[NFBMT] NFB Newsline

Tue Oct 1 15:07:59 UTC 2019

I'm really sorry to hear this. I knew it waas coming but I was hoping 
that we could find alternate funding.

On 9/30/2019 2:37 PM, president--- via NFBMT wrote:
> Hello Fellow Federationists,
>
> I am very sad to report that NFB Newsline will be unavailable for Montanans
> after October 31, 2019 due to lack of funding.  Notices will be e-mailed to
> Montana's 363  subscribers very soon, and more details will be published on
> NFB Newsline itself through October 2019.
>
> Previously, Montana's NFB Newsline was funded by Vocational Rehabilitation
> and Blind Services (VRBS).  In fact, NFB Newsline was part of the 2015
> Montana state plan for vocational rehabilitation, although it was dropped
> from the current state plan.  Vocational rehabilitation funding may be used
> for NFB Newsline under the Rehabilitation Act's Services to Groups option.
> As we know, VRBS experienced increased demand for vocational rehabilitation
> services, and the agency did not have enough resources to keep up with
> demand.  The increased demand resulted from much larger numbers of Montanans
> applying for vocational rehabilitation services, and the bulk of these are
> those with the most significant disabilities.  In addition, Montana cut its
> budgets statewide.  For a few years, the Montana Telecommunications Access
> Program (MTAP), which assures that Montanans with disabilities can access
> telephones, picked up the tab for NFB Newsline.  However, the Governor's
> Committee that has budget authority over MTAP decided that NFB Newsline
> would no longer be funded with telecommunications funding.  Committee
> members were frustrated with state government decisions to transfer state
> telecommunications revenue to state programs other than MTAP, and the
> majority of Committee members decided NFB Newsline would no longer be funded
> with telecommunications money.  Next, the National Federation of the Blind
> of Montana asked Sheila Hogan, Director of the Montana Department of Public
> Health and Human Services, to authorize VRBS to again pay for NFB Newsline.
> Hogan chose not to fund NFB Newsline saying federal rules prohibits her
> Department from funding NFB Newsline due to the Order of Selection, the wait
> list for vocational rehabilitation services.  The National Federation of the
> Blind if Montana challenges this interpretation of federal rules as we know
> NFB Newsline is part of the Rehabilitation Act as amended and that Services
> to Groups are not subject to the Order of Selection.  Nonetheless, we have
> been unsuccessful in challenging Hogan's interpretation of federal rules,
> and state government funding of NFB Newsline ended June 30, 2019.  NFB
> Newsline has been operating without funding from that time.  The National
> Federation of the Blind of Montana tried to find other funding sources, but
> we have not yet been able to find any alternatives.  Thus, Montanans will
> lose NFB Newsline at the end of October this year.
>
> Please know that the National Federation of the Blind of Montana will never
> give up on making sure NFB Newsline is available in Montana.  Our long term
> plan is to ask for funding in the 2021 Legislature.  For the immediate, we
> will keep pushing state government to do the right thing.  We will also try
> to find other sources of funding.  To date, we have not taken our NFB
> Newsline troubles to the media and the public, but we are about to do so in
> the hope that Montana will realize just how important NFB Newsline is to its
> subscribers.  Despite living in times of easy access to information, most of
> those mainstream options are not accessible to or usable by Montanans with
> print disabilities.  Without NFB Newsline, many face isolation and
> segregation from our communities.  The cost of NFB Newsline, which is
> considerably less than $40,000 per year, is small insofar as government
> programs go.  Please do not be fooled by false claims that Montana cannot
> afford NFB Newsline.  State government can easily fund NFB Newsline, but its
> leaders obviously do not value the civil rights of Montanans with print
> disabilities well enough to fund the service.  NFB Newsline is not a luxury.
> Rather, the service keeps its subscribers engaged in our communities.
> Besides assuring equal access to six Montana newspapers, Montanans rely on
> NFB Newsline for critical information such as emergency weather alerts and
> job searches as well as other information services within NFB Newsline.
>
> If you would like to lend a hand to continue NFB Newsline in Montana, there
> are several options.  Many of us enjoy relationships with community leaders,
> media workers, and state government officials.  Please reach out to your
> connections and ask them to help find funding for NFB Newsline.  And stay
> tuned for more details on how you can get involved in saving NFB Newsline in
> Montana.
>
> The loss of Montana's NFB Newsline will be one of the topics we will discuss
> at our upcoming Convention.  The Convention will be held in Missoula at the
> Fairbridge Inn on October 11 and 12.  Please go to our web page for more
> details on the Convention.
>
> I wish the news was positive, but please know we will not relent on our
> advocacy to fund NFB Newsline.
>
> Best!
>
>
> Jim Marks
> President, National Federation of the Blind of Montana
> president at nfbofmt.org
> (406) 438-1421
> www.nfbofmt.org
>
>
>
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