[Nfbwv-talk] National Convention and President's Notebook

Tue Jul 21 13:57:55 UTC 2015

Greetings Fellow Federationists,

I am back home after a great national convention and a week's vacation in Wyoming visiting my twin sister.

It really was a great convention which energized us to carry on the work of the NFB.  There were some new sessions at convention and a new twist on some standard sessions.  We rejoice with Bre Brown, who was born and raised in West Virginia, who was the top scholarship winner of the Jernigan Scholarship in the amount of $12,000.  We also celebrate having broken the Guinness Book of World Records for the largest umbrella mosaic ever!!!

It was great to see so many West Virginians at national convention as we were well represented with 19 attendees.  For those of you who have never attended a national convention and would like to attend next year's convention, please talk with me in January about applying for a scholarship that will cover the cost of some of your convention expenses.  By the way, next year's convention will again take place in Orlando, Florida.

Now, we will look forward to our state convention scheduled to take place at the Best Western Bridgeport Inn September 17 - 20.  If you have not seen the convention memo I sent to this talk list, please let me know and I will get it to you.

Below, you will find President Riccobono's Notebook dated July 14, 2015.  It is very helpful and informative and keeps us updated with what is happening on a national level.

If, at any time, you have any questions or if I can be of assistance to you or your chapter, please do not hesitate to contact me.

I thank all of you for all you do for our affiliate and its chapters as we work with other blind people across the country to make it possible for us to "live the lives we want".

Charlene

July 14, 2015
President's Notebook
National Federation of the Blind
Mark A. Riccobono
officeofthepresident at nfb.org<mailto:officeofthepresident at nfb.org>
(410) 659-9314

Dear Federation Family:

Congratulations on a historic diamond anniversary convention. We made history in many ways inside and outside the Federation. Now, we get back to the day-to-day work that makes the Federation the powerful force that it is in our local communities. The convention is always a renewing and hopeful time that gives us the energy to carry out our activities through the rest of the year. I know I was filled with the love, hope, and determination that come from convention and I am ready to take on the next battle. I am here at my desk at the NFB Jernigan Institute working on the next big thing. I look forward to hearing from you soon. Thank you for all you have done to make our organization officially amazing.

Warmest regards,

Mark A. Riccobono, President
National Federation of the Blind

Critical Actions This Week:
Advocacy on Integrated Competitive Employment Needed: The Committee on Integrated and Competitive Employment under the US Department of Labor has received some feedback that the subminimum wage provision under the FLSA should be continued. We know this is wrong and the time is now to let the Department of Labor know that subminimum wages must come to an end. Please write an email as soon as possible to the committee. We have made it easy by creating an online template that you can find at https://nfb.org/ice.  To email the committee directly, the address is IntegratedCompetitiveEmployment at dol.gov<mailto:IntegratedCompetitiveEmployment at dol.gov>. Please send your message this week if possible but certainly no later than the 28th of July. If you have questions about this issue, please contact Rose Sloan at rsloan at nfb.org<mailto:rsloan at nfb.org> or (410) 659-9314, extension 2441.

Reminders:
Social Media: Danielle Trevino has joined our national staff as our coordinator for social media and member engagement. Danielle may be reaching out to you regarding your affiliate social media presence. I wanted you to know the name in case it comes across your desk. Feel free to reach out to her via email at dtrevino at nfb.org<mailto:dtrevino at nfb.org> or via phone at (410) 659-9314, extension 2358.

Affiliate Fundraising Opportunity from Jason Ewell: Fellow Federationists: Many of you heard at convention that Jessica and I recently returned from Scotland, where we recorded her new album, Songs of the Summer Realm. I want to follow up with you to remind you how you can preorder your copy, and how preordering could help your state affiliate win a free concert! (The deadline is 6:00 p.m. Eastern on Thursday, July 16.) By supporting our project, you help us show others that, with proper training and opportunity, we as blind people can compete with our sighted peers and make important contributions to the world around us.

Preordering Jessica's Album on Kickstarter: Since this project is such a substantial undertaking, we are financing it by selling copies in advance through a Kickstarter page, which you can find at https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jessicavictoria/songs-of-the-summer-realm-arthurian-celtic-fusion. In case you are not familiar with Kickstarter, it is a crowdfunding platform that allows people to raise capital for their albums, film projects, or inventions. We set a funding goal of $15,000 for our project, and we are currently at about $8,800. People can back the project at different levels, and they are only charged if and when we make our goal, which we must do by 6:00 p.m. Eastern on Thursday, July 16. A digital download of Jessica's album costs $10. A CD copy costs $25. Other reward levels include video updates of the recording process and Braille liner notes for the album. One can even book a small concert for $2,000.

Concert Raffle for State Affiliates: As a special promotion for the National Federation of the Blind's 75th anniversary, we are going to treat Kickstarter contributions by Federationists as one contribution for the purpose of giving a concert. If we make our $15,000 Kickstarter goal, and if Federationists collectively contribute $2,000 (the amount an individual would have to pay to get a concert), for each $75 contributed by Federationists from a given state affiliate, we will put the name of that affiliate in a drawing. The winning affiliate will receive a free concert from Jessica. The winning affiliate is responsible for providing the concert venue and the audience, and for doing concert promotion. In addition to covering Jessica's fee, we will cover her travel costs and the fee for the accompanying musicians. This is more than a $2,000 value. The winning affiliate can use the concert as a fundraiser, to which it can sell tickets and sponsorships, or it can use it as entertainment at a state convention. The concert can be jazz, Celtic, classical, or a mixture.

Details about Jessica's New Album: The new album is called Songs of the Summer Realm. It is Celtic Fusion in style, and it depicts King Arthur as a servant leader who has valuable lessons to teach us in the 21st century. Jessica wrote almost all of the music and some of the lyrics, and other lyrics come from some well-known Arthurian legends. She even sings a medley of Scottish-Gaelic mouth music! Since the album is a Celtic project, we recorded it in the western Scottish Highlands, with the best musicians one can find in Scotland. They included a core band of drums, guitar, and pianist; an outstanding piper; and horns, strings, and harp.

Our goal is to release Songs of the Summer Realm in late August. Again, if you would like to get a copy of the album, it would be extremely helpful to us if you would do it through our Kickstarter page. The address is https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jessicavictoria/songs-of-the-summer-realm-arthurian-celtic-fusion. Additionally, you can listen to excerpts of demo versions of some of the songs at Jessica's website at http://www.jessicavictoria.com.

If you have trouble accessing Kickstarter, or if you have any other questions, please feel free to contact me at jason.ewell at gmail.com<mailto:jason.ewell at gmail.com>, or at (614) 937-4066. Your support is greatly appreciated!

On July 8, 2015, in honor of the seventy-fifth anniversary of the National Federation of the Blind, we made history by setting the Guinness World Record for the largest umbrella mosaic ever. The certificate commemorating this achievement notes that the NFB is "Officially Amazing!" Those who participated in the attempt can purchase their own customized certificate of participation via the online store-these certificates are provided entirely by the Guinness World Record team and the NFB receives no part of the cost of the certificate. While we have the information for how certificates can be ordered, we are currently negotiating with the GWR team. We have found that their online store has a number of accessibility barriers. Once we have resolved those issues or worked out an alternate method for ordering certificates, we will share that information widely across the Federation family.
Each certificate features the GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS(tm) logo, followed by text that reads:
Certificate of Participation
[Your Name Here]
PARTICIPATED IN THE FOLLOWING RECORD EVENT:
The largest umbrella mosaic consists of 2,480 participants and was achieved by the National Federation of the Blind (USA) in Orlando, Florida, USA, on 8 July 2015.

Dates to keep in mind:

*         August 2-8, 2015: NFB STEM EQ

*         September 11-13, 2015: NFB STEM2U Leadership Academy

*         June 19-25, 2016: NFB EQ (first iteration)

*         July 31-August 6, 2016 (second iteration)

*         August, 2016: WBU-ICEVI General Assembly

The National Federation of the Blind knows that blindness is not the characteristic that defines you or your future. Every day we raise the expectations of blind people, because low expectations create obstacles between blind people and our dreams. You can live the life you want; blindness is not what holds you back.

Mark A. Riccobono, President
National Federation of the Blind
200 East Wells Street at Jernigan Place
Baltimore, Maryland 21230
Phone: (410) 659-9314
Fax: (410) 659-5129
Email: officeofthepresident at nfb.org<mailto:officeofthepresident at nfb.org>
Twitter: @Riccobono and @NFB_Voice
Web: www.nfb.org<http://www.nfb.org/>

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