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<h1><b>President's Notebook</b></h1><br><br>
<br>
<h1><b>National Federation of the Blind</b></h1><br><br>
<br>
<h1><b>Mark A. Riccobono</b></h1><br><br>
<br>
<h1><b><a href="mailto:officeofthepresident@nfb.org">
officeofthepresident@nfb.org</a></b></h1><br><br>
<br>
<h1><b>(410) 659-9314</b></h1><br><br>
<br>
Dear Fellow Federationists,<br>
<br>
March is a busy month in the National Federation of the Blind. We had the
Eighty-Sixth Leadership Seminar here at the national headquarters, and we
have a number of events coming up later this month. The spring convention
season has started and registration is now open for our national
convention.<br>
<br>
A member recently asked me how long our building would be closed for
remodeling. I was surprised to get this question. Although the tenBroek
Fund has taken on some remodeling projects, we do not expect any of the
work to close our building or even disrupt our operations—except for
kicking up some dust herre and there. If you hear members wondering about
our building being closed, please let them know that we plan to continue
to be open for business, with little impact from the construction. On a
side note, we did experience several hours without power last Friday due
to the wind storm, but the Leadership Seminar was unfazed by the
outage—although many of our staff members who work on computers did
find some time to take care of Federation business that does not require
electricity.<br>
<br>
I am starting to turn my attention to the national convention, and I am
eager to have your suggestions for general session items. Please send
them along very soon as the convention will be here before we know
it.<br>
<br>
Do not forget to move your clocks forward an hour this weekend or, since
your clock will adjust for you, do not forget that you will lose an hour
of sleep this weekend.<br>
<br><br>
<h2><b>News:</b></h2><br><br>
Presidential Release:<br>
The <a href="https://nfb.org/presidential-releases">March Presidential
Release</a> is available in English and Spanish. Transcripts will be
posted as soon as they are available.<br>
<br>
National Convention:<br>
<a href="https://convention.nfb.org/">Preregistration is open</a> for the
<a href="https://nfb.org/convention">2018 National Federation of the
Blind National Convention</a>. <br>
<br>
Legislative Action:<br>
Our legislative priorities continue to gain momentum in both the House
and Senate. In the House, the Aim High Act has sixty-nine cosponsors, of
which the two most recent are Derek Kilmer of Washington and Dwight Evans
of Pennsylvania. In the Senate, the Access Technology Affordability Act
has a total of ten cosponsors, of which the most recent are Gary Peters
of Michigan, Deb Fischer of Nebraska, and James Inhofe of Oklahoma.
Special thanks to Nebraska and Oklahoma for securing the support of these
two influential senators. <br>
<br><br>
<h2><b>Dates to Keep in Mind:</b></h2><br><br>
<ul>
<li>March 31, 2018: <a href="https://nfb.org/scholarships">Deadline for
scholarship applications</a>
<li>March 22-23, 2018: <a href="https://nfb.org/law-symposium">Jacobus
tenBroek Disability Law Symposium</a>
<li>April 15, 2018: Deadline for
<a href="https://nfb.org/bolotin-award-main">2018 Dr. Jacob Bolotin Award
competition</a>
<li>July 3-8, 2018: <a href="https://nfb.org/convention">National
Federation of the Blind National Convention</a>, Orlando, Florida
<li>July 29-August 4, 2018:
<a href="http://www.blindscience.org/nfbeq">NFB EQ</a>
</ul> <br>
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.<br>
<br>
Mark A. Riccobono<br>
President<br>
200 East Wells Street, Baltimore, MD 21230<br>
(410) 659-9314 |
<a href="mailto:officeofthepresident@nfb.org">
officeofthepresident@nfb.org</a> <br>
<br>
<br>
<a href="https://nfb.org/">
<img src="cid:7.1.0.9.2.20180306202544.05cb84c0@visi.com.4" width=210 height=76 alt="National Federation of the Blind">
</a><br>
<br>
<a href="http://www.facebook.com/nationalfederationoftheblind">
<img src="cid:7.1.0.9.2.20180306202544.05cb84c0@visi.com.5" width=24 height=24 alt="Facebook">
</a>
<a href="https://twitter.com/NFB_Voice">
<img src="cid:7.1.0.9.2.20180306202544.05cb84c0@visi.com.6" width=24 height=24 alt="Twitter">
</a>
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/NationsBlind">
<img src="cid:7.1.0.9.2.20180306202544.05cb84c0@visi.com.7" width=24 height=24 alt="Youtube">
</a><br>
<br>
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.
<br>
<br>
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