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<div align="center"><b>NFB Employment Committee Meeting<br>
7:00 to 8:30 p.m. Tuesday July 3, 2012<br>
Fleur-de-lis B Room, Atrium Mezzanine<br>
</b></div>
<br>
<b><i> <br>
Message from the Chair:<br>
</b>I want to apologize for not having this out to all of you
sooner. I was doing okay, but then I was in a car accident that
broke my right foot, wiped out a week of work, sent me to multiple
doctors’ appointments, and completely sapped my energy. Things
continue to get better, so I will be able to do more as the year
progresses. <br>
Dick Davis<br>
</i><b> <br>
Charge to the Committee from Dr. Maurer:<br>
</b>“Since the time of the beginning of the Federation, one of the
functions we have performed has been to connect individuals who are
looking for employment with employers that have jobs. It is the
task of this committee to collect information about jobs that become
available and to provide this information to individuals who would be
suitable to do the work. Jobs in the blindness field are very often
filled without our becoming aware of them. The committee should
attempt to collect this information and distribute it to those who need
to know.” <br>
<br>
<div align="center"><b><u>2012 Employment Committee Meeting Agenda<br>
</u></b></div>
<br>
<i>There are three elements to this year’s agenda.<b> </b>The first
is a discussion on the committee and its projects. The second is a
series of presentations from organizations with programs that can help
blind people get jobs. The third is job exchange announcements by
people who know of job vacancies and by blind people who are looking for
employment. The agenda will remain flexible to accommodate all
three. That means we may need to interrupt ongoing discussion to
hear a presentation or announcement. It also means that those
needing to make presentations or announcements may need to wait for a gap
in the committee’s deliberations before they can do so. <br>
</i><b> <br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
1) Discussion about the Committee and its projects: <br>
</b> <br>
Since this is the first committee meeting we have had in a long time, we
need to spend much of it in a discussion about the committee’s function
and projects for the upcoming year. Some proposed topics for
discussion:<br>
<br>
· What should the Employment
Committee’s function(s) be? (And not be?) <br>
· What things should we do to
increase the employment of blind people? <br>
· What kinds of projects should we do
over the next year or two? If so, who should be responsible for
them? <br>
· Should we have our own web page,
either by itself, or in conjunction with the Jernigan institute or
another committee or division? <br>
· Is the Jobs Listserv doing what we
want it to do, and if so, how well? Are there any changes we should
make?<br>
· Should we have some sort of job
bank for employers to post to? If so, how would it operate, and who
would be responsible for it? <br>
· Are there partnerships that we
should develop with other committees and divisions? One possible
partnership would be with the Writer’s Division on <u>Where the Blind
Work</u>. <br>
· Should we develop new partnerships
with rehabilitation and workforce investment agencies? <br>
· Do we need a budget, and if so,
should we fundraise? Charge admission to the employment
seminar? Other ideas? <br>
· Should we have some officers
besides the chair, such as a vice-chair, secretary-treasurer, etc.? <br>
· What ideas do members have for the
2013 National Employment Seminar? <br>
· Anything else we should add to this
list?<br>
<br>
<i>This is, of course, a huge list, and it is unlikely that we will get
all the way through it in one meeting. We will need to have other
meetings via conference call as the year progresses, but at least we can
make a start. <br>
</i> <br>
<b>2) Presentations: <br>
<br>
</b>Committee members are welcome to ask questions of the presenters and
discuss ways in which their programs could benefit blind
jobseekers. <br>
<br>
<u>Career Advantage for V.I.P.s and An Employment Mentoring Project for
College Students who are Legally Blind</u>. Jamie O’Mally, PhD,
Assistant Research Professor, The National Research and Training Center
on Blindness and Low Vision, Mississippi State University.<br>
<br>
<u>Where The Blind Work</u>. A great database and mentoring
resource for blind career explorers and job seekers. Robert Leslie
Newman, President, NFB Writer’s Division and Employment Committee
Member.<br>
<br>
<u>NFB Training Centers Prepare Blind People for Employment</u>.
Pam Allen, Executive Director, Louisiana Center for the Blind.<br>
<u> <br>
Hiring and Employment Innovations</u>. Kevin D. Daniel, Sr. Director of
Strategic Recruiting, Seattle Lighthouse for the Blind.<br>
<br>
<u>Bookshare</u>. Christine K. Jones, Education Program Manager,
Bookshare - a Benetech Initiative,
<a href="http://www.bookshare.org/">www.bookshare.org</a><br>
<br>
<u>Workforce Investment Wants You Too</u>! L. Earl Woolbright, ISA
Manager, Texas Workforce Commission.<br>
<br>
<u>Implementing the Evidence-Based Supported Employment Model of
Vocational Services to Those Who Have Visual Impairments</u><b>.
</b>Suzanne Turner, BSW, MPA, Employment Coordinator and Alexis Vinick,
BA, MPN, Employment Generalist, Cleveland Sight Center.<br>
<br>
<b>3) Job Exchange:<br>
<br>
</b>Handled on an ad hoc basis, as information becomes available: please
let the chair or his designee know if you have a job vacancy you want to
announce, or if you are looking for a specific job, and we'll work you
into the agenda. Periodically we'll ask if anyone has an
announcement to make. <br>
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