[NFBSF] January 2022 NFB Meeting Minutes

Wed Jan 19 01:06:17 UTC 2022

Hello SF NFB:

Hope everyone is doing great.  Below you will find the January 2022 meeting
minutes.  As always if anyone has any questions or clarifications please
feel free to reach out.  Take care.  Thank you.

January 2022 meeting    Minutes

*         Introductions

*          Secretary Report

*         Treasurer Report

*                 Presidential release Recap

*          Legislative Announcements 

*         Announcements

*         Diversity Equity and Inclusion Discussion

*         Discussion

*         Bell Ringers

Members

*         Christina - pleasant Hill, she/her, Blind, Native Californian,
agnostic

*         sara- Treasurer, Foster City, back to Oakland on Sunday due to
house remodel, been in Oakland ever since 2009, loves restaurants and has
great recommendations for downtown Oakland

*         Amy- she/her, San Francisco, First Vice president

*         Bobbi- she/her/they/them, Second Vice president, Oakland

*         Sheri-Alameda, Blind, Mom, youngest daughter and boyfriend here to
visit from Columbus, Ohio

*         Taryn- she/her, Millbrae, mix of Chinese and Caucasian, employed,
secretary

*         Chelsea- first timer, she/her, San Francisco

*         Jeff- he/him, Oakland,, heard earlier conversation of new year's
food, had sausage and sauerkraut and first time having pickled herring and
loved it

*         Monica- she/her, moved to Oakland from Minneapolis, labelist

*         Cindy-she/her, Walnut Creek, hens 57 relating to having a mixture
of a lot of ethnic backgrounds

*         Rochelle- she/her, pug momma

*         Serena- she/her, San Leandro, good without God, big time food
lover

Secretary Report 

*         No Minutes were sent out due to the virtual holiday party last
month

*         Motion was made by Amy and all approved

Treasurer Report  

*         As a total we currently have$936.05  

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

*         Every month ten dollars goes toward the PAC plan

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

Presidential Release Recap

*         National convention will be in person in New Orleans from July
5-10 

*         There are two hotels available, the Marriot headquarters hotel or
the Sheraton hotel, the Marriot will have the majority of the convention
while the Sheraton across the street will have the exhibit hall

*         The main part happening at the New Orleans Marriott is located at
555 Canal Street and can be reached at 800 654 3990, and the Sheraton Hotel
at 500 Canal Street can be reached at855 516 1090 

*         Masks will be required during convention and vaccinations are
recommended, and outside of the hotel in the surrounding areas vaccination
will be required

*         Pre-Registration online for in person convention will be
twenty-five dollars and seventy dollars for banquet

*         There will be a virtual part similar to past years

*         There has been changes made to the scholarship prize as it is now
a flat rate of a winning of eight thousand dollars, applications have been
open online since November and the deadline to apply is march 31st 

*         The KNFB reader app and the support of KNFC    has now changed
their name to one step reader

*         There is no new information on Washington seminar, but there is a
virtual career fair happening on February7th from 11-1 PM

*         To register for the career fair please reach out to Dick Davis at
<mailto:declined at gmail.com> declined at gmail.com     or john Du bee at jaydo
yoube awhy at lead le  scale.com 

*         The code of conduct has been updated and all members are
encouraged to review it at nfb.org/codeofconduct

*         The Bell Academy will be taking place in person this year, this
program allows young children to learn Braille and takes place during the
summer months

*         If you are still seeking calendars from the action fund call the
independence market by the 31st

Legislative Announcements

*         Washington Seminar will take place in person  from February8 -10,
and the great gathering will take  place on February 7th

*         California has decided to send eight representatives and will also
have a hybrid online version as well

*         The legislative priorities for Washington seminar  include Access
affordability Tax act to approve affordability for access to adaptive
technology,   the Medical device accessibility act   will make all home
medical devices accessible and offer more options,  the 21st Century website
accessibility act which would enforce guidelines for all websites to be
accessible,  and Transformation and integration into employment which
eliminates section 14 c from paying people with disabilities less money than
the minimum wage

Announcements

*         Membership dues are due for the new year, they cost ten dollars,
you can pay either by PayPal, venmo, apple pay, cash, or even mail a check

*         Elections will be at our next meting on February 8th, you must be
a due paid member to vote or run for any open position

*         The open positions are president, first and second vice president

*         The role of the president is to run the chapter meetings, attend a
month California president meeting and deal with some leadership items from
the state

*         The first vice president will be the first person to take charge
if any reason the president needs to take  some time off or help run parts
of the meeting as well as some leadership items

*         The second vice president also helps with parts of the meeting and
other leadership roles

*         All positions are a two-year term

Diversity Equity and Inclusion  Discussion

*         A while ago we had allocated five hundred dollars to donate to a
cause

*         We have  another proposed idea, there is a consent for leader's
workshop starting on January 29th and going until June  18th every other
Saturday from  10 AM until 12:30 Pm

*         You will build consent in a leadership role with these workshops,
study materials will be sent out and it will take place on zoom, if
interested reach out to any board member

*         This month is Martin Luther King  month

Martin Luther King Day is celebrated every third Monday of January, and
First celebrated in 1986    

*         Christina plans to listen to a podcast to celebrate Martin Luther
King Month

*         Serena use to love going to a peace march  

Discussion

*         This month is Braille month

*         Christina loves that you do not need to  have proficient Braille
knowledge to use it in everyday use 

*         Monica grew up reading braille, is an adult casual Braille reader
, did not realize how important Braille was  until traveling in another
country, and was able to use it  finding her hotel room door as it was
labeled in braille 

*         Rochelle has used a brailler for years  

*         Sara  learned braille and forgot it when she went to law school,
she is tall and is useful in elevators so she does not have to reach over
and hurt her back and be able to find the right floor using the labeled
braille 

*         Christina did not learn Braille in school,  learned braille
through the Orientation School for the Blind , uses it in elevators, to
label things, and also uses it to do fun recreation games like poker

*         Serena   is happy to know it,   skims it with a Braille note
takers, and  braille displays,   always kept slate and stylist around, is
happy to see it everywhere, there is also some areas that have a accessible
pedestrian signal that has the name of the intersection labeled in braille 

*         Sheri learned Braille when she was 40 planning to go back to
college, and knew there  would be no way to take notes since she could not
read print anymore,  the Department of Rehabilitation refused to pay for
instruction,  paid out of her own pocket to take her own braille lessons by
herself,  learned enough,   bought her own note taker  for school, she  can
write braille but it is harder to read it,   using the slate and stylist
while learning braille helped her a lot to learn it in her brain,  she does
not use it a lot right now, and     Wished she had learned it as a kid to be
natural   since she feels like she missed out    not using it everyday

*         Amy likes how it is easy to learn with the pattern of adding dots
from letters a through j and adding more dots in a certain pattern to learn
the rest of the letters in the alphabet

*         Jeff likes that there is a magical pattern to learn the letters
easier too

*         The National Library Service is starting to offer a pilot program
to lend out Braille displays to read books but there are no real details
just yet

Bell Ringers

*         Laura  wanted to mention the passing of Betty White as a force to
reckon with as she gave a large contribution to Guide Dogs

*         Laura says the San Francisco board rocks , is happy they are doing
so well,  and is allowing her to take her training 

*         Rochelle is so happy she has started to see a new pain care team
at Stanford 

February 8th will be our next meeting, please pay dues to Sara if you want
to participate in elections next time.

Bobbi made a motion to adjourn the meeting, Christina second the motion, and
all approved.

made amotion to adjourn the meeting, Lisa seconded the motion, and all
approved  

Taryn Morris

Taryn.Ann.Morris at gmail.com