Target 1.2: By 2030, reduce at least by half the proportion of men, women and children of all ages living in poverty in all its dimensions according to national definitions.

LVS Connection: One of the criteria upon which all LVS applications for service are measured is their proximity to the Federal Poverty Level (FPL), a national definition for poverty used to determine eligibility for certain government programs and benefits. Many LVS clients are seeking vision services to save or to secure a job, which can often lead them out of poverty. In the future LVS will work to create a 1-year follow-up for LVS clients to better measure how many clients rise above poverty following LVS services

Indicator 1.2.1: Proportion of population living below the national poverty line, by sex and age.

LVS Connection: The current average household income of an LVS client is $14,500/year for a family of 3 ($7,220 below the national standard). While this validates that LVS programs currently reach an impoverished population, it does not measure how many LVS clients rise above the national poverty line as a result of LVS services. As mentioned previously, this is a metric we are working to better quantify in the future while our current programs continue to target this population.

Indicator 1.2.2: Proportion of men, women and children of all ages living in poverty in all its dimensions according to national definitions.

LVS Connection: Poverty is more than financial. Social and emotional poverty are also real dimensions of poverty. While tracking regional trends in poverty data is one measure of progress on this indicator, an immediate result of LVS services is removing the barriers of isolation and depression, which research from the CDC shows are intrinsically linked to blindness and visual impairment.

Target 1.4: By 2030, ensure that all men and women, in particular the poor and the vulnerable, have equal rights to economic resources, as well as access to basic services, ownership and control over land and other forms of property, inheritance, natural resources, appropriate new technology and financial services, including microfinance.

LVS Connection: Vision services are basic services essential to the quality of life of all human beings. A recent YouGov poll showed that vision is the sense most closely associated with our quality of life. It must become a basic health service for all men and women, particularly those in poverty, to have access to vision healthcare.

Indicator 1.4.1: Proportion of population living in households with access to basic services.

LVS Connection: One variation of this measure that helps to gauge LVS’s efficiency in service delivery is the wait time or wait list of pending services. Delays in service delivery can be caused by lack of funding, lack of access to healthcare partners, or other personal circumstances. Once the delay is identified, LVS can work to address it.