[NFB-Maryland] NFBMD Week in Annapolis - volunteers Needed, Training Meeting Information, and Legislative Priorities

Mon Jan 18 01:23:33 UTC 2021

All,

This message contains a lot of information, so please read through to the
end.  

1.       WE are looking for volunteers to attend meetings with the Maryland
General Assembly during our NFBMD Week In Annapolis.  

2.       We are also looking for volunteers to serve as Zoom hosts for those
meetings.  

3.       We are sharing information about issue training meetings so
participants can prepare to talk about our legislative priorities for the
2021 General Assembly.  

4.       We are sharing the Fact Sheets for our three legislative priorities
for 2021.  

5.       We are explaining when each geographic area will have the bulk of
its meetings.

6.       We are providing the Zoom information for the Issues Training
meetings.

This year, instead of our usual Day in Annapolis, we will be holding a Week
in Annapolis.  Due to some schedule changes on the part of the Maryland
General Assembly, our Week in Annapolis dates are now January 21 - 28, 2021.

1.       Seeking Volunteers to Participate in Legislative Meetings

We will specifically have meetings on January 21, 26, 27, and 28.  We have
broken down the 188 appointments by geographic area, and so we do need
volunteers to participate in those virtual meetings.  We'd like people to
attend the meetings for their particular district (and we'll try to make
that happen) and also the general geographic area surrounding their
district.  But there are also districts with few NFBMD constituents, so we
are also looking for folks who can attend any district meetings on any day.
I'll share more information about the geographic breakdown later in this
email.  Meanwhile, if you are available to participate in any of the days
January 21, 26, 27, or 28 for our NFBMD 2021 Week in Annapolis, please let
Sharon Maneki, our Director of Legislation and Advocacy know.  You can email
her at Nfbmdsm at gmail.com <mailto:Nfbmdsm at gmail.com>  or at 410-715-9596.
Please let her know by the end of the day Tuesday, January 19, 2021 if you
can participate.  Be sure to tell her your name, how we can best reach you
(email is preferred but not required) to share Zoom information, your state
legislative district, if you know it, and your county.

2.       Seeking Zoom Hosts for Legislative Meetings

We are also in need of folks who are comfortable hosting Zoom meetings.  If
you are able to perform the duties of a Zoom host, please contact me to let
me know what days you are available.  You do not need to provide a Zoom
account for us to use to be a host.  Please email me at President at nfbmd.org
<mailto:President at nfbmd.org>  by Tuesday, January 19, 2021.

3.       Training on Issues

We will also be holding two meetings to prepare for the Week in Annapolis
and go over the issues, teams, and assignments.  You only need to attend one
of the meetings and not both.  Team Leads will attend a separate meeting (on
January 19 at 9PM; Sharon will send out the meeting information to team
leads directly) in addition to one of the issues meetings.  The issues
meetings will take place at 8PM on Wednesday, January 20, 2021 and at 8PM on
Monday, January 25, 2021.  Anyone attending legislative appointments on
Thursday, January 21 should attend the issues meeting on the 20th.  The
access information for both meetings is the same.  It can be found at the
bottom of this message.

4.       Legislative Priorities and Fact Sheets

This year, there are three legislative priorities:

a.       Desegregating Voting based on disability

b.       Nonvisual accessibility in K-12 Education

c.       Funding for the Center for Excellence in Nonvisual Access

The three fact sheets are attached.

5.       Schedule of Meeting Broken Down by Geographic Area

We have tried to organize constituent meetings by geographic location.  

-          Thursday, January 21 - Ann Arundel, Howard, Carrol, and Frederick
Counties

-          Tuesday, January 26 - Western Maryland, Eastern Shore, Southern
Maryland (Tri-county area), and Harford County

-          Wednesday, January 27 - Baltimore City and Baltimore Counties

-          Thursday, January 28 - Montgomery and Prince Georges Counties

6.       Zoom Call In Information for Issues Training Meetings

Join Zoom Meeting

https://zoom.us/j/6248138327?pwd=eTZlYUgwR3ZQVVl1dXBLSHcrbml1QT09

Meeting ID: 624 813 8327

Passcode: 63263

One tap mobile

+13017158592,,6248138327# US (Washington D.C)

+16468769923,,6248138327# US (New York)

If you have questions, please let Sharon or me know.

Thanks,

Ronza

Ronza Othman, President

National Federation of the Blind of Maryland

443-426-4110

Pronouns: she, her, hers

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.

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