[IL-Talk] chicago minutes draft 2.
Sharon Howerton
shrnhow at gmail.com
Mon Jan 4 21:23:10 UTC 2021
I think there need to be quotes around the presenter's comments. My guess is
that Eileen recorded the meeting and wrote out some comments ver batim.
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From: IL-Talk <il-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of David Meyer via
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Sent: Monday, January 4, 2021 12:46 PM
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Subject: [IL-Talk] chicago minutes draft 2.
National Federation of the Blind of Illinois Chicago Chapter
Minutes for December 12, 2020
The meeting took place via the Zoom platform.
President David Meyer called the meeting to order at 1:01 pm. Of note,
participants included Horacio Esparza from the Progress Center and Ann
Brash from the Illinois Council of the Blind. We all recited the NFB
Pledge.
What's Happening: Dave stated that things are good for Teresa. Dave's
extended family, his younger brother, his wife, and his daughter all had
COVID and his cousin and his wife had COVID for a second time. All are
recovering pretty well. Board member, Denise Avant, reported that she was
recently elected to the board of directors for Access Living Chicago. Gina
Falvo said that she is a 9-year breast cancer survivor.
Nadia Sherman says that she had a minor procedure done and that she asked
everybody to pray for her. First Vice President, Patti Chang said that Dick
Davis from Blind Inc has had COVID. He is in the hospital, but he is not on
a ventilator. She also says that some of her family members down in Belize
have COVID. Steve Hastalis reports that Metra and its ADA advisory
committee have appointed him chairman and his first meeting as chair will
take place on February 2. We had a grand total of 29 people participating.
Program Item: Our speaker for today's program, Ms. Hazel Bowman is a
disability inclusions coordinator for an agency called Anixter in Chicago.
She has come with a host of jobs to fill. She says that the Anixter Center
has been advocating for people with disabilities For the last 100 years. we
have been advocating for individuals with disabilities. Anixter received a
grant and this grant is geared toward placing individuals with disabilities
into healthcare job opportunities. We are partnering with Mount Siani and
the University of Chicago Hospitals. We're trying to place individuals into
current jobs. We're trying to find individuals who can do the essential
functions of the job and there will be some accommodations being made based
on individual situations. We want to place people into jobs who are blind or
low vision. Ms. Bowman wants to find out if you know of someone who is
qualified to fill any role in either Mount Siani or University of Chicago
Hospitals and to place these qualified individuals into jobs. Ms. Bowman's
phone number is 312-415-4505 and her email address is hbowman at anixter.org
. Dave commented that not everybody uses the same accommodations because
everybody is going to need different needs in accommodations. He asked if
this can be taken on an individual basis for those who apply. Ms. Bowman
said that we can take this on a case-by-case basis. Patti commented that
many times we get into a job situation where the underlying software is
inaccessible. These hospitals ensured that their underlying software is
accessible to blind who use screen-reading software. Dave mentioned that
there are other organizations that would also be interested in working with
Ms. Bowman. Horacio Esparza from the Progress Center is willing to help
find recruits. This is a center for independent living that is a
cross-disability center, so it would be more than blind folks possibly.
National Presidential Release #500, Tuesday, December 1, 2020:
President Riccobono said that they are in the living room foyer space of
the Barney Street Wing, the newly remodeled space.
We still have Braille calendars available from the American Action Fund for
Blind Children and Adults. 2021 Braille calendars are available while
supplies last and will be available in the market until 1/31 and not
available after that date. So if you have not gotten a free Braille calendar
for 2021, you should call the market and get yours quickly. We do have gift
certificates available for the Independence Market. They are available for
purchase in amounts of $25, $50, $75, or $100. The gift certificates are
valid for up to 4 years from the date of purchase. You can get the gift
certificates as a PDF that's emailed to you or you can get it sent to you
via the regular mail in Braille format, and you can get more information
about them by sending an email to independencemarket at nfb.org or you can
call the national office at 410-659-9314. A good piece of news to look
forward to in 2021 will be the reemergence of our Independence Market
website where you can order products. It has been down for some time. We've
been rebuilding and retooling it into our new website.
Last month during American Education Week which was11/16, we sent a letter
to all of the top education officials in all of the 50 states, the District
of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. You can read that letter by going to
nfb.org/legal. That letter calls on the state's education officials to
recognize the critical barriers that blind students face in inaccessible
educational technologies and it calls them to take actions to make sure
that blind students have equal access. We have gotten a number of responses
from some of the state's educational officers and we will be following up
with those individuals in putting resources together. We're getting a good
response so far. We've gotten some engaging phone calls from folks who are
interested in what we have to say and we're going to put together some
resources to help.
We have a December open house. The open house events are for prospective new
members to learn about our organization and we'll be having an open house
on Sunday, 12/13, at 7:00 pm. Our Smart City Summit meeting is on 1/28, and,
on moving it to 1/28, we're also going to take advantage of that being the
day before 1/29/21, which will be the 10th anniversary of the blind driver
challenge. The blind driver challenge was our effort to build a car that a
blind person can drive and the first public demonstration was on 1/29/11.
More information will be sent to the listserves about the Smart City
Summit. Our access technology team has a number of accessibility training
sessions coming up, We call these accessibility boutiques. Go to nfb.org
and look for our accessibility boutiques under our programs and services.
When we get into January, we will be preparing for our Washington Seminar.
We are encouraged to plan to participate in the Washington Seminar during
the second week of February, but also before that, we're going to be
offering some training in January to get ready for the issues.
The Freedom Scientific Company is offering $50,000 to NFB if we can raise
$50,000 before the end of the year. If you give a gift before the end of
the year, it will be matched by Vispero up to $50,000. You can make a
contribution online by going to nfb.org/donate. You can send a check to the
National Office at 200 East Wells Street, Baltimore, MD 21230. You can call
our main number and dial extension 2282 and someone will get back to you to
make your contribution. As long as it is made by the end of the year, that
will help.
Secretary's Minutes for October 10th: Approved.
Treasurer's report: Steve says we have $3,285 in the treasury.
State Presidential Report: NFBI state president, Marilyn Green thanked
everyone who came to the state convention. It was a great success, We have
our next state board meeting on 12/21 at 7:00 pm. The state committee list
will go out on January 1 on ill-talk. If there is any committee that you
would like to serve on, please send Marilyn an email at
president at nfbofillinois.org and her phone number is 312-343-8396. The Blind
Services Planning Council has appointed Marco Gianotti as one of our
representatives. Andrew Webb has served on behalf of our affiliate for the
last 6 years. Governor Pritzker reviewed the composition of the Blind
Services Planning Council Marilyn thanked Dave Meyer for sending letters to
the state legislature, to the minority and majority leaders as well as the
speaker of the house, Mike Madigan on behalf of the affiliate as it related
to our appointment on the Blind Services Planning Council.
Marilyn got a phone call from the honorable speaker, Mike Madigan's chief
of staff regarding our seat on the Blind Services Planning Council.
We are currently beginning to work on making voting accessible by mail for
all blind people in the State of Illinois. Just because this year's
election is over, there will be elections going forward and blind people
will need an accessible vote by mail option.
Marilyn has appointed Denise Avant and Dustin Cather to chair our federal
legislation committee. Denise states that the Washington Seminar is going
to be virtual and this will give everyone an opportunity to apply to
represent the Illinois affiliate at the Washington Seminar because you don't
have to travel anywhere. You don't have to worry about the expense of
travel, getting a hotel, or food. If you want to represent our affiliate at
the Washington Seminar for 2021, you can apply. The application is on the
NFB of Illinois website. Go to www.nfbofillinois.org/washington-seminar and
that application is due to our president by 12/31. We will make sure you
are well-trained in the issues so that you can be articulate. Everyone in
our affiliate is intelligent. Illinois is one of the few affiliates that
offer training, plus our national office also offers training. The dates for
the Washington Seminar are February 8, 9, 10, and 11. The Washington
Seminar will start with the Great Gathering In. Denise invited everyone to
fill out the application, submit it by 12/31, and, perhaps, you will be
chosen to represent our affiliate at the Washington Seminar. We have
received 4 applications so far, but we can have more members this year.
Illinois has a large congressional deligation, so we're looking forward to
having people who don't ordinarily get the chance to participate be able to
do so.
Patti Chang and Debbie Stein are co-chairing the scholarship committee for
2021. The committee has started by posting the application. The application
is on our website at nfbofillinois.org/scholarsh ip or you can go to
nfbofillinois.org and look for the link. The application is due on 3/31. We
need to get the word out and we'll need to make sure that students don't
wait till the last minute to apply. There is an application. There is an
essay. There is a letter of recommendation and you'll need to talk to the
president or her designee in order to apply in Illinois because you do need
a president's letter from our president or her designee. Spread the word to
anybody you know. Make sure that they are aware early enough that they can
get this done. The best time to do it is over the winter break. The second
thing that we will need to do is come to the meetings with the students, to
keep urging people to apply and offer some assistance if people need
assistance. The committee will meet on 1/7 because we'll be proactive about
getting the word out. Ellen Bartell says that there will be a virtual
Midwest Student Seminar. The dates that we are looking at are
3/19 and 3/20. The registration form is not up yet.
Dave asked if one is not selected or chooses not to apply for the Washington
Seminar, may they still attend the Great Gathering In being that it is a
zoom meeting this year? Denise said that we don't have a lot of details
about that yet. From the way things sound, you would be able to attend.
Exchequer Pub is having a very difficult time right now. It is difficult
enough that somebody actually started a Go Fund Me page for them. We had
discussed whether or not we should give something in advance to Exchequer,
either a donation or something in which to help them out in the short-run.
Our Chicago Chapter board came up with a possible solution and Dave would
also like this discussed and acted upon during the general meeting as well,
that we would pay for our next
12 sessions at Exchequer in advance. This would be a total of $900. It does
stretch us tight in order to do this, but we do have the money to do it. If
Exchequer is not able to make it from a financial standpoint, they would be
left with the remaining contribution that has not been used. We were hoping
to advance the contribution from what would amount to the next 12 meetings.
Whether they would be in 2021, 2022, or a combination thereof. Patti will
make a motion that we pay Exchequer for what will amount to the next 12
meeting sessions. Jemal seconded the motion. Jemal asked if Exchequer does
not make it, has there been alternative plans made like another meeting
site? Dave replied if Exchequer can't handle us, we're not sure if any other
place can handle us either, and, if they are, it will be a lot more money
than we now pay. The motion carried.
Read-a-thon: We had a read-a-thon in November. It turned out reasonably
good. Once all contributions come in, we will have $775 as a result of this
event. We did not have a lot of people reading this time and people who did
solicit or make donations towards the read-a-thon did not reach outside of
the organization to try to get donations. Dave asked if anybody has any
ideas as to maybe what changes we might be able to make to improve the
read-a-thon overall or to make it more inclusive. Patti says that for her
the timing is difficult because it's close to the state convention and
close to other state conventions. Patti said that she would like to see us
move it to February or March. We used to have Dick's fundraiser in the
spring and the Read-a-thon would be good for a different time of year. We
can do more on social media to promote it. Patti also suggested that we do
something to help people understand that even if they can't read, they can
still seek donations from their friends and families to support whoever
else is reading. Denise suggested that those of us who are Braille readers
if we could tie it to Braille Readers are Leaders so that people
participating in that can get people to sponsor you. Dave said that we did
the time that we did either October or November because we considered it to
be a Chicago Chapter Meet the Blind Month activity. There were some folks
that did not participate this year because we had to do it via conference
call and the reason we had to do it that way was that the Zoom account was
still in transition at the time of the event. That no longer is an issue.
The Zoom account is presently in place. It might be best that if we do have
a Read-a-thon, that we use the Zoom platform to do it, because, in that
way, we can simply do it from where we are. We don't have to congregate
anywhere.
During the last several years, we have set up this event where we had a
$10 entry fee for anyone choosing to read. But, if they were able to raise
more than $10 from others, that $10 admission fee would be waived. Dave
asked us to keep this in the back of our minds. If you do have any thoughts
on this, let Dave know.
Old Business: Eileen noticed that there were scooters in her neighborhood
that are attached to poles and the Lime scooters are in Braille and the
Bird scooters do not have Braille on them. Dave stated that from his
understanding, that all companies were to provide both Braille and large
print contact information on their scooters. Debbie replied yes, the
scooters are to have Braille and raised print which will be legible to
large print readers and legible to some people who cannot read large print
but don't know Braille. Steve says that we have another meeting coming up on
12/22. It seems like the people running it are dismissive of the concerns of
the blind community. We have a resolution on the website, so we can go tell
them to consult our resolution that expresses NFB's concern. We have a
state resolution and a national resolution on the subject. Debbie raised
the concern about scooters parallel to the quiet automobile advocacy that we
have done and nobody seemed to know or care about that. Debbie and Steve
attended the last advisory committee meeting. The people running that
activity have not contacted Debbie or Steve. Denise did write to the Mayor's
Office for People with Disabilities in 2019 asking them to make sure that
any people entering as contractors for the scooters to make sure that they
were marked with Braille and large print so that people would know where to
call in case there was a problem and also make sure that the AP was
accessible. Now that was in Round 1 of the testing and then in early
January, the city said that it was going to engage in Round 2 of the
testing. Denise knew that Lime had put Braille on their scooters, but she
did not know about the rest of the carriers. We may need to reach out to
the Mayor's Office for People with Disabilities to remind them about our
concerns as far as reporting. The other thing is that Denise heard on the
news that the City is supposed to do a survey of citizens citywide to get
their comments or their feelings about the scooters. The news report did
not say when the survey would be started or how people would be able to go
online to take the survey. If we can ever find out where that survey is, it
would give us a chance to take the survey and register any comments that we
have about scooters. Marilyn commented that this would be a wonderful
opportunity for the Chicago Chapter to reach out to Commissioner Arfa
particularly on this item, because if Lime was doing it and the other
scooter companies are not and they are allowed to operate in the City of
Chicago and Mayor Lightfoot has stated that she wants Chicago to be the
most accessible city in the country. This is definitely an issue that we
should address to Commissioner Arfa's Office whether it's a letter to her
or a phone call inviting her to a future chapter meeting to express the
concerns that we have. Denise said the pilot project may be over. They will
survey and then it will be time for Mayor Lightfoot to make a decision as to
whether she is going to allow them in. Steve commented that we needed to
get this to the city officials, so when they bring this program back after
the winter months, they have this requirement for the operators of these
scooters. It seems that Lime has taken our concerns seriously unlike some of
these other service providers. Marilyn said that it's important that we get
ahead of this and if we make our concerns known to the Mayor's Office, she
has jurisdiction to determine and to let these companies know that in the
next pilot, for, if they are going to operate in the City of Chicago, these
are the requirements and, hopefully, she will put forth some type of
censuring for them if they don't do as asked if they don't provide Braille,
large print, raised letters, whatever the case might be, that some type of
sanctioning for them. Kira states that the legislative committee will take
action either having Steve or someone appointed or herself prior to the
December 22 meeting.
New Business: Horacio Esparza, executive director of the Progress Center,
thanked us for the invitation to the meeting. He has been at the Progress
Center for 21 years. Prior to working at the Progress Center, he worked at
ICRE Wood for a couple of years providing Spanish translation for anyone
who needed it. In 1994-1995, he formed a support group for the visually
impaired who were undocumented and were not eligible for any services and
he was teaching them Braille,as well as orientation and mobility. Recently
he has been appointed to serve on the Blind Services Planning Council.
Horacio said that under their internship program, they recruited many blind
and visually impaired people at the Progress Center.
The meeting adjourned at 3:01 pm.
Respectfully submitted: Eileen F. Truschke, Secretary, Chicago Chapter Date
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