[Nfbsf] Minutes from December 2015 NFB meeting

[Jim Barbour]

December 8th, 2015.

REMEMBER: Our next meeting will be Tuesday, January 12th from 6 to 8 P.M.  Please come and learn, share, and enjoy!

Attendance and what gift they want for the holidays

1.  Tim Elder would like a real lightsaber
2.  Beth Berenson would like an Apple computer with a huge screen and internet for her house.
3.  Doug Moore got a smart phone
4.  Jim Barbour would like a fancy smoothy maker
5.  Jessie Lorenz would like an Amazon Echo
6.  David Chen would got a continuity tester for Christmas
7.  Will Buttler just inherited a grand piano
8.  Sara Hadsell would like a desk and chair and art.
9.  Bryan Bashin would like a woodworking router.
10. Christina Daniels would like a new pimped out laptop.

** Announcements
1) Stem2u is coming to San Francisco on March 3rd thru 6th. Jamie is looking for mentors.  NFB folks should seriously think about volunteering.  Bryan is going to get Jamie in touch with Jim to discuss.

2) Washington Seminar is coming at the end of January.  Jim and Sarah are going.  Last year, 2 of the issues were...  
  + The time act (sub minimum wages)
  + The AimHea act, which is about guidelines for accessible learning materials in post secondary education.

3) NFB just filed a lawsuit in Ohio on inaccessible online voting.

4) There is likely to be a settlement soon in the NFB v. Uber lawsuit.

** The Muni Mobile iPhone and Android apps are not accessible

The Muni Mobile app does not work with voiceover.  This is completely ridiculous. We've worked with Muni in the past and they should have known to make the app accessible.

The app has schedules and also the ability to manage payment of fares.

** There will be a screening of "The Good dinosaur" at Pixar.  This was Will's idea.  Well done Will!

** Update from State Convention

In general, a very successful convention.

Very informative activities.

Wells Fargo was there doing their employment workshop.

Really good attendance, close to 200.

The exhibit hall was hopping.

Splitting into smaller tables worked well, but needed to be shorter.

Would like to get more speakers, more stories, get people excited.

It was also noted that there were a lot of basket auctions.

Next year, It'll be in L.A.

Tim is looking forward to seeing his generation doing more leadership.

Officer elections will happen next year.  Jim will be running for President.

** General discussion

California could be setting trends for how the country deals with blindness issues.

Jim is going to propose to bay area chapter presidents to meet every so often to plan common events.

Jim is to get the information about when the other bay area chapters meet and their contact information and give that to Beth.  This information is on the sixdots website.

We need to be making fundraising efforts in the new year.  We need to figure out good ways to raise money for the chapter, and also getting chapter members involved and out in the community.  The nfbc-sf treasury is now at $371.07

** Blind Cafe Event

The event was a positive event for both volunteers and attendees.  Beth, Kate, and Sara were there for many shows.

Unfortunately, all the money raised by the blind volunteers went to the NFB community service division, rather than the money going to each volunteer.  This is unfortunate for the volunteers.  They didn't get the tips they were expecting.

There have been various issues with the blind cafe folks, and it was decided that the NFB-sf doesn't want to partner with them in the near future.

Perhaps the NFBC-SF should do a blindness cafe of its own.  Jessie offered to partner San Francisco Independent Living Resource Center with us.

The next meeting will be on January 12th, 2016.  See you all there!

Jim is not going to be able to be there and Tim will be flying into San Francisco that day.