Breathing New Life Into an Old Studio

After much effort and support from our staff, National Board, donors and volunteers, Learning Ally's New York Studio received a face-lift earlier this fall. We've appreciated the patience of our many volunteers waiting to return to work. Our estimated two-week remodel took an actual two months, but we're thrilled to be up and running now! A special thank you goes to S. Bleecker Totten, National Board Member and Real Estate Advisory Committee, for his diligence in negotiating our lease renewal and securing over $75k from the landlord to make the updates. These renovations included new ceiling tiles, new flooring, new work stations, both inside and outside the booths, for our checkers and readers, a new lounge area and a great open area to hold future volunteer and community events. We kicked off the studio reopening with a volunteer reception on September 30th with a presentation from our College Success for the Blind and Visually Impaired team. A great time was had by all. We are taking on new volunteers and have over 50 people signed up for our volunteer orientation in the month of November. Additionally, our newly renovated space will be home to our SAG-AFTRA volunteers from NYC. We look forward to bringing the juvenile fiction titles in our recording queue to life!