[IABS-Talk] April 9 Chicago Chapter Meeting Minutes

[denise avant]

Chicago Chapter of the National Federation of the Blind of Illinois April
2022 Meeting Minutes

Hybrid Meeting on Zoom and at Exchequer

April 9th at 1pm

 

Denise Avant opened the meeting at 1pm. She welcomed everyone to the NFB
Chicago Chapter April 22 Chapter Meeting. She is your Chapter president,
this meeting is hybrid, so some folks are out on zoom and some people are
here at exchequer with us. We will get to introductions but before we do,
she has some announcements. Despite some changes to federal and city
mandates because we have some members who are at risk, we are still asking
everyone to still wear their mask except for when you are eating or drinking
to keep everything safe. For those attending national convention this will
be good practice for you. The next chapter meeting will be on March 14th at
exchequer. For those attending in person there will be a karaoke event right
after the chapter meeting on May 14th at Exchequer, David Meyer will speak
about that. The second Saturday in June before the regular chapter meeting
at 1pm there will be a chapter board meeting at 11:30am so let anyone know
who is not at the meeting today about these two events. She has some great
news for those who don’t know, as you know we have been working to bring
accessible at home voting to Illinois, giving you the ability to request an
absentee ballot and to use your computer to mark your ballot, print out, and
mail it back. We were able to get that passed through the IL General
Assembly. So now we have cleared one major hurdle, the bill is on its way to
Governor Pritzker and as soon as she knows when it will make it to his desk,
she will let everyone know. She thanked everyone in the room for calling and
writing legislators on very short notice and she thinks that really helped
us. She thanked Bill Reif, David Meyer, Marilyn Green, people at the
national office Lou Ann Blake, Jeff Kaloc, John Pare, Scott Labarre, also
supported us in this effort as well as other organizations like Equip for
Equality, Illinois Council of the Blind, Access Living Chicago, as well as
Reform for Illinois. All of those groups pushed for this to happen and it
all worked so she is overjoyed we were able to do that for the November
general elections. We are still working with the Illinois State Board of
Elections to make this available to us for the June primary as it relates to
the entire state. They had said they weren’t sure they could have it ready,
so the Illinois legislature did not put it into the legislation, but they
did put it in for November. In Chicago there is absentee accessible voting,
but one needs to contact board of elections if you want to be able to vote
absentee in the primary. This is because we have 108 election authorities
and all of them do their own thing. Chicago, because of litigation, does it
on their own. Her hope is that we will have someone from the Chicago Board
of Elections come in May as the program item to explain how to request a
ballot so that you can use your computer to do the voting. She then said
announcements were over and it was time for auctions and asked everyone to
find their wallet or their ability to pay on zoom, as they have some lovely
items. Our lovely Illinois affiliate auctioneer will be doing this later in
the meeting.

 

Introductions – Summer is coming so Denise asked everyone to share what
activity are you looking most forward to during this summer. She asked
Michal to call out names.

 

Zoom:

David Meyer – board member, for summer he is looking forward to barbequing 

Dustin Cather – also a chapter board member, looking forward to being
outside and going on hikes or whatever

Dilip Shaw – new member, just received medallion yesterday (audible cheers),
looking forward to walking on the streets of Chicago and he has a question
about accessible transit signals to ask about later

Gina Falvo – from Homewood, looking forward to going for longer walks 

Bob Whitman – getting outside and long walks around the neighborhood

Glen Moore – just had his second laser iridotomy to prevent any kind of
pressure jump so he’s glad it’s out of the way but for summertime he likes
going to beach but he would like to get out on the water, maybe go boating

Juliette Walker – she’s looking forward to two things this summer,
volunteering in the BELL program and employment 

Kira O’Bradovich – hello everyone, she is looking forward to street
festivals and farmers markets

Debbie Stein – looking forward to meeting their first grandchild this summer

Dan TeVelde – looking forward to picnics and hoping that maybe we can have a
picnic this summer or some other fun events

Nadia Sherman – looking forward to going on motorcycle rides this summer

 

In person – 

Eileen Truschke – as of Tuesday, she and Ken Schad will have been going
together for 45 long years and they’re looking forward to going “Schadfest”,
which is like a family reunion, this summer

Bill Reif – from Springfield, Illinois and in terms of summer activities he
knows he’s going to need to make it out to navy pier and maybe go on a boat
tour as he loves going out on the lake. He has friends in Indiana that have
speedboats he gets to drive and other than that, more walking and pushing
himself to get out of the house to do so and is looking forward to that.

Mary Grunwald – he stole some of her thunder but also looking forward to
having some of us accompany her to navy pier and walk and millennium park.
Also, looking forward to being at national convention for some of the time
so she’s looking forward to anything like that. In general, being able to be
out and walk and spend more time with everyone are her goals. Robert Hansen
– Wants to get out of the house and enjoy the weeks off in the summer that
he has, possibly travel, kick back and enjoy himself

Ken Borst – As far as summertime activity is concerned, back home, Gina &
Bob he likes to take walks even in the winter and since he’s on the D&I
committee he wanted to share that two transgender ladies were killed in
Evanston and on the southside whose corpse was found in the dumpster.

Sara Luna – Looking forward to walking in the city parks and eating a lot of
ice cream

Laura Cordingly – looking forward to taking walks and likes to go and visit
Lincoln park too

Marilyn Green – looking forward to laying out on the beach or out by an
outdoor pool as she hasn’t been able to do that in a number of years

Ellen Bartelt – looking forward to going to New Orleans

Edward Ocompo – got his membership coin and looks forward to getting out of
the house more as he’s been stuck in the house for two months. 

Jemal Powel – second VP for the Chicago Chapter, this summer he is looking
forward to ice cream and longer walks 

Gary Jones – from Joliet, looking forward to gardening and listening to the
birds while getting down and dirty, his hands are never clean

Pam Gillmore – Hello everyone, looking forward to swimming in the pool and
working on her suntan

Steve Hastalis – Following up on his colleagues that want to get together
federation style he has another suggestion to go to millennium park,
Ravinia, and other similar places where we can hear live music. 

Ken Schad – Looking forward this summer to do some walking and looking
forward to what was talked about

Michal Nowicki – treasures of the Illinois affiliate, and is looking forward
to the nice weather and a trip for fourth of July weekend in Myrtle Beach,
our National Convention in new Orleans,  a clinical visit to Philly, and a
trip to Green Bay for the big Bayern Munich vs. Manchester United scooter
match.

Denise – the thing she is looking forward to the most is the 2022 National
Convention in New Orleans, walking on Navy Pier, Concerts in Millennium
Park, and like Sara, eating plenty of ice cream and then hoping to be able
to walk off some of the calories 

 

Denise then asked Pam how many people were on Zoom and in person and there
were 17 in Zoom and 12 in person. Denise remarked that was almost 30.

 

Denise continued the meeting to go to approval for the February secretary
minutes done by Kira O’Bradovich, Jemal has moved and Eileen seconded. Dave
shared that he accidentally uploaded the wrong document to NFB Newsline so
the minutes did not make it to Newsline so he wondered if he should have a
friendly amendment to table until May. Denise then asked if those in the
meeting were able to access. She then had the chapter vote to table to
ensure everyone could read before passing and the motion passed.

 

First quarter treasury report came next, treasurer Steve Hastalis began the
first quarter report for January, February, and March of 2022. On Saturday
January 1, 2022 the beginning balance was $6,460.93. Income: Games Night at
Exchequer Pub after the January 8th, 2022 Chicago Chapter meeting, 18
participants, payments included 11 on Zelle and 6 in cash for a total of
$540. Miscellaneous contributions at games night in cash were $20. From
January 8th and February 12th monthly collections there was $114 plus $100
given for a subtotal of $214. The mini auction at the Saturday, February 12
meeting brought in $50, 10 new/renewed memberships at a cost of $5 brought
the total to $874. Expenses: Pre-authorized contributions to PACT, monthly
withdrawal transactions, NFB debit, monthly contribution to national office,
January, February, March, for a subtotal of $150. Reimbursement for
Exchequer activities was $276.68 for Games Night food and beverages, $55.25
for talking thermometer for a subtotal of $331.93 cents, total $481.93. The
ending balance on Thursday March 31, 2022 was $6,853 which agrees with the
bank. Denise asked for a motion to approve, Ken Schad moved and Jemal
seconded, she then asked if any questions existed Marco asked if they could
repeat the expense for games night, Steve shared that $276.68 games night
food and beverage and $55.25 for talking thermometer. Denise asked if there
were any further questions, there were none, vote taken, first quarter
treasury report for the chapter was approved.

 

Denise then shared that the Chicago Chapter Board met on March 12th and
decided they would do the following. The board allocated $1,600 total for
the national funds for tenBroek, Jernigan, SUN, & White Cane at $400 a
piece. They went ahead and gave the traditional $1,000 for fifteen for funds
and contributed $600 to send people to state convention in the fall. These
are the expenditures that the board voted on and Denise then asked for a
motion to approve. Marilyn moved to approve, Ellen seconded, questions
welcomed, none, vote taken, motion passed. In the case of the contribution
for convention it will simply be sent to state to hand over by Marilyn to
the national office at convention.

 

Denise then asked Dave Meyer to play the Presidential Release. The release
was then played. Following the release, Denise said that she wanted to make
sure that everyone who wanted to had an opportunity to contribute to the
chapter contributions, Jemal is taking bucket around and those on zoom can
donate through Zelle to treasurer at nfbofillinois.org
<mailto:treasurer at nfbofillinois.org> . She then asked for a count of those
staying after the meeting for those at Exchequer and about six people noted
they would be hanging out after. The next item Denise introduced was the
state affiliate report from state president Marilyn Green who will be giving
her report and the auction.

 

Marilyn turned the mic over to Pam G. to talk about the auction item. Pam
made sure everyone could hear her in person and on zoom and welcomed all to
participate. Pam shared that Marilyn will be the auctioneer and if you bid
to shout out your name, so we know who you are. The items up for auction
today were two Lou Mitchell’s gift certificates. Steve noted they’ve been
around for literally 100 years and the original owner just passed away, but
the name carries on and it’s a wonderful restaurant. As we’ve come out of
the pandemic, they have shorter hours then they once did but are still open
from Wednesday through Sunday. If you go there you get wonderful orange
juice, wonderful coffee, and wonderful skillets they bring to your table
with the ingredients of the wonderful omelets they’ve cooked in the skillet
they serve you. He shared that it is easily accessible transit service, it’s
at 565 W Jackson, south side of Jackson east of Jefferson street. They wrote
in braille on the envelopes and certificates. Many have enjoyed wonderful
breakfasts there and they are still doing it. 

 

Marilyn then auctioned off the first gift card and said she’d break up the
monotony do one, state report, and then the next. She and started the
bidding at $20

$40 and then $50 Robert Hansen, $55? anyone on Zoom?, Chicago’s finest open
for 100 years of dining, $55 Kira, $60 Robert, $65 Kira. $70 Robert, going
once, going twice and sold to Robert Hansen for $70. 

 

State Report:

Marilyn shared that they had a great 2022 Midwest Student seminar, it was
completely in person with about 42-44 people registered live and in person
and she was so impressed with the membership of our affiliate and various
states including Nebraska, Michigan, Wisconsin, South Carolina. They are
looking forward to doing it again next year. She thanked their sound
extraordinaire Marco Giannotti. They had a lot of positive feedback and look
forward to their goal of 65 attendees next year. The next state board
meeting went out on zoom earlier this week and will take place on Monday,
April 25th at 7pm. For those on zoom the zoom link is the same as the
chapter meeting today and all are welcome to attend. That is the meeting
they make decision related to the affiliate as far as finances and events so
if you want to know what’s going on at the state affiliate the state board
meeting is the place to be. Moving on to bell 2022, she hears some people
say they were excited for BELL this year. They will have two in person
programs, a two-week program here in Chicago at the Chicago Lighthouse from
July

They will also have a residential Springfield program August 1-5th and for
those unable to be in person they will be doing a virtual in-home program
this year. Go to the national website for more information if you know of
anyone interested at www.nfb.org <http://www.nfb.org>  or to the state
website for the flyer www.nfbofillinois.org <http://www.nfbofillinois.org> .
If you are interested in being a mentor, please contact Debbie Stein by
email dkent5817 at att.net <mailto:dkent5817 at att.net> , or phone (773)
203-1394.

 

Marilyn then moved on to National Convention 2022 and noted that President
Riccobono shared most of the information on the release, but it will take
place from July 5-10 in New Orleans, Louisiana. They will have
Chappel-Dennis financial assistance and the deadline is May 1st. You can go
the NFB of Illinois website, www.nfbofillinois.org
<http://www.nfbofillinois.org>  to find the application, fill it out, and
send to her at president at nfbofillinois.org
<mailto:president at nfbofillinois.org> . So if you or anyone you know needs
help to get to the convention, they should visit the website and if they
need assistance or have questions they can reach her at (312) 343-8396. 

 

Sara Luna also noted that BELL is specifically between the ages of 4 and 12
and Marilyn thanked her for the information. Marilyn then shared there will
be a face-to-face board meeting on August 27th, which will be at the Chicago
Marriott Naperville Hotel which is where the state convention will take
place and where it was held in years past including her own first state
convention. You can call-in via zoom at this same line that you are using
today or if you want to come in person and stay the room rate is $109 per
night for a king or $119 a night for 2 queens. And then, as mentioned, the
State Convention 2022 will be at the Chicago Marriott Naperville Hotel the
weekend of October 28th, 29th, and 30th. The room rates are the same as she
just mentioned so make your reservation as soon as you’d like. She is
hopeful that we can have a completely in person convention but that’s up to
COVID so be on the lookout for more information as it becomes available. 

 

Marilyn then also asked for some applause for the passing of SB829 and
thanked everyone who gave their blood, sweat, and tears. She said that our
work is not done, we will not rest until we have electronic return, but we
will take this time to enjoy our victory. Denise noted that all of the state
senators voted for this, so it passed unanimously so please reach out with a
phone call or email to thank them. We know most of the house voted for it
but please make sure that we do as we always do when we get legislation
passed, we reach out and thank those who voted for the bill.

 

Dustin then provided a federal legislation update. He asked how everyone was
and said that everyone had heard the co-sponsor counts from the presidential
release. The HR 431 the Access Technology Affordability Act has 151
co-sponsors in the House and from Illinois that includes: Raja
Krishnamoorthi, Brad Schneider, Lauren Underwood, Rush, Mike Bost, Rodney
Davis, Jesús "Chuy" García, Jan Schakowsky, Robin Kelly, Marie Newman, Mike
Quigley, Darin LaHood, Danny K. Davis, Sean Casten, and Bill Foster. They
are still working to get some more cosponsors from Illinois so if you
didn’t’ hear your representative please feel free to continue to write to
those representatives or call their office to get them to support. Denise
also shared that there are 15 total cosponsors in the House from IL and
Senator Duckworth in the Senate is a sponsor for the senate companion bill
S212.

 

Dustin then mentioned HR 485 the Medical Device Nonvisual Accessibility Act.
There are 47 co-sponsors in the house and Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky was
the main sponsor of the bill, introducing it. There are four co-sponsors in
IL, Sean Casten, Raja Krishnamoorthi, Marie Newman, and Dannie K Davis. 

 

Up next, he spoke on the status of the Transformation to Competitive
Employment Act HR 2373 and the Senate Companion Bill which is S3238. This
bill has a total of 45 co-sponsors right now and in Illinois we have Mike
Quigley, Jan Schakowsky, Robin Kelly, and Marie Newman. He believes there
are no senators signed on to the companion bill yet form Illinois and Denise
confirmed. 

 

Dustin then offered to go back through and explain a bit about what each
bill mentioned would do. The HR 431 Access Technology Affordability Act was
discussed next. Dustin shared that this bill when enacted would allow up to
a $2,000 refundable tax credit for blind people to purchase access
technology and can be applied for a period of three years. The bill is
gaining some traction and looking to gain more so remember to reach out if
you are in the districts of Bustos, Kinzinger, and Mary Miller or if you
know someone who is since this is the Chicago Chapter and urge them to call
their representatives and hopefully, we can get more people signed onto this
bill. 

 

HR 4853, the Medical Device Nonvisual Accessibility Act, would require
companies or manufacturers of home use medial devices to make them non
visually accessible which can be done through a simple readout or haptic
feedback. It would make them accessible for blind users to use.

 

The Transformation to Competitive Employment Act, HR 2373, will phase out
Section 14-C which some may know as sheltered workshops, completely within 5
years of enactment. So hopefully we can eliminate Section 14-C completely
once this bill is passed so continue to call your representatives to urge
them to sign onto this bill you can send them to either him or Denise if
they have any questions and they can pass that along to the national office
to answer. Continue to call and urge your representatives in your local
area/districts to sign on to our pieces of legislation if they haven’t
signed on yet. 

 

Marilyn asked if anyone had any questions and Dilip asked if there was a
bill or an effort to discuss the accessibility of websites. Dustin mentioned
that does exist, the 21st Century Websites and Applications Accessibility
Act but it has not yet been introduced on the floor as of yet.  Hopefully
once there is a champion there will definitely be more efforts from our
members to reach out to our representatives to ask them to cosign on the
bill. The answer is yes, the national office is working hard to do so.

 

Marilyn then conducted the second auction starting at $20, $20 Mary Lou, $30
Denise, $40 Kira, we’re going to breakfast right Kira?, right, $50? one
hundred years of Chicago dining, madam chapter president I hear nothing,
anybody out in zoom, alright kira this one might be yours, $60 Steve
Hastalis, bidding on his own item, do we have a bid for $65? no?, ok, going
once, going twice, sold to Steve for $60. 

 

Denise then announced elections will begin for those who have paid their
dues. All officers are for a one-year term. 

 

The first up was for Chapter President and since Denise was running for
reelection Dave took over as past president and called for nominations.
Denise was nominated and Dave asked for any other nominations. Hearing none,
Dave moved that nomination closed and Denise be elected president by
acclamation, and she was. Denise said that she thanked everyone so much and
that she has enjoyed being their chapter president and is looking forward to
another year. She welcomed all feedback to help blind people in the
Chicagoland area and make things better. She said she is open to ideas so
please reach out to her by phone, text, email, however they would like.

 

Denise then took back over and turned to the next office of 1st VP that is
currently held by Patti Chang, who was not able to be here during family
members. Marilyn Green nominated Patti Chang and Jemal seconded. Denise did
note she accepted prior to the meeting. Marilyn and Jemal moved that
nomination cease and that Patti Chang be elected by acclamation. The vote
was taken, and she was reelected.

 

The next office is the office of second vice president which is currently
being held by Jemal Powel, Ken Borst nominated Jemal Powel for the office of
second vice president, no other nominations took place, so Marilyn moved
that they cease and Jemal be elected by acclamation, Michal seconded, and
vote was taken, Jemal was re-elected. He thanked everyone for their support
and looks forward to continuing to work for the affiliate and hopes that
things progress in a positive direction after the past few years/months and
thanks again for the support.

 

The next office that is open is Chapter Secretary that is currently being
held by Kira O’Bradovich. Marilyn Green nominated Kira O’Bradovich, Jemal
seconded. No other nominations were made, and Marilyn moved and Jemal
seconded that nominations cease, and that Kira be nominated by acclamation.
Kira thanked everyone for reelecting her and for bearing with her as she
learned to spell everyone’s names. 

 

The next office is Chapter Treasurer and Jemal nominated the current
treasurer, Steven Paul Hastalis. Denise called for any other nominations and
there were none. Marilyn moved and Jemal seconded that nominations cease,
and that Steve be reelected by acclamation. Denise called for a vote and
vote was taken, Steven Paul Hastalis was re-elected. Steve said that most of
you may not know this, but his middle name is Paul. He thanked all for his
support and shared that he would do his best as he keeps the financial
logistics of this chapter in order. Denise shared that the one thing she
knows about Steve is that he very meticulous at keeping those records in
order. 

 

The next office was the first Board Seat currently held by Marilyn, Dave
Meyer nominated Marilyn Green, and she accepted. Denise asked for
nominations and there were none. Kira moved that Marilyn be reelected by
acclamation, the vote took place, all ayes except Marilyn who jokingly
yelled out “Nay” and she was reelected. She said she was excited for another
year; she spent the last two years say “let the good times roll” in French
and now to move for acclamation.

 

The next office was the second Board Seat currently held by David Meyer, who
was then nominated by Steve Hastalis and accepted. Denise asked for any
other nominations and there were none, Dave was reelected by acclamation. 

 

The next office was the third Board Seat currently held by Dustin Cather who
was then nominated and accepted. Denise asked for nominations, Marilyn
nominated, and Jemal seconded. There were no other nominations. Sara Luna
said to do the acclamation thing. Denise moved that nominations cease, and
the vote was taken. Dustin was re-elected and thanked everyone and said he’d
see them in May. Denise thanked Dustin for all the work he does to reach out
to keep those updated who are not on our list-serve for one reason or
another. 

 

Denise then moved to the fourth board seat currently held by Ken Borst and
Jemal nominated Ken Borst, no further nominations. Ken Borst elected by
acclimation and thanked everyone for their support and hoped he’d do better
this year than the last. 

 

Denise shared these would be everyone’s officers to represent them, board
meetings will take place in June, September, December, and March before
chapter meetings when possible. All are welcome to come and lend your voice
and feel free to reach out to the officers. 

 

Denise then returned to the work of the chapter and invited Dave Meyer to
speak about the fundraising committee. He asked who liked to entertain,
sing, or do comedy routines or those who like to listen to those things are
invited to the next fundraiser which is the talent night. It will take place
at Exchequer immediately after the May chapter meeting. The cost for the
event is $25 which will guarantee you pizza, salad, soda, and one act but if
you want an alcoholic beverage, he understands the esteemed affiliate
president will be providing. (audible laughter) Juliette asked if Dave would
be entertaining, and he said he will have to see, perhaps if someone helps
him look up some wacky quotes that may be a good start. He joked that there
will be a two-drink minimum before going on stage. He said if you are going
to participate please send $25 via check, Zelle, or cash payments,
additional acts past the one included in the $25 event fee are $5 each. He
asked all to please make checks out to NFBI Chicago chapter and give to
Steve Hastalis, by Zelle you to do so at treasurer at nfbofillinois.org
<mailto:treasurer at nfbofillinois.org> . Denise clarified if it was her or the
state president providing him alcoholic beverages and Dave said both. Denise
then asked the total for the donations is $96. 

 

Kira shared legislation and advocacy news from the committee. She knows
everyone has been hearing about the scooters coming to our town permanently
this spring. After our last meeting in February, they have now released the
final rules and regulations for all companies looking to obtain a
certificate to operate. The committee has met with both the city and MOPD to
attempt to ensure this experience is as safe and as accessible for us at
possible So she is happy to report that all scooters that will be on our
streets will have easily visible contact information, located no further
than 6 inches beneath the handlebars so we are assuming there will probably
be a tag on each on and we reminded them not to put them underneath the
scooter or something crazy like that. She said that not only will the
information be easy to find they will also have both braille and raised,
large print with essential contact info including the company name, website,
e-mail address and a toll-free telephone number with 24-hours-a-day,
7-days-a-week customer support hotline multipole languages. They also
included the dimensions for braille in these rules and mandated that all
companies be willing to work with MOPD and other disability organizations in
the city of Chicago. There will be another stakeholder meeting for the
scooter project at the start of May and so we are hoping to find out more
about them. But, one of the things the committee is starting to look into
and will probably end up going far above its level but they have begun the
research on the concept of minimum sound standards for scooters themselves.
That is something that both Debbie and Denise are working on to bring to the
state board and potentially talking to national about whether or not that is
something we are working on or will work on in the future. Kira also said
that in the meantime she did further research and found out that Chicago is
not alone, a small town of 900 people, she thinks was called Ogden, has a
scooter contract through one of the companies that is also trying to get a
contract with the city. So, this is no longer just a Chicago issue, this is
state-wide. Kira shared that they are keeping an eye out for any legislative
changes including any related to the audible pedestrian signals. Another
meeting will be held but we are waiting on some feedback from Denise and
Debbie before we schedule another meeting but when we do, she will send the
information out on IL-Talk and all are welcome to join. She shared that the
committee usually meets at Tuesday nights at 7pm but that may change so keep
a look out. Denise then asked if anyone had any questions for either Kira or
Dave but there were none. Denise moved on to old business.

 

Marilyn asked if we would be welcoming new members and Denise shared, she
thought it might have been done at the February meeting. She then asked that
we vote Edward Ocomopo into our chapter. Mary moved and Marilyn seconded,
and the motion passed. The Second was Dilip Shaw, Marilyn made the motion,
Eileen seconded, and the motion passed. Welcome to both Dilip and Edward.
Denise said she is happy to have them as a part of the chapter and hopes to
see Dilip in person. She then asked for any other old business and there was
none.

 

Denise then moved to New Business and Ellen shared that the student division
has two cooking class fundraisers coming up through Zoom, the first on April
24th. This will be a class to learn to make guacamole and will be taught by
Student Chapter Secretary Teresa Favre, $10 a person with 15 openings. The
second will be hosted on May 15th from 5-7pm which will be a full class with
oven needed to make a Mexican lasagna and guacamole, 8 spots open and charge
of $30. Further information available and coming out in IL and IABS talk as
well as the internet list. 

 

Michal announced that the affiliate advocacy committee was able to organize
a training with the national center on organizing local protests and media
campaigns. This idea came in response to the vote by mail accessibility
initiatives and the training will be conducted by John Pare and Stephanie
Cascone from our national office. We encourage everyone to be there, it
should be highly informative and should prepare us to proceed the right way
when it comes to protests and organizing campaigns. When it comes to
protests there are a lot of strategic planning decisions needed to have the
desired effect. The training will take place on May 3rd   at 7pm via Zoom
with these same Zoom credentials. Denise noted that she sent out a notice
about this on IL Talk and IABS talk but she will send another as it gets
closer to the meeting time. When they did their last protest there was press
coverage with WBBM radio and thinks that helped us and this will be a tool
of advocacy that we can then do an even better job with it. 

 

David Meyer then thanked anyone who helped the At-Large chapter in their
fundraiser. They had a popcorn fundraiser with Double Good Popcorn and the
final take well exceeded his expectations with the donations through the
sales and general donations, right now it is a total of about $976.50. He
thanked all who took part and supported us. 

 

Sara had a National Diversity & Inclusion Committee (that she chairs) note
for everyone on the call. They are celebrating neurodiversity on April 24th
as it is Autism Awareness Month. Look out for more information in the coming
week.

 

Denise shared that the next meeting is May 14th and is hybrid with the
talent show following and she asked for a motion to adjourn, motion to
adjourn was given by many people but Denise then joked that Steve is
stopping them from going home. 

 

Steve shared that Metro’ Commuter Rail System has its next advisory
committee on Tuesday, May 3 at 2pm at its headquarters at 547 W Jackson just
down the street by Lou Mitchell but can’t go on same day since it’s a
Tuesday and Lou Mitchells is closed, met with many audible groans and
laughs. As Metra’s ridership recovers there will be some logistics regarding
train schedules and things like that. He said that you know “Nothing about
us without us” is what the disability rights movement. Steve has been
chairman for the last few months and Jemal is an active attended/member and
usually comes to their meetings.

 

Denise then took a motion to adjourn, seconds to adjourn, and the meeting
was adjourned at 3:06pm. See you next month and a thank you from Denise.

 

Signed and Submitted by, 

Kira O’Bradovich

Secretary

Chicago Chapter of the National Federation of the Blind of Illinois

 

 

 

 

Denise Avant, ESQ

1st Vice President

National Federation of the Blind of Illinois

For more information about NFBI,

Go to www.nfbofillinois.org