Described herein are compositions and methods for inducing retinal regeneration in a subject. Also described herein are compositions and methods for treating, preventing, reducing the likelihood of having, reducing the severity of, and/or slowing the progression of a retinal degenerative disease, retinal damage, or retinal blindness in a subject. In some embodiments, the compositions and methods may comprise a pharmaceutical composition comprising a Foxp gene expression vector comprising a polynucleotide sequence encoding a Foxp polypeptide, functional variant thereof, or fragment thereof.