[NFBF-Melbourne] [NFBF-Daytona] NFB of Florida - two very important legislative meetings to be held - Wednesday, October 22nd and Tuesday, October 28th...your attendance is needed at both...please open and read...

[Brian Norton]

Please become aware of these proposed changes which severely impact services available to Blind and other Floridians with disabilities,

Brian Edward Norton
Florida Bar #1033481
National Federation of the Blind of Florida NFBF
NFBF Greater Daytona Beach President
Conklin Davis Center for the visually Impaired Vice Chairman
Ponce Inlet and Conklin Davis Lions Clubs member
briannorton.flalaw at gmail.com<mailto:briannorton.flalaw at gmail.com>
386.871.3359
"Kindness is an Attitude the Blind can See
and the Deaf can Hear"- Mark Twain

From: NFBF-Daytona <nfbf-daytona-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of russell--- via NFBF-Daytona
Sent: Tuesday, October 21, 2025 8:18 AM
Cc: russell at radiorusty.com; 'NFB of Florida Jacksonville List' <nfbf-jacksonville at nfbnet.org>; 'NFBF-Statewide' <NFBF-Statewide at nfbnet.org>; 'NFB of Florida Greater Daytona Beach Chapter List' <nfbf-daytona at nfbnet.org>; 'NFB of Florida Melbourne Space Coast Chapter List'' <nfbf-melbourne at nfbnet.org>; nfbf-miami-dade at nfbnet.org
Subject: [NFBF-Daytona] NFB of Florida - two very important legislative meetings to be held - Wednesday, October 22nd and Tuesday, October 28th...your attendance is needed at both...please open and read...
Good morning, Federation family,
October is turning out to be an extremely busy month in terms of legislative advocacy.
Some extremely important issues have developed since convention, and we all need to work together to address them immediately. This email will provide information about an urgent legislative concerns and advocacy meeting that we will hold tomorrow evening at 7:00 PM and about a follow-up meeting to be held on Zoom on Tuesday, October 28th at 8:00 PM. Please try and make time for both meetings if you can.

Last evening President Riccobono convened a meeting of Legislative Directors and Affiliate Presidents. Both Camille Tate and I were in attendance. I noted that nearly 90 Federationists from around the country were also present. To lessen my tendency of being redundant, below I'm going to paste an excerpt from a legislative/news alert released by the National Federation of the Blind on October 14th. This alert was sent out via our national email list serve last week and so, perhaps you have seen it recently. The message contained in the alert will highlight the reason why President Riccobono felt compelled to gather with Affiliate Presidents and Legislative Directors last night.

"News alert affecting blind people: Most federal employees within the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services received Reduction in Force notices last Friday.

If not reversed, this action will severely undermine the Department of Education's ability to carry out its legal responsibilities under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and the Randolph-Sheppard Act. These laws ensure that blind children receive Braille and other essential educational services, that blind adults receive the training necessary for competitive employment, and that blind entrepreneurs have opportunities to operate businesses on federal properties.

We call upon the Department of Education to immediately rescind this reduction in force."

We believe that simply calling on the Department of Education to resend the RIF will not be enough. We believe that our elected officials in the US House of Representatives and in the US senate need to be urged to put pressure on the Department of Education to resend its reduction in force order before harm is done to the critical programs mentioned above. Florida has 28 US House members and 2 Senators, and we will need your help in trying to hold in person meetings with all of them by November 7th. Fortunately, at this time, the US House is not in session and so most Representatives are back home in district.

So now, you are probably getting a good idea of why we are asking you to join us on such short notice. Some serious work needs to be done, and we know we are making a big, "ask",  of all of you. This is a time when we as Federationists come together, develop a plan and tackle an extremely important issue.

Please see below the Zoom link for the meetings being held. The link will be the same for both meetings.
President Tate and I are looking forward to gathering with you all soon.

Respectfully,

Russ Davis, Legislative Director
National Federation of the Blind of Florida
Ph. 904-993-8433

Email: russell at radiorusty.com<mailto:russell at radiorusty.com>

Zoom information for calls to be held:

Wednesday, October 22nd at 7:00 PM EST
And
Tuesday, October 28th at 8:00 PM

NFBFL President Tate is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: Legislative committee
Join Zoom Meeting
https://nfb-org.zoom.us/j/94416346364

Meeting ID: 944 1634 6364

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