[Nfb-or] Student Outreach

[Haben Girma]

Dear Mike,

You have a great idea. Perhaps we should write letters to the schools 
and agencies offering to give presentations. I used to give 
presentations in my community back in California after I came back from 
a volunteer trip to West Africa. All of us--Joseph, Renee, Bill, and 
others--have stories to share with students. We could go to schools that 
have blind students to provide advice about getting into college and 
succeeding in college, and in the process representing the NFB of Oregon 
and encouraging the students to join. I absolutely agree with you that 
friendships are powerful tools for drawing people into an organization. 
I'm contemplating an outreach program that would result in both 
friendships and new members...

The summer months are approaching and many high school and college 
students might be harder to reach. Although if we get the word out soon 
enough we might be able to get in touch with those whose semesters don't 
end until mid June. I'll have plenty of time in a week when finals are 
over at Lewis & Clark College. Perhaps Joseph and Renee will be done 
with their semesters soon, too.

There are several of us around the state and we can all focus on 
reaching out to those in our regions. Those in the Portland region have 
had two meetings thus far, but, if I remember correctly, there are 
students in Corvallis and Eugene who are interested but have not yet 
been able to meet with other students in the division due to 
transportation and distance... The student division can have a meeting 
during state Convention, though, so that will give us a chance to meet 
everyone from all the corners of Oregon. Until then, we can use letters, 
emails, and those who are interested could do presentations at the 
schools in their areas.

Would anyone be interested in going to a school in Oregon to give a 
presentation?


Haben

Mike Freeman wrote:
> Haben:
>
> I have not met you although I more-than-anxious to do so. I'm President 
> of the NFB of Washington.
>
> Your ideas below are great and should all be tried. But in my 
> experience, the only thing that *really* works is personal outreach, 
> i.e., going to the high schools and colleges and actually advertising 
> for and holding meetings to gauge the interest of blind students. Making 
> friends is the best way to welcome and engage new members. I know funds 
> and time are tight but the personal touch will accomplish far more than 
> will written correspondence although email works somewhat better in that 
> many of your generation consider it almost as good as personal 
> communication.
>
> Just one old curmudgeon's opinion.
>
> Warmly,
>
> Mike Freeman, President
> National Federation of the Blind of Washington
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Haben Girma" <habnkid at aol.com>
> To: "NFB of Oregon mailing list" <nfb-or at nfbnet.org>; "Vivian M. Smith" 
> <vmsmith76 at charter.net>
> Sent: Saturday, May 02, 2009 1:16 PM
> Subject: [Nfb-or] Student Outreach
>
>
> Hello all,
>
> The student division wants to reach out to more students, and we need
> help sending letters to high schools, colleges, and agencies for the
> blind in Oregon that can pass our message on to blind students. Please
> let me know if you would like to help out.
>
> Haben
>
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