April 30, 2010 Judith Lopez The New York Community Trust 909 Third Avenue New York, NY 10022 Dear Ms. Lopez: We appreciate the opportunity to present our full proposal to The New York Community Trust. We are requesting that you make a grant of $125,000 to match 50% of the $250,000 grant we received from George Soros’ Open Society Institute. While the Open Society grant did not have matching restrictions, Mimi Cocoran has been incredibly supportive of our efforts and would be happy to discuss this with you. Gatewave is currently the only radio reading service for those living in New York City. Thousands of blind, visually-impaired, physically or cognitively-disabled individuals, many of whom are elderly and dependent upon government supplements to support them, rely on us. Gatewave provides them with the information they need to ameliorate their sense of isolation and gain access WRWKHVDPHQHZV¿QDQFHKHDOWKDQGFXOWXUDOLQIRUPDWLRQDVWKRVHZKRFDQVHHDQGUHDG Many listeners live in nursing homes, residential housing, hospitals, and skilled nursing facilities; some live alone in their own homes. Gatewave listeners are older and dealing with the overwhelming impacts of unexpected vision-loss; many are unable to learn new technologies and can more easily comprehend human voice broadcast over synthetic voice technologies. Gatewave provides consistently high-quality, dependable content in a delivery system that is easy, comforting, and familiar to them. According to a study sponsored by the National Eye Institute and reported in the Archives of Ophthalmology (April 2004), blindness or low vision affects 3.3 million Americans age 40 and over, or one in 28 individuals. The National Federation for the Blind (NFB)’s research indicates that approximately 75,000 people a year will become visually impaired; there are 10 million people who have low-vision, including 5.5 million seniors. NFB believes that in the next 30 years, increasing numbers of aging baby boomers will become either blind or visually impaired, doubling the number of persons in this category. The staff and 150 dedicated volunteers of Gatewave truly appreciate your careful consideration of this proposal and hope that you will partner with us to expand our services and continue to serve New York City’s disabled community. I look forward to answering any questions you may have. Sincerely, Gail Starkey Executive Director Gatewave Agency Background In October 2009, In Touch Networks, the only radio reading service for the blind and disabled in New