[Massachusetts-NFB] MAPBC August Meeting Minutes

[Liz Lesperance]

Good Afternoon,

Attached and pasted below please find the minutes from our most recent
MAPBC meeting held yesterday evening. Our next meeting will be Thursday,
Sept. 12th, at 6:00PM via zoom.

Best,
Liz

**************

The MAPBC met on Sunday, Aug. 11th. The meeting began at 6:09PM. Those in
attendance included:

Jenn Bose

Stephanie Valdes

Shara Winton

Youme Nguyen Ly

Hai Nguyen Ly

Liz Lesperance

Laurie Mattioli



Presidential Release:

Youme went over the August presidential release highlights. Shara
encouraged everyone to complete the two surveys created by the national
office. The first survey pertains to the monthly presidential releases and
how this information can be better streamlined to all members. The second
survey seeks feedback from those who have recently attended a national
convention.



Minutes:

Youme put forth a motion to approve the July meeting minutes which Jenn
seconded. The minutes were approved unanimously.



2025 State Convention:

The dates of our next state convention are March 14th through March 16th
and will be held in Springfield. Shara was in Springfield this week
visiting the hotel. The hotel is older and does not have braille in most
public spaces. The hotel stated that the lack of braille is because they
were grandfathered in but they will look into adding braille. Shara expects
an answer by Aug. 20th. Also, there is plenty of space in case we need a
room for childcare, but Shara needs to know who needs childcare asap. We
would like to have more blind parents and parents of blind children attend
our next convention and childcare will be a crucial part of this endeavor.



BELL Academy:

This month's meeting took place after the first week of our BELL academy.
Stephanie shared that there are 4 students participating and that the
students are all doing well. They are especially enjoying the craft
activities. Last Friday, the students walked to a nearby fencing club and
then went out to eat. This upcoming week the students will be going to the
science museum and will be experimenting with musical instruments. The
students are also learning basic cooking skills. The program is
demonstrating not only the fundamentals of reading and writing braille but
also that it is okay to be the only person in your family or your class or
your community that knows braille. Furthermore, the program seeks to show
the students that learning braille can lead to tremendous opportunities
down the road.

This coming Friday is the open house which will start at 1PM. A councilor
from the MCB will be in attendance and will be the point of contact between
the MCB and our affiliate’s BELL program. Stephanie confirmed there are
enough volunteers for the upcoming week but she would like to have more
male volunteers in the future so the students can meet a larger array of
blind individuals.

Stephanie has learned a lot from this year. There will be reports and
assessments to follow in the weeks after BELL. Stephanie will start
planning the next BELL academy in November. The first task will be trying
to find a location.  There is interest to move the BELL academy outside of
Boston next year.

Stephanie shared that part of her responsibility as a coordinator is to see
what assistance the children may need once the BELL academy is over.
Ultimately this will be up to the parents. Stephanie will continue to
include the parents on upcoming events with the NFB of MA. She noted that
none of the surrounding states have a BELL academy.

The meeting adjourned at 7:15PM.
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