[nabs-l] NABS Notes September 2015

Hindley Williams hbwilliams16 at gmail.com
Mon Sep 28 04:01:16 UTC 2015


Hello Fellow Students,
Below and attached, you will find the NABS Notes for September. This
month, take a look at the many state updates we have gathered from a
variety of student divisions, and a few announcements from NABS.
If you have any suggestions for the publication of the NABS Notes,
please feel free to send any thoughts my way at
hbwilliams16 at gmail.com.
Without further delay, here is this month's edition. Enjoy!

NABS Notes September 2015
In this edition of the NABS monthly bulletin:
1.	Kindle Products: Colleges and Universities
2.	Tune in: NABS President to be interviewed on KJSC Radio
3.	State Updates
4.	NABS Board Meeting Minutes

Kindel Products in Colleges and Universities:
Colleges and universities are implementing Kindle products at an
alarming rate and the NFB needs your help to expand our advocacy
efforts. Primarily, we need you to find out whether your school is
implementing or considering implementing an Amazon storefront,
Whispercast, or Kindle ebooks. If you learn that your school uses or
is planning to use Whispercast or Kindle content, we need you to
educate your school and administrators about the importance of ebook
accessibility. Be prepared to explain why accessibility is critical,
why it is important to ensure during the procurement phase that
technology is accessible, and that accessible technology is required
under the law. Provide your school with copies of the NFB's August 26,
2015, letter to the New York City Department of
Education<https://nfb.org/images/nfb/documents/pdf/kindle-books/nfb_letter_to_ramirez_8.26.15.pdf>,
ebook accessibility comparison
chart<https://nfb.org/images/nfb/documents/pdf/kindle-books/inaccessibility_of_kindle_books_chart_8.27.15.pdf>,
the U.S. Departments of Education and Justice's Joint Dear Colleague
letter<http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/letters/colleague-20100629.html>,
and the U.S. Department of Education's
FAQ<http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/dcl-ebook-faq-201105.html>
and May 6, 2013, letter from Seth
Galanter<https://nfb.org/images/nfb/documents/pdf/kindle-books/letter_from_seth_galanter_5.6.13.pdf>.
And, if you learn that your school uses or is planning to use
Whispercast or Kindle content, contact Valerie Yingling, paralegal at
the NFB, at vyingling at nfb.org<mailto:vyingling at nfb.org> or (410)
659-9314, extension 2440

Tune in: NABS President to be Interviewed on KJSC Radio:
Don’t miss it! Tune in on Tuesday, September 29 at 8 PM eastern to
hear an interview with Sean Whalen. To listen, go to kjscradio.com,
click on “listen,” and then select your media player.


State Updates:
The below announcements are printed as they were received from their senders.

Arizona:
FromSeptember 11 through the 13 we had our state convention which was
a lot of fun and a great success. Our state president Mr. Bob Kresmer
was reelected for the 11th term, and we had president Ricabono present
to share in the fun. Our former student division president Garret
Mooney was the recipient of the Arizona state scholarship this year
and was excited to receive this award when several of his mentors were
present. We are also excited to share with you that our student board
has a newly elected president Christian Able, and also new officers
and board members.
President: Christian Able
First Vice: Thomas Camargo
Second Vice: Isaac Zwinger
Secretary: Bryan Duarte
Treasurer: Jonathan Candler
First Board: McDaniel Murrieta
Second Board: Brittany Bomboy
Thank you to everyone who attended our state convention and we all
look forward to another year of service together!
California:
               CABS is moving full speed ahead toward our State
Convention, which will be held Oct. 30 through Nov. 1 in Newark, CA.
We look forward with eager anticipation to our business meeting, which
promises to be action packed. The theme this year will be Feeling the
Power! We will have speeches from, among others, National rep Pam
Allen and NABS rep Garret Mooney. Prior to the meeting we will have a
pizza social, where students can eat lots of amazing pie and meet lots
of even more amazing folks. And of course, convention isn’t convention
without a fund raiser. Taking inspiration from our friends in
Massachusetts, we are selling high quality dark chocolate bars from
Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods. So come join us, you California
dreamers, and let’s feel the power!




Connecticut:
The Connecticut Association of Blind Students is preparing for our
44th annual State Convention, which will take place in New London, CT,
from November 6-8. We will be selling our usual snackpacks; and
welcoming several new students to the Federation. In addition to the
Career Fair on Friday afternoon hosted by the affiliate, the students
will have our meeting over lunch on Saturday, followed by an
interactive and engaging Legislative Leadership Workshop hosted by the
National Association of Blind Students (NABS) and our very own CT
Affiliate. We are eager to award our state scholarships. Finally,
Connecticut students are proud to enjoy some time with many NABS Board
members during this week of learning, interaction, and teaching!

Georgia:
The Georgia Association of Blind Students invites you to join us at
our state convention from October 9-11 in Atlanta! Be a part of the
fun activities that we have in store, including a card games
fundraiser and a student meeting agenda packed full of informative
presentations. The date of our convention is swiftly approaching, so
contact us quickly if you would like to attend! Please email Justin
Heard, Georgia Student Division President, at
braillemasterjustin at gmail.com, or call him at (678) 516-2464.

Massachusetts:
Massachusetts is continuing our work on building our division. We have
recently scheduled a fall student social at Harvard Law School on
October 17 from 1-3 P.M.

We are also contacting every college and university DSS office to let
them know about our upcoming student event as well as information on
how to use the NABS and MASSABS student list as a crowd sourcing
resource.

Nevada:
        Coming up in five weeks, the Nevada Affiliate will be
gathering to continue our efforts in building the federation. We will
be holding our convention at the famous mane street station hotel in
Las Vegas NV. On the weekend of October 30–November 1. Our agenda has
some heavy hitting polititions, judges, and other influential
figures–do not miss out!

North Carolina:
The North Carolina Association of Blind Students is proud to report
that our annual State Convention was a huge success. With
presentations from both our National Rep Anil Lewis and our NABS Rep
Sean Whalen, our students were enlightened by words of inspiration,
positivity, and knowledge. Our three fundraisers turned out to be a
great success, raising over $500 through selling popcorn and soda,
hosting a lollipop tree raffle, and having some NC leaders get bailed
out for our jail-break fundraiser.
Our students got to welcome brand new members, while getting to know
our past leaders through a long drive to Wilmington, a student lunch,
and various activities during Convention.
A big congratulations to our two state scholarship winners: our
immediate past president Kathryn Webster and a new Federationist Katie
Pyant!
Our entire membership is eager for the upcoming year and would like to
welcome our newly elected officers to NCABS. Thank you to our past
leaders for such a successful year!
 President: Bobbi Pompey
1st Vice President: Trey Roach
2nd Vice President: Anderson Smallwood
Secretary: Kenia Flores
Treasurer: Alan Chase

Pennsylvania:
The Pennsylvania Association of Blind Students is gearing up for what
is sure to be a fantastic convention! Don’t miss out on the chance to
meet and network with other blind students from all over the state.
The convention is taking place from November 13-15 in Wilkes-Barre,
the exact town and weekend in which the National Federation of the
Blind was founded 75 years ago. If interested in attending or you have
questions, contact Hindley Williams at hbwilliams16 at gmail.com or (443)
823-0867.

Virginia:
The Virginia Association of Blind Students is preparing for what will
be an amazing convention, which will be held halloween weekend at
Tyson's Corner in Falls Church, VA. We are in the midst of planning
the youth track, which will involve a halloween themed meet and greet
on Friday evening where students will meet other students and mentors
and participate in icebreakers. In addition students will have a
travel excursion either at the Metro or the mall and will have a
seminar lead by one of our great leaders in the Federation. Saturday
afternoon, the student division will conduct our annual business
meeting, which will include elections. It will be an exciting time as
new leaders emerge. We are also planning to have two different
fundraisers during convention, one of which is a jailbreak fundraiser
borrowed from the North Carolina Association of Blind Students.


NABS Board Meeting Minutes:
September 27, 2015

Meeting called to order at 9:03 p.m.
 Members Present:
 Sean Whalen (President)
Candice Chapman (1st Vice President)
Bre Brown (2nd Vice President)
Kathryn Webster (Secretary/Treasurer)
Hindley Williams (Board Member 1)
Chris Nusbaum (Board member 3)

Treasurer’s Report:
Balance as of September 27, 2015: $4,967.42
Reimbursements to Sean and Garrett (NC/WA and CA) were issued.
Awaiting $45 from Karen from January’s auction.

Committee Reports
 Communications: Bre, Chris, Hindley
Working on a blog; will be up shortly. Committee call happened. We
have moderators for the NABS list.
Social media: We are growing a great deal on Twitter. If you see any
info you want posted or articles hsared, send to Chris Nusbaum at
dotkid.nusbaum at gmail.com
NABS Notes: Will be going out tomorrow. Please contact your state
presidents each month to urge them for NABS Notes updates!

Fundraising: Kathryn
Please distribute funding packet to student organizations, employers,
restaurants, and local businesses. Please share Gofundme page on all
social media outlets!
www.gofundme.com/blindstudents

Legislative: Sean, Kathryn
Anil Lewis, Patti Chang, Kathryn Webster, and Sean Whalen are handling
Washington Seminar sponsorships. Application for students will be out
before October 15. Applications will be due around November 15.
Notifications will be sent out around Thanksgiving.
Legislative Committee should make a packet to help state student
divisions during conventions and seminars. Template letters, sample
letters, how to write one, etc.
NABS is partnering with NFB of CT to host a Legislative Leadership
Seminar on November 7 from 1-5 p.m. in New London, CT. First 20
registrants will be paid for by the NFB of CT. To register:
http://goo.gl/forms/HLd0DC6RWF

Membership: Candice
Planning a membership call for October and December.
 Website: Kathryn
Please email Kathryn with any student division leadership updates
every time a Convention happens. That will have name, email, and phone
number for student presidents.
State Updates
New York NABS Rep: they want Bre; motion made to send Bre up to $165;
motion carries.
Illinois NABS Rep: Candice is going free of charge to NABS
Virginia NABS Rep: Kathryn is going free of charge to NABS; Chris will
go Saturday.
Georgia NABS Rep: We are sending Hindley for $90
Louisiana NABS Rep: Bre is going free of charge to NABS
Michigan wants a NABS update: Candice will handle it on November 7,
from 12-2 pm central
 Meeting adjourned at 9:52 p.m.



-- 
Hindley Williams
hbwilliams16 at gmail.com
(443) 823-0867
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