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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link="#0563C1" vlink="#954F72"><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F497D'>I think working with the library is a good idea. I think they would be happy to have them help you plan events. Sharon and Melissa are on the Friends committee, so they would be interested in what you are doing. You should use some care in how you publicize events, but you probably have already been doing that. The library would be able to help you with publicity. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F497D'>Debbie<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div><div style='border:none;border-top:solid #E1E1E1 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in'><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'>From:</span></b><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'> Jeff Baer [mailto:jabaer811@outlook.com] <br><b>Sent:</b> Wednesday, May 28, 2025 6:54 PM<br><b>To:</b> Maryland President via MD-Sligo <md-sligo@nfbnet.org>; Deborah (Debbie) Brown <deborahb14@verizon.net><br><b>Cc:</b> Juhi Narula <jnarula@bism.org><br><b>Subject:</b> Updates and questions about ways to grow our young adult programs<o:p></o:p></span></p></div></div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black'>Dear Ronza and Debbie, with a cc: to Juhi (who knew to expect this e-mail),<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black'>I hope you are doing well. I wanted to give you a few quick updates and seek your input and advice.<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black'>Coming out of our state convention, Morgan and Melika have successfully launched their young women's discussion sessions. They have had 2 sessions by Zoom so far. Both had small attendance (only a few people) from NFBMD membership. Discussion topics covered so far have been "overcoming embarrassing situations" and "introductions / what people would like to get out of the discussions going forward".<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black'>Upcoming topics they have planned are "Summer Safety" and "Having Self-Confidence"<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black'>I do not attend their discussions, but check in with them after each session to ensure things went well and that they are doing well hosting the Zoom meetings, etc. They continue to be excited to lead the sessions and be involved in NFB activities. They hope to grow the attendance to their sessions now that they feel comfortable with how things work, and they have a few loyal attendees to count one for reach session. To grow their attendance, they plan to advertise to others including non-Maryland residents via their social networks and their memberships in various mailing lists, some of which are NFB-related.<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black'>I realized that one group that might help them to find interested young adults would be the Maryland Library of the Blind and Print-Disabled (LBPD). I had separately contacted LBPD a few weeks ago, as I was seeking to make progress on another idea that had surfaced before that state convention - Aly's idea to start a young adult book club centered around fantasy genre books. That idea had not found any other takers at state convention, much to Aly's disappointment. <o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black'>I had recently inquired to LBPD to see if they were aware of any similar book clubs that might exist that Aly could simply join. Instead, I received an offer from LBPD to promote the book club idea to see if jointly we could find others to be in a book club with Aly and others in NFBMD. They also told me that they were considering the launching of library-sponsored virtual social sessions, like Zoom trivia nights or audio-described movie nights. They asked if there would be interest in working together to make them of interest to our NFBMD young adults. I wanted to check with the two of you first before responding, as I was not sure of any relationship or complications that might already exist between NFBMD and LBPD and I did not want to do anything without your input or permission.<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black'>Please let me know if you have any questions for me, and if it would be okay with you for LBPD to cubiclize Morgan and Melika's discussion panels or the opportunity to join a NFBMD YA virtual book club in the fantasy genre.<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black'>Thank you!<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black'>-Jeff<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black'>Cell: (410) 499-0143<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black'>P.S. Melika has recently expressed interest in attending LCB or another training center, possibly next summer. I encouraged her today to reach out to the two of you, Ronza and Debbie, as you're much better coaches for her than I am on that topic. Melika just completed a successful semester at Montgomery College towards getting her associate's degree. Her goal, which is still a year off, if not more, is to complete that associate's degree and then transfer to a four-year institution to pursue the remaining two years of a bachelor's program in sociology or social work.<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div></div></body></html>