[NFBV-Announce] Minutes from our May 2, 2026 Board of Directors meeting

Wed Aug 5 20:08:53 UTC 2026

>From Sandy Halverson, Recording Secretary, National Federation of the Blind
of Virginia

NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND OF VIRGINIA

BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING

May 2, 2026

President Soforenko called our meeting to order at 1 p.m. After thanking
Mark and Melody Roane for arranging our meeting space at Emanuel Baptist
Church in Richmond, 17 delegates and 29 participants introduced themselves.

Minutes from our January 19, 2026 board meeting were read and approved.

Our treasurer's report covered the period from December 31, 2025 through
April 30, 2026 with an ending balance of $107,275.41. Sandy Halverson moved
and Rachel Schreiman seconded accepting Mark Roane's report; motion carried
unanimously.

Recruiting and maintaining members is a major component of the work we do.
Julia Ford, who chairs our affiliate membership committee, described the
subcommittees responsible for outreach, engagement, and chapter building and
development. She facilitated our first membership activity interacting with
participants who shared challenges they face as chapter leaders and members.
To support our newer chapter presidents, Kandace Haney , president of our
Greater Loudon chapter, presented our second activity to help identify
chapter president responsibilities. We met in groups for this purpose and
look forward to hearing results.

It was next determined that at least 24 of those present will be attending
our upcoming national convention in Austin, Texas.

Mary Durbin next thanked our McDonald Fellowship Committee for their
commitment to the process of selecting some of the first-time attendees from
Virginia and the Virginia Kenneth Jernigan award recipients will be
announced soon.

We were pleased to learn that our NFBV caucus will take place Saturday, July
4 at 5:30 p.m. with location to be announced later.

Chimere Roberts and Chris Christie provided state convention sponsorship and
affiliate fundraising committee information. Teisha Gillespie is chairing
corporate sponsorship and Chimere is chairing fundraising and individual
giving. After discussion of items being considered for sale, Mary Durbin
moved that we defer national convention exhibit hall sales and seek unique
items for sale at our state convention; motion was seconded and passed
unanimously. 

After President Soforenko described our need for volunteers to work at our
national convention independence market, we were asked to email him if we
were not available for that purpose.

Chapter and division presidents had been asked to report contributions to
our tenBroek, Jernigan, White Cane and SUN committees as well as donations
for door prizes and NFB camp. Mark Roane, our treasurer, next collected
those data. Sandy Halverson moved and Renee Valdez seconded that the NFBV
donate $15,000 to our White Cane Fund, $2,000 to the remaining funds, $250
for NFB camp and $300 for door prizes. Motion passed unanimously.

Stewart Prost brought us up-to-date regarding state convention breakfast,
and other food events. Our 2027 state convention location is being finalized
and will be announced soon.

Bonnie O'Day recognized our legislative committee members and is pleased
that Sue Povinelli is helping with the Excel sheet for legislative district
and affiliate member matches. Although the General Assembly opposed our
voting rights legislation, Delegate Hope is forming a work group including
opponents to develop a proposal for consideration by the next session. Trial
lawyers were instrumental in defeating our autonomous vehicle legislation.
We are working with Waymo to develop what we want. Our next Richmond seminar
will take place January 19, 2027. The Virginia Department of Transportation,
VDOT, has developed an app so your state ID card can be accessed via that
medium and is accessible unless your eyes are disfigured. 

Our DEI committee members will be contacting chapter presidents to
strengthen outreach to diverse populations. 

Our NFBV scholarship information was provided by Chris Infante and three
$2500 scholarships will be awarded at our upcoming state convention. All
scholarship applicants will be encouraged to attend our convention and we
were urged to share this information among our networks in the blind and
low-vision communities.

Joe Orozco next described the ongoing work of our communications and
organizational technology team whose members are Sean McMahon, Harry Staley
and Julia Ford. They are working on multimedia outreach to welcome everybody
and change the narrative that we only care about blind people. He also
coordinates our Project RISE program in which we have 29 across Virginia. In
early March, he, President Soforenko and Evelyn Valdez met with staff at the
Virginia School for the Deaf and Blind and will be conducting a Stem-2-U
program on Veterans Day in 2027. We are conducting outreach with VSDB and
have recruited three students and are pleased that one of our teachers of
tomorrow participants teaches on that campus. Other Project RISE activities
have included apartment hunting for young adults, college admissions
process, credit card 101 and job shadowing. He hopes to do more with our
parents' division for family inclusive programming and is considering
Scouting USA for outdoor learning. 

Our Chapter Leadership Institute began monthly meetings in January with
programming organized by Joe Orozco and Renee Valdez. We look forward to
learning how our chapters and affiliate will benefit from their leadership
opportunities.

Our northern Virginia BELL program, coordinated by Conchita Hernandez
Legoretta and Louise Walch, will take place from June 22-26 at Saint
George's Episcopal  Church in Arlington.

After our Silver Bells report was read, NFBV Conflict of Interest,
accommodations, whistleblower, youth, and records retention policies were
accepted. 

Patty Droppers moved that Tracy Soforenko serve as our national convention
delegate and Joe Orozco serve as our alternate delegate; motion was seconded
and passed unanimously.

After it was announced our next board meeting will take place virtually on
Saturday, August 8 at 1 p.m. and there being no further business, our
meeting was adjourned at 4:12 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Sandy Halverson

Recording Secretary

Peace,

Jacki Bruce

mailto:jackibruce6 at gmail.com or membership at nfbv.org
<mailto:membership at nfbv.org>  

tel:(757)291-1789

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