From therealvictormarques at gmail.com Mon Aug 5 00:08:18 2024 From: therealvictormarques at gmail.com (Victor Marques) Date: Sun, 4 Aug 2024 20:08:18 -0400 Subject: [Michigan-at-Large] Chapter April and June Meeting Minutes Message-ID: <000501dae6cb$940ed300$bc2c7900$@gmail.com> Hello everyone, I am attaching two sets of minutes, April 2024 and June 2024. This should catch everyone up on the meeting minutes for the past few months with NFBMI At Large, I took minutes for the past two meetings as the secretary was unavailable for both of these. April's minutes were sent out previously but was done shortly after April's meeting and people had not reviewed them before the June meeting. There was no meeting in May. We did meet in June and approved April's minutes in principle on the agreement that I'd sent them out again. There was no meeting in July due to convention. So, here are the April and June minutes for your review prior to our meeting this Tuesday, 8/6 at 8 PM in the Zoom room. I apologize for any omissions or issues, we can discuss at the meeting if there are any amendments or changes required. I know there will be lots of discussion and updates following summer programming and convention, so it should be an interesting meeting. Regards, Victor Marques Vice-President, MFBMI At Large Chapter -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- NFB At-Large Chapter Meeting Minutes April 2, 2024 In Attendance: Marianne M Debbie W Sanho L Victor M Sheila F Meeting Commenced8:08 PM Victor taking minutes today as Alicia is unavailable due to school commitments. The upcoming 3rd Tuesday of the month is the affiliate philosophy discussion: read "Pasing the Flame from Dr. Mark Mauer. "Fear and the Challenge". March's event was the biggest and best yet, phenomenal, 9 attendees. Discussion of AI and workforce automation, chnges, facing discrimination, and how technology intersects. President Parsons has been updating us about the Popcorn fundraising. We are $60 behind the next group right now, all funds raised are going to the affiliate and first-timers wanting to attend convention. Sanho updated us on chapter business in March. He is continuing to co-chair the REAL program. Sanho submitted an at-large affiliate letter to KPS as they were discriminating gainst a blind parent and educated them to the ADA law, awaiting a response. Discussion on the voting process and issues: Marianne on blind voters and absentee ballots, issue appears to be fixed. Marianne has nothing new to add. State Leadership Training will happen in 2 weeks, Aniel Lewis as our rep Plus a second national rep. Plans for future projects: Workshops on employment law and transportation, also the ACA. There is a MI resolution against Amazon, EEOC is taking this seriously with NY investigating and an attorney is actively pursuing a case federally. NY fulfillment is the gold stndard at Amazon so it can be shown that it is possible. Department of Transportation complaints for cane and dog issues with airlines is ongoing business. NFB addressing these issues. Alaskan Airlines and American are being taken to task on this. NFB to implied pressure by suing DOT if they don't enforce this since individuals cannot sue. Scholarship application closed March 31, a number of applicants from Michigan. Two weeks until applications close for Beloten and Jurnigen scholarships. Marianne regarding Amazon: should we write a resolution to National. Is it advisable? Sanho, yes. The more pressure NFB puts on nationally to EEOC the better. There will be legal office hours at convention to follow up on these legal issues and others. Meeting Adjournment 8:26 PM -------------- next part -------------- NFBMI At Large Chapter Meeting Minutes June 4, 2024 In Attendance: Sanho Steele Louchart Victor Marques Alicia Marques Susan Stoneman Felicia Bradford Ather Jammoa Sheila Fulmore Patricia Love Meeting called to order at 8:11 PM Victor taking minutes today as Alicia is unavailable due to illness. Review of Past Minutes (April, there was no meeting in May due to severe weather resulting in a meeting cancellation): Victor will resend April minutes. Ather motions to accept as sent out in April and upon review. All in favor, no opposed. No objections noted. Update and discussion on the student that the chapter has been assisting with their IEP advocacy. Through advocacy efforts and collaboration, the resolution is successful, the student will receive the tech assessment they need and the ISD will proceed to purchase technology that they were previously not agreeing to purchase. Ather and Sanho attended 3 day advocacy leadership event in Baltimore. Lengthy discussion ensued about advocacy for students in Michigan and beyond. Ather mentioned setting up trainings to include those interested. Interesting and lengthy discussion of the current state of braille education, technology provision and other education issues ensued. REAL is upcoming soon. There was some miscommunication with advertising but all is in place and colunteers are to gain more information from National and Ather shortly. Visions Conference is tomorrow (June 5). Ann Arbor. District Library 11 AM to 4 PM, NFBMI will be promoting scholarships and REAL and Stem2U. National Convention July 3-8: anyone can register virtually still. In person registration is closed online, but members can register there for an extra $5. Hotel accommodations are scarce. Virtual registration is still possible. Most members are attending either in person or virtually. Advocacy projects upcoming: Sanho to email with details as these get organized. Maybe after convention we can talk about these projects, and add IEP advocacy training to the list. Sanho to run sessions on Zoom so we can get more people trained to do basic advocacy and build our network, with Ather???s help. State Board Meeting Upcoming: NFB state affiliate board meeting is Saturday afternoon 1-4, June 8, in this Zoom room. Social time at noon. Philosophy discussion upcoming June 18 on one of Dr. Mauer???s speeches, stay tuned to email from Sanho. Meeting adjourned 9:02 PM.