[Massachusetts-NFB] Important Front Page article regarding Mass Commission for the Blind and rally on Wednesday

[sharawinton at gmail.com]

Good Evening Friends,

As many of you know, relations between the current MCB Commissioner and the
blindness community, have been turbulent  over the past few years. If you
are in agreement with the sentiments that will be expressed at this
Wednesday’s event, organized by one of the MCB employee’s unions (vSEIU
509),  at the State House, I urge you to attend and let everyone know how
we,  the blind people   of Massachusetts feel. .

I have also added an article, that was on the front page of the Boston
Globe, today April 2, 2023.



Community speak-out for the future of

Mass. Commission for the Blind



As workers, consumers, and community leaders we are deeply invested in the
future of MCB. Over the last several years, the agency has faced challenges
that have impacted working conditions for staff and the quality and
accessibility of services for residents across the Commonwealth. We have
come together as labor and community organizations to identify key issues
within the agency and are fighting to make sure they are addressed. We
envision a future that includes accountability from leadership and
prioritizing the well-being and needs of our communities.



Join SEIU 509 MCB members and community organizations

at a speak-out for the future of MCB!



Wednesday, April 5

12 pm - 1 pm

State House Steps (24 Beacon St, Boston, MA 02133)







<https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.boston
globe.com%2Fpartners%2Fglobesports%2Fwidgets%2Fsmartbar%2Fbruins.html%3Fp1%3
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6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=ChKwsHmJ%2BddzrHtI5cZloBa5zLBNtqaut4nh%2B%2FZl
p%2F4%3D&reserved=0> Inside the state commission for the blind: alleged
verbal abuse, shrinking services, questionable spending



<https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.boston
globe.com%2Fpartners%2Fglobesports%2Fwidgets%2Fsmartbar%2Fbruins.html%3Fp1%3
DBGHeader_SmartBar_Scores_NHL&data=05%7C01%7C%7C8faac1d0071e453ff0d208db337d
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p%2F4%3D&reserved=0> The agency’s labor union and the state’s largest
advocacy group have called for the ouster of Commissioner David D’Arcangelo



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globe.com%2Fpartners%2Fglobesports%2Fwidgets%2Fsmartbar%2Fbruins.html%3Fp1%3
DBGHeader_SmartBar_Scores_NHL&data=05%7C01%7C%7C8faac1d0071e453ff0d208db337d
deaa%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C638160387961337269%7CUnkno
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p%2F4%3D&reserved=0> By
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globe.com%2Fabout%2Fstaff-list%2Fstaff%2Felizabeth-koh%2F%3Fp1%3DArticle_Byl
ine&data=05%7C01%7C%7C8faac1d0071e453ff0d208db337ddeaa%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb43
5aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C638160387961337269%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiM
C4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sd
ata=qG%2BIBkkgTsYzvD%2FmLhnmx8o1oEoL1%2FWfRNgfaeAY%2BgA%3D&reserved=0>
Elizabeth Koh Globe Staff, Updated April 1, 2023, 38 minutes ago

<image001.jpg>

The union representing a majority of the Massachusetts Commission for the
Blind's employees last month passed a no-confidence vote against
commissioner David D'Arcangelo (pictured).MASS.GOV

For more than 25,000 blind and visually impaired people across the state,
the Massachusetts Commission for the Blind is a critical lifeline: providing
training, accessible technology, and many other services.

It’s also, by many accounts, a state agency in distress.

Workers have filed a litany of complaints in recent years against
Commissioner David D’Arcangelo, alleging verbal abuse and inappropriate
comments, with some of those investigations still ongoing, a Globe
investigation found. Five current employees, and six former members of the
agency, told the Globe that D’Arcangelo has slashed resources and services
while pursuing costly and quixotic projects such as a television studio in
Boston and a
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ov%2Fdoc%2Fmcb-pre-ets-best-practice-guide-the-quest-for-independence%2Fdown
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data=%2BXUv5GYOlXk2pqq0zIVzCL%2BYom3n7alCKD%2Bw67XcMDU%3D&reserved=0> comic
book that’s unavailable in Braille and nearly unusable on the screen
readers used by many blind people.

These conflicts led last month to a call for his ouster and a vote of
no-confidence in D’Arcangelo by the union representing a majority of the
agency’s 130 employees. And, on March 20, the board of the state’s largest
advocacy group for blind and visually impaired people wrote to Governor
Maura Healey’s office saying D’Arcangelo, who has led the agency since
2018, needed to go.

“He’s an inept and destructive leader,” said Amy Ruell, a former member
of the commission’s statutory advisory board. “I’ve never seen the agency
deteriorate as much as it has under him.”

According to a letter sent by the union to the governor’s office in March,
D’Arcangelo’s outbursts have resulted in multiple human resources
complaints, some filed internally and some made to the state’s human
resources division. At least six of those complaints were still open in
early March, the union’s letter says.

In a response to questions from the Globe, Olivia James, a spokesperson from
the Executive Office of Health and Human Services, said, “Our
administration takes all allegations of misconduct seriously.

“We are reviewing these reports,” she said in a released statement.

D’Arcangelo did not respond to several questions and, through the
spokesperson, declined a request for an interview. Healey’s office, which
oversees Health and Human Services, also declined to comment.

The controversy surrounding D’Arcangelo - a former Malden city councilor
and onetime Republican candidate for secretary of state who was appointed as
commissioner in 2018 under Governor Charlie Baker - has been brewing for
years. The Globe reviewed more than half a dozen letters sent to the Baker
and Healey administrations dating back to late 2020, outlining concerns
about his leadership and behavior and calling for more oversight.

One employee in 2020 described “the worst morale that I have seen in over
20 years” at the agency. An advocate for the blind in 2021 warned of an
increasing “lack of transparency” from the commissioner. The agency’s
previous commissioner, Paul Saner - D’Arcangelo’s predecessor - also wrote
to then governor-elect Healey’s office with several concerns, including
that services have been “greatly compromised” and that D’Arcangelo “has
no financial acumen.”

But their concerns, some letter writers said, went unheeded.

“When we have filed charges, when we have made complaints, when his
behavior has been outlandish, they have done nothing about it,” said
Carolyn Ovesen, vice president of the Service Employees International Union
Local 509′s chapter representing commission employees.

Baker is now the head of the NCAA. A spokesman for Baker, Jim Conroy, said
that “any concerns raised by employees would have been dealt with through
normal human resources processes.”

”The Governor and Lt. Governor are grateful for David D’Arcangelo’s
service and advocacy on behalf of the community to which he belongs,” he
added in an e-mail.

Consumers of commission services and advocates told the Globe that certain
services, such as the issuance of legal “certificates of blindness” or
grants from the commission’s private emergency fund, have slowed to a crawl
or stopped entirely. Meanwhile, wait times for mobility training and
supplies have grown, they added.

Money is not the issue. The agency’s funding from the state budget has
steadily grown from fiscal year 2017 to 2022, from $22 million to $28
million, records show.

State leaders may be hamstrung in addressing the issues raised about D’
Arcangelo’s leadership. Unlike with most other agencies, state law allows
for each MCB commissioner to serve a term of at least five years - without
exceptions. D’Arcangelo’s five-year term ends in August.

The commission, with a roughly $36 million annual budget drawn from a mix of
state and federal funds, has a long, storied history. Since its creation in
1906 by a small group of people, including Helen Keller, it has been one of
22 state-level agencies in the United States that remain dedicated to people
who are blind and visually impaired. That specialization, advocates say, is
critical to providing such services.

When someone in the state is declared legally blind, eye care providers are
required to send their information to the agency so the patient can be
registered and the commission can offer its services.

D’Arcangelo, who is legally blind, was little known among advocates in the
blindness community when he became commissioner in 2018. Aside from a stint
leading the state’s Office on Disability, D’Arcangelo spent time largely
in Republican political circles as a local councilor and communications
consultant.

In 2014, he was the party’s nominee for secretary of state alongside Baker.
Shortly after Baker’s election, the governor tapped D’Arcangelo to lead
the state disability office. At the end of Baker’s first term, D’Arcangelo
was appointed to run the commission.

Multiple current and former employees said D’Arcangelo has a pattern of
making disparaging or demeaning remarks and raising his voice in public and
private meetings.

In a labor management meeting in 2021, D’Arcangelo berated two employees
and called people on the Zoom call “disgusting” before hanging up, said
James Badger, the union chapter’s acting president. The union subsequently
filed a labor relations charge, prompting the commissioner to offer an
apology, Badger said.

Amid the internal squabbles, colleagues and critics, including the
commission’s former leader, have questioned D’Arcangelo’s financial
oversight. Since taking office, the commission has left hundreds of
thousands of dollars unspent in its budget annually, despite rising
caseloads and a shrinking workforce, according to annual budget reports and
current and former employees.

At the same time, D’Arcangelo pushed several initiatives that have raised
the blindness community’s ire. He directed more than a million dollars in
state and federal funding toward surveys and marketing that some advocates
say are unnecessary and misguided.

Some of the questionnaires included questions about sexual orientation and
gender identity, multiple consumers said. Another inquired about immigration
status, which is not a prerequisite to receiving services from the
commission.

“How does this ever translate into what is really important, which is
services for the blind?” said Saner, the former commissioner, who began
receiving services from the commission after he was declared legally blind
at age 36. “I’m not sure that it does.”

For the last two years, advocates have gone to lawmakers on Beacon Hill to
lobby for earmarks to be tied to the agency’s spending to ensure it went to
services, Saner said.

“The fact those earmarks have emerged over the last four years is a
financial indication of lack of trust in the commissioner,” he added.

The agency’s spending has also included an increased effort to promote the
agency online and on social media, though many of the commission’s
consumers are older and use technology infrequently.

In 2020, the agency
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oaPkA%3D&reserved=0> put out a $200,000 bid to reimagine its marketing
materials and guide to pre-employment transition services, meant to connect
blind and visually impaired students with resources to help them find work.

The project culminated in a 40-plus page comic book featuring a commission
employee as an “undercover superhero” sending two teenage characters on a
“quest for independence” - a storyline several employees told the Globe
felt condescending and rude.

Formats for the comic book do not include Braille, according to the agency’
s website. The PDF version online, which is advertised as accessible with
screen-reading software, is also rife with typos.

“It really is one of the worst things you could do for the blind,” said
Ruell, the former board member who has been legally blind since childhood
and long benefitted from MCB services.

Though the union’s contract caps caseloads at 70 clients, most workers now
routinely manage many more, said Badger, the union leader. “Very few people
are at the caseload they should have - it’s not atypical to see 120 at a
time,” he said - a 70 percent increase.

In October 2020, the agency also announced it would shutter two offices in
Worcester and New Bedford at the end of the year - a surprise to consumers
and advocates in part because D’Arcangelo had denied planning to downsize
the agency’s footprint in public board meetings.

Closing the offices stranded consumers in more ways than one.

Nona Haroyan, an advocacy committee co-chair of the Bay State Council of the
Blind, said she got calls from consumers asking how to get in touch with
their caseworkers because their old phone numbers no longer worked.

More broadly, advocates and consumers said, services from the commission
have deteriorated, leading to months-long waits for trainings and equipment
that in other eras might have taken just days to arrange. In some cases,
they said, it’s taken more than a year to confirm someone’s been
registered with the commission at all.

Maureen Foley, 82, of Jamaica Plain, said after she was declared legally
blind in 2019, finding resources “was like being dropped in the middle of a
rotary and told to find my way to the sidewalk.”

And asking for help from the commission, she said, has been a carousel of
frustration. Calls have been regularly ignored. It took her eight months to
receive a talking blood pressure cuff and she is still waiting for a talking
thermometer she requested half a year ago, she added.

Foley says the agency’s services have gotten worse and leadership is part
of the problem.

“I feel like I’m fighting for everything,” she said.

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