[NFBMO] From the Voice of the Nation's Blind Blog: Resolutions 101: A Way to Drive External Change

[Daniel Garcia]

https://nfb.org/blog/resolutions-101-way-drive-external-change


Resolutions 101: A Way to Drive External Change
Tuesday, April 30, 2024
By Donald Porterfield

The resolutions process of the National Federation of the Blind is
frequently one of the most exciting and engaging parts of our annual
national convention. It is also where we set our outward-facing priorities
for the coming year. That being said, it is no surprise that we take our
national resolutions extremely seriously. We want them to be perfect when
they reach the convention floor. That effort starts with you as you write
and submit them. Below are a few quick guidelines to keep in mind when you
begin the process of writing a National Federation of the Blind National
Convention Resolution.

First, before you even begin writing the resolution, you may want to ask
yourself: "Is a national resolution the most efficient or effective way to
address this topic?" If the resolution is about an access barrier that you
and/or a large part of the blind community encountered recently, might it be
addressed by calling or writing to the offending party before we condemn and
deplore them at a national event? Conversely, if an individual or
organization has done something truly spectacular for blind Americans, is
there an award we could nominate them for? If we keep these questions in
mind, then we can save condemning resolutions for repeat inaccessibility
offenders, or commending resolutions for those who have corrected their
mistakes of the past.

Once you have made the decision that a resolution is absolutely the right
course of action, you should consider the purpose of your resolution. For
this, you can ask yourself the following questions:

Who will your resolution be addressing? - Think of the specific individual
or organization we will send the resolution to. These should always be
individuals or organizations outside of the National Federation of the
Blind. Our resolutions process is not used to set inward-facing Federation
policies.

Why is a national resolution necessary? - Think of the problem that
instigated the resolution in the first place.

What is the ultimate goal of the resolution? - Think of how the problem that
your resolution addresses can be fixed, and whether collaboration with the
National Federation of the Blind is appropriate, if the reason for the
problem should be publicly condemned, or if the accomplishment warrants a
public commendation.

Now that you have determined that a resolution is necessary, and you have
identified the purpose of your resolution, it's time to actually get to the
task of writing it. National Federation of the Blind resolutions follow a
specific format. First, we start with a series of "whereas" clauses that
typically start broad and become more specific with each successive clause.
Below is a very generic example of the concept:

WHEREAS, the National Federation of the Blind is the transformative
organization of blind Americans; and

WHEREAS, the Jernigan Institute, the headquarters of the National Federation
of the Blind, frequently hosts events where participants will travel from
all across the country to attend; and

WHEREAS, a highlight of these events is the cookie break that features many
flavors of delicious cookies; and

WHEREAS, occasionally there are not enough of each flavor of cookie to
satisfy all attendees; Now, therefore

The Whereas clauses will continue until the specific problem is identified.
Ideally, this should take approximately six to ten clauses, but some more
complex issues may require more clauses. There is no perfect number, but as
a general rule, you should aim to state the problem clearly in the smallest
number of whereas clauses as possible. Including an excessive amount of
whereas clauses in your resolution only serves to make the resolution
unnecessarily long, less focused, and more difficult to follow.

Once you have identified the problem in the final whereas clause, it's time
to write the "resolve" clauses, wherein you will identify a course of action
to resolve the problem. It does not need to be incredibly specific. It just
needs to identify who should take charge in solving the problem. This part
of the resolution should be specific enough for us to take action.
Continuing from the example above:

BE IT RESOLVED that this organization will strive to ensure that there are
enough cookies for all attendees of future events at the Jernigan Institute
to receive at least two servings; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this organization will ensure that each flavor
of cookie will be plentiful.

As with the whereas clauses, only use the resolve clauses sparingly. Two to
three resolves should be sufficient; any more than that can become
cumbersome and unwieldy.

Please send proposed resolutions to the Resolutions Committee at
resolutions at nfb.org by no later than Tuesday, June 4, 2024. We look forward
to reading your submissions, and to creating positive change with you on
behalf of all blind people.




-- 

**Private voting is a right, it should not require sight. 
<https://nfbmo.org/PrivateVoting>**



The National Federation of the Blind 
knows that blindness is not the characteristic that defines you or your 
future. Every day we raise the expectations of blind people, because low 
expectations create obstacles between blind people and our dreams. You can 
live the life you want; blindness is not what holds you back.



 
<https://nfbmo.org/>