[NFBMI-Talk] Advocacy in Action: How Our Members Build the Federation!

[Robert Earl Parsons]

Good Morning Federation Friends and Family,

I've had some members tell me that they love our organization and the things they hear, but don't know what they could do to get involved. Sometimes, our work can be huge, like travelling to New Orleans to reunite with 3000 other blind people from across the country. This message, though, is to update you and invite you to join us in the advocacy work we are doing in Detroit. On Monday, our Greater Detroit chapter announced our Emergency Press Release addressing the paratransit service crisis and the impact it has on blind people. Our Greater Detroit chapter members are some of the most active in the affiliate and use paratransit as a meaningful way to get things done. We have notified our national office of this challenge to our independence and will be working with them closely to do our part in supporting members. In the mean time, please consider joining us tomorrow in Detroit to advocate for the right to dependable transportation for blind people in the city. I am travelling from Kalamazoo to do my part in building the Federation and can offer opportunities for people that are not in Detroit to attend if they are needing assistance with transportation. Info below:


Confronting The Paratransit Crisis In Detroit





*       Greetings. Over the past six weeks, Detroit City Council has thoroughly debated Mayor Duggan's proposal to award Transdev a new 5-year contract to provide paratransit service in Detroit. After evaluating the overwhelming testimony of dozens of local paratransit riders against the documented, abject failures of Transdev as a service provider, the City Council granted their Constituents' wishes and voted the contract down on November 22nd.



*       In response, the Director of DDOT and the Mayor's Office both coldly shot-down all compromise options offered by the Council and community leaders. They also announced that beginning January 1st 2023, paratransit service in Detroit will only be provided to 30% of all qualified riders, leaving 70% of the city's senior citizen and disabled populations unserved. Their decisions turned the ongoing paratransit crisis into a looming human catastrophe that threatens to do immeasurable harm to the job security, financial well-being, health, and social lives of tens of thousands of Detroiters who now anxiously await the city's next move.



*       On behalf of the steadily growing number of community organizations and leaders who are taking a stand for the fair and humane treatment of tens of thousands of Detroit's senior citizen and disabled paratransit service riders, we are writing to invite you to send a media representative out to cover our Thursday December 1st 2:00 PM press conference. It will be held outside the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center located at 2 Woodward Detroit, at the corner of Woodward and Jefferson in front of the Spirit of Detroit Statue. At the press conference, the public will hear from representatives of the National Federation of the Blind, Warriors On Wheels, and a range of Detroit civic and political leaders including advocates for senior citizens and the disabled. The speakers will outline the origins, impact, and solutions to/next steps  in this unnecessary paratransit crisis.


With Love, Hope and Determination,

Robert E. Parsons, Jr., M.A., CRC, CVRT, LLPC
President| National Federation of the Blind of Michigan
Doctoral Student| Counselor Education and Supervision
Western Michigan University '25
Pronouns: He, Him, His
P: (269) 216-8640