[IL-Talk] FW: Chicago minutes October 2020

[rgardner4 at gmail.com]

Forwarded for Dave Meyer, due to computer problems. 


-----Original Message-----
From: David Meyer <datemeyer at sero.email> 
Sent: Tuesday, December 8, 2020 8:16 PM
To: rgardner4 at gmail.com
Subject: chicago minutes october 2020

NFBI CHICAGO CHAPTER

MINUTES FOR OCTOBER 2020

The meeting took place using the Zoom platform.

The meeting was called to order by President David Meyer at 1:05 pm.

Treasurer's Report 3rd quarter: July, August September 2020: We started the meeting with the treasurer's report. Beginning Wednesday, 7/1/20 $5,848. Income: Monthly collections subtotal $0, NFB general reimbursement from our national office including dues 1 renewing member $5.00, White Sox tickets from several years ago $250, subtotal $255, donations $160, dues $5 annually for 4 years 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023, subtotal $20, cash 2 cane tips and donations $5.25, total $440.25. 
Expenses: Electronic withdrawal NFB PAC (preauthorized contributions) to national office $50 monthly July, August, September. subtotal $150, reimbursement Steve Hastalis for credit card purchase to NFB independence Market 49 cane tips $2 apiece plus $5.25 shipping and handling $103.25, NFBI two plaques to honor Mayor Lightfoot and Karen Tamley $50, NFBI Fifteen for Funds contribution 2020 $1,000, NFBI door prize $100, total $1,413.25. Ending balance Wednesday 9/30/20 $4,875. 
Incidentally received dues payments totaling $15.

Longtime past members of this chapter, Dale and Pat Wolthoff, who now live in South Carolina, joined the meeting.

What's Happening: Nicholas Robertson said that he applied for a job in the private sector. He had connected with a department manager over LinkedIn and had submitted his resume and the manager encouraged Nicholas to apply for a job that was managing the department managers and as well as taking to business negotiations. The manager reported Nick's resume to the CEO who loved it. However, the CEO has a hands-off approach when it comes to hiring and trusts his hiring manager and she does not micromanage this. Nick filled out his application and the very last question was do you have a disability? Nick marked yes. He got a phone call from his acquaintance who had informed him that he did not get the position because when the hiring manager accompanied an executives to a negotiation, there was a table with a group of blind persons who were extremely inebriated and accused the corporation's table of stealing their third bottle of wine. Nick stated that we need to realize that our actions affect all blind people, not just ourselves. Secretary, Eileen Truschke, said that her mother was going to be 89 years old. Patti mentioned that Kira O’Bradovich was quite sick with COVID. Nadia Sherman stated that she got reaccepted to her rock climbing program and she is beginning to climb again. 
Unfortunately, I was not able to get a count of how many people were attending the meeting because we did not introduce ourselves.

Program: This program is about accessible voting and 2 gentlemen from the Chicago Board of elections were here to talk about accessible voting, Jim Allen and Lance Goff. Unfortunately, Lance Goff could not stay due to another meeting. Jim Allen stated that for Chicago voters there is a new accessible voting option and the link to the application may be submitted to FPCA at chicagoelections.gov (Federal Post Card Application). Also, the fax number to submit it is 1-312-269-0626. This program will then send the users an email with a link and login and password information, so they may access their ballot, mark it using a screen-reader, and will then print it out and we will also mail out a return envelope so that you return it by mail or at any of the drop boxes at the Chicago Election Board's early voting locations. Even though the deadline is 10/29, we want to encourage anyone who is applying to vote by mail to apply as early as possible, so that you have as much time as possible to vote, receive, and return your ballot. 
We want every person's ballot to count. For those in suburban Cook County, there is a phone number and an email address that you may contact for access to their system. It runs parallel to ours. For suburban Cook County, the number is 1-312-603-0942 and the email address is james.nally at cookcountyil.gov. Board member and President of NFBI, Denise Avant, asked Jim if he reached out to the other blindness organizations in Chicagoland, to let them know about this voting option. Jim said that our organization was the first organization that was contacted and that he would contact other blindness organizations about accessible voting. Second Vice President, Patti Chang urged Jim to get in touch with Blind Service Association and Second Sense. They have both been implying that there is no accessible balloting. Patti asked how a person can get their signature updated, because she is worried that her ballot will be thrown out. Jim says that the first thing to know is that the signature has to be unanimously ruled as a total mismatch. We have to then contact the voter at a minimum by mail but, if we have an email address with your application by email and the appeal process has been streamlined greatly under the new legislation that was signed into law this summer, so that voter is able to override largely through an email confirmation of the ruling by a 3 judge panel. 
So we are seeing very small numbers of signature rejections. We have safeguards for the voters. One is safeguarding the ballot box from any fraud but also safeguarding the voters' rights. Jim encourages anyone who applies to include your email so that we can contact you more quickly. Dave gave the NFB of Illinois website for information for anyone who is not on Ill-Talk. That is www.nfbofillinois.org. Debbie Stein asked if a person sent in an application for a vote by mail ballot already if that would make them ineligible to apply for an accessible ballot? Jim did not have an answer at that point. He did suggest that a person call Betty Horton so that their first application could be canceled and apply using the newer one. Jim did not have the number for Betty Horton at this time. Debbie suggested that Jim add that number to the material that he will be sending out to everybody. 
Marilyn said that she went to the supersite in Chicago to early vote. 
There was a line, but it was a good experience. She states that the polling places compare the signatures with the signatures that you get your state ID renewed. Jim added that all 50 ward early voting sites in Chicago are going to open on 10/14/20. All of these sites are going to open from 8:30 am to 7:00 pm on weekdays and from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm on Saturdays and Sundays. There will also be a drop box at every one of these early voting sites and you can access those at chicagoelections.gov/early voting or if you're just looking for a drop box chicagoelections.gov/drop box. You can also get information on NFB NewsLine.
Chapter secretary Eileen Truschke asked if she could view an early voting ballot in her browser and fill it out there. Jim stated that the online access system will print out your ballot on 8 1/2" x 11" sheets and then you can review it before you submit it. Pat Wolthoff from South Carolina asked if the accessibility ballot was nationwide or is that just for the City of Chicago. Jim said that historically elections have largely been administered on a state-by-state basis and that's why you have different early voting schedules, different vote-by-mail rules. Dave thought that Pat should check with her NFB South Carolina president to see if a vote-by-mail program is accessible in South Carolina. The accessible vote-by-mail is option is available in about half of the states. Denise stated that on the nfbofillinois.org website, there is a list of participating counties. The other thing that we have been asking people to do is call your local election authorities because the Illinois State Board of Elections has made this option available for the rest of the counties in the state of Illinois. 
So you would want to call your local election authorities and say that you want to vote and you want to do so privately and independently and that you would like to use this accessible vote-by-mail option.

Secretary's Minutes: Dave reminded everybody that the minutes are on ill-talk and also on NewsLine. He states that everybody that has access to a computer needs to be on ill-talk because that's where most of our information for the state is, whether it be from Chicago, the Illinois state president, or, perhaps, other chapters within the state as well. 
To sign up for ill-talk, go to NFBnet .org. Click on join or drop email list, go down to ill-talk, enter on that and there is a form that you fill out. If you need any help, call somebody that you're comfortable with. The minutes were approved.

State Presidential Report: Dave reported that this is Denise Avant's last presidential report. Dave thanked Denise for all of the hard work that she has done in the state presidency. The upcoming NFBI state convention dates are 10/30, 10/31, and 11/1. However, we do have some pre-convention activities. On 10/22, the Diversity and Inclusion Committee is holding a town hall meeting for all of our members who want to come and talk about what you would expect from a diversity and inclusion committee for the Illinois affiliate. We in the affiliate want to welcome everyone to participate in the NFBI and we know that that involves various cultures and various ethnicities. It will be on Thursday, 10/22, from 6:30 pm until 8:30 pm. For those who want to meet the At-Large Chapter members, they are having a social gathering in lieu of their normal pizza party which will take place on Thursday night 10/29, from 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm, where you can meet their chapter president, Marilyn Green, and the rest of the At-Large members and hang out and chat before the convention gets started. We will start at 2:00 pm on Friday, 10/30 with federation philosophy with our national representative, Pam Allen, who is Executive Director of the Louisiana Center for the Blind, the first vice-president of NFB, and CEO of the Board of Directors of NFB. We'll hear from John Gordon to see what rehabilitation services we've had in this state given COVID-19. Then we will have resolutions We have 4 resolutions this year. In the evening, we'll have Trivia Night and that's brought to you by the National Association of Blind Students (NABS). The cost is $5. The money will go to the Student Division. We will start our general session on Saturday at 9:00 A.M. The sessions will begin with Mayor Lightfoot opening the state convention and we'll present an award for Mayor Lightfoot. We have a national report from Pam Allen, a Student Division Report from NABS rep, Nina Marranca. We'll have a segment on virtual learning for blind students in the state of Illinois, so we have people coming in from the Illinois State Board of Education. In the afternoon, we'll have a general session with various activities. We'll have a banquet from 6:00 to 8:00 pm. We will present a tribute to Steve Benson. We'll have awards going to Karen Tamley and Dr. Janet Szlyk. We'll hear from our scholarship class. On Sunday morning, we'll start with the student business meeting and we'll conclude with a general session from 9:30 am to 12:30 pm and there will be state elections. You do have to be present and a dues-paying member to vote in these elections. We'll be using the phone calling-texting system that was used by our national organization in July to count up those votes. Ellen Bartelt says that door prizes for the state convention must be cash. If you want your donation for door prizes broken down for more door prizes, let us know. 
You can send the door prize donation to pchang at nfb.org or you can mail Patti a check. Denise says the agenda is done. It will be up on our website, list serves, and NewsLine. We'll use the exact same Zoom account for all of our preconvention, general sessions, and the IABS stuff. It's only the scholarship and the parent breakout, we'll be using different Zoom information. Denise thanked all of us in the Chicago Chapter for supporting her over the past 6 years. She supports Marilyn Green to be our next state president.

Presidential Release #498: Welcome to Meet the Blind Month. President Riccobono reminded everybody to go out and vote. You can find resources and information about what is available in states for voting by going to nfb.org/vote and NFB-NewsLine. We will have a blind voter's survey available for you to complete once you filled out your ballot and submitted it. We are again partnering with Lyft in their rideshare efforts to get blind people to the polls.
We released our NFB-NewsLine mobile app 3.0, which gives you all the access you're used to in terms of features in s new streamlined format and it also features the basic functions of the KNFB Reader. You should go download from the IOS app store the NFB-NewsLine mobile 3.0 and then tell us what else we want in the NFB-NewsLine app. If you're not currently an NFB-NewsLine subscriber or, if you want more information about NFB-NewsLine, please go to nfbnewsline.org to get all the information.
The United States Commission on Civil Rights released a report titled Subminimum Wages Impacts on the Civil Rights of People with disabilities. We were prominently featured in testifying at the hearing which happened in November of 2019, and this report is an important step toward moving the needle toward equal access and fair wages for all people with disabilities. We need to circulate it and get our members of Congress on outlawing the discriminatory provisions of 14C in the Fair Labor Standards Act. In the Access Technology Affordability Act, we have a total of 128 cosponsors in the House of Representatives and a total Senate cosponsorship of 26. Vispero has committed to giving a free copy of a JAWS screen reader to every member of our National Organization of Parents of Blind Children. You have to be a dues-paying member of NOPBC to get this benefit. You can get a free 1 year JAWS license. If you want more information, you can send an email to nopbcpres at gmail.com.
October 15 is White Cane Awareness Day. It's a good opportunity to get out with your long white cane or guide dog especially on that day and post about it. Vispero would put up $50,000 matching dollars if we can raise $50,000 for NFB in the month of October. There are 3 ways to give. You can give a gift yourself by going to nfb.org/donate. You can always mail in your contribution to the National Federation of the Blind at 200 East Wells Street, Baltimore, Maryland 21230. You can call and give your gift via phone. You can call our main number at 410-659-9314. You can press 4 when you get to the menu and follow the prompts and we will get you connected with someone that can take your donation via phone. The PAC plan is our pre-authorized contribution plan and it enables you to give on a monthly basis and the funds are taken directly from your checking or savings account or from your debit or credit card without having to think about it. You tell us how much you want to withdraw. The minimum amount is $5 a month because we do incur some charges, but there is no maximum on the program. We're bringing in $42,578.41 on the PAC plan. Right now we have 1543 contributors on the PAC plan. Chapters, divisions, affiliates, couples, families as well as individuals can get on the PAC Plan. To get on the PAC Plan, you should go to nfb.org/Pac and you can fill out a form and you can tell us who you are and how much you want to give or increase and one of our operators will call you back and take your bank information for you or you can call 1-877-632-2722 and you can leave a message for our operators who will call you back. If people have questions, email pac at nfb.org.
We are selling NFB branded masks at our Independence Market and many of you have already preordered them. We still have a limited number left. 
Get them quickly.

Fundraising Committee Report: We're going to have a fundraising committee conference call on Tuesday 10/13, to discuss the COVID-19 version of our December auction. We will use the regular conference line which is 641-715-3273 and the code is 6324 or NFBI. We also have the read-a-thon in November. We are looking for any and all contributions or participation in this read-a-thon. It will be on Saturday, 11/14 from 1:00 until 4:00 via Zoom. You can read Braille, print, audio reading, There is a $10 admission fee for anybody who chooses to do it unless they raise $10 or more from the community at large. That would include NFB members, non-FB members, friends, neighbors, acquaintances. If you can raise more than $10, your admission fee will be waived. This has been a good fundraiser for us. 
We raised about $1,200 last year. You can send contributions in the form of a check to David Meyer, 814 Hannah Avenue, Forest Park, IL 60130. You can make the check out to NFBI Chicago Chapter.

Old Business: None.

New Business: None.

The meeting adjourned at 3:05 pm.

Respectfully submitted: Eileen F. Truschke, Secretary, Chicago Chapter.