[Mn-at-large] Fwd: NFB President’s Notebook - week of 07/ 24/2017

Tue Jul 25 02:15:57 UTC 2017

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>President's Notebook
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>National Federation of the Blind
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>Mark A. Riccobono
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><mailto:officeofthepresident at nfb.org>officeofthepresident at nfb.org
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>(410) 659-9314
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>Dear Fellow Federationists,
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>I am fully energized after a great 2017 national 
>convention. Thank you for the work each of you 
>did to make it a smooth, energetic, and powerful 
>convention this year. The number of first-timers 
>was impressive as always, and I noted a number 
>of leaders helping to make sure our rookies had a great experience.
>
>This morning I was in Towson, Maryland, for the 
>kick-off of our 2017 NFB Youth Slam. It is 
>impressive to me that we have a number of 
>Federationists who grew up in the NFB Youth Slam 
>program now serving as mentors in 2017. 
>Moreover, we have some of our mentors back again 
>who began working with our STEM programs back in 
>2004 when we first started this journey. It is 
>really inspiring to watch our students become 
>mentors and it gives me great hope for the plans 
>we have in store for the next five years. Our 
>educational programs are among the most 
>important things that we do—let's keep building 
>the pipeline that brings young people intoo our organization.
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>I note that we are also in the middle of a 
>number of NFB BELL Academies—many happening for 
>the first time in certain sttates. I encourage 
>you to follow the hashtags #NFBYouthSlam and 
>#NFBBELL to keep up on the milestones being achieved this summer.
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>This week is the twenty-seventh anniversary of 
>the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). This 
>past Saturday, I participated in an ADA 
>celebration in Maryland. As Senator Ben Cardin 
>said at that event, "We can celebrate for the 
>next hour or so and then it is back to work." As 
>you engage in ADA events across the country, 
>continue to remind people of the importance of 
>having a National Federation of the Blind and 
>the need for us to continue emphasizing our 
>advocacy priorities at the local, state, and 
>national levels. We should be proud of what we 
>have built, but we should recognize that it 
>continues to thrive because we work on building it every day.
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>News:
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>Links to Speeches:
>For those members of your affiliate that were 
>unable to attend convention or who want to enjoy 
>the convention speeches again, I am sending the 
>links to the 
><https://nfb.org/images/nfb/publications/convent/2017/presidential-report-2017.html>2017 
>President Report and 
><https://nfb.org/images/nfb/publications/convent/2017/banquet-speech-2017.html>the 
>banquet speech, 
><https://nfb.org/images/nfb/publications/convent/2017/banquet-speech-2017.html>Innovation, 
>Blindness, and the Emerging Pattern of Thought.
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>ADA Regulation Update:
>The National Federation of the Blind has been 
>working to encourage the promulgation of ADA 
>Title II and Title III internet regulations. On 
>July 20, 2017, the Office of Management and 
>Budget released the Unified Agenda of Regulatory 
>and Deregulatory Actions announcing that the 
>Administration was suspending action on hundreds 
>of regulations, including the ADA Title II and 
>Title III internet regulations. We are 
>evaluating next steps, and I will keep you informed on needed advocacy.
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>Legislative Directors Contact Information Needed:
>The Advocacy and Policy team would like to 
>update the list of legislative directors. Please 
>confirm your current legislative director or 
>directors. If your affiliate does not currently 
>have a legislative director, please appoint one. 
>Please send their first and last name, email 
>address, and phone number to Kyle Walls at 
><mailto:kwalls at nfb.org>kwalls at nfb.org.
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>USPS Service Issues:
>Over the weekend our Oregon affiliate created 
>significant social media traffic resulting from 
>a member being denied assistance at a post 
>office. You may recall I wrote about this in the 
><https://nfb.org/images/nfb/publications/bm/bm17/bm1705/bm170508.htm>May 
>issue of the 
><https://nfb.org/images/nfb/publications/bm/bm17/bm1705/bm170508.htm>Braille 
>Monitor. If members of your affiliate are 
>experiencing similar problems, and you are 
>unable to persuade postal officials that the 
>USPS policies do not prohibit them from 
>assisting blind people, please let me know. We 
>may wish to take more advanced actions to help 
>break down this barrier for blind people.
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>Reminder:
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>National Division Reports:
>Please remember that, per my email of July 6, 
>2017, I am expecting to receive the new national 
>division report from each division president. I 
>expect that much of the information was compiled 
>for the division meetings at convention, so it 
>should be relatively simple to complete the 
>report. Please send this to me by August 15, 2017.
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>Dates to Keep in Mind:
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>Â·        July 23-29, 2017: 
><http://www.blindscience.org/nfb-youth-slam>Youth Slam, Towson University
>Â·        September 12-17, 2017: 
><http://blindmerchants.org/blast-2017/>BLAST, Nashville, Tennessee
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>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.
>
>Mark A. Riccobono
>President
>200 East Wells Street, Baltimore, MD 21230
>(410) 659-9314 | 
><mailto:officeofthepresident at nfb.org>officeofthepresident at nfb.org
>
>
><https://nfb.org/>
>National Federation of the Blind
>
>
> 
><http://www.facebook.com/nationalfederationoftheblind>
>Facebook
>     <https://twitter.com/NFB_Voice>
>Twitter
>     <https://www.youtube.com/NationsBlind>
>Youtube
>
>
>The National Federation of the Blind is a 
>community of members and friends who believe in 
>the hopes and dreams of the nationâ€™s blind. 
>Every day we work together to help blind people live the lives they want.
>
>
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