JACKSON - The new executive director of Mississippi Industries for the Blind says his goal is to improve the agency's product offering and become less dependent on government contracts.
The MIB's board of directors on Monday named Joe Carballo of Jackson to the lead the agency that dates back to 1942, when Gov. Paul B. Johnson Sr. signed a law that allowed eight blind people to begin vocational training in Jackson.
Carballo, a Kosciusko native and Mississippi State graduate, has worked with the blind for more than 30 years, including a stint as a state rehabilitation counselor at MIB in the early 1970s.
He replaces Jack Williams, who left the position last year to take a better-paying job with the National Industries for the Blind.
"This is like coming home," said Carballo, who most recently was director of vocational rehabilitation for the blind at the state Department of Rehabilitation Services.
"We want to be at the leading edge of new product development and secure long-term contracts that can employ people for a long time," he said.
The MIB has about 200 mostly blind employees at its plant in Jackson and another 25 at a facility in Meridian.
In Jackson, workers at a 1940s-era building on West Street make products such as T-shirts for the U.S. Army, jackets for the U.S. Air Force and military pistol belts.
Employees in Meridian are the sole maker of keys for the U.S. Postal Service.
Last year, the quasi-state agency had about $14 million in sales - down considerably from recent years - and the economic downturn has hurt business so far this year, MIB officials said.
About 75 percent of the business is from government contracts; the other quarter is commercial work - making products such as brooms and janitorial supplies.
Board members said government work sustains the agency, but they'd like to sell more to the private sector.
"When you're tied to government contracts, it's feast or famine," said MIB chairman Franklin Johnson of Starkville. "If you've got a war, it's OK."
The federal government has had ties to blind industries since 1938.
The Javits-Wagner-O'Day Act, amended in 1971 to include Americans with other disabilities, allows the U.S. government to buy goods and services from disabled people through contracts with nonprofit community agencies such as MIB.
Johnson and other MIB board members emphasized that the goal of the agency is to provide gainful employment to as many blind people as possible. The MIB supports itself through the sale of its products, although employees receive state benefits.
Carballo, 57, was one of 83 applicants for the director's job.
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