[Iabs-talk] chicago minutes February, 2016

[David Meyer]

NFBI Chicago Chapter Minutes

 

Meeting of February 13, 2016

 

Chicago Chapter President Debbie Stein called the February 2016 meeting of
the National Federation of the Blind of Illinois Chicago Chapter to order at
1:02 P.M.

 

Introductions and Health Concerns: The original count revealed that 15
members were present. Gina Falvo had a fine checkup with her oncologist. She
will reach 5 years as a cancer survivor in November of this year. Teresa
Meyer had a successful surgery for Ovarian Cancer on January 21. Robert
Hansen thanked Annette Grove, Jemal Powell and Melissa Fuller for their
Washington Seminar interviews.

Bill Reif informed us that his son Bruce accepted a lucrative job offer in
California.  

 

Program: Jemal Powell, program chairman lead a discussion about the
Washington Seminar which took place in the last week in January. He mentions
that this year, our legislative objectives were the Time (Transitioning to
Integrated Meaningful Employment Act), which has been introduced in the
House as H.R. 108 and in the senate as S2001. The Aimhe (Accessibility in
Higher Education Act,) The Space available Act and the Marrakesh Treaty.
Summaries of each of these pieces of legislation were given by those who
attended the Washington Seminar from Chicago.

 

Secretaries Report: It was moved and seconded to approve minutes from the
January 2016 meeting. The motion carried without descent.

 

Presidential Reports

 

National Presidential Release: Mark Riccobono, President, National
Federation of the Blind touched upon the following items. The Washington
Seminar occurred when it was originally scheduled, even though Washington DC
was hit with approximately 30 inches of snow. Other than the presence of
congressional staff and some congressmen, we were the only group in
Washington. As a result, we had more than the usual amount of time to talk
to congressmen about our agenda. We secured a landmark ruling in the state
of Ohio. A court in Cenica County ruled that the sheltered workshop there
had to demonstrate that a workers disability prevents him or her from
performing a job which would pay the standard minimum wage. The ruling
involved three disabled worker, one of whom was blind. They were being paid
an average of $2.50 per hour. Their wages varied from $0.03 per hour to
something over $10 per hour. Following this ruling, they must be paid the
standard minimum wage. The Presidential Release has been produced for more
than 40 years. During much of this time, it along with the Braille Monitor
were the means of communication between the National Office and members
across the country. With the advent of the internet and social media, this
is no longer the case. In the future, the Presidential Release will focus on
one or two topics that are of particular importance in the organization. The
Presidential Release should be played at all chapter meetings. We will be
creating a podcast announcing other happenings and announcements within the
Federation. We have released a tool kit on self-advocacy in higher
education. Go to nfb.org/self-advocacy-higher-education. We have several
things we are currently working on. We are looking for feedback from people
who use or have tried to use Redbox kiosk services. A settlement is being
proposed with Redbox which we feel is not as strong as it could be. We also
need people to give feedback on using kiosks in Social security offices as
well as accessibility of online forms provided via the Social security
Administration. Finally, we are looking for feedback on the accessibility of
bank websites, particularly web based banks. We are also looking for
feedback on the accessibility of online applications and tests. Finally, we
are working the accessibility of tableside kiosks at Applebee's restaurant.
Please send your feedback on all of the above mentioned experiences to
Valerie Yingling at vyingling at nfb.org, or to Meghan Sidhu at msidhu at nfb.org.
Robert Dennis McKinney was born on January 16, 2016 to our New Hampshire
President Kathy McKinney.

 

The final count of members for this meeting is 17.

 

State Presidential Report: NFBI President, Denise Avant reported on the
following items. PAC (Preauthorized Contribution Plan). President Avant is
asking all of us to either sign up for the PAC Plan or if possible, increase
contributions to that plan. If one is on the PAC Plan, he/she will designate
an amount of money to be debited monthly from an account or charged monthly
to a credit card. Debits may be taken from either a checking or savings
account. One may contribute as little as $5 per month to be on the PAC Plan.
We all need to work on finding people to apply for both state and national
scholarships. The national application can be found on
www.nfb.org/scholarships. The state application can be found at
www.nfbofillinois.org. At this point, 5 applications have been filled out
for Illinois. Applications must be completed by March 31 for both State and
National Scholarships. The Spring seminar will occur on April 15-16. A
teacher seminar will occur on April 15, with parent and student seminars
occurring on April 16. This event will take place at the Midway Marriott
Hotel in Chicago. Our keynote speaker will be Carlton Walker from the
National office. Additionally, seminars will offer presentations on unified
English Braille, Yoga and more. The National convention will take place in
Orlando Florida, June 30-July 5. The place is the Rosen Shingle Creek Hotel.
If one needs assistance he/she can apply for it in one of two ways. Veteran
convention attendees may apply to the Chappell-Dennis fund. Applications
must be into President Avant no later than May 1. If you are a first time
attendee, you may apply to the Chappell-Dennis fund. Additionally, you may
apply to the Kenneth Jernigan Scholarship Convention fund. If you choose to
apply for this fund, you must write a letter to President Avant explaining
what the Federation means to you as well as what you have done or planned to
do to take an active part in the Federation. Those letters must be in by
March 31 so that President Avant can right an additional letter of support.
Attendees will be expected to cover some of the convention costs regardless
of which fund they apply to. There will be two Bell programs in Illinois
this year. Springfield Bell will occur the week of July 11-15. The Chicago
Bell program will run during the last week in July and the first week in
August. Anyone interested in volunteering should contact Patti Chang.
October Fest will take place at the home of Patti and Francisco Chang on
Saturday, September 17. The state convention will take place October 28-30
at the Naperville Marriott Hotel. It is hoped that the face-to-face board
meeting will occur on August 27 at the same location. Picnic in the Park is
a fundraiser which will occur in Springfield on June 4. Tickets are $30
each. A traditional picnic lunch will be served. Attendees may also relax on
a pontoon boat ride, courtesy of Jesse and Sharon Rogers. David Meyer talked
about the certificate program. There will be two orders this year, with
orders being taken in May and September. If you wish to order certificates,
please have them into David Meyer by May 9. Certificates will be available
at the Chicago Chapter meeting on May 14. President Stein gave information
on the "life" group, (Literacy is for everyone.) Those in the life group
work on reading braille both on their own and out loud to each other. The
group meets via conference call. Those interested should contact either Bob
Gardner or Linda Hendel. The state will be conducting an instant raffle.
Each chance will cost $1. Your contribution will get you one envelope per
chance with an index card inside. The card will either state how much you
will win or encourage you to try again. This raffle will be organized
immediately following the March meeting. A person may win a maximum of $20.

 

Chapter fundraising: Steve Hastalis encouraged all of us to take part in all
chapter fundraisers this year. It is particularly important that we do so,
as we will not have the Dick's Last Resort fundraiser this year. The next
fundraiser will be our beggars Pizza fundraiser which will occur on
Wednesday, April 20 at Beggars Pizza, 310 South Clinton Avenue, Chicago.
Beggars will give 20% of a dinner order, so long as a flyer announcing the
event accompanies the order. Delivers may be done in the downtown area. 

 

A state membership committee meeting will take place via conference call on
Monday, February 15.

 

Chapter membership: Robert Hansen encouraged all committee members to make
fan out calls prior to the meeting. A new membership list will be
forthcoming. President Stein asked for volunteers to make monthly calls to
members. Melissa Fuller, Glenn Moore and Jemal Powell will join the
membership committee.

 

Old Business: Steve Hastalis mentioned that he and Ken Borst attended the
CTA ADA Advisory committee meeting. Melissa is a new member of this
committee. It was pointed out that there is a basic problem in these
meetings, in that people are not permitted to ask questions or make comments
on presentations until the comment section of the meeting. This occurs at
the end of the meeting, when presenters of projects and services affecting
our ability to use public transportation are gone. Beyond that, the CTA ADA
Compliance officer does not possess the knowledge of these various projects
and programs to answer questions that may be asked during the meeting. 

 

New Business: The next meeting will occur on March 19 which is the third
Saturday in March. This is to accommodate Exchequer who will need all
available space on the second Saturday of the month for the St. Patrick's
activities scheduled for that day. David Meyer mentioned that NewsLine has
an NFB National channel to feature announcements, and publications.
Materials on the channel include the Braille Monitor, Future Reflections
Magazine, our 75th anniversary book, Building the Lives We Want and finally,
Washington Seminar fact sheets. Jemal Powell stated the need for the chapter
to have business cards. Jemal and Debbie will work on a new business card.
Melissa Fuller expressed gratitude about her experience dealing with
intersections featuring audible traffic signals. President Stein mentioned
that within the Federation, audible traffic signals have been an item
complicated by contention for quite some time. David Meyer suggested that we
have a program on the pros and cons of audible traffic signals at a future
meeting

 

The meeting was adjourned at 3:05 P.M.

 

Respectfully Submitted,

 

David Meyer, Secretary

 

 

David Meyer, NFB of Illinois

Coordinator and Channel Administrator, NFB-NewsLine