[NFBK] Fwd: [State-Affiliate-Leadership-List] Join Us in Houston: 2020 Kenneth Jernigan Convention Scholarship to Our National Convention

Sat Mar 28 12:29:27 UTC 2020

Good Morning!
If anyone out there is interested in attending our National convention and
you are a first-timer read below all about our Kenneth Jernigan
Scholarship. If you know someone who could benefit from a KJ Scholarship
please forward this email.
Take care and stay healthy.
Cathy
---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Tracy Soforenko via State-Affiliate-Leadership-List <
state-affiliate-leadership-list at nfbnet.org>
Date: Fri, Mar 27, 2020 at 5:37 PM
Subject: [State-Affiliate-Leadership-List] Join Us in Houston: 2020 Kenneth
Jernigan Convention Scholarship to Our National Convention
To: presidents list <state-affiliate-leadership-list at nfbnet.org>
CC: <tracy.soforenko at gmail.com>

Hi State Presidents,

At this complicated time, it is important to look forward to great times
together at our 2020 NFB National Convention. The convention will be even
better if we can encourage first-time  attendees to join us in Houston. I
am asking you to reach out to your membership and remind them about the
Kenneth Jernigan Convention Scholarship.

Perhaps you could send them the below message?

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.

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-convention-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. 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 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.

_______________________________________________
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