[Mn-at-large] NFB President’s Notebook - week of 06/05/ 2017
President, National Federation of the Blind
OfficeOfThePresident at nfb.org
Tue Jun 6 03:00:41 UTC 2017
Presidents Notebook
National Federation of the Blind
Mark A. Riccobono
<mailto:officeofthepresident at nfb.org>officeofthepresident at nfb.org
(410) 659-9314
Dear Fellow Federationists,
As we come down to the final month before our
national convention, a lot of our energy is being
spent on the final preparations. Maybe you have
missed some of the announcements, or maybe you
are new and are overwhelmed by the details. Let
me help you break down some of the key things you
should be paying attention to and guiding our members to pay attention to:
· Resolutions: the June issue of the
Braille Monitor includes an announcement about
resolutions and the deadline for resolutions.
Please be working to get your resolutions to the committee ASAP.
· Preregistration is now closed and the
hotel is basically full. Please remind members
they can still register at the convention and
there are still some overflow rooms available
until Wednesday, June 7. We should continue to
encourage participation in the convention. After
Wednesday there may be hotel rooms available, but the block will be closed.
Thank you for your work to build our
organization. As you know, the convention is the
most important meeting we have and your
involvement in making it a smooth and enjoyable experience for all is critical.
Critical Actions This Week:
Legislative Alert:
Watch for an upcoming legislative alert coming
from John Pare. Congress is back in session this
week; please call by Friday, June 9, to request
your representative to cosponsor H.R. 1772, H.R.
1734, and H.R. 1377. Please also call your two
senators and ask them to cosponsor S. 732. The
best way to contact your member of Congress is to
call the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121
and ask for the office in question. Emailing your
member of Congress is also a good idea. If you do
so, please copy <mailto:JPare at nfb.org>JPare at nfb.org.
We are hoping to significantly raise the number
of cosponsors on all of our bills before
convention but we cannot do it without everyone
working together. Your calls and emails make a big difference.
News:
New Text-to-Give Campaign:
Our Imagination Fund Committee is pleased to
announce a text-to-give campaign that we will
kick off at our national convention. Text-to-give
allows anyone to make a $25 donation to the
National Federation of the Blind with a simple
text message from his or her mobile
phone. Anyone who can text can give easily, and
thanks to AT&T covering the cost for a limited
time, the National Federation of the Blind will
receive 100 percent of each contribution.
Contributors can make a gift regardless of which
phone carrier they use. This is an opportunity
for us to identify those individuals who are not
members of the organization but want to support
the good work that we do. We need your help
identifying individuals in your extended network
of family, friends, colleagues, and service
providers. Their gift will assist a newly blind
person with independent travel through our free
white cane program, help a child learn to read
through our Braille Reading Pals program, assist
blind veterans regain their independence, and so
much more. Please take the time to share the
names and email addresses of potential supporters
by visiting
<https://nfb.org/text2017>https://nfb.org/text2017.
When the campaign starts we will send an email
inviting all of these individuals to share in the
great things we do every day to help blind people live the lives they want.
Reminders:
Affiliate Website Support:
There is still limited availability in the
website training to interested affiliate
webmasters at the Jernigan Institute this summer.
On August 25-26, attendees will become familiar
with the Drupal theme and learn to build a
working affiliate website on the Drupal platform.
If you are interested in sending a webmaster for
Drupal website training, contact John Berggren
(extension 2329 or
<mailto:jberggren at nfb.org>jberggren at nfb.org) for additional information.
Convention Fundraising Announcements:
Don’t forget that you can share your convention
fundraising announcements via the new online
form. In an effort to make information about
fundraising more readily available to convention
attendees and cut down on the number of listserv
emails during the busy convention season, we’ve
put together the
<https://nfb.org/fundraising-announcement-form>fundraising
announcement form for affiliates and
national-level divisions. If you will be selling
candy, raffle tickets, or other items to benefit
the NFB at the convention and would like to let
folks know, fill out the form at
<https://nfb.org/fundraising-announcement-form>nfb.org/fundraising-announcement-form.
All announcements will be posted at
<https://nfb.org/national-fundraising-announcements>nfb.org/national-fundraising-announcements.
If you have any questions, please contact the
communications team at
<mailto:communicationsteam at nfb.org>communicationsteam at nfb.org.
Kernel Books:
Free cases of Kernel Books are still available.
Kernel Book titles are available:
· Oh, Wow
· Safari
· Reaching for the Top in the Land Down Under
· Not Much of a Muchness
· The Lessons of the Earth
· Imagine
· Celebrate
If you are interested in receiving a case of any
of these titles, please contact Ellen Ringlein in
the Independence Market at (410) 659-9314,
extension 2216, or at
<mailto:independencemarket at nfb.org>independencemarket at nfb.org.
Do You Dream in Color?:
We are working with the filmmakers to host
screenings of Do You Dream in Color? across the
country, and have developed a tool kit for anyone
looking for more information about hosting a
screening. For more information about the film
and how to get the toolkit, go to
<http://www.doyoudreamincolor.com/>http://www.doyoudreamincolor.com/.
Dates to Keep in Mind:
· July 10-15, 2017:
<https://nfb.org/images/nfb/publications/bm/bm16/bm1611/bm161101.htm>National
Convention, Rosen Shingle Creek Resort, Orlando, Florida
· July 23-29, 2017:
<http://www.blindscience.org/nfb-youth-slam>Youth Slam, Towson University
· September 12-17, 2017:
<http://blindmerchants.org/blast-2017/>BLAST, Nashville, Tennessee
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 nation’s blind.
Every day we work together to help blind people live the lives they want.
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