[NFB-Idaho] Washington Seminar next week!

[Ramona]

The Washington Seminar is the second most important and second biggest event in the NFB each year! This year it will be virtual which means we can have more people involved than ever before! The Great Gathering In meeting Monday afternoonstevening is open to everyone and anyone! It begins at 3:00 pm our time and will be available immediately afterward on youtube at The Nation's Blind site. I think that means that it can also be accessed on Alexa. It sets the pulse for the seminar and includes a lot of great information. I urge everybody to attend! I am sure that Dave Andrews will send out zoom contact information which will include the id number for landline callers on nfbnet_org lists some time over the weekend. We can repeat it on this list. 

The meetings with Congressmen and Senators will be a separate zoom number which will be sent to those who coordinate with Dana the activities in these meeings. Those meetings will give a feel for how the offices of our elected representatives work. Appointments with Senators will be with staff because of the Senate trial. Most staff members are well informed. Many take more time than the Senators and ask good questions, so they can be very interesting and effective. If you want to participate in these meetings or some of them, please let President Dana know. Dana will organize and lead each meeting. 

There are four issues we will highlight in our meetings, and the meetings will be short, so we must be organized and well prepared. The issues are all presented in fact sheets on the nfb_org welsite. These are the fact sheets that we will give to each of our representatives and Senators, so we need to be prepared to explain what they say. Where possible short personal stories are very well received. There is also a sample interview on the same website. 

Are you getting excited? This is an opportunity for all, and high school students should be encouraged to participate! 


Just in case you wonder, these four issues are not the only ones we work on with Congress. There was a raise the Minimum Wage bill introduced a few days ago which includes pay in sheltered workshops for the blind which has been below the current minimum wage in some shops. This bill includes a very nice provision to bring all wages for the disabled up to the minimum. It may come up in some meetings next week, but will not need to be addressed with every member of Congress. If we get questions, Dana will be able to handle them. 
Cheers! 
Ramona