[il-talk] chicago minutes march 2014

Tue Apr 29 16:45:48 UTC 2014

NFBI CHICAGO CHAPTER

March 8, 2014

Exchequer Pub and Restaurant

226 S. Wabash, Chicago

CALL TO ORDER

Chicago Chapter President David Meyer called the meeting to order at 1:00
PM.  Thirty-four people were present, including new member Allen Graham,
returning member Shannetta Winston, and two people from northwest Indiana.

PROGRAM

The program was a discussion of an article from the Braille Monitor called
"Santa's Little Helper" by Darryl Kirby. Discussion focused on contradictory
myths about blindness: that it is better to be born blind, and that it is
better to have experienced sight. Denise Avant pointed out that the most
important factor in a person's adjustment to blindness is good training and
mastery of skills.

LEGISLATIVE REPORT

Glenn Moore and Patti Chang presented a report on legislative activities. 

Glenn urged everyone to visit his/her representative in the next few months
to talk about our issues.  We have factsheets on our three current concerns:

HR 831, the Fair Wages for People with Disabilities Act; HR 3505, the TEACH
Act, which creates guidelines for publishers to develop accessible
educational materials; and the Air Carrier Technology Accessibility Act to
provide access to in-flight services.  S 4060 is the Senate version of the
air accessibility bill.  Form letters to representatives have been posted on
IL-Talk.  We also post legislative updates from the national office.  Glenn
asked who is willing to visit congressional offices.  Jemal Powell will
visit Robin Kemp.  Mary Grunwald and Dave Meyer will go to Danny Davis. 

Denise Avant and Robert Hansen will go to Mike Quigley.  Patti Chang, Steve
Hastalis, Bob Widman, and Don Jordan will go to Jan Schakowsky.  Margaret
James will go with Debbie Pittman to visit Bobby Rush.  Shannetta Winston,
Hilda Sandifor, and Michal Nowicki will call Glenn to find out who their
reps are. Gary Jones and Jemal Powell will see Foster.  Patti will think of
someone for Ed Birmingham to visit.  Dave Meyer will go to Lopinski.  Ken
Staley and Debbie Stein will go to Gutierrez.  Glenn's number is 8 4 7-8 9
9-9 8 0 1.  Dave Meyer will help people get onto the IL-Talk mailing list.

PRESIDENTIAL RELEASE

President Marc Maurer reported that the Action Fund has produced an updated
version of the Handbook of Braille Contractions. It does not include the UEB
changes, however. It is available at the Independence Market, and the
braille version can be downloaded for free from the Action Fund website. The
NFB is launching a contest to develop a new NFB song for the seventy-fifth
anniversary. The contest runs from March 1 to July 13, 2014. Submit a
recording to nfbsong at nfb.org. The song must be original. Members will vote
on the finalists. If you have questions, contact Gabe Cazares at
gcazares at nfbtx.org. You can now register for national convention online. It
saves time at convention and it is less expensive if you pre-register. Dr. 

Maurer is working on the agenda, and hopes to have it ready by the end of
April. He urged people to get their ideas to him as soon as possible. Dr. 

Maurer corrected an error from the past release--Dan Wenzel is not yet
director of BLIND Inc. He is in training to become the next director, but
the director currently is Dick Davis. President Obama made an executive
order on February 12, and Dr. Maurer was invited to the signing ceremony. 

The executive order says that the minimum wage for work on certain federal
contracts will be $10 an hour. The order specifically includes persons with
disabilities. The deadline for national scholarship applications is March
31. The Imagination Fund, chaired by Anil Lewis, is a way to raise money at
the state and national levels. The goal is to raise $300,000 in the next
three months. Imagination Fund pages will be created for each affiliate. The
NFB applauds a settlement agreement with PARCC ensuring that blind students
will be included in pilot testing. The TEACH Act has been introduced in the
Senate. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D.-MA) and Sen. Oren Hatch (R-UT) have agreed
to sponsor the bill.

DICK's LAST RESORT

Patti Chang announced that thirty-nine people have signed up for our
fundraiser at Dick's Last Resort.  We need forty to meet our goal.  The
event will take place at 315 N. Dearborn on March 13.

STATE REPORT

Patti Chang reminded everyone that our next state board meeting will be held
on March 20.  Board meetings are open to all and are held by teleconference
at 8 0 5-3 6 0-1 0 0 0 with the pass code 6324 (NFBI).  The concurrent
spring seminars for teachers, parents, and students will take place April 4
and 5. 

There will not be a chapter meeting in April.  Registration for the seminars
can take place online.  Registration for national convention in Orlando is
now open.  Convention will take place July 1-6.  Our face-to-face board
meeting will be held at the Naperville Marriott Hotel on August 30. 

Certificates for the Marriott are available through our certificates
program, and we get 9 percent.  The number for the Rosen Centre Hotel, for
national convention, is 8 0 0-2 0 4-7 2 3 4.  Patti thanked Byron Lee for
his help setting up our online registration.  State and national scholarship
applications are due March 31.  We will do two BELL programs this year.  The
one in Chicago will take place in late June, and the one in Bloomington will
be in late July.  There are two ways to help pay for national and state
conventions.  The Jernigan Fund is a national fund to provide assistance to
people attending national convention, particularly first timers. 

Applications are due April 15, and people must contact Patti Chang for a
letter of recommendation.  Applications for the Chappell Memorial Fund, for
state assistance, are due May 1.

OUTREACH

Chicago State University is holding a disability awareness day on April 30. 

Dave Meyer will be there.  He asked for volunteers, and Jemal Powell,
Margaret James, and Hilda Sandifor volunteered to help.

FUNDRAISING

Dave Meyer explained that we can have a candy sale only if we have enough
orders to avoid delivery fees.  Great American Opportunities has not
returned calls yet.  DMI still has Fanny May variety packs with 50 $1 bars
to a case.  We need to sell at least thirty-two cases to avoid paying
postage.  Many of our resources for sales have disappeared.  Dave will have
to place orders by August to have candy available in September.  The chapter
voted to hold the sale if we can get people to take thirty-two cases by
August.  Ken Staley made a challenge that he will put $200 in the treasury
if we sell 1600 candy bars.  Dave challenged the rest of the chapter to sell

150 percent of what Ken Staley sells.  Ken announced that we will have a
Beggars Pizza Day on April 23.  If you present a coupon, 20 percent of what
you spend goes to the chapter.  We will sell tickets to the Sox-Twins game
on August 2 for $25.  The chapter voted to acquire seventy-five tickets for
sale.

SECRETARYs MINUTES

The minutes for the February 8 meeting were approved.

NEW BUSINESS

There will be a chapter board meeting on March 9 at 6 PM via the conference
line.  Call 8 0 5-3 6 0-1 0 0 0, pass code CHICAGO (244-2246.  Jemal
announced that there will be a Transportation Committee meeting on March 18
at 7.  It will use the same conference line with the code TRANSIT, 872-6748.
The Membership Renewal Committee also will meet on March 18 at 7, using the
same conference line with the code MEMB, 6362.  Gary Jones announced that
the Blue Line will begin construction on March 21, causing lots of weekend
delays.

ADJOURNMENT

The meeting was adjourned at 2:49 PM.

Respectfully submitted,

Debbie Stein, Secretary

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David Meyer, NFB of Illinois

Coordinator and channel administrator, NFB-NewsLine

Chicago Chapter President