by Terry Camardelle
On June 20, 2001, the business enterprise program for licensed blind vendors which is jointly operated by the U.S. Department of Education and recognized state licensing agencies in the various states will reach its 65th birthday.
On June 20, 1936, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Randolph-Sheppard Act into law. That act established a program under which blind individuals who were trained and licensed by recognized agencies were given a priority or preference to operate vending facilities on federal government property.
The business enterprise program authorized under the Randolph- Sheppard Act has grown from meager beginnings to the point where today approximately 3,000 licensed blind vendors are making a good living working in this program which has grown into a nationwide enterprise grossing almost a half a billion dollars per year in revenues. The average annual income of licensed blind vendors employed in the business enterprise program has also steadily increased to a point that today a blind vendor makes on average almost $35,000 per year.
While some of our opponents in recent federal court litigation such as the NISH case, which is reported on elsewhere in this issue of “The Braille Forum,” have argued that the Randolph-Sheppard Act has outlived its usefulness, we believe that the program is still a vital career option for blind people which deserves to be strengthened and more universally and uniformly implemented and enforced. Congratulations to the Randolph-Sheppard Act and to the thousands of licensed blind vendors who make their living under its authorized business enterprise program on this important anniversary of the act’s original enactment into law.