[Mn-at-large] NFB of Minnesota Update

Fri Apr 28 14:20:50 UTC 2017

-----Original Message-----
From: NFBMN-News [mailto:nfbmn-news-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Jennifer Dunnam via NFBMN-News
Sent: Thursday, April 27, 2017 10:57 PM
To: nfbmn-news at nfbnet.org
Subject: [Nfbmn-news] NFB of Minnesota Update

Dear Minnesota Federationists:

→ The NFB of Minnesota semiannual convention is right around the corner! If you have not received it already, you will soon receive a letter and pre-registration form in the mail. For the first time this year,  we are also offering the opportunity to pre-register online using a credit card or PayPal. Go to www.nfbmn.org to find the link to the notice and pre-registration instructions. See everyone on May 20th!

☑ On April 19, for the first time this year in greater Minnesota, we held a Possibilities Fair for Seniors in Mankato. We had Ruth Sager, the national president of the NFB Seniors' division, as our keynote speaker, and the many seniors and family members in attendance were able to go around to stations and learn about how to accomplish various things without having to see--such as cooking, playing games and other leisure activities, using technology, traveling using a white cane, using the library for the blind and reading newspapers, and more. Of course, they learned about the benefits of joining in with an organization of people who can be supportive and also where they can be part of making change for the better, through the National Federation of the Blind of Minnesota's seniors' division and our organization as a whole. We thank Minnesota State Services for the Blind and BLIND, Incorporated, for helping to make this event a great success giving a foundation on which we can follow up to help seniors in Mankato and all over Minnesota.

→ We are working on re-starting our Minnesota Organization of Parents of Blind Children. Parents interested in learning more or being a part of it should feel free to contact Briley O'Connor at brileyoc at gmail.com or (703) 380-8876.

→ As mentioned in the most recent update, both of the budget proposals passed by the Minnesota House and Senate contain provisions that would curtail services to blind seniors in one way or another. This would, of course, cause a huge problem given that the number of seniors needing adjustment-to-blindness services will increase drastically in the coming years. If the senate budget bill were enacted, the budget for SSB would revert back to the pre-2016 level after 2019. The house bill doesn't decrease the funding, but it removes the language stating a specific amount to be used for services to seniors, and it also cuts the number of employees that SSB can have (this after they finally have been able to bring on people to provide services in some areas of rural Minnesota that did not have coverage before). A conference committee has been convened to resolve the differences in the house and senate budget. We need people to contact the ten members of the conference committee to tell them that the state must retain the resources that enable seniors losing vision to remain independently in their homes and communities--or else the state will end up paying much greater expenses in medical assistance for seniors if they go to assisted living or nursing homes unnecessarily. The base appropriation for Minnesota State Services for the Blind should not be decreased now or in the future, and the half a million per year should remain dedicated to services for seniors as it is in current statute. Phone numbers for the conferees follow:
Representative Pat Garofalo (58B): 651-296-1069 Representative Jim Newberger (15B): 651-296-2451 Representative Joe Hoppe (47B): 651-296-5066 Representative Marion O'Neill (29B): 651-296-5063 Representative Tim Mahoney (67A): 651-296-4277 Senator Jeremy Miller (28) 651-296-5649 Senator Gary Dahms (16): 651-296-8138 Senator David Osmek (33): 651-296-1282 Senator Paul Anderson (12) (651-296-4317 Senator Bobby Joe Champion (59) 651-296-9246

If you have any items to be included in future updates, please send them along.

To-Do List (AKA Things You Can Do To Help)

☐ Call both Senators Franken (202-224-5641) and Klobuchar
(202-224-3244 ) and ask them to cosponsor S. 732, the Access Technology Affordability Act.

☐ Call your Congressman or Congresswoman and ask him or her to cosponsor these three bills: the AIM HIGH Act (H.R. 1772), the Access Technology Affordability Act (H.R. 1734), and the TIME Act (H.R.
1377). If you aren't sure who your representative is, find the name and contact information by entering your zip code at http://www.house.gov/representatives/find/. If you'd prefer, the number to the Capitol Switchboard is 202-224-3121; from there, the operator can transfer you.
☐ Contact the conference committee members mentioned above to help protect adjustment-to-blindness training for seniors!
☐ Make your hotel reservations and preregister for the national convention in Orlando—the deadline to get the lower registration price is May 31): https://nfb.org/convention.

Important Dates Coming Up Soon:
• Monday, May 7: Application deadline for the 2017 NFB Youth Slam!
http://blindscience.org/nfb-youth-slam
• Saturday, May 20: Semiannual Convention (pre-registration and other details available soon) • Wednesday, May 31: Deadline to pre-register for National Convention:
http://lx-web.nfb.org/convention/preregistration.php.

Other dates to remember:

• Saturday, June 3: Next board meeting of NFB of Minnesota in Rochester • Thursday, June 8: Meeting of State Rehabilitation Council for the Blind http://mn.gov/deed/job-seekers/blind-visual-impaired/council/
• Monday July 10-Saturday July 15: 2017 National Convention in Orlando

The National Federation of the Blind knows that blindness is not the characteristic that defines you or your future. Every day we raise the expectations of blind people, because low expectations create obstacles between blind people and our dreams. You can live the life you want; blindness is not what holds you back

http://www.nfbmn.org

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/nfbmn

YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/nationsblind

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