- craighockenberry52
Craig Hockenberry: Partnership 20/20
Craig Hockenberry: Partnership 20/20
I had the most incredible opportunity to be a part of the creation of the first vision center inside of a public school. It started with a tour of Oyler School with John Pepper who was the former CEO of Proctor and Gamble and it ended with the nation’s first ever vision center inside of a public school. After a tour of Oyler with John Pepper we sat in my office and discussed what was next for helping the children of Cincinnati. I spoke about the medical obstacles that still remained including dental, medical, mental health, daycare, and vision. I got to the vision issues we were having and I could tell he wanted more details. I explained to him that several hundred kids annually go without proper eye care in Lower Price. It was clear that Mr. Pepper did not like hearing this. It was clear at that very moment that we were going to do something about it. (I remember saying, Craig Hockenberry he is not going to allow this to go on so get prepared)
When Mr. Pepper left I returned to my office and met with my team to debrief the tour. After our meeting I took a quick look at my emails and not even two hours after Mr. Pepper had left I had an email from the CEO of Luxottica. This email led to connections with Onesight and before you knew it eye folks were all over the Oyler campus.
The next steps were to identify a place inside Oyler and get permission from Cincinnati Public Schools to allow Onesight to develop an eye clinic inside Oyler School. When called CPS I remember the words from then Superintendent Mary Ronan, “Craig Hockenberry, it better work!”
The answer was yes! We immediately started developing the designs, talked about procedures, naming rights, and how it would serve not only Oyler kids, but kids across the city. Everything fell into place.
In 2012 we opened and became the pioneers of eye care and the first to open in the U.S. Entering now its ninth school year, the vision center has provided eye exams to over 8,600 students in Cincinnati and dispensed over 6,200 pairs of glasses.
