[IL-Talk] at large minutes august 2024

[datemeyer at sbcglobal.net]

NFBI AT LARGE CHAPTER MINUTES

August 4th, 2024

ZOOM Meeting

CALL TO ORDER

At Large Chapter President David Meyer called the meeting to order at 7:06
PM. Persons in  attendance were President David Meyer, Linda Hendel, Bill
Reif, Cathy Randall, Marilyn Green, Steve  Hastalis, Dustin Cather, Yvonne
Agyarko, Ken Schad, Jemal Powell, Eileen Truschke, Murthy Konda,  Jean
Johnson, and Michelle Ault.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES FOR JUNE MEETING

Minutes approved

INTRODUCTION OF NEW MEMBERS

Jean Johnson and Murthy Konda

PROGRAM

Two questions were asked of the Members. The first question was, Why did you
join the Federation?  and question number two was Why do you choose to stay
in the Federation?

PRESIDENTIAL RELEASE

This was Presidential Release 540.

We had 2590 people registered in person for National Convention and 655
Virtual Experience  registered. The highlights from the National Convention
are posted at NFB.org/Convention.  Highlights include the Presidential
Report, the banquet speech, our resolutions process, the  general sessions
and the board meetings. 2025 National Convention will be in New Orleans from
July  8th thru July 13. If we attended National Convention there is a survey
that was emailed out that we  may fill out online or place a phone call to 2
2 9-6 3 2-7 8 7 8. We can also call toll free to  8 3 3-6 3 2-7 8 7 8.

The anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act recently passed and
President Riccobono had  the honor of representing the Federation at the
White House. celebrating Disability Pride Month.

At our convention we heard from assistant attorney general Kristen Clark,
who spoke to us about the  recent efforts to enforce Title II of the
Americans with Disabilities Act and the digital access  web access standards
regulations that were recently enacted. We also heard from the Assistant
Attorney General, and she definitely got our message loud and clear that
were not satisfied. We  still want web accessibility regulations for Title
III of the Americans with Disabilities Act. So  we do have more work to do,
but we were involved in a number of activities to celebrate the  anniversary
of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Mattel just released Blind Barbie. The Federation has worked with Mattel on
a number of projects  going all the way back to late 2018, 2019 time period.
Those projects included Braille Uno and the  doll that was produced to be a
representative of Helen Keller, as well as a number of other  projects. 

A number of people have noted that Mattel did not choose to work with the
organized blind movement  on the blind Barbie project, and that is true.
While it is unfortunate that they decided not to  work with the Federation
on this specific project, we should continue to appreciate that the  company
continues to engage and make efforts to have more representation of blind
people in their  toy lines. Members have mixed opinions and feelings about
Blind Barbie, and President Riccobono  thinks that its important for us, as
blind people, to continue to discuss and debate what is  important to us in
terms of representation. It is true is that we should not settle for any
kind of  token attempts to include us by any company out there. What we are
seeking is equal representation  and innovative attempts to make sure that
were not only merely included, but that we are part of  the process from
beginning to end.

The Federation has made no public statements about Blind Barbie. We havent
taken an opinion. We  havent taken a position. We welcome the conversation
about representation, and we think its  important for our members to have
that debate. We do welcome opportunities now and in the future to  work with
companies like Mattel.

We have some important advocacy work to do. One way that we can do that is
by moving our policy  agenda in the United States Congress.

Before our convention, on June 28, congressman Pete Sessions of Texas
introduced the Blind  Americans Return to Work Act in the House of
Representatives. This is a great item we can be  working on. That piece of
legislation is co sponsored by Congressman Kweisi Mfume of Maryland. He  is
the lead co sponsor on this bill, which is number H.R. 8878. This bill would
eliminate the SSDI  earnings cliff by instituting a two for one phase out
for any income earned above substantial  gainful activity. This is an
important piece of legislation. Its something that we have long  advocated
for, not always with a bill, but whenever Social Security reform has been
talked about,  Congress is now on summer recess, but its a great time to
call and email your members, if theyre  having events, and ask them to
support H.R. 8878, the Blind Americans Return to Work Act.

We have an important update on our partnership with HumanWare and the
American Printing House for  the Blind to get the first fully graphics and
Braille multi line display into the hands of blind  kids in schools. That,
of course, is the Monarch project. Weve been talking about it for a number
of years, and at the convention many people were able to get their hands on
it and try it out. The  House and the Senate are targeting an increased
appropriation for the American Printing House for  the Blind that includes
10 million dollars for the Monarch and its distribution to blind students
and adults. President Riccobono thanked those of you who have already
reached out, and advocated  with members of Congress to help them understand
why the advancement of Braille literacy continues  to be critical in 2024.
If we can get a 10 million dollars appropriation to advance real technology
being available to blind students across the country, this will truly be a
game changer. This  project has so much potential to truly transforms what
happens for students in the United States  education system. If you are
looking for more information about the Monarch we are encouraged to go  to
the American Printing House web site,  APH.org/meet-Monarch . If we want
more information about how you can get started advocating for the Monarch,
we are  encouraged to reach out to Jeff Kaloc and our governmental affairs
team. You can email him at  jkaloc at NFB.org.

The National Federation of the Blind celebrates every year the power of the
organized blind  movement during October, which we designate as Blind
Equality Achievement Month. If youre looking  for ideas, you can check out
our webpage on this,  NFB.org/blind-month . You will find a lot of resources
there, including examples of previous activities, what kind of  free
literature resources are available and samples of White Cane Awareness Day
activities for  October 15th. President Riccobono suggested one of the many
things we could do for Blind Equality  Achievement Month is think about
putting together voter registration drives. He encourages every  member of
the Federation to get out and exercise our right to vote.

The Federation works extremely hard to provide information and resources
regarding fully accessible  voting processes. We do a lot of work at the
national level to educate voting advocates and voting  officials on these
topics. You can find information about our voting resources at  NFB.org/vote
.

Passings: Peggy Washington, Mario Zarate, Ethel Carlize, Ron Cox, Mary Jane
Fry, Ruth Swenson,  Gustavo Ortiz Sr., Walter Woitasek,Vinnie
Tagliarino,Jamie Turner, and Rehnee Aikens,

The next Presidential Release live will be on September 4 at 8:00 p.m.
Eastern. You can contact  President Riccobono at 4 1 0-6 5 9-9 3 1 4, or via
email at  officeofthepresident at NFB.org . 

STATE PRESIDENTS REPORT

Chicago will be the home of our 2028 and 2029 National Convention

Our face to face state board meeting will be on August 17th at our
convention hotel which is the  Chicago Marriott Naperville Hotel in
Naperville, IL. The face to face board meeting also has a Zoom  option for
those that cannot attend in person. The meeting will start at 9:00 AM, and
usually ends  by 2:00 or 3:00PM. The agenda will go out later this week. If
you would like a lunch please consult  with Patty Chang about your lunch and
your lunch choice.

We just finished our two BELL programs in the State of IL. We started this
year with our  Springfield Program. We started during the week of July 15th
and we had a good crowd of students  and BELL volunteers. The children
enjoyed the field trip to the horse stable and it was a great  success. We
also had our Chicago BELL Program hosted at the Chicago Lighthouse, July
22nd to August  2nd. We had a record breaking number of children. We had
nine children in our Chicago program  ranging in ages from 4 to 12. The
children went to the Museum of Science and Industry, Lincoln Park  Zoo,
Maggie Daley Park, they did some Braille, and made some lunches. It was a
great program with  lots of energy from teachers, families, and volunteers.

Our State Convention is October 18th thru the 20th at the Chicago Marriott
Naperville Hotel in  Naperville, IL You can make your hotel reservation and
register for the convention right now at  nfbofillinois.org/convention. A
credit card is requested to make your room reservation and to hold  a room.
Please ask for the NFB room block. If you decide to cancel the room please
let Marilyn know  before you cancel it. We did get some feedback that people
were interested in a breakfast on  Sunday. There will also be some
programming on Sunday morning as well. We are looking for some  ideas for
programming that you would like to see and looking for some theme ideas. The
application  is open for Chappell/Dennis for some financial assistance for
people that would like to attend our  State convention but needs some
financial assistance to attend Please go to nfbofllinois.org, go to  Program
and Resource tab, then State Resources and download the form, complete it,
and leave it in  its original format and send it back to
president at nfbofillinois.org  no later than 11:59PM, September 1st. If any
assistance is needed you can contact Marilyn at  3 1 2-3 4 3-8 3 9 6 and she
or someone that she designates to assist would be more than happy to assist
in  filling out the form.

We do have two State Scholarship Finalists. One is Mayokunle Efunbote. He is
going to De Paul  University and we also have Nancy Obi who is attending
Governors State.

Some past themes of State Convention was shared such as Rooted in
Philosophy, and Together Again.

OLD BUSINESS

We do not have any old business

NEW BUSINESS

Jean Johnson and Mutha Konda were welcomed and voted into the At Large
Chapter.

Next At Large Chapter meeting will be Sunday, September 1st.

ADJOURNMENT

The meeting adjourned at 8:54PM

Respectfully Submitted,

Michelle Ault

Secretary

Date:

today at 12:01 PM

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