[NFBSF] August Meeting Minutes 2021

[Taryn Morris]

Hey Everyone:

 

Below you will find the meeting minutes from our meeting last week.  If
anyone has any questions let me know.  Thank you.



                

August meeting Minutes

 

*         a      Introductions

*         Secretary Report

*         Treasurer Report

*         Presidential release Recap

*          Legislative Announcements 

*         Chapter Announcements

*         Member Announcements

*         Discussion

*         Bell Ringers

 

Members

*         Christina-she/her, Pleasant Hill, African American, Agnostic,
straight, female

*          Laura-she/her, White, cis gender, queer, blind, single mom

*         Sara-Oakland, husband, two dogs, she/her, starting to feel old 

*         Taryn-she/her, Millbrae, mixed race of White and Chinese 

*         Shannon- Folsom and bay Area, she/her, California affiliate
secretary,   

*         Jeff- cis gender, male, straight, Oakland, has a son

*         Rochelle-San Francisco, cis gender, female, straight, pug momma,
Archie the pug is here, no kids, dog mom for a while, cane user, happy
member of NFB

*         Jim-mid 50's, cis gender, male, kinky, happy 

*         Amy-40's, woman, chronic insomniac, Atheist, Blind, first Vice
President of NFB Sf chapter

*         Lisa- Mill Valley, Caucasian, Blind, cis gender, live with
processing and mental challenges, moving to Michigan soon  

*         Serena- San Leandro, two cats, cis gender, White, female, good
without God, food blogger, soul searcher

*         Jaime- college grad, college part time Scholarship Guidance
counselor, straight female, lives with parents, San Ramon  

*         Jennie- she/her, straight, White, cis White woman, Oakland,
legally Blind, new guide dog user, mom of kids

*         LM- she/her, Blind, multiple disabilities, mom of three kids,
Puerto Rican, Gardner, loves to water plants, dancer, book reader, in a week
will be a owner of two houses in bay Area

 

Secretary Report 

*         June minutes were sent out to the list serve 

*         There were no July minutes due to National Convention

*         Motion was made by Jim and all approved of secretary report

 

Treasurer Report  

*         As a total we currently have $1,074.43 

*         Every month ten dollars will be transferred to avoid any service
fees

*         Every month ten dollars goes toward the PAC plan

*         This month we also donated $75 for door prizes for national
Convention

*         Motion was made by Lisa and all approved of Treasurer report

 

Presidential Release Recap.

First President Mark Ricobono praised the virtual convention (6109
registered attendees) - highlights are online at nfb.org/nfb21 for audio
highlights and transcripts and a post-convention survey or by phone at (229)
632-7878; also, will be highlighted in the September Braille Monitor

Becca Myers (deaf-blind) withdrew from the Paralympics because she was
denied accommodations to participate in swimming - NFB issued a statement of
support

October is Meet the Blind Month - wants a new name, rebrand; public
awareness, but also celebrating our history in the civil rights movement,
celebrating the achievements of blind people - what do we 

want October to represent, what should the new name be? Send ideas to
<mailto:communicationsteam at nfb.org> communicationsteam at nfb.org by August
16th.

Want to change committee appointments from calendar year to September 1st to
August 31, because they traditionally work from convention to convention.
Has created a new form at nfb.org/committee interest if you are interested
in being on a national committee (one form for each committee) can still
email him at  <mailto:officeofthepresident at nfb.org>
officeofthepresident at nfb.org,

American Action Fund for Blind Children and Adults are offering a Braille
calendar - can get up to 3 for free by going online at actionfund.org or
send an email to  <mailto:actionfund at actionfund.org>
actionfund at actionfund.org or call 410-659-9315.

Operation Quarter Sprint - effort to get 25% of Congress to support the
Access Technology Affordability Act - not quite there (24 co-sponsors in the
Senate and 105 co-sponsors in the House (need 109)) - keep the pressure on
and keep making those calls

Medical Device Nonvisual Accessibility Act has been introduced - HR4853
introduced by Illinois Congresswoman Jan Shakowski - urge your
representative to co-sponsor this bill

HR2373 - Transformation to Competitive and Integrated Employment Act - July
21 - had a hearing with Aneil Lewis's testimony about the need to eliminate
unequal pay for people with disabilities

Also have been working on the resolutions - already had a hearing on July
13th about the resolution to get the USPS to deliver free matter for the
blind in a timely manner

Looking for blind people who have been offered jobs at Amazon fulfillment
centers, then put on unpaid leave immediately upon showing up for work -
reach out to Valerie Yingling 410-659-9314  <mailto:VYINGLING at nfb.org>
VYINGLING at nfb.org

NFB Newsline just added some publications including: Animal Tales and Just 4
Teens, Forbes; let them know if you have new publications you want on
Newsline

July 24 - National Board released a communication to the Federation
discussing its approach to the Code of Conduct and how it has dealt with
issues related to the NFB Constitution - the Board is gathering information
about the topic of monitoring the behavior of members and providing sanction
and how to evolve the constitution - wants to receive info, thoughts, and
opinions  by September 1 if possible -  <mailto:boardofdirectors at nfb.org>
boardofdirectors at nfb.org, can call 410-695-9314 x2263 to leave a message for
the Board

Board is extending provision of receiving all code of conduct reports
without respect to when it might have happened through December 31, 2021.
Will implement new policy as of January 1 based on the new code of conduct
policy which will be finalized this fall

Special Committee ask for info by September 1, 2021 to Jean Lewis
<mailto:JLEWIS at KG-LAW.com> JLEWIS at KG-LAW.com

PAC plan - NFB of CA at large chapter, National Org. of Parents of Blind
Children, and Ft. Worth TX chapter; PAC-men want to thank everyone for all
of our great work during the convention - our donations grew during the
pandemic!  NFB of Colorado was awarded Ryan the PAC Rat for the most
activity, NFB of Vermont won the PAC for increasing their contributions by
the largest amount; NFB Senior division won for the most activity among
national divisions and get the Pac Mule.  New online form at NFB.org/pac or
email  <mailto:pac at nfb.org> pac at nfb.org or call 877-NFB-2PAC

Patty Chang -  <mailto:Pchang at NFB.org> Pchang at NFB.org if you want to be part
of the dream maker's circle

 

Legislative Announcements

*         Shannon Dillon is here from the California affiliate to speak to
us about legislative matters regarding our state affiliate 

*         There is a committee to present legislative matters between the
chapter and legislative actions from the state

*         Every chapter has been requested to find a qualified candidate to
fill the role of a liaison from chapter to the state

*         At the most it will be a few hours per month 

*         If any member is interested please reach out to any board member

 

Chapter Announcements

*         California state convention will be virtual again and will take
place on Thursday October 21- Sunday October 24th 

*         Pre-Registration is on website at nfbcal.org/convention 

*         There is no national representative yet

*         There will be a talent show, the cost will be ten dollars to
perform and five dollars to watch 

*         Please make suggestions for our gift basket donation, more common
themes are more popular like puppy baskets, sleep time items, night at the
movies, 

*         There is no theme yet for our convention

 

Member Announcements

*         Jaime is a scholarship guidance counselor and is looking to help
any students apply for scholarships, if needed contact her at925-594-2983 or
email her at  <mailto:jktomasello at aol.com> jtomasello at aol.com  

 

Discussion 

*         Two reports were sent out regarding reports for sexual misconduct
in NFB   

*         One is a climate assessment by RAAIN, the nation's largest
anti-sexual violence organization

*         The other is a report by the Special Committee on Sexual
Misconduct and the NFB's Response

All members are encouraged to report any acts of sexual mis conduct

*         If any member needs support reaches out to any board member

*         A lot of members are sad to see acts of sexual misconduct
happening and we are working on changing to make our organization a much
safer and supportive community 

 

Bell Ringers

*         Laura is off to Colorado in October for Blindness training at the
NFB Colorado training center   

*         LM is happy to have new house on Sunday

*         Rochelle is sewing buttons to help label her clothes to help pick
out clothes easier and connecting it to an application to read description
of clothing items 

*         Lisa and peter will be moving to Michigan next week and is excited
to start classes on campus in Michigan in September, and Peter will be
taking classes as well 

*         Serena has a talking blog about fashion

*         Jaime is down 51 pounds and has over all lost 101 pounds

*         Amy has re organized her house to avoid bumping into things

 

Our next meeting will be on September 14th

 

Jaime made amotion to adjourn the meeting, Jim seconded the motion, and all
approved.

 

 

Taryn Morris

Taryn.Ann.Morris at gmail.com