Vision for Baltimore (V4B) is a successful program at Baltimore City Schools (BCS) designed to provide annual vision screenings for all students and, when necessary, to provide follow-up eye exams and eyeglasses at no cost to families.
V4B was not designed through a deliberate application of targeted universalism (TU) principles. However, the program is an excellent example of defining features of TU. In the language of TU, V4B is a targeted strategy that helped students who were not getting vision screenings and the follow-up care they needed. At the same time, the program helped students who were failed by existing systems, as the resources were made available to everyone and ended up serving even more students. The V4B program exemplifies these defining features of TU. In this case study, aspects of the program are described as they match TU features.
This report begins by describing the program itself then discuss aspects of the program in greater detail to illuminate design principles of TU. The TU framework can be a road map to getting to targeted strategies that serve uniquely situated groups, help reach goals we all share, and create practical, structural, and institutional change. Download this report.