Hello NFBO, please read the message from president Riccobono. Chapter and division president’s please review the membership attachment and fill out one for your chapter or division in the format that it is requested.
Happy thanksgiving do not eat too much well why not. President, National Federation of the Blind <OfficeOfThePresident at nfb.org>
Sent: Tuesday, November 20, 2018 4:48 PM
To: President, National Federation of the Blind <OfficeOfThePresident at nfb.org>
Subject: NFB President’s Notebook - week of 11/20/2018 - with attachments
Importance: High
President’s Notebook
National Federation of the Blind
Mark A. Riccobono
officeofthepresident at nfb.org <mailto:officeofthepresident at nfb.org>
(410) 659-9314
Dear Fellow Federationists,
Hold on just a minute, take a moment to read the content below. I know you are thinking about the turkey and pie or how much you have to pack to go to visit friends and family. However, this notebook, like most, includes really important content, and some of it is very time sensitive. Now I know that you are thinking that thawing out the turkey is also time sensitive, but the Federation needs you to take a moment to check out some of the action items we need from affiliates and make a plan to execute on them in the next week. At the very least, make yourself a big to-do item for Monday morning.
When I think about being thankful, I think about the leaders of the Federation. What you do on a daily basis makes such a great difference in our ability to have a powerful network of Federation family across the country. I am thankful for you. I am also thankful, as I know many of you are, that we have had another tremendous fall convention season. I want to extend a special thank you to Sharon Maneki who retired for a second time from the presidency of the NFB of Maryland. Sharon stepped back into the presidency to assist with the transition of leadership of our national organization as Melissa Riccobono was serving as president of the affiliate at the time. Those of you who know Sharon know that she does not do anything half-heartedly, and her second round in the chair was even more aggressive than the first time she served. She has now turned the presidency over to Ronza Othman, but Sharon continues to be a significant leader in our movement. We should also welcome Maryanne Melley to the presidency of the NFB of Connecticut and Scott van Gorp to the presidency of the NFB of Iowa. Thank you to those who have stepped up to serve our organization.
Now for my tips for a successful Thanksgiving:
1. Read the items below.
2. Make a plan to act on them.
3. Enjoy your Thanksgiving knowing that you are ahead of the game for the year ahead in the Federation.
4. Reflect on all that we have to be thankful for in this great Federation family.
5. Eat pie.
Critical Actions This Week:
Membership Initiative—Affiliate Presidents Call to Action:
It is necessary for the continued growth of the Federation to streamline data collection in order to make communication and interaction with our members easier. For some time, we have been working on centralizing membership information into the organization’s Connections database. Our national office can better serve your affiliate if we have accurate data about the members of the Federation at the local level. Thus, it is of great importance that you, as an affiliate president, distribute to and collect from chapters and divisions in your affiliate the complete membership information of your affiliate. Please have chapters and divisions send their spreadsheets to you before the end of December, because you are being asked to submit all of your affiliate information to the national office by no later than January 15, 2019. The Connections spreadsheet and directions for the collection of this data are attached.
A teleconference for all affiliate presidents will be held on December 5, 2018, at 8:30 p.m. to discuss this membership initiative and to answer questions about the information for the database. An invitation to that call will be sent to you separately.
Please send your completed affiliate information to Julie McGinnity at jmcginnity at nfb.org <mailto:jmcginnity at nfb.org> . Once we have this data, future updates should be much easier, and the Connections database will empower us to more effectively work together as a vehicle for collective action.
Affiliate Social Media Information Needed:
As some of you may know, we are in the process of redesigning the current nfb.org. This is an exciting project, and we have a lot of improvements in the works. One content-related update we are planning is to include state-specific social media information on each of the state affiliate pages. To that end, please send a list of your state’s current social media accounts, including Twitter handles and/or Facebook page URLs, to our web content coordinator, Alyssa Vetro. You may email her at avetro at nfb.org <mailto:avetro at nfb.org> . Please do so by Tuesday, November 27.
News:
Presidential Release:
The November Presidential Release is available at https://nfb.org/presidential-releases-en/presidential-release-477.
“On Our Seventy-Eighth Birthday, Celebrating Seventy-Eight Years of Stories:”
In case you haven’t had a chance to read it yet, my recent blog post is available at <https://nfb.org/blog/article/3768> https://nfb.org/blog/article/3768. If you would like to share it with others, it is linked from Facebook at <https://www.facebook.com/NationalFederationoftheBlind/photos/a.10150364849919248/10156933902509248/> https://www.facebook.com/NationalFederationoftheBlind/photos/a.10150364849919248/10156933902509248/ as well as on Twitter.
Scholarship Application Now Available:
Every year through our scholarship program, we award more than $120,000 to blind scholars from throughout the United States in recognition of their achievements and professional aspirations. The scholarship application period opened on November 1 and runs through March 31, 2019. To learn more and to apply, please visit our new scholarship webpage at https://nfb.org/scholarships.
Dr. Jacob Bolotin Awards:
The annual Dr. Jacob Bolotin Awards honor individuals and organizations that are a positive force in the lives of blind people and whose work advances the ultimate goal of helping transform our dreams into reality. Individuals and organizations can apply for an award or nominate others. The nomination period opens on November 15, 2018, and runs through April 15, 2019. For more information, including the history of the award and its recent winners, visit the new Dr. Jacob Bolotin Award webpage at https://nfb.org/bolotin.
Dates to Keep in Mind:
* January 28, 2019: Great Gathering-In; Washington Seminar begins
* March 28-29, 2019: Jacobus tenBroek Law Symposium
* March 31, 2019: <https://nfb.org/scholarships> NFB scholarship application deadline
* April 15, 2019: <https://nfb.org/programs/dr-jacob-bolotin-awards> Dr. Jacob Bolotin Award application deadline
* June 16-22, 2019: NFB EQ, Baltimore, Maryland
* July 7-12, 2019: <https://nfb.org/convention/2019> NFB National Convention, Las Vegas, Nevada
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
(410) 659-9314 | officeofthepresident at nfb.org <mailto:officeofthepresident at nfb.org>
<https://nfb.org/>
<http://www.facebook.com/nationalfederationoftheblind> <https://twitter.com/NFB_Voice> <https://www.youtube.com/NationsBlind>
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