[nabs-l] The "state of the student divisions"

Tue May 5 01:36:22 UTC 2009

Hi all,

Having watched this thread unfold over the past few days, I don’t feel
it is necessary or appropriate for us to be sending emails back and
forth with such an accusatory tone. The grant opportunity did go out
on the list, but as others have pointed out, many of us simply missed
it. This isn’t anybody’s fault but just something that happens on
high-traffic email lists. In the future we may want to set up a page
within the NABS website to post such grant opportunities, and/or
repost it a few times.

I also don’t feel it appropriate for us to be putting down student
divisions who knew about the grant but who didn’t follow up on it.
This should be seen as a learning opportunity for the future rather
than a chance to tear each other down.

Our student divisions are all in existence because of the motivation
and drive of their leaders, but as we’ve discussed frequently here and
at NABS events, many of our state divisions are small, young, and/or
struggling to establish or maintain basic structure. Again, much of
this is just a result of being part of a small community, and being
students. There simply aren’t a huge number of blind students in any
state, and student organizations in general tend to be transient at
times. For these reasons, it can be difficult for many state divisions
to get organized quickly enough to decide what kind of project they
would want to do with grant funding, let alone writing a proposal and
being  able to commit to pulling it off. For example, when I was
president of  the Arizona student division we wanted to organize a
camping/hiking trip, but we simply couldn’t get enough students to
make a commitment to participate to go forward with planning the
logistics. In this kind of situation a grant may or may not have
helped to bring more students into the event—money is nice, but isn’t
everything.

That’s not to say that we should just accept inactivity from our
student divisions, however. Let’s see Joe’s message as a challenge
rather than an attack, and all go back to our states to decide what
new projects we’d like to initiate, and make a real commitment to
spearhead these projects. It doesn’t have to be anything big, or even
anything that requires outside funding, but just something new to get
more students in or at least to motivate and inspire our existing
members.

Remember that the NABS board members are all here to offer support and
guidance, and feel free to email any of us if you have questions, or
even if you’d just like one of us to sit in on your next division
conference call.

Respectfully,
Arielle Silverman
First Vice-President, NABS

On 5/5/09, T. Joseph Carter <carter.tjoseph at gmail.com> wrote:
> Jim,
>
> I think it's a fair concern.  There are lots of reasons why students
> divisions may not be doing well, but if they are not, we need to know
> about it.  Certainly, Joe cannot be expected to do more--and we all
> have our own circumstances that may reduce what time we can give to
> the organization.
>
> Even so, if more is needed, need to be honest with ourselves about
> the nature of the problem or else we cannot solve it.  I don't know
> if Joe's concern is founded or not, since I can speak only for
> Oregon.
>
> Joseph
>
>
> On Mon, May 04, 2009 at 01:22:48PM -0700, Jim Reed wrote:
>>Joe,
>>I am somewhat offended by you questioning the state of the state student
>> divisions, simply based on the poor turnout for your grant.
>>
>>I will tell you what the state of the state divisions is:
>>
>>As students we are all still learning.
>>
>>As students, we are all busy.
>>
>>We are all hear as volunteers because we want to be. We are hoping to make
>> a better life for ourselves and others; but, as vollenteeers, we are not
>> obligated to do anyuthing.
>>
>>As volunteers, not all of us will have the all the requisite skills needed
>> to serve our organizations, thus serving in a state division is also a
>> learning oppertunity. It is incumbent upon national and state leadership
>> to make sure we have the oppertunity to learn the  requisite skills.
>>
>>So Joe, next time, instead of threatening to call people out for being lazy
>> if they don't fill out your grant application, offer to teach us the grant
>> writing process. If you truely think we are incapable to manage a grant,
>> then do something to fix that situation.  Otherwise, please keep your
>> judgemental comments to yourself.
>>
>>The state of the state divisions is not one of appathy; given the right
>> conditions and oppertunities, it is one of desire, energy, and willingness
>> to learn.
>>
>>Respectfully,
>>Jim Reed
>>President, Montana Association of Blind Students
>>
>>
>>
>>"Ignorance killed the cat; curiosity was framed."
>>
>>
>>
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