Since 2016, the intensely collaborative program known as Vision for Baltimore has become a national model — demonstrating that providing schoolchildren in high-poverty schools with the vision care and eyeglasses they need significantly improves reading and math scores, especially among children who are struggling the most.

“It’s been a magical journey,” says pediatric ophthalmologist Megan Collins, M.D., M.P.H., the Allan and Claire Jensen Professor of Ophthalmology, who oversees the program. Vision for Baltimore is a districtwide, school-based vision program operated in partnership with Baltimore City Public Schools, the Baltimore City Health Department, The Johns Hopkins University, Vision To Learn and Warby Parker. To date, the program has provided eye exams to some 20,000 Baltimore schoolchildren.

Now, thanks to a major gift from longtime Wilmer supporters Bob and Diane Levy, Collins has a chance to expand the program well beyond Baltimore. “I love thinking about how we can use what we’ve learned to help kids everywhere,” Collins says. The Levys’ $3 million gift will support Collins and her collaborators in “disseminating best practices in eye care for schoolchildren across the country.”

The Levys, who are deeply interested in education, provided the seed money for the Baltimore Reading and Eye Disease Study — the initial research led by Collins that was the catalyst for Vision for Baltimore. Later, they helped her expand the program to serve their beloved city of Chicago. “To turn this wonderfully creative idea into something scalable, something that can provide incredibly positive outcomes for a lot of young people, is to us a dream outcome,” Bob Levy says.

When, 10 years ago, Collins was invited to join the faculty at Johns Hopkins and lead that groundbreaking study — a partnership between the Wilmer Eye Institute and the Johns Hopkins University School of Education — she had one question: “Don’t we already know who needs and doesn’t need glasses?” The answer, she says, was a resounding “no.” When she started going into Baltimore City schools to do eye exams, she was amazed at how many of the children had little or no access to vision care.

“We estimate that 20% to 25% of school-age children need glasses,” she says, “and we found so many kids who needed eyeglasses and either didn’t have them or maybe had a broken pair held together with duct tape. Our research collaborators from the school of education identified a significant improvement in academic performance when we provided those kids with the glasses they need.”

The results of that study — and the relative simplicity of the remedy — inspired a remarkable collaboration. “There was a lot of support at the leadership level,” Collins says, noting the backing of Johns Hopkins University President Ronald J. Daniels,J.D., LL.M., Wilmer Eye Institute Director Peter J. McDonnell, M.D., the William Holland Wilmer Professor of Ophthalmology, and leaders at the Abell Foundation and Baltimore City schools. The Baltimore City Health Department conducts screenings, optometrists from the nonprofit Vision To Learn do eye exams and eyeglass retailer Warby Parker, co-founded by Johns Hopkins alum Jeffrey Raider, donates the glasses.

“It takes a team to take what we know about the best possible one-to-one eye care and apply it to a large population,” says Collins, who has been lead author on dozens of peer-reviewed studies demonstrating the power of fitting children with the glasses they need, as well as the importance of building support among their parents and teachers.

“We have a wonderful team, and the Levys are not only incredibly generous philanthropic supporters — they are indispensable thought partners,” she says.