Ohio-based company addresses national PPE need while creating employment opportunities for individuals who are blind and visually impaired

COLUMBUS, Ohio, March 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- American Nitrile, a Columbus, Ohio-based small business dedicated to manufacturing the highest quality medical and nonmedical gloves for healthcare, government, and industrial use, today announced a partnership with The Central Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired (CABVI) for distribution of domestically produced nitrile gloves to address the national need for personal protective equipment (PPE) and shortened supply chains. The top-of-the-line gloves are approved by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) through an AbilityOne contract to employ people who are blind or have significant disabilities and to comply with the Make PPE in America Act, requiring procurement contracts for PPE to be long-term and for domestically manufactured PPE.

"We are proud to announce our partnership with the entire CABVI team. They have been a steadfast supplier to our Federal Government, specifically the TSA and airports across the country, for several decades," said American Nitrile Founder and CEO Jacob Block. "We are thrilled to be a part of lessening our country's reliance on Asia and returning this supply chain to its original birthplace, America's heartland."

American Nitrile built one of the most advanced U.S. manufacturing facilities dedicated to producing nitrile gloves in Grove City, OH. The 530,000 square foot facility, housing 12 high-speed productions lines, will be capable of producing 3.6 billion gloves when fully scaled in 2024. Additionally, the facility includes a state-of-the-art onsite wastewater treatment and recycling plant capable of recycling 150 million gallons of wastewater each year.

CABVI will package and distribute gloves it purchases from American Nitrile at its facilities in Utica and Syracuse, NY. CABVI's customers include the TSA, New York City Health and Hospitals Corp./NYC Hospitals, State University of New York Medical Centers, Veterans Affairs Medical Centers, Federal Correctional Institutions, and the United States Postal Service, as well as many other organizations.

"We have an exceptional partner in American Nitrile. They make a high-quality product that has passed rigorous testing at the DHS for security screenings by TSA. CABVI distributes the gloves to more than 400 U.S. airports through the AbilityOne program," said Edward P. Welsh, President & CEO of CABVI. "American Nitrile affirms CABVI's mission to support federal agencies while expanding employment opportunities for people who are blind."

As a social enterprise, CABVI has both societal and business goals, providing vision rehabilitation services to nearly 2,000 individuals with vision loss in a 10-county region of Central New York, while employing over 100 people who are legally blind or visually impaired.

"While manufacturing the highest quality nitrile gloves in the world is our stated mission, we are equally motivated to employ people who are blind in our factory," Block added. "People who are blind and eager to return to the workforce have friends in American Nitrile, CABVI, and National Industries for the Blind (NIB).  We will find a way to make it happen."

NIB and its network of associated nonprofit agencies like CABVI are the nation's largest employers of people who are blind through the manufacture and provision of products and services of the AbilityOne® Program. NIB President and CEO Kevin Lynch praised American Nitrile and CABVI for joining forces to address acute national needs to produce and distribute PPE and exploring new employment opportunities for people who are blind in Central Ohio and Central New York.

About American Nitrile
Based in Grove City, Ohio, American Nitrile is a privately held company focused on manufacturing medical and nonmedical gloves for healthcare, government, and industrial use. The company will manufacture approximately 3.6 billion gloves per year in their state-of-the-art 530,000 square foot manufacturing facility when fully scaled in 2024. The American Nitrile team brings together entrepreneurs and operators with extensive manufacturing, supply chain, and PPE experience.

American Nitrile was founded by Jacob Block in 2021 in response to the need for domestic sources of manufacturing of critical PPE products, and the ability to address long supply chains, use of forced labor from foreign countries, as well as the need for more sustainable production in this product category. For more information about American Nitrile, visit www.americannitrile.com.

About CABVI
The Central Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired (CABVI) is a social enterprise established in 1929 by community leaders in Utica, New York, who recognized a need to provide services and employment to people who are blind or visually impaired. CABVI's serves more than 1,800 people of all ages, generally free of charge, who are blind or visually impaired, in an eight-county region of Central New York. CABVI provides employment opportunities and a variety of vision rehabilitation services including low vision examinations, vision rehabilitation therapy, orientation and mobility, instruction in the use of assistive technology applications, employment training, adaptive recreation and sports, and social work. For further details, please visit www.cabvi.org/video. 

About National Industries for the Blind
Since 1938, National Industries for the Blind has focused on enhancing opportunities for economic and personal independence of people who are blind, primarily through creating, sustaining, and improving employment. NIB and its network of associated nonprofit agencies are the nation's largest employer of people who are blind through the manufacture and provision of SKILCRAFT® and other products and services of the AbilityOne® Program. For more information about NIB, visit NIB.org.

About AbilityOne
Providing employment opportunities to approximately 40,000 people who are blind or have significant disabilities, including more than 2,500 veterans, the AbilityOne Program is among the nation's largest providers of jobs for people who are blind or have significant disabilities. The AbilityOne Program uses the purchasing power of the federal government to buy products and services from participating, community-based nonprofit agencies nationwide, dedicated to training and employing individuals who are blind or have significant disabilities. Through the AbilityOne Program, people who are blind or have significant disabilities enjoy full participation in their community and can market their AbilityOne-learned skills into other public and private sector jobs.

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SOURCE American Nitrile