skills and build the confidence to live productive and fulfilling lives. The uniqueness of the Earle Baum Center is that skilled and experienced blind people are bringing to their own community the knowledge and techniques that have proven to be successful and will be the foundation for a variety of programs, activities and opportunities. It is not an institution or just a training facility, but a community center and much more.
Mission Statement
Our mission is to provide opportunities for people who are blind or visually impaired to improve and enrich their personal, social and economic lives.
Vision Statement
It is the Vision of the Earle Baum to facilitate personal independence and growth for people who are blind or vision impaired by:
- Providing outstanding services to all our constituencies.
- Remaining committed to the organization's mission.
- Improving and expanding services centered on the changing needs and environment of the blind and vision impaired.
- Strengthening our partnership with constituencies serving the blind.
- Strengthening staff and volunteer capability and partnership.
- Continuing our commitment to quality in all that we do.
- Assuring financial strength.
- Managing all of our resources prudently.
- Providing facilities, which improve our ability to operate effectively.