[NFBSF] May meeting Minutes 2022

[Taryn Morris]

Dear NFB SF:

 

Hope everyone is doing well.    Below you will find the may meeting minutes.
Take care.

 

 


May meeting Minutes

 

*         Introductions

*          Secretary Report

*         Treasurer Report

*                 Presidential release Recap

*          Legislative Announcements 

Announcements

*         Diversity Equity and Inclusion Discussion

*         Discussion

*         Bell Ringers

 

Members

*         Bobbi-meatballs make her  smile

*         Laura-Colorado, her puppy makes her smile

*         Sara- Oakland, her doggies make her smile

*         Christina-San Leandro, she was laughing at an actual in person
joke from her coworkers and felt so nice to be back in person laughing with
people in person

*         Taryn-Millbrae, she/her, her loving boyfriend makes her smile   

*         Jeff- his students laughing made him smile

*         Monica-hearing from a human she has not heard from in a while made
her smile

*         Jennie- Berkeley, a new podcast made her smile

*         Rochelle and Archie- happy to be out and a bout and see things
around

*         Paul- Dublin was hiking and saw   a family of raptors snoring and
it made him smile

*         Kayla- Her mom and her drove to Starbucks which made her smile

 

Secretary Report 

*         Bobbi assisted in sending out minutes this month

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

 

Treasurer Report  

*         As a total we currently have $781.00

*         If anyone is still needing to pay dues, the information will be
relayed in the meeting agenda and minutes going forward

*         If using PayPal to make payments please use the online webpage in
order to avoid weird service fees

*         Every month ten dollars will be spent to avoid account charges

*         Every month ten dollars goes towards the PAC plan

*         If anyone wants to pay dues and is using PayPal or venom please
use this information  to pay:  Sara Hadsell, 510-387-0766

*          <mailto:SaraAHadsell at gmail.com> SaraAHadsell at gmail.com, if anyone
needs to pay with a different mode please email sara or call her

*         Motion was made by Monica and all approved

 

Presidential Release Recap

*	Acknowledgment of Ramadan coming to a close and teacher appreciation
week.
*	BENEFIT CONCERT: We are with you concert in support of WBU we raised
over 100,000 for Ukraine blind folks.  You can still stream the concert at
<http://www.nfb.org/blindwithu> www.nfb.org/blindwithu 
*	JOBS SEMINAR: Tuesday, May 31, from 2:00-3:30 p.m. Eastern Time. Our
Center of Excellence for Nonvisual Access staff, along with Maurice Peret as
well as the Maryland Department of Labor and other blind leaders will host a
seminar to boost participation and recruiting of blind people into jobs. We
know that we want to bust the myths that blind people face and that
employers have about employing blind people.  <http://www.nfb.org/cena>
www.nfb.org/cena 
*	SOCIAL SECURITY REQUEST FOR EXPERIENCES: The National Federation of
the Blind continues to monitor the Social Security Administration's
implementation of our 2020 settlement agreement regarding the accessibility
of kiosks being used in social security offices. reach out to Valerie
Yingling at the national office to share your experience. Valerie can be
reached at extension 2440 or via email by sending an email to
<mailto:vyingling at nfb.org> vyingling at nfb.org they want to know if using
kiosks, web-based, or human check-in processes and whether those processes
were fully accessible to blind individuals.
*	AT HOME COVID TESTS: We've had a number of meetings now with the
National Institutes of Health, with the White House, with other officials
about accessibility of at home covid tests.  They have made some progress in
this area, but, for our local advocacy efforts, we put together a sample
letter that you can use or modify to let local officials know that we need
them to distribute accessible COVID tests.  <http://www.nfb.org/COVIDtests>
www.nfb.org/COVIDtests
*	CONVENTION: Convention is in two months.
<http://www.nfb.org/convention> www.nfb.org/convention  is your one-stop
shop for all of the convention information. 

*         REGISTRATION closes on May 31st 

*	ROOKIE ROUNDUP is scheduled for Tuesday, July 5th, at 8:00 p.m.
convention time, that's Central Time, and you'll want to be on hand
*	VIRTUAL ATTENDANCE: you can attend virtually
<http://www.nfb.org/convention> www.nfb.org/convention  is your landing page
for all things convention related. All information can be found there.
*	INDEPENDENCE MARKET: Requesting folks to sign up for a shift with
the independence market please sign up by emailing   Jen White
<mailto:jwhite at nfb.org> jwhite at nfb.org.
*	CAREER FAIR: Wednesday, July 6th, from 1:00-4:00 p.m. convention
time, we will have an in-person career fair. You do need to register for
this career fair in advance. It's required. And registration opens for the
career fair on May 10 and will be open through June 21. We will not accept
walk ins. You must register. It is free, but you do need to fill this out.
You find that also at NFB.org/convention.  Suggestion to reach out to your
rehab counselor and ask them to pay for you to go to convention to network
for jobs etc.  
*	RESOLUTIONS: get your resolutions in to Sharon Maneli, our
resolutions chair, no later than June 6th if you want them considered by the
committee. If you want to submit questions or to submit your resolution, if
you want to talk further with Sharon about the resolutions process and what
you're thinking about, you can email her at  <mailto:resolutions at nfb.org>
resolutions at nfb.org  or call her at (410) 715-9596 
*	HONOR ROLL CALL: honor roll call where we acknowledge financial
contributions made by chapters and affiliates to the National Federation of
the Blind.  pledges or contributions can be given in advance of the
convention by sending us an email at  <mailto:rollcall at nfb.org>
rollcall at nfb.org  by June 20th.

*	Choose your contributions for the roll call can be to any of our
four main funds. That is the white cane fund, which collects general
donations for the organization; our Kenneth Jernigan fund, which supports
first timers to the convention, and I know we're going to have a great pool
of first timer there's year; our SUN Fund, which collects money that is
available to the Federation for a rainy day.
*	Please fulfill these pledges by august 31st 

*	GIVE 20: Campaign fundraiser: Which is a campaign where you give 20
and you can receive really cool prizes.  A free trip to 2023 or $2000.  

*	You can choose which of the 4 donations you submit too for this fund
as well.   <http://www.nfb.org/give20> www.nfb.org/give20 You can also
call-in advance of the convention and give via phone. 
*	Our phone number, (410) 659-9314. Please use extension 2410 for our
Give20 campaign. 
*	Also, you can send us a check. Please send that check directly to
the NFB at 200 East Wells Street, Baltimore, Maryland, 21230. Be sure to
include a note with your check about which funds you want to contribute to.
And if you're contributing funds to multiple of the funds, whether it's KJ
and white cane or SUN, just indicate that. You only need to send one check
with the total amount. Just let us know how you want it broken out.
*	Human ware is sponsoring this event and will match up to 50,000
raised.  

*	ADVOVACY OPPORTUNITY: Global Accessibility Awareness Day is
happening this year on May 19. Of course, our work to increase accessibility
in the National Federation of the Blind happens every day. But Global
Accessibility Awareness Day or #GAAD is an opportunity for members of the
National Federation of the Blind to amplify the accessibility message, join
the global community, and promote digital accessibility, and promote our
priority to have technology built for blind people, be led by blind people,
informed by blind people, and have nonvisual access prioritized. 

*	So, I encourage you to participate in this, especially in social
media, 
*	for our chapters to have events, accessibility events on May 19th
and to be aware of the other activities happening. 
*	Now, that week the Federation will be doing a number of things.
We're helping to participate in the ICT Accessibility Testing Symposium, and
on May Monday, May 16 from about 11:15 a.m.

*	LEGISLATIVE REQUEST: The Medical Device Nonvisual Accessibility Act,
HR4853, has been making great progress since our Washington Seminar. But we
need to keep the pressure on. You can also contact your member of Congress
by calling the Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and asking to be
transferred to your representative.
*	ANOTHER PLUG FOR INDEPENCE MARKET: Visit independence market for NFB
logo wear. Jackets, polos, t-shirts etc.
*	DREAM MAKERS CIRCLE. This is an opportunity to make a commitment to
leave an end-of-life gift. Annemarie Cooke and Douglas McCray of South
Hampton, New Jersey. Don and Lynn Gentry of Fredericksburg, Texas. And
Jeannie Massey of Oklahoma. Thank you for joining the Dream Makers Circle of
the National Federation of the Blind.
*	PASSING OF MEMBERS: 

*	Arizona, Justin Hughes on April 25th
*	New York, Linda Spurill on March 31st. 
*	Connecticut Jacquilyn Billey who passed away on April 10
*	Iowa Jim Omvig on April 27.
*	Wisconsin, Nancy Gurney on April 6th,
*	Maryland, Ruth Sager on Saturday, April 9, at age 71.

*	QUESTION: about Membership chair was asked Highlighted that it was
the responsibility of all members.  And, we need someone from each chapter
to be the membership chair.  To be the lead to be the one that's reminding
us at every meeting, we need to be recruiting members. Membership chairs
should be the one that's helping to make sure that we have people greeting
and welcoming new members. The membership chair should be somebody making
sure that we on board new members, that we're giving them someone to talk
with about what is the National Federation of the Blind and the things that
we want them to know as part of the onboarding process, to explain to them
how much dues are and that they're annual and how you have to get voted in
and things like that. 

 

Legislative Announcements

*         None to report as all of our legislative updates can be found
above in the presidential release  recap

 

Announcements

*         Our California state convention  will take place  during the first
weekend in October most likely in San Diego and more details  to come later

*         National convention details can be found above in the presidential
release recap

*         We will be having a picnic this Saturday May 14 at Forge Pizza in
jack London Square in Oakland from 2-5 PM, and the address is 56 Franklin
Street  

*         Reminder there will be no July meeting due to National convention

*         Reminder we will be meeting in person on August 9th at our
Lighthouse San Francisco headquarters with a hybrid option as well

*         All members are invited to join Lighthouse in walking in the San
Francisco pride parade on June 26th 

*         Asking any members if they are interested to table at the
Foundation Fighting  for Blindness Vision walk talking to participants about
our organization, will take place on June 4th from 8:15 AM-12 PM at Golden
Gate Park and is a great event for those with kids as there are other fun
events

*         Jeff is looking for travel companions  to attend the national
convention , will email out his contact

*         Jennie put in chat information for Tai Chi lessons for blind
individuals

 

Diversity Equity and Inclusion Discussion 

*         We will have a discussion of what it means to be blind positive
and mental health positive

*         Jeff mentioned doing gratitude practices 

*         Monica mentioned the thought of interdependence ,finding a
community to join to help support one another 

*         Christina mentioned seeking therapy that does not focus on
blindness and very open and understanding of mental health

*         Laura mentioned how the National Federation of the Blind helped
her  to ask for assistance and accommodations, finding community or
resources , and support groups

*         Amy mentioned finding ways to give back to the community  as a
healing method of mental health positivity

*         Christina recommends to reach out to friends and have open
conversations to help one another cope with any issue

 

Discussion

*         We will discuss the code of conduct as it relates to us meeting in
person this coming weekend

*         There is a link of the code of conduct that was emailed 

*         Basically, the code of conduct states that no act of harassment
whether small or big dealing with touch or even remarks will be tolerated

*         There will be serious consequences of any members that violate our
code of conduct 

*         If you feel someone broke the code of conduct  please make  that
known to a leader if anything more than five years old accepting more
serious events five years is internal statute of limitations

*         Please read our code of conduct before attending any in person
National Federation of the Blind events

 

Bell Ringers

*         Bobbi  happy for Lisa Irving graduating 

*         Amy has just started her new job as of a week, is a lot of work
but is really enjoying it

*         Christina 's second niece was born on  April 25th

 

The next meeting will be on June  7th.

 

Rochelle made a motion to adjourn the meeting, Amy seconded the motion, and
all approved.