David Spencer Eyewear is a proud partner of NorthPoint Health & Wellness Center, a community-based nonprofit located in and serving the North Minneapolis community. In 2022, NorthPoint launched the Gotcha Glasses Project – an initiative to address the fact that in underserved communities across the nation, 95% of children who need glasses do not have them.
In conducting annual health screenings in local North Minneapolis elementary schools, the NorthPoint staff found this to be true. Consistently, close to 60% of the nearly 1,000 kids screened each year have moderate to severe vision impairment, yet fewer than 5% of those kids already wear glasses.
77% of residents in North Minneapolis are people of color. Average household income is below $30,000 per year, and many of which are also uninsured. Impaired vision adversely affects a child’s school success; the American Academy of Ophthalmology estimates that for seeing children, 80% of learning during the first 12 years is through their eyes. The knowledge kids gain in their early years of school sets the foundation for future learning. Unmet vision needs can also cause lifelong health and quality of life issues including misdiagnosed learning disabilities and permanent vision loss.
Seeing firsthand the barriers children and their families face getting quality eyewear, the staff at NorthPoint founded Gotcha Glasses – a program to subsidize follow-up eye care for students in the community, who are uninsured or underinsured, by securing prescription glasses that will be delivered to the child at their school.
Founder of Gotcha Glasses, Leslie Tuomi, explained to David and our office team that while there are some eyewear options available to kids through school programs, the choices are narrow with only one selection for boys and girls with no color options. Often, these few eyewear options do not fit properly. We are proud to offer a wide variety of fun and colorful frames through this program to allow the children to select their own glasses. Additionally, through this program an optician and eye doctor ensure the selections are a proper fit to promote future academic success.
With a goal to serve at least 350 students per year, we are proud to be the exclusive eyewear partner of Gotcha Glasses!
“Partnering with Gotcha Glasses has been one of the most fulfilling opportunities I have been able to participate in during my tenure as an eyewear designer, and I look forward to continuing our support of this amazing organization.” – David Spencer, Founder and Designer of David Spencer Eyewear
