[Cinci-nfb] National Federation of the Blind of Cincinnati Meeting Minutes for November 2016

Thu Jan 26 16:05:46 UTC 2017

National Federation of the Blind of Cincinnati

Meeting Minutes for November 2016

1.       The November 2016 meeting of the National Federation of the Blind
of Cincinnati was convened at approximately 2:15 P.M. on Saturday November
26 2016 at the Washington Platform Restaurant in Downtown Cincinnati by
President Deborah Kendrick. In Attendance were: Deborah Kendrick, Joy
Thomas, Paul Jordan, Paul Dressell, Emily Pennington, Lilly Pennington, Elif
Emir Oksuz, Judy Rudick and Christopher Sabine. A motion was brought to
accept the October meeting minutes as emailed. The motion passed, and the
minutes were approved.

2.       Emily Pennington presented the monthly Treasurer's report.  Lilly
Pennington moved to approve the report. Judy Rudick seconded, and the motion
passed.

3.       Deborah Kendrick began the remainder of the meeting by asking
Christopher Sabine and Paul Jordan to discuss their experience as first and
second time attendees at the Ohio NFB State Convention, which took place
from November 10 to 13 in Cleveland. Christopher reported that he liked the
general sessions and Anil Lewis's banquet speech. However, he expressed that
the highlight of State Convention for him was the mutual support members
gave each other on the van rides to and from the Convention site. In
particular, Christopher mentioned a new member recently adjusting to
Blindness. More experienced members were able to talk him through the
process of working with the Social Security Administration and the Ohio
Bureau of Services for the Visually Impaired, help him configure his IPhone
for use with VoiceOver and offer other basic techniques for adjusting to his
vision loss. Christopher expressed that he believed this type of mutual
support outside the Convention venue was as important as the Convention
itself.  Paul Jordan expressed that he had an "absolute blast" with the
play. Others agreed that the play was one of the best ever performed at a
State Convention. Paul also expressed that he especially enjoyed Sunday
Morning General Sessions; particularly Emily Pennington's speech entitled
"Why I am a Federationist". He appreciated the opportunity to speak about
his experience attending National Convention for the first time and was very
impressed with the number of attendees, especially first-timers. Deborah
provided other attendees with the opportunity to share their convention
experiences. Emily expressed that she is happy that the Ohio Student
Division is being revitalized and came out of that process feeling "very
refreshed." She expressed that though Convention Hospitality was hectic, the
chapters involved in managing it had a good system in place for
accommodating attendees despite the lack of seating. The food was good, and
the Chapters managed the event efficiently. Finally, Emily expressed that
she was impressed with the variety of speakers at this year's State
Convention.

4.       Deborah announced that Elif Emir Oksuz has been elected President
of the newly revitalized Ohio Student Division. Elif expressed that the
Division has a board, but she will be leading revitalization efforts. The
Ohio Student Division is an affiliate of NABS, the National organization of
Blind Students which is a division of the National organization. Paul Jordan
reported that he is currently President of the Ohio Diabetes Action Network
and Treasurer of the Ohio Affiliate's Senior Division. Emily Pennington is
also Treasurer of the Ohio Association to Promote the Use of Braille
(OAPUB). She replaces Aleeha Dudley, who has relocated out of state. Deborah
Kendrick is now secretary of OAPUB.

5.       Committee Reports:

a.       Deborah began this section of the meeting by reminding the
membership that there is currently no one to lead a fundraising committee
and expressing concern that the Chapter's coffers are being depleted. She
expressed that she could help (and lots of members could help). Deborah
asked that members reach out to her to share ideas of fundraising activities
or lead a committee. Paul Jordan agreed to assist with this. Later in the
meeting, Elif recommended that the Chapter sign up to receive donations from
Kroger gift card purchases. Deborah agreed to follow up from a previous
email Elif sent on this topic.

b.      Judy Rudick reported that there is no activity from the "We Care /
Benevolent Fund". Christopher Sabine indicated that he has emailed Judy
regarding efforts to coordinate regular visits to Marion King and other
local Federationists unable to attend meetings. He reported that a
membership committee meeting has been scheduled for November 28 at 7:00 P.M.
by phone conference and invited Judy to participate.

c.       Christopher Sabine gave a report of the Membership Committee
meeting. He reported that due to Thanksgiving and State Convention, a
meeting has not been scheduled until Monday November 28 at 7:00 P.M. Jay
Tolle is currently confirmed as sighted co-administrator of the Cincinnati
Chapter Facebook page. During an extensive conversation with Jay, he and
Christopher expressed that the Cincinnati Chapter page is currently not
integrated with the Ohio Affiliate. The Ohio Affiliate also has Instagram
and Twitter Feeds that are not being shared with the Cincinnati Chapter.
This means that the feed of the Live Stream of the State Convention was not
shared directly with fans of the Cincinnati Chapter Facebook page, and there
was no direct link from the Cincinnati Chapter Page to the live stream and
other activities of the affiliate. Elif Emir Oksuz suggested that we ask the
Ohio Affiliate to include the date and time of meetings of the Cincinnati
Chapter on the Ohio Affiliate web site and Facebook page. She expressed that
other States' affiliate web pages have done this. Lilly also asked if the
Chapter had a Twitter feed. Christopher expressed that it does not; Lilly
agreed to create one for the Chapter. The other topic on the agenda for the
Membership Committee was collaboration with the WE Care Benevolent Program
to arrange for regular visits to Marion King and John Christianson. Deborah
agreed that this should take place. She took this opportunity to announce
the establishment of a new NFB Chapter, the National Federation of the blind
of Greater Butler County, by Rachel Kuntz. Deborah recommended that
Christopher reach out to Rachel to see if she could organize visits on her
end. Deborah also asked Paul Dressell if he is in a better position to visit
Marion King in the next month, since he has moved and has better access to
transportation. Christopher gave a synopsis of Marion's location and
transportation options from ACCESS and Metro. Paul agreed to make another
visit to Marion in the near future. Emily Pennington moved that Paul receive
reimbursement from the We Care / Benevolent Fund for transportation. Lilly
Pennington seconded, and the motion passed.

d.      Christopher presented the report of the Recreation Committee at the
request of Annie McEachirn Carson, who was absent from today's meeting. The
Recreation Committee meeting was convened by telephone conference with an
opening prayer on November 17 2016 at 7:00 P.M. In attendance were: Annie
McEachirn Carson, Kim McEachirn, Walter Mitchell and Deanna Lewis. The first
item on the agenda was the Christmas Party, currently scheduled for December
10 2016 from 1:00 to 4:30 P.M. at the Red Lobster Restaurant at 3564
Springdale Road. Annie McEachirn Carson is working on obtaining accessible
menus, which will be sent out to registered attendees one week prior to the
event. 30 members have registered to attend the Christmas Party as of the
November 17 Recreation Committee Meeting. Walter Mitchell has reached out to
the recipient of this year's donation drive, the Camp Washington United
Church of Christ at 2950 Sidney Ave, a location originally selected by
Deanna Lewis. Suggested donations include non-perishable food items,
household items and clothing. Walter Mitchell will deliver all donated items
following the Christmas Party to the Camp Washington United Church of
Christ. It was also agreed that Annie will conduct a Christmas performance
during the event which will include a male narrator. Walter Mitchell agreed
to play guitar with others playing music during the event. The November 17
Recreation Committee meting adjourned with prayer on November 17 2016 at
7:35 PM. 

e.      Elif Emir Oksuz announced that she will be holding an auction to
benefit the Ohio Student Division in conjunction with the Christmas Party on
December 10. At the recommendation of Brian Duarte, National Liaison to the
Ohio Student Division, Elif has prepared a basket of items for auction.
After discussing with Annie McEachirn Carson, it was agreed that the items
will be auctioned online and presented at the Christmas Party. The auction
is set to take place from December 1 to December 9 on the NFB of Cincinnati
Listserv. Auction items include a set of Yankee Candles, a set of scents
from Victoria Secret, specialty tea bags and jewelry hand made by Lilly
Pennington.

6.       Lilly Pennington announced that applications for the National NFB
Scholarship are now live.

7.       Christopher reported that a resolution he drafted to the Ohio
affiliate to involve the Federation to resolve accessibility issues
concerning the Cincinnati Bell Connector, Cincinnati's new streetcar route,
has been passed. Deborah gave a summary of the resolution, which addressed
three major concerns: the inability for a Blind person to determine the
exact locations of the 18 stops on the streetcar line because their
locations are presented visually on a map, the inaccessibility of the kiosks
where riders purchase tickets and the inaccessibility of the IPhone app used
to plan routes and purchase rides on the Metro Bus and the Cincinnati Bell
Connector to VoiceOver users. The resolution called for the Ohio Affiliate
to reach out to leaders of the Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority,
the organization that operates metro and the Cincinnati Bell Connector, to
resolve these issues to enable blind riders to purchase tickets and use the
streetcar. Deborah will follow up with representatives of the Southwest Ohio
Regional Transit Authority and involve Christopher in discussions. 

8.       Christopher moved to adjourn the meeting. Elif Emir Oksuz seconded,
and the motion passed. The November 2016 meeting of the National Federation
of the Blind of Cincinnati was adjourned at approximately 3:30 P.M. on
November 26, 2016.

Respectfully Submitted,

Christopher Sabine

Secretary

National Federation of the Blind of Cincinnati

Respectfully Submitted,

Christopher Sabine

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://nfbnet.org/pipermail/cinci-nfb_nfbnet.org/attachments/20170126/7484ca35/attachment.html>