Mission and Goals

The CRIS Radio mission is to enrich the lives of adults and children who are blind or print-challenged by providing human-narrated recordings of printed materials that serve to increase inclusion and accessibility by enhancing knowledge, improving literacy, promoting independence, and reducing isolation.

The goals are:

1. Expand services to underserved communities, particularly in communities where diverse and low-income individuals reside;
2. Increase CRISKids programming for children attending school districts where large percentages of students scored below grade-level reading levels;
3. Improve access to print information at museums and other public spaces;
4. Diversify funding sources and create a sustainable fee-for-service revenue model for some CRIS programs; and
5. Increase marketing to promote public awareness of CRIS Radio’s programs.

Population Served

CRIS makes its family of services available to individuals who are unable to read printed material or turn pages of a publication because of a visual, physical, intellectual, emotional or learning disability, or due to their medical treatment or medical condition, resulting from diabetes, cataracts, macular degeneration, glaucoma or other disabilities, such as arthritis, dyslexia, Parkinson’s, ALS or Cerebral Palsy.

CRIS does not discriminate on the basis of sex, race, age, ethnic background, religion, degree of disability, or financial status.

How Can CRIS Be Heard?

CRIS programs can be heard on demand, streaming, or broadcast on a pre-tuned CRIS radio. The following devices can also access CRIS programming:

• Pre-tuned CRIS Radio – Apply for a CRIS Radio
• Online CRISradio.org
• Telephone Reader (Click here to apply to apply for service)
• Mobile devices such as smartphones, tablets, or MP3 players;
• CRIS Radio mobile app (Download free app at the App Store or Google Play)
• CRIS Tours mobile app (Download free app at the App Store or Google Play)
• Hands-free speaker (For Amazon’s Echo, say “Play C-R-I-S Radio / (say “slash”) in Windsor on Tune In).

Betty Clark is legally blind and in frail health. Her daughter told us “she always loved the news and current events and reading was her best friend when she had vision. She loves the radio from CRIS. It is on all the time and she is back to informing our family on current events and the world news. It is awesome; it brought back a big part of her life that was missing and makes her feel connected to the town and world around her.”

CRIS provides a family of audio services, all featuring human narration. The program includes the following:

CRIS Radio

Broadcasts 24 hours a day, seven days a week featuring audio versions of articles published in more than 50 newspapers and magazines. CRIS Radio distributes free antenna and internet radios to individual residences, assisted living facilities, and nursing homes.

CRIS On Demand

Makes available online and on-demand with the click of a mouse general interest and children’s magazines and books.

CRISKids®

Welcome to CRISKids®, making words come alive for children who are blind or are unable to read due to other print disabilities such as visual, learning, physical, intellectual or emotional disabilities. CRISKids is available at no cost to educators and organizations that serve children who struggle to read print materials.

To see the lineup of audio recordings for children, see below

CRISKids® Audio Magazines
CRISKids® Audio Library (Classroom materials and books)

There is a significant void of human-narrated children’s magazines for children who are blind, learning disabled or physically challenged in the U.S. CRIS fills that void by offering an extensive, on-demand CRISKids Audio Library of children’s magazines or classroom weeklies.

In addition to on-demand, online access to recordings of children’s print materials, CRIS provides the CRISKids® Audio Book Club program to organizations, such as schools, summer camps, afterschool programs, and libraries, which serve children with print challenges. The CRISKids Audio Book Club program loans to those organizations at no cost approximately 20 book bags, which are delivered in a storage bin. Each book bag contains one to three printed books, the corresponding audio book(s) downloaded onto an MP3 player, a headset, a sticker sheet, and stickers for the children to track how many books they have read. When ready for a new set of books, CRIS exchanges the bin with a set of new book bags packaged with 20 different book titles.

For early Braille learners, CRIS created the CRISKids® Braille Book Club in partnership with the Bureau of Education and Services for the Blind (BESB). The book bags contain Twin-vision Braille books, which are children’s picture books with both text and Braille. The book bags also include the audio book downloaded onto an MP3 player and a headset. The book bags are made available to BESB’s Teachers of the Visually Impaired to be used as a learning tool in which students listen to the recording while following along in Braille.

An independent evaluation of the CRISKids® program demonstrates that nearly all participating children during summer session do not experience the typical loss in reading skills. The evaluation also demonstrates that the lowest level students who regularly use the CRISKids® technology throughout the school year improve their reading scores the most as compared with students at the same reading level who do not use CRISKids®.

CRIS Streaming

Makes available audio versions of newspapers and magazines available in English (CRIS Radio) and in Spanish (CRIS en Español) to each patient room at hospitals or other health care facilities, such as nursing homes or assisted living facilities, through their in-house TV system.

CRISAccess®Tours

Produces smartphone audio tours using QR Codes for museums or outdoor attractions.

CRIS en Español

Streams audio versions of Spanish-language newspapers and magazines.

CRIS Radio began its journey in 1979 with a two-hour broadcast that was featured in the Hartford Courant. Just three years later, CRIS expanded to a seven-day-a-week schedule, with additional radio stations incorporating its programming. Keeping pace with advancements in technology, CRIS transitioned from analog to digital recording in 2002. By 2009, the organization moved into its own broadcast center in Windsor, enabling it to offer programming through its website. CRIS continues to expand its reach and impact, reaching a broader audience each year. Recently, CRIS was contracted by the Alaska SeaLife Center to produce 45 smartphone audio exhibits.

Learn more about CRIS Radio’s history.

Fill out the volunteer application.

Volunteers are vital to CRIS Radio’s success, providing the human narration that is so important to our listeners and helping with other needs that include the following:

• Editing audio files;
• Producing the live news programs;
• General office duties;
• Serving on our Board of Directors;
• Providing outreach by serving on the CRIS Speakers Bureau; and
• Serving on a fundraising committee

All applications are kept on file. We will contact you as the volunteer opportunity you selected on your application becomes available. Please note that we receive a large number of volunteer applications, particularly for readers. Fill out the volunteer application form.

Volunteer readers generally dedicate 60 minutes per week to CRIS. In Windsor, we produce both live and recorded programs.

“One of my students, she’s really smart but struggles with reading, looked at me with anxiety as we talked about the next book assignment and asked, “Is it in the CRIS library?” I pulled up the database on my computer and searched for the title and told her it is. She smiled from ear to ear.” Hartford reading teacher

Main office and CRIS Broadcast Center
Connecticut Radio Information System, Inc.
315 Windsor Ave.
Windsor, CT 06095
(860) 527-8000

CRIS Regional Satellite Studios
Danbury Lions Club
198 Main St.
Danbury, CT
(203)778-2000

Disabilities Network of Eastern CT
238 West Town St.
Norwich, CT
(860)204-0165

Trumbull High School
72 Strobel Road
Trumbull, CT
(203)268-2758

CRIS Radio operates with the generosity of individuals, foundations, and businesses who generously provide their talent and financial support. We are grateful to our many supporters helping CRIS Radio do what we do best, bringing words to life for those who are unable to read due to blindness or other print disability.

On behalf of our listeners, staff, and volunteers, we are thankful to all of our donors, big and small, including those listed below:

• A Closer Look
• Aetna Foundation
• Ahearn Family Fund
• Ahlstrom
• Aldo DeDominicus Foundation
• Allen Family Trust
• American Eagle Financial Credit Union
• American Savings Foundation
• Ray Andrews Fund
• Anthony Bauer Trust, Bank of America
• AT&T Central CT Employee Fund
• AT&T Employee Fund Headquarters
• AT&T Employee Fund Gateway Region
• AT&T Employee Fund Southern Region
• Archdiocese of Hartford
• Arthur Murray West Farms
• Bank of America
• Anthony Bauer Trust, Bank of America
• Beatrice Fox Auerbach Fund, Hartford Foundation for Public Giving
• Lenas Benas Foundation, Bank of America
• Bigelow Tea
• J. Walton Bissell Foundation
• Eugene G. & Margaret M. Blackford Memorial Fund,
• Bob’s Furniture
• Bodenwein Foundation
• Boehringer Ingelheim Cares Foundation
• Boston Red Sox
• Bounce U
• Bradley Airport Valet Parking
• Bristol Meyer Squibbs
• C & S Wholesale
• Cannon Foundation
• Carter Cares
• Charter Oak Federal Credit Union
• CHEFA
• Chelsea Groton Bank Foundation
• Chris Casey Concepts
• Chubb
• Comcast/NBC Connecticut
• Community Foundation of Greater New Haven
• Community Renewal Team
• Connecticut Beardsley Zoo
• Connecticut Broadcasters Association
• Connecticut Lions Clubs
• Connecticut Science Center
• Connecticut State Medical Society
• Connecticut Trolley Museum
• ConnectiCare
• Costco
• CSF Frontier Central
• Daphne Seybold Culpeper Foundation
• Aldo DeDominicis Foundation
• Devine Hydraulics
• Dime Savings Bank Foundation
• Diocese of Connecticut
• Disney/Entertainment Foundation
• Richard Donchian Foundation
• Dreyfus Foundation
• Eastern Federal Bank
• eMFraming
• Ensworth Charitable Foundation
• ESPN
• Essex Valley Railroad Co.
• Fiondella, Milone & LaSaracina CPAs
• Stanley D. and Hinda N. Fisher Fund, Hartford Foundation for Public Giving
• Fletcher Thompson
• Fisher Foundation
• Fleischman Foundation
• Foulds Family Foundation
• Fund For Greater Hartford
• Geissler’s Supermarket
• Genentech
• R.S. Gernon Trust
• Gibney Family Foundation
• Ellen Jeanne Goldfarb Memorial Charitable Trust
• Goodnow Fund
• Greater Hartford Auto Dealers Association
• Greater Hartford Jaycees Foundation
• Harold and Rebecca H. Gross Foundation, Bank of America
• Hartford Business Journal
• Hartford Foundation for Public Giving
• Hartford Wolf Pack
• Hartford Yard Goats
• Help for the Blind of Eastern Connecticut
• Highland Park Markets
• Max and Marion Hoffman Foundation
• Jaeger Fund
• Jarmoc Farms
• John Blair Fund, Hartford Foundation for Public Giving
• Jorgenson Center for the Performing Arts
• Kaman
• Konica Minolta
• Knox Foundation
• Ethel and Abe Lapides Foundation
• Lions Clubs of Connecticut
• Live with Kelly & Michael
• George A. & Grace L. Long Foundation
• Lutz Museum
• Magestic Theater
• Main Street Community Foundation
• Mark Twain House
• John G. Martin Foundation
• Katherine Matthies Foundation
• McAllister Family Trust
• McDonald Family Trust
• McPhee Foundation
• Meredith Fund
• Meserve Foundation
• Metayer Bonding Associates
• Mohegan Sun
• Moore Foundation
• William and Alice Mortensen Foundation
• Mystic Aquarium
• Mystic Seaport
• Napier Foundation
• New Country Motor Cars
• NewAlliance Foundation
• NIAS Foundation
• North Central Area Agency on Aging
• Nutmeg Senior Rides
• Nutmeg State Financial Credit Union
• Oak & Velvet
• Old Sturbridge Village
• O’Malley, Deneen, Leary, Messina & Oswecki
• Optelec
• Frank Loomis Palmer Fund Trust
• Peabody Essex Museum
• Pepe Pizzeria
• Peter Pan Bus Lines
• Plimouth Plantation Mayflower II
• Preservation Society of Newport County
• Putnam Foundation
• Pure Elegance
• Quassy Amusement Park
• Rabbett Insurance
• Rego Realty Corp.
• Rider Productions
• Rockville Bank Foundation
• Rome McGuigan
• Roskin Trust
• Savings Bank of Danbury
• Savings Bank of Manchester
• SBM Foundation
• Charles and Mildred Schnurmacher Foundation
• Southwick Zoo
• Sovereign Bank
• Springfield Falcons
• Springfield Symphony Orchestra
• Subway
• Tax Plus LLC
• The Austin Group LLC
• The Center of Medical Arts
• The Computer Company
• Timex Group USA
• Thomas Hooker Brewery
• Tom’s of Maine
• Total Vision
• Trust Company of Connecticut
• Valley Community Foundation
• Wachovia
• Wadsworth Atheneum
• Walmart
• WFSB
• Windsor Federal Savings
• Union Savings Bank
• Xerox