[NFBNJ] NFB President’s Notebook - week of 09/17/2018

Wed Sep 19 03:47:37 UTC 2018

    Greetings to all!
Each week the presidents of the affiliates and other leaders in the 
Federation receive the President’s Notebook.
I have pasted items of importance for your interest with raising 
expectations to live the life we want!

Warmly,
Joe

We care. We share. We grow. We make a difference
Joe Ruffalo, President
National Federation of the Blind of New Jersey
973 743 0075
nfbnj1 at verizon.net
www.nfbnj.org
Raising Expectations To Live The Life You Want!
Your old car keys can be keys to literacy for the blind.
Donate your unwanted vehicle to us by clicking
www.carshelpingtheblind.org
or call 855 659 9314

****

President’s Notebook
National Federation of the Blind
Mark A. Riccobono
officeofthepresident at nfb.org<mailto:officeofthepresident at nfb.org>
(410) 659-9314

Fellow Federationists:

As the fall convention season begins to swing into high gear, there are a 
number of things to keep at the top of our priority list. I am sure you are 
all eager to know about our members in North Carolina. I have talked with 
our affiliate president and as far as we know, none of our members have been 
physically harmed, but many members lived in areas completely devastated by 
Hurricane Florence. Our members who have been impacted the most have not yet 
been able to return to their homes to assess the damage. As with our 
hurricane relief efforts last year, we are prepared to help but it will take 
time to assess where that help is most needed. If you wish to make 
contributions to the Federation's hurricane relief project, you can use the 
general donation form at nfb.org and indicate hurricane relief project as a 
comment.

We have previously mentioned the site access for Aira at all NFB state 
conventions. Gary Wunder is managing some of our relationship with Aira. If 
you have questions about Aira, about distributing the information in 
affiliate communications, or about Aira participation at your convention, 
please speak with him at gwunder at nfb.orgmailto:gwunder at nfb.org.

Today is September 18 and the Baltimore Orioles are honoring the National 
Federation of the Blind this evening. If you are not able to be there in 
person, I hope you will share the information about the online auction of 
the first Braille jerseys to be used by a professional sports team, found at 
orioles.com/auctions<http://orioles.com/auctions>. Furthermore, you should 
consider putting in a bid. Today is also my mother's birthday—she is an 
active member of the National Federation of the Blind of Wisconsin. I will 
be celebrating Mom's birthday by throwing out the first pitch at the game 
tonight. Happy birthday, Mom!

News:
Advocacy Update:
Thank you for all of your calls and emails regarding the Marrakesh Treaty 
Implementation Act (S. 2559) and the Access Technology Affordability Act 
(H.R. 1734/S. 732). Regarding Marrakesh, Neil Romano, chair of the National 
Council on Disability and presidential appointee, has written a letter to 
House leadership urging them to pass the Marrakesh Treaty Implementation 
Act. Mr. Romano spoke at our most recent convention and his letter can be 
found at 
https://ncd.gov/publications/2018/ncd-letter-house-judiciary-committee-and-house-leadership-regarding-marrakesh.

Regarding the ATAA, we are up to thirteen cosponsors in the Senate and we 
are hoping to get the score from the Joint Committee on Taxation later this 
week.
Please continue to call Chairman Goodlatte and urge him to discharge the 
Marrakesh Treaty Implementation Act back to the full House, and please also 
call your representatives and urge them to cosponsor H.R. 1734. If you need 
additional information, you can email John Pare at 
jpare at nfb.org<mailto:jpare at nfb.org>, or reach him by phone at 410-659-9314, 
extension 2218.

Meet the Blind Month:
Meet the Blind Month is upon us! We would like to create a new page listing 
the 2018activities. Please email events you have planned to 
kanderson at nfb.org<mailto:kanderson at nfb.org> or share them with us via social 
media, and we’ll add them to our website<https://nfb.org/meet-blind-month>. 
We have updated White Cane Awareness 
Day<https://nfb.org/white-cane-awareness-day> web content. You may use the 
www.nfb.org/wcad<http://www.nfb.org/wcad> URL in local communications if you 
wish. Please be on the lookout for an email later this week with more 
details and resources regarding October events.

Dream Makers Circle:
Building the Federation for the Next Generation

We need to plan for the fiscal health of the National Federation of the 
Blind for the future. Our legacy society, Dream Makers Circle, helps do 
that.

We want to grow our legacy society, but we need your help. In order to ask 
others to become members, it is important for us to show that our leadership 
supports our legacy society. It is easy to join. In some cases, you can 
become a part of our Dream Makers Circle with a quick trip to the bank. You 
can name the Federation or your affiliate as the beneficiary or partial 
beneficiary of a life insurance policy, IRA, or pension plan. The Federation 
can be a contingent beneficiary after you plan for loved ones. Please call 
410-659-9314, extension 2422, or email pchang at nfb.org<mailto:pchang at nfb.org> 
to explore the possibilities.

Dates to Keep in Mind:

  *   Fall conventions<https://nfb.org/state-conventions>
  *   October 11-12, 2018: Tactile Graphics Symposium

·         November 1, 2018: NFB scholarship application period begins
·         November 15, 2018: Dr. Jacob Bolotin Award application period 
begins

  *   January 28, 2019: Great Gathering-In; Washington Seminar begins
  *   March 28-29, 2019: Jacobus tenBroek Law Symposium
  *   July 7-12, 2019: NFB National Convention, Las Vegas, Nevada

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.

Mark A. Riccobono, President
200 East Wells Street, Baltimore, MD 21230
(410) 659-9314 | 
officeofthepresident at nfb.org<mailto:officeofthepresident at nfb.org>

[National Federation of the Blind]<https://nfb.org/>

                         [Facebook] 
<http://www.facebook.com/nationalfederationoftheblind>     [Twitter] 
<https://twitter.com/NFB_Voice>     [Youtube] 
<https://www.youtube.com/NationsBlind>

The National Federation of the Blind is a community of members and friends 
who believe in the hopes and dreams of the nation’s blind. Every day we work 
together to help blind people live the lives they want.

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://nfbnet.org/pipermail/nfbnj_nfbnet.org/attachments/20180918/370ef259/attachment.html>