[NFB-Maryland] Kenneth Jernigan Scholarship for First-Time National Convention Attendees: Deadline April 15, 2020

[president at nfbmd.org]

Fellow Federationists

 

The 2020 NFB National Convention is an experience you do not want to miss.
Many of those who have attended our national NFB  conventions are amazed at
how meeting and interacting with over 3000  other blind and low vision
convention attendees has positively changed their  lives. They not only
learn how the problems of vision loss can be overcome, but also experience
the confidence that comes with solutions.

If you have never attended a convention, we offer the Kenneth Jernigan
Convention Scholarship program to assist you in attending the convention and
getting the most from the experience.  The deadline to apply is April 15,
2020.

Kenneth Jernigan Convention Scholarship 

By Tracy Soforenko


Have you always wanted to attend an NFB annual convention but have not done
so because of the lack of funds? The Kenneth Jernigan Convention Scholarship
Fund invites you to make an application for a scholarship grant. Perhaps
this July you too can be in the Hilton Americas Hotel in Houston, Texas,
enjoying the many pleasures and learning opportunities at the largest and
most important yearly convention of blind people in the world.

The three biggest ticket items you need to cover when attending an NFB
national convention are the roundtrip transportation, the hotel room for a
week, and the food (which tends to be higher priced than at home). We
attempt to award additional funds to families, but, whether a family or an
individual is granted a scholarship, this fund can only help; it won't pay
all the costs. Most years the grants were in the range of $400 to $500 per
individual. In 2019, ninety grants were offered.

We recommend that you find an NFB member as your personal convention mentor,
someone who has been to many national conventions and is able to share
money-saving tips with you and tips on navigating the extensive agenda in
the big hotel. Your mentor will help you get the most out of the amazing
experience that is convention week.

Who is eligible?

Active NFB members, blind or sighted, who have not yet attended an NFB
national convention because of lack of funding are eligible to apply.

How do I apply for funding assistance?

This year, we will be accepting applications online. Since applications must
be completed in a single session online, we strongly recommend you prepare
your responses in a document then cut and paste your responses into the
application form. The application form does not support complex formatting,
so we recommend avoiding formatting such as bullet points and fonts/styles.

The application form can be found at the following link:
https://www.nfb.org/get-involved/national-convention/kenneth-jernigan-conven
tion-scholarship. The deadline for submissions is April 15, 2020.

The application will ask for the following information:

Contact information: Include your full name and both your primary phone
where you can be contacted by your state President and your mobile phone you
might use at convention, if available.

Please include your mailing address and, if you have one, your email
address. If you don't have an email address, please consider if there is a
friend or chapter member who might be able to assist with email
correspondence.

State affiliate/chapter information: Include your state affiliate, your
state president, chapter, and chapter president, if you attend a chapter.

Mentor information: Include your personal convention mentor and provide that
person's phone number.

Funding request: Include your specific request and explain how much money
you need from this fund to make this trip possible for you. We suggest you
consult with other members to make a rough budget for yourself.

Essay questions to explain why this is a good investment for the NFB: How do
you currently participate in the Federation? Why do you want to attend a
national convention? What would you receive? What can you share or give? Any
special circumstances you hope the committee will take into consideration.

If you cannot apply online, you can still apply by writing a letter to your
state affiliate president answering the above questions. This letter should
be emailed to your state affiliate President. Once you have decided you will
apply, please contact your state president in person or by phone to request
his or her help in obtaining funding. Be sure to tell the state affiliate
president when to expect that your application will be submitted and mention
the deadline.

Once your application has been submitted, your application will be provided
to your state president via email. It is still your responsibility to
contact your affiliate president. He or she must email a president's
recommendation directly to the Kenneth Jernigan Convention Scholarship Fund
Committee at kjscholarships at nfb.org <mailto:kjscholarships at nfb.org> . Your
president must email the recommendation no later than the deadline of April
15, 2020. If you have applied outside of the online form, the state
affiliate president must email both the recommendation and the application
letter.

Notification of Award

If you are chosen to receive this scholarship, you will receive a letter
with convention details that should answer most of your questions. The
committee makes every effort to notify winners by May 15, but you must do
several things before that to be prepared to attend if you are chosen:

Make your own hotel reservation. If something prevents you from attending,
you can cancel the reservation. (Yes, you may arrange for roommates of your
own to reduce the cost.)

Register online for the entire convention, including the banquet, by May 31.

Find someone in your chapter or affiliate who has been to many conventions
and can answer your questions as a friend and mentor.

If you do not hear from the committee by May 15, then you did not win a
scholarship this year.

Receiving the Award

At the convention you will be given a debit card or credit card loaded with
the amount of your award. The times and locations to pick up your card will
be listed in the letter we send you. The committee is not able to provide
funds before the convention, so work with your chapter and state affiliate
to assist you by obtaining an agreement to advance funds if you win a
scholarship, and to pay your treasury back after you receive your debit or
credit card.

More Information

For additional information, please contact the chairman of the Kenneth
Jernigan Convention Scholarship Fund Committee, Tracy Soforenko, at
kjscholarships at nfb.org <mailto:kjscholarships at nfb.org>  or 410-659-9314,
extension 2415.

Above all, please use this opportunity to attend your first convention on
the national level and join several thousand active Federationists in the
most important meeting of the blind in the world. We hope to see you in
Houston.

 

 

 

 

Ronza Othman, President

National Federation of the Blind of Maryland

443-426-4110

 

The National Federation of the Blind of Maryland 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.

 

 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://nfbnet.org/pipermail/nfb-maryland_nfbnet.org/attachments/20200328/551767e5/attachment.html>