[NFBF-Melbourne] 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...

Tue Oct 21 12:18:17 UTC 2025

Good morning, Federation family,

October is turning out to be an extremely busy month in terms of legislative
advocacy. We met in person during our NFB of Florida Affiliate convention in
Altamonte Springs on October 5th and had a terrific discussion with one
another. Wee had over 30 convention attendees present for the meeting and to
all of you who took time out of your busy schedules to attend, I am truly
grateful.

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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