Rosewood Foundation Vision Impact Report

Impact Report | 2020

Vision for a Healthy Future Continues...

“A child needs many tools to succeed in school and good vision is one of them.

We are pleased to support the ‘whole Picture from Left to Right: Portrait of the late Caroline Rose Hunt; Amy Johnson, Chief Development Officer of The Cooper Institute; Julia Sands, Trustee of The Rosewood Foundation; Lynn Fisher, Vice President of The Rosewood Foundation; Judith Williams, Program Manager - Americas of The Vision Impact Institute; Andrea KristenColeman, Global Communications and Awareness Manager of The Vision Impact Institute

child’ approach of The Cooper Institute’s FitnessGram program which assesses the level of fitness needed to succeed in school and build healthy habits for the entire family.”

Lynn Fisher, Vice President of The Rosewood Foundation

Executive Summary The Vision Impact Institute, a nonprofit supported by Essilor’s Vision for Life Fund, and The Cooper Institute have completed a two-year collaboration to raise awareness about the importance of good vision for children and physical fitness to improve health for the ‘whole child’. The initiative is funded by a generous grant from The Rosewood Foundation.

Working together, The Cooper Institute continued to share the Vision Impact Institute’s eyesight-related information through digital communications and other customer-facing channels to create awareness about the problem of poor vision in children.

In the U.S. alone, more than 174,000 preschoolers struggle to see due to untreated vision problems. This number is expected to increase 26 percent by 2060.

The importance of the collaboration between the Vision Impact Institute and The Cooper Institute was never more important than it was in 2020. Despite significant resource constraints, we continued to tell the story of the link between good vision and fitness as part of a whole-child approach.

With children’s education dramatically impacted by COVID-19 and digital learning the mode of education for much of the year, we were able to further harness the expertise of both of our organizations. The collaboration helped us to reach educators and parents with integrated solutions and tips on vision and fitness, two topics that became much more intertwined this year. With much uncertainty around children’s education, it will be important to continue to tell this combined story.

Students participating in virtual learning during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic.

As we look to the future, we believe that it will be critical to build stronger systems and societies than those we were working within pre-COVID. Collaborations, like ours, will be key to building back in a stronger, more sustainable way.

Shared Vision The Rosewood Foundation generously funded this venture in honor of the late matriarch, Caroline Rose Hunt, who was passionate about vision care. Now in its second year, this partnership brings together two organizations devoted to putting research into action to improve children’s health and wellness.

Too much screen time, not enough outdoor activity and a lack of awareness of the importance of eye exams play a significant role in an epidemic rise in nearsightedness. In the U.S. more than 12.1 million school-age children have some form of vision problem.

Using youth health initiatives such as FitnessGram by The Cooper Institute, the most widely-used youth fitness assessment, both organizations hope to reach nearly 10 million students and their parents across the country.

Student at Kimball Elementary School in Mesquite, Texas working in the computer lab before P.E. class.

Kristan Gross, Global Executive Director for the Vision Impact Institute.

“Our collaboration with The Cooper Institute provides a unique platform to create awareness about the impact of poor vision on children, and we’re so pleased to see these efforts continue,” says Kristan Gross, Vision Impact Institute’s global executive director. “When children can’t see well, it impacts so many aspects of their lives, including their learning and chances for future success. Together with The Cooper Institute, we have been able to bring this message to teachers, parents and other advocates who are better equipped to step up on behalf of children, their health and their future.”

The Cooper Institute understands that vision is a key component to academic achievement and physical fitness. Together, these two organizations hope to raise awareness about the priority of good vision and the role it plays in helping students achieve better fitness and academic success.

FitnessGram student report shows the importance of teaching students how to improve their fitness.

The Cooper Institute By the Numbers The Vision Impact Institute, a nonprofit supported by Essilor’s Vision for Life Fund, and The Cooper Institute have completed a two-year collaboration to raise awareness about the importance of good vision for children and physical fitness to improve health for the ‘whole child’.

Email Campaign

90K

average total reach across three digital newsletters

Topic Too much screen time & not enough exercise can lead to poor fitness & vision.

Blogs Content OVER

8,600

average blog pageviews 2020 vs 2019

260% percentage increase 2020 vs 2019

125%

percentage increase

Topic The Impact of Virtual Learning On Children’s Vision.

“Love using FitnessGram software to print out individual student reports that include fitness test data and info on how to improve or maintain current fitness levels.”

Brook Brown | @MissBrownCTPE

Social Media OVER

450

average blog pageviews OVER

30K

Data reflects the total amount of followers for The Cooper Institute (Jan. - Sept. 2020).

invested in The Cooper Institute

21K

2K

3K

5K

5K

1k

2K

800

Followers

Engaged

Followers

Engaged

180k 40k Impressions

Impressions

Followers

Engaged

40k

Impressions

Followers

Engaged

The Cooper Institute social media data for Jan. - Sept. 2020.

Pictured Above Left to Right: Caroline Rose Hunt (1923-2018); Julia Sands, Trustee of The Rosewood Foundation; Lynn Fisher, Vice President of The Rosewood Foundation

Thank you.

CooperInstitute.org

Impact Report | 2020

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FitnessGram.net