[IL-Talk] [IABS-Talk] April at large minutes
Leslie Hamric
lhamric930 at comcast.net
Mon Apr 28 22:32:24 UTC 2025
Great job Michelle!
Leslie Hamric
Cello and Braille Music Teacher
> On Apr 28, 2025, at 2:21 PM, datemeyer--- via IABS-Talk <iabs-talk at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>
> NFBI AT LARGE CHAPTER MINUTES
>
> April 6th, 2025
>
> ZOOM Meeting
>
> CALL TO ORDER:
>
> Persons in attendance were At Large President, David Meyer, Vice President
> Linda Hendle, Bill Reif, Marilyn Green, Michal Nowicki, Addison Graham,
> Dennis Devitt, Leslie Hamric, Jean Johnson, Eileen Truschke, Ken Schad,
> Debbie Pittman, and Jemal Powell. The meeting started at 7:03 PM.
>
> APPROVAL OF MINUTES FOR MARCH 2025
>
> Bill Reif moved and Debbie Pittman seconded. All in favor said "Aye" and
> March minutes were approved.
>
> Debbie Pittman gave us an update on the Popcorn Fundraiser and it will be
> ending tomorrow at 5:00PM.
>
> PRESIDENTIAL RELEASE
>
> This is Presidential Release 548. It is the Chapter version.
>
> We are reminded that it is important to ask questions and recognize that if
> you don't ask questions about why we do what we do, you may be operating on
> misinformation. President Riccobono often comes across members who have
> operated on an assumption or what someone told them, someone who wasn't
> well-informed about the Federation and why we do what we do. He encourages
> all our members to ask those critical questions to really understand why we
> do what we do. We can talk to members in our chapter and affiliate about any
> questions. We can also reach out to the team at our National office, or our
> membership committee for clarity on anything we are wondering about. One
> great way to do that is to send your questions to membership at nfb.org , and
> the membership committee will be pleased to get back with you and help you
> get to the resources you need. We can also read the Braille Monitor to keep
> up on all things Federation. We are also encouraged to continue to reach out
> and onboard new members to the Federation so we can keep building on the
> great foundation that we have here.
>
> We have some advocacy work that we have been doing. We discussed the fact
> that the Medicare telehealth provisions were set to expire at the end of
> March at the last Presidential Release. On March 5, we sent a letter to all
> members of Congress urging that they prioritize making sure that telehealth
> benefits were extended. We called on Federation members to get the word out
> to Congress, and you did that. When Congress passed the most recent
> continuing resolution last month, the Medicare telehealth benefits were
> included in the bill. Now, unfortunately, they were only made permanent
> through the end of the federal fiscal year, so through the end of September
> 2025. We wrote a letter urging that they be made permanent without having
> to be revisited. So your calls, your advocacy did be effective, but we need
> you to continue to reach out to members of Congress and to advocate that
> these provisions be made permanent in a tangible way so that they don't
> have to be revisited on a regular basis. We will continue to monitor this,
> continue to press Congress from our national office, but we need you to do
> the same. Telehealth has been a great benefit to many people and of course
> certainly to blind people who face issues around transportation. We will
> continue to work on this, and we are being urged to continue to press
> members of Congress on this.
>
> On March 14th, the White House issued an executive order eliminating the
> Institute for Museum and Library Services. On March 19, we sent a letter to
> the chairs of the ranking members of the House and Senate Appropriation
> Committees to educate them on the important function that the IMLS has,
> especially as it relates to providing funding for libraries for the blind.
> In many states, the Regional Library for the Blind program is funded 100%
> because of federal funds that come from the IMLS program at the federal
> level, and so many Regional Libraries for the Blind are facing very
> dramatic shutdown.
>
> We continue to monitor this and are concerned about it. We have been talking
> to the National Library Service, which of course is under the Library of
> Congress, and that service at the moment seems to be okay, but we're really
> worried about what's going to happen in many states where state funding is
> not used or is only partially used to support the Library for the Blind
> program.
>
> All members are being urged to reach out to your members of Congress to
> continue to talk with your regional library to understand what the impact
> is and to help advocate for the continuation of those programs at the local
> level. Now, as of today, we've learned that most of the staff at IMLS has
> been placed on administrative leave, and so the funding is uncertain at this
> time, but we know that the staff is on administrative leave and that is
> being reviewed. We're going to have to continue to monitor that daily.
>
> On March 20, the White House issued an executive order to begin efforts to
> close the Department of Education. On March 25, we sent a letter to the
> Secretary of Education asking for clarification and urging her to maintain
> a transition of critical programs for people with disabilities, especially
> blind people, and enforcement of those programs in federal law. Those
> programs that are housed in the Department of Education currently include
> all services related to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and
> those protections, the Federal Quota system operated by the American
> Printing House for the Blind, Vocational Rehabilitation, of course under
> RSA and the Randolph Shepherd Program, which creates business opportunities
> for blind people, and finally, the Independent Living Services Program for
> older adults who are blind. We are continuing to monitor this and want the
> programs to be preserved.
>
> Moving on to Social Security, the Federation has been continually active
> since late February and into March as the Social Security Administration
> announced a number of new policies and administrative, drastic
> administrative cuts that are going to have an impact on blind people and are
> already having an impact on blind people. These include a reduction of a
> number of personnel, significant number of personnel and offices, and
> changes to the identification procedures and requirements that will require
> more beneficiaries to show up in person at offices, which creates an
> additional burden and the reinstatement of over-aggressive repayment
> collection procedures under the Social Security Administration. These are
> all things directly impacting blind people. There are many members who have
> been waiting too long to hear about their benefits or their case, and this
> is only going to make the problem worse.
>
> On March 26, we sent a letter to the Acting Commissioner of Social Security.
> We're continuing to do advocacy work with Congress. If you find
> opportunities to do so, we would ask you to carry this message forward as
> well. We do expect to be taking additional action in this area. All our
> policy letters can be found on the NFB website in our policies section. We
> post all our letters to Congress and to the departments in the executive
> branch so that our members are aware of them and keep up the advocacy work.
> There's going to be a lot more to do to protect the programs that we have
> helped to establish in the federal government to support the independence of
> blind people.
>
> Presidential Riccobono talked specifically about our work in Congress
> because we have been creating great momentum there since our Washington
> seminar. He discussed the Access Technology Affordability Act, which is HR
> 1529, and that our momentum on this bill is tremendous. We picked up 14 new
> co-sponsors bringing our total to 15 co-sponsors. We need to continue to
> build our co-sponsors for this legislation quite urgently because the
> greater number of co-sponsors we have, the greater shot that we must get
> this bill incorporated into any tax bill reform that is going to be
> considered by Congress. We do know that there will be a tax package. We
> want the Access Technology Affordability Act to be included, so please very
> urgently contact your members of Congress, get their commitment, and get
> them to sign on to be a co-sponsor of this bill in the house.
>
> Over the last month or so we have been talking about the lawsuit known now
> as Texas versus Kennedy. As a reminder, this suit threatens to eliminate
> our protections under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. Last month, I
> told you about the case and urged our members in the 17 states that have
> participated in bringing this lawsuit to urge the governor, the attorney
> general in those states to withdraw their participation in the case. We
> sent a letter to all 17 state's attorneys general and governors on March 4.
> We've also been encouraging members to reach out if you aren't in those
> states, and feel free to put the pressure on those states to get out of this
> case, but of course, if you live in the state, you're going to have a lot
> more impact. We've also distributed a draft resolution that affiliates can
> pass that calls on the governor and attorney general to withdraw from this
> case and this attack on the Rehabilitation Act. So far, four of our 17
> affiliates have passed that resolution either at a convention or through
> their board of directors. We will continue to monitor this. There is a
> hearing coming up on April 21 that will give us a lot more information
> about where we need to go in our advocacy efforts, so please stay tuned. But
> for now, especially if you're in one of those 17 states, please take
> efforts to urge the leadership in your state to withdraw from this case,
> which would have really damaging impacts on our protections as blind people
> in this country.
>
> In addition to those things he wants to reiterate our work to reach out to
> former federal employees. A number of blind people were let go from the
> federal government yesterday. We're working with blind employees who have
> been let go from the federal government. We want to hear from them, so if
> you know of people, please encourage them to fill out our form. Also, want
> to let you know that we did not say this because it was not public, but it
> is today that the National Federation of the Blind has joined with other
> disability organizations to sue the Social Security Administration over the
> reductions in service that are going to have a harmful impact on blind
> people. We are doing all that we can to protect the benefits that we have
> fought so hard for blind people and others to have from the federal
> government so we can go out and live the lives we want.
>
> Our convention in New Orleans will be a key place to discuss this work and
> the work that will be upcoming in the next few months, so please plan to be
> with us in New Orleans at our convention in July.
>
> After the Presidential Release we had a brief overview of what the lawsuit
> against the 504 case is and Marilyn Green broke it down for our members.
> Marilyn Green broke down the Texas vs. Kennedy case so we could understand
> it better. We can go to nfb.org to see information about the case as well
> as the 17 states that are involved. Debbie Pittman also shared some insight
> on this case.
>
> STATE PRESIDENT'S REPORT
>
> Marilyn Green welcomed in new members that are on the call and encouraged
> them to get on our email list.
>
> We have our NFB BELL Programs coming up, for children ages 4-12, at the
> Chicago Lighthouse, July 21st thru August 1st. It is a two week day
> program. August 4th thru August 8th we have our Springfield BELL Program
> which will be residential. BELL stands for Braille Enrichment for Literacy
> and Learning. These programs are a fantastic opportunity for blind children
> to have positive experiences and it will help them keep their Braille
> skills up. We have White Cane travel, field trips, and it helps them build
> a community so they know they are not the only ones that are blind. We look
> forward to building independent blind students. We are looking for adult
> Blind mentors who are living independently, going to work, grocery
> shopping, and doing all the things that we know blind people can do. If you
> are interested in being a Blind mentor or would like some information about
> BELL you can contact our coordinator Debbie Stein at: dkent587 at att.net or
> contact our assistant coordinator, Tasabah Elfaki at:
> tasabih.elfaki at gmail.com .
>
> We also have our STEM2U program that we are trying this year. It will be
> held at the Chicago Marriott Hotel in Naperville on August 23rd. We want to
> show blind students that STEM is possible. It is a day program and you can
> contact Debbie or Tasabah if you have any questions. There is a fee
> connected for the BELL program but there is not a fee for the STEM Program.
> STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. This is a
> day program.
>
> The NFBI Board meeting is April 23rd, Wednesday at 7PM. It is a wonderful
> way to find out what is going on in the Affiliate, such as with
> Scholarships, our youth and education programs, policies in the NFBI and
> what is going on in our Chapters. The agenda usually goes out about a week
> prior to our meeting.
>
> We have our face to face board meeting on Sunday August 24th. We will start
> at 9:00AM, take a lunch break. and come back into session. The meeting
> usually ends around 3:00PM. This will be at our convention hotel which is
> Chicago Marriott Hotel in Naperville. The website for information is
> nfbofillinois.org/conventions.
>
> We will have our State Convention on October 17th thru 19th . The State
> Convention is also at the Chicago Marriott Hotel in Naperville. The website
> for information is nfbofillinois.org/convention. Think about what you would
> like to see there as far as presentations, break out sessions and please
> let Marilyn Green know.
>
> National Convention is July 8th thru the 13th in Louisiana at the Marriott
> New Orleans and overflow is across the street at the Sheraton. The exhibit
> hall is across the street at the Sheraton and our meetings will be at the
> Marriott Convention Assistance is available for first timers thru our
> national office which offers the Kenneth Jernigan Scholarship. April 15th is
> the deadline. Chappell Dennis can also assist members financially if you
> are not a first timer. This is offered thru the State of Illinois. The
> deadline is May 1st at 11:59 central time. All these forms are available
> online. You can access this form at nfbofillinois.org. If you have any
> questions you can email our State President, Marilyn Green, at
> president at nfbofillinois.org .
>
> We have a merit based academic Scholarship program available for blind and
> low vision students who are pursuing post secondary education. The deadline
> for this program is April 30th at 11:59 PM central time. You can go to
> http://www.nfbofillinois.org/scholarships. You can submit everything
> online.
>
> ELECTIONS
>
> Linda Hendle opened the floor up for nominations for the office of
> President. Marilyn Green nominated David Meyer and he accepted. Debbie
> Pittman seconded. Any other nominations was asked three times. Debbie
> Pittman moved that nominations ceased and David be elected by acclamation.
> All in favor said "Aye"
>
> David Meyer took over the floor and opened the office for Vice President.
> Jermal moved that Linda be Vice President and this was seconded. Linda
> declined and nominated Leslie Hamric. Leslie Hamric accepted and Debbie
> Pittman seconded. Any other nominations was asked three times. Jermal moved
> that nominations be ceased and Leslie be elected by acclamation. All in
> favor said "Aye"
>
> David Meyer opened the office of Secretary/Treasurer. Bill Reif nominated
> Michelle Ault. Michelle accepted and Jemal seconded. Any other further
> nominations was asked three times. Debbie Pittman moved that nominations be
> ceased and that Michelle be elected by acclamation. All in favor said
> "Aye".
>
> Board Position number one was up for nomination. Linda Hendle nominated
> Debbie Pittman. Debbie Pittman accepted. and this was seconded by Leslie
> Hamric and many others. Any other nominations was asked three times. Jamel
> Powell moved that nominations be ceased and that Debbie Pittman be elected
> for the first board seat. All in favor said "Aye"
>
> Board Position number two was up for nomination. Debbie Pittman nominated
> Linda Hendle and she accepted. This was seconded by Bill Reif and Jemal
> Powell. Any other nominations was asked three times. Leslie Hamric moved
> that nominations be ceased and that Linda Hendle be nominated for the
> second board seat. All in favor said "Aye"
>
> The new Board was welcomed in. David Meyer as President, Leslie Hamric as
> Vice-President, Michelle Ault as Secretary/Treasurer, Debbie Pittman in
> Board seat one and Linda Hendle in Board seat two.
>
> NEW BUSINESS
>
> Marilyn Green moved that Addison Graham be voted in and welcomed into the At
> Large Chapter. Michelle Ault and others seconded. All in favor said "Aye"
>
> The Chicago Chapter is having a game day on Saturday, May 3rd from 1:00PM to
> 5:00PM at Exchequer at 226 South Wabash, Chicago. We will be having Pizza,
> Salad, coffee, tea, and soda. Alcoholic Beverages are regular bar room
> price. The cost is $40.00 if we sign up before April 27th. After April 27th
> it will be $45.00. We will be having a variety of games depending on the
> kind of games members bring. In the past we have had a variety of games
> including Braille Scrabble, Braille Sorry, and UNO. You can pay by check,
> bring it to the meeting, and give it to Kira or whoever she designates. You
> can also pay via credit card thru PayPal or ZELLE. You will want to indicate
> the purpose of the contribution such as "Game Day." or if you decide to
> give a general donation put that in the memo line. You can ZELLE it to:
> treasurer at nfbofillinois.org . We need to use the bank's online app.
>
> Leslie Hamric was excited to share that she was featured in Rachel
> Barton-Pine's Accessibility Spotlight Social Media Series.
>
> She also had a radio interview done by a Blind gentleman named Toby David.
> She was interviewed on the benefits of Braille music and Leslie teaches
> Braille Music.
>
> OLD BUSINESS
>
> None
>
> We ended the meeting by singing the PAC song: Get on the PAC plan, sign up
> today, we need your contributions right away. Funding the movement it must
> be done so all our battles can be won!
>
> ADJOURNEMENT
>
> Bill Reif moved to adjourn and Debbie Pittman seconded. All in favored said
> "Aye" The meeting was adjourned at 8:33PM.
>
> Respectfully Submitted,
>
> Michelle Ault
>
> Secretary
>
>
>
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