[NFBWV-Talk] Fwd: NFB President’s Notebook - Week of 09/14/2020

Tue Sep 15 11:33:01 UTC 2020

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: President, National Federation of the Blind <
OfficeOfThePresident at nfb.org>
Date: Mon, Sep 14, 2020 at 4:31 PM
Subject: NFB President’s Notebook - Week of 09/14/2020
To: State Presidents <StatePresidents at nfb.org>

President’s Notebook

National Federation of the Blind

Mark A. Riccobono

officeofthepresident at nfb.org

410-659-9314

Dear Fellow Federationists,

I hope this message finds everyone doing well. I know that, for many of our
leaders, the back-to-school time is particularly challenging with children
and grandchildren needing support with education. I am sending positive
thoughts to each

of you along with the strength to keep working it out.

Many of you are planning for upcoming conventions. I want to again point
you to the principles I outlined in an earlier notebook regarding affiliate
business and voting. Remember that the affiliate convention, like the
national convention,

serves as the supreme authority. It is appropriate for the affiliate board
to consider voting rules and submit a proposal to the affiliate convention
for consideration. Please consider carefully how voting and other business
will be managed and be sure that

the affiliate leadership team is fully vested in the approach being taken.
I urge you to draw on the expertise of your national representative to the
convention in advance. I also invite you to call me to chat about these
issues.

I know that it is highly important to a number of you that we also
acknowledge the start of the NFL season. I was pleased to note that the
Packers destroyed the Vikings in game one of their championship season. I
hope all of you are enjoying

the return of football even if the stadiums are pretty quiet. It was really
strange to have a football game in Baltimore and to not hear the roar of
the first game crowd from our house about a mile and a half from the
stadium.

News

*Election 2020:*

We are currently developing a section on NFB-NEWSLINE® for election 2020
materials. These items will be made available on the service as they become
available to us. Yesterday we released the “candidate

2020 searches” section, which contains several searches for “Biden” and
“Trump.” There are searches of the top one hundred newspapers, breaking
news, international newspapers, and magazines provided in this section. In
order to access this information on a

telephone, you will first need to select option 1 off the main menu,
followed by option 2 for the election 2020 materials. If you are using the
NFB-NEWSLINE Mobile app, first select “all publications” followed by
selecting “candidate 2020 searches.” The election

2020 materials will be available to all NFB-NEWSLINE subscribers, including
those subscribers who reside in non-sponsored states.

*Speaking of Election 2020:*

Stay tuned for more news about how we are securing the rights of blind
voters across the nation. In the meantime, we have a fun surprise that will
help affiliates and chapters encourage members to vote! That surprise

is an original parody, "Our Vote
<https://www.nfb.org/images/nfb/audio/nfb_songs/hamilton-parody-final.mp3>,"
inspired
by the song "My Shot" from the musical

*Hamilton, *composed and performed by NFB member Precious Perez.

*Affiliate Website Security:*

That’s a nice website ya got there. Be a shame if anything bad were to
happen to it. Me and Vinny, we’s could maybe protect that for you.

~ John “Bugsy” Berggren

As we know, in this digital day and age, our websites are the virtual front
doors to our organization. We always want to put our best foot forward and
part of that is ensuring the availability and continuity of

our websites. Transferring your affiliate web domain (nfbmn.org, for
example) to the national office means one fewer thing to worry about. When
does it expire? Who controls the credentials? Whose credit card is on file
with the registrar? We can make certain

your domain registration is always current. Transferring your domain
doesn’t require any changes to your current affiliate website or your
webhost. And you don’t need to wait until your current domain registration
expires. This is purely an administrative

transfer. If interested, please contact Susan Skaarer (sskaarer at nfb.org) to
arrange for the transfer. It requires only a few steps on your end, and
Susan will walk you through the process.

*Equal Access in Education Blog Post:*

As schools reopen this fall, some virtually, some in person, and some in a
hybridized format, blind students may encounter new and challenging
accessibility barriers; some

students already have. Many questions remain regarding how schools will
implement instruction this fall, but with certainty the NFB will continue
to prioritize equal access to education within all the work we do. To find
out what we are doing and how you can

participate, please read our new blog post, “Equal Access in Education: An
NFB Priority <https://www.nfb.org/blog/equal-access-education-nfb-priority>
.”

*Legislative Directors' Listserv:*

Thanks to those of you who have already submitted the names of your most
current legislative director appointees. As a quick reminder, we ask each
affiliate president to appoint one or

more legislative directors who can help coordinate our federal-level
advocacy with that affiliate. You are welcome to appoint just one
legislative director for your affiliate, but larger affiliates may want to
have several legislative directors in order to

help share the workload or just to cover in case one of them is
unavailable. (However if you have multiple directors, please make sure the
expectations are clear on who is handling what so that nothing gets
dropped.) We will be starting the process of updating

the legislative director listserv this week. If you haven't already done
so, please send your appointee’s contact information to Jesa Medders (
jmedders at nfb.org)

as soon as possible. The specific information we need in order to update
the list is the name, email address, and phone number.

*PAC Enrollments and Changes:*

During your affiliate convention, or anytime throughout the year, existing
PAC contributors can make changes to their PAC contributions and contact
information, and prospective contributors can enroll in PAC, by

completing the webform at http://www.NFB.org/PAC. New donors are asked to
complete the form, indicate their monthly contribution, the state to be
credited, and input their contact information.

Our PAC team will follow up with new donors for their bank account or
credit card details. Anyone who needs to stop their PAC contribution or who
has questions can also email

PAC at NFB.org or call us at 410-659-9314, extension 2622, or 877-632-272
(NFB-2PAC).

*Braille Readers Are Leaders:*

Once again, the National Federation of the Blind is partnering with the
American Action Fund for Blind Children and Adults to present the 2020-2021
Braille Readers Are Leaders contest. With categories for children

and adults alike, the contest aims to encourage Braille literacy and
reading for pleasure. The contest will run from December 1, 2020, through
January 18, 2021. Participants will log the number of pages they read in
order to compete for prizes. More information

regarding how to register will be coming soon.

Dates to Keep in Mind:

   - September 24-25:

   Nonvisual Access Conference
   <https://www.nfb.org/programs-services/center-excellence-nonvisual-access/trainings/nonvisual-access-conference>
   - October 1: Presidential Release LIVE, 8:00 p.m. eastern
   - October 1:

   Inclusive Publishing Conference
   <https://www.nfb.org/programs-services/center-excellence-nonvisual-access/trainings/inclusive-publishing-conference>

   - October: Meet the Blind Month
   - November 1: Presidential Release LIVE, 8:00 p.m. eastern
   - December 1: Presidential Release LIVE, 8:00 p.m. eastern
   - December 9: Open-House Gathering call, 8:00 p.m. eastern
   - February 8, 2021: Washington Seminar Great Gathering-In

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

200 East Wells Street, Baltimore, MD 21230
<https://www.google.com/maps/search/200+East+Wells+Street,+Baltimore,+MD+21230?entry=gmail&source=g>

410-659-9314 |

Officeofthepresident at nfb.org

Twitter: @Riccobono

Pronouns: he, him, his

[image: National Federation of the Blind] <https://nfb.org/>

[image: Facebook]
<http://www.facebook.com/nationalfederationoftheblind>    [image:
Twitter] <https://twitter.com/NFB_Voice>    [image: Youtube]
<https://www.youtube.com/NationsBlind>

The National Federation of the Blind is a community of members and friends
who believe in the hopes and dreams of the nation’s blind. Every day we
work together to help blind people live the lives

they want.

-- 
Sheri Koch, President
National Federation of the Blind of West Virginia
304-993-5103