[Iabs-talk] chicago minutes for february draft 2.

Sun Apr 7 21:21:15 UTC 2019

NFBI CHICAGO CHAPTER

MEETING OF FEBRUARY 9, 2019

President Steve Hastalis called the meeting to order at 1:01 P.M.

The meeting began with President Hastalis leading us in the NFB pledge and
the one minute message.

Introductions: David Meyer mentioned that Pam Gillmore is continuing to
recuperate from her illness. Patti Chang thanked everyone for their
condolences on the loss of her father's wife. Ken Borst will be interviewing
Marilyn Green on February 26 for the Adaptive Chicago production, Voices of
the Disabled. There were 20 members present.

Program: Jemal Powell introduced Marilyn Green, Federal Legislation
coordinator who gave a program on the recently completed Washington Seminar.
Marilyn said that we were able to meet with all 18 representatives and 2
senators over a two day period. Our issues were received well by the
Illinois congressional delegation. Our three issues were the Access
Technology Act, the Greater Access to Independence through Nonvisual Access
Technology (Gain act) and the Disability Employment Act. The Illinois
delegation expressed strong interest in the Access Technology Affordability
Act, as many of them had cosponsored this legislation in the previous
congressional session. The Access Technology Affordability Act will permit
anyone seeking to buy an item of technology a $2,000 refundable tax credit
over three years. This would permit blind people to buy the items of
technology they want, when they want them. The "Gain" act will set minimum
accessibility standards for home appliances, medical devices and exercise
equipment. Standards for appliances and exercise equipment will be developed
by the Access board and standards for medical equipment will be developed by
the Food and Drug Administration. The bill would call for standards to be
established over a three-year period and implemented over an additional
three years. The Disability Employment act will bring employment
opportunities into the 21st century. Among other things, it will expand
employment opportunities in the Randolph Shepherd Program, eliminate Section
14C of the Fair Labor Standards Act and increase meaningful employment
opportunities for blind people. The Transformation to Competitive Employment
Act (HR873) has been introduced in the House. It has also been introduced in
the senate as S260. This bill would eliminate section 14C of the Fair Labor
Standards Act. It is very similar in scope to the "Time" act that was
introduced in the previous congressional session. Please call or e-mail your
senators and representatives and ask that they cosponsor this legislation.
Denise urged that it is important that -all of us e-mail or call our
officials about this legislation. Marilyn stressed that both Congressman
Quigley and Danny Davis have a lot of constituents in our chapter. Your
action or lack of it could make the difference. Dave gave the capital
switchboard number. It is 202-225-3121.

Presidential Reports

National Presidential Release: NFB President Mark Riccobono reported on the
following items. The Washington Seminar was filled with exciting events,
including the Great Gathering In, training on our issues, appointments on
the hill and the Congressional Reception. During the great Gathering In
meeting, Scott LaBarre called to let us know that earlier in the day,
President Trump signed the instrument of ratification of the Marrakesh
Treaty. The Congressional Reception featured several congressmen and
staffers. It was announced that the Transformation to Competitive Employment
Act will be introduced into Congress on the following day. This bill was
introduced as S260 in the senate on January 29 and in the House as HR836 on
January 30. We now have a new website. We are all encouraged to take a look
at it and familiarize ourselves with it. We now have a new flyer which
features all of the summer programs sponsored by the National Federation of
the Blind. These include programs at the main headquarters, our training
centers in Louisiana, Colorado and Minnesota, and other training programs of
the Federation held throughout the country. We are invited to distribute
this flyer far and wide. The flyer can be found at www.nfb.org/summer. We
are looking for a limited number of folks to test our Hathi Trust portal.
The Hathi Trust offers more than 13 million books from various libraries
throughout the world. These books are mostly found in University libraries.
Testing of this portal will begin sometime in February. Those interested in
testing should send an email to jerniganinstitute at nfb.org. President
Riccobono announced new members of the Dream Makers Circle as well as local
chapters who support the Federation through the Preauthorized Contribution
Plan. Bryce Samuelson of Minnesota and Brad Hodges of West Virginia recently
passed away. Please keep Bryce and Brad in your thoughts and prayers.
Gabriel Silva Olivera was born on January 30. Cashia Nicole Sheehan was born
on January 29. President Hastalis also announced that Roberta Glickman's
brother Arnold recently passed away. Patti announced the passing of Rachel
Olivero. This was a very sudden passing which nobody expected to happen. She
had checked herself into the hospital over a persisting cough. Patti
mentioned that Rachel's passing is a tremendous loss within our
organization. She also asked that we keep Rachel's partner, Karen Anderson,
President Riccobono and the rest of her family in our prayers. You can make
a donation in memory of Rachel. Please send to Outreach, National Federation
of the Blind, 200 East Wells, Baltimore, MD 21230. One may also donate
online at nfb.org/donate.

State Presidential Report: Denise Avant, state President reported on the
following items. The National convention will take place July 7-12 at the
Mandalay Bay Hotel in Los Vegas. You may reserve a room by calling
877-632-9001. Room rates for the convention are $99 regardless of the number
of people in the room. One may preregister for the convention beginning
March 1. Preregistration extends through May 31. Go to
www.nfb.org/convention to preregister. If you need financial assistance,
there are two ways to get it. The first is through the Chappel Dennis fund.
The application may be downloaded from the NFB of Illinois website. Denise
must receive your application by May 1. Please send your completed
application to davant1958 at gmail.com. You may also apply for a Kenneth
Jernigan Scholarship. You will need to write a letter stating the NFB
chapter you are in as well as contributions you have made to the Federation.
Additionally, you should state what you wish to gain by attending the
convention. Please send this letter to Denise by March 31 at the address
mentioned above. Applications are now being taken for both state and
national scholarships. The deadline for both programs is March 31. Please
find the National application at www.nfb.org/scholarships. State scholarship
applications can be found at www.nfbofillinois.org. Our Midwest student
seminar will occur at the Holiday Inn O'Hare, March 15-17. This seminar is
open to students 14 years of age and up. Please let any student you know
about this opportunity. The keynote speaker will be Maurice Paret. Room
rates are $109 per night. Please register by February 15. Registration is
$70 per person. This fee will include all meals on Saturday and Sunday
breakfast. Our next state board meeting will occur at 7:00 P.M. on February
24. Please call 641-715-3273 and use the access code 6324. We have hired a
part-time administrative assistant. Her name is Amber McKeag. 

Chapter Presidential Report: President Hastalis mentioned a number of
successful activities undertaken by the Chicago Chapter during the previous
year. We continued to have successful fundraisers including our Beggars
Pizza event, Sox fundraiser, read-a-thon and Christmas auction. These
fundraisers have provided money to assist chapter members going to
Washington Seminar. Additionally, we were able to give $1,000 to the state
as our contribution for 15 for funds. Our summer picnic was more successful
than any we have had. We had 36 people attend including several from the
Illinois Council of the Blind. We have had programs conducted by members of
our chapter as well as members from the community at large. Such topics as
how to travel effectively in airports, health insurance, getting around the
city and the roll of the Mayor's Office for people with Disabilities works
with and for us were covered. President Hastalis went on to say that he
would not stand for reelection in April. He will continue to stay involved
in an administrative capacity in the chapter. Patti thanked President
Hastalis for his years of service as Chicago Chapter President.

President Hastalis was diagnosed with a couple of hernias. He is scheduled
for surgery on March 11. He asked for our prayers during this time.  

Committee Reports: We had a fundraising committee meeting on February 7. It
will continue following the chapter meeting. Dave reported that we are
looking into doing a possible fundraiser at a place called the Paniq room.
Before we do it however, several of us will plan to go through the activity
ourselves to see how accessible it is for us. The Paniq room is a place
where a group goes into a room and clews are presented in order to help
participants get out. We are considering a bowling fundraiser and we will be
discussing whether or not to keep our existing fundraising activities. In
membership matters, Robert Hansen stated that we were all encouraged to
continue to spread the word about the Federation wherever we go. Those who
are calling should make their calls about a week ahead of time. Patti asked
that we get contact information for the three new people we have at this
meeting. Denise mentioned that some people have not been receiving fan-out
calls.

Old-new Business: The CTA ADA Advisory Committee will meet on April 8. Steve
and Jemal attended the Metra ADA Advisory Committee meeting on February 5.
Talk centered on renovation of Metra stations and the purchase of new cars
for Metra trains. 

Secretary's Report: It was moved and seconded to approve minutes for the
January meeting. The motion carried. Though there was not a formal
treasurer's report this month, Marco did report a balance of $4,477.

The meeting adjourned at 2:34 P.M.

Respectfully Submitted,

David Meyer, Secretary

David Meyer, NFB of Illinois

Coordinator and Channel Administrator, NFB-NewsLine