[Ohio-Talk] RESOLUTIONS

Sun Sep 17 01:23:39 UTC 2023

Good Evening Everyone!

For everyone’s convenience I am going to provide two different documents that were provided during the resolutions writing workshop on March 8th, 2023. I hope both of these documents will guide and assist you in writing your resolutions.

For your convenience I am going to copy both documents into the body of  this email and attach them as well. The first document is resolutions writing pasted immediately below.
Guidelines for Resolution Writing

This has no author, but primarily is was constructed and was maintained by Barbara Pierce.

          Writing resolutions is a specialized skill. The resolution is one very long sentence directing the organization to take a stand or engage in some action. It can also commend or take exception to actions of other entities. It must not provide direct instructions to any group other than the NFB or its president and board of directors. The actions or other recommendations are contained in the resolves at the close of the resolution. The argument for taking the action is laid out in a series of whereases. Ideally each argument and only one argument should be placed in a single whereas. These should be arranged in the most logical order possible.

          The most efficient way to write a resolution is to make a simple outline or list of premises which you will turn into the WHEREAS clauses and a similar simple list of phrases for the RESOLVED clauses. In fact, you should begin by determining what your RESOLVED clauses are; that is, how many there should be and what their basic thrust is. You will know how many by the number of entities we need to address or the number of problems we need to fix. After you decide specifically how you want the problem fixed, determine the smallest number of concepts you need to explain to a person unfamiliar with the problem that there is a problem. The best resolutions can be picked up by a person unfamiliar with the issue and hold that person's attention (in other words, are as short as possible) while still actually explaining the problem and the solution or solutions. This method, deciding the ending first and then crafting the arguments to reach it, will result in the simplest and clearest resolution. Then, when you actually write the formal resolution, you can focus on the writing and the style, having already done the thinking part.

          Here are the punctuation and layout rules for writing resolutions:
1. Each argument begins with the word WHEREAS, indented and all caps. BE IT RESOLVED and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, which introduce the resolve sections, are also indented and written in caps. Note that WHEREAS is followed by a comma, but the two versions of be it RESOLVED are not.
          2. Each WHEREAS before the final one ends with a semicolon and the word “and.” This is true of the RESOLVES as well.
          3. The final WHEREAS ends with a colon, the words “Now, therefore,” and a hard return. Please note that Now is capitalized.
          4. The final RESOLVE ends with a period. This reflects the fact that the entire resolution is a single sentence. Sometimes one is taxed to refrain from writing sentences within WHEREASes, but inserting a complete sentence is not playing the game fairly.
          5. A blank line separates the elements of the resolution.
          6. In the beginning of the first RESOLVE surround the year and the state with commas. The formula looks like this:
          BE IT RESOLVED that the National Federation of the Blind in convention assembled this eighth day of July, 2000, in the City of Atlanta, Georgia, ... Note also that the C in City is capitalized.

          The rather strained form of the resolution makes it sound unnatural and formal. Do not attempt to add to this effect by indulging in jargon and verbosity. Even though resolutions are frequently long, brevity is a virtue. Each argument should be made concisely but clearly. Jargon never helps this process. Substituting “utilize”for the short, vigorous word “use” and always referring to people as persons or individuals are good examples of counterproductive inflation of the pomposity quotient. On the other hand, because resolutions are formal statements of a policy position, you should avoid slang or informal words like “exams” instead of “examinations” or “quotes” for “quotations.” Verb forms like “hunker down” or “get going” are also a bit too casual for use in resolutions.

          You will remember that the NFB is on record as opposing people-first language, except as it happens for some reason to sound euphonious. Despite this fact, we are increasingly saddled with awkward people-first language in our resolutions that serves no function but to lengthen the argument, sound pompous, and contradict our own policy. Remember that there is nothing wrong with the terms “blind people” or “blindness field.” Yet increasingly our resolutions are cluttered with “persons who are blind” or “persons with blindness or visual impairment.”

          Capitalization should be consistent. Do not capitalize words for emphasis. Quotation marks should not be used for this purpose either. “Federal” is not capitalized unless it is part of an actual title or is the first word of a sentence. Since WHEREASes do not begin with capital letters, federal is almost never capitalized in resolutions. “Congress,” on the other hand, is, as are “House of Representatives” and “Senate.” Names of departments and organizations are capitalized, but terms like “departments of education” or “vocational rehabilitation agencies” should not be.

          Resolutions often pile up nouns as adjectives. When this happens, the terms should be hyphenated: Web-site creators, access-program producers.

          Bill numbers are written H.R. 0000 or S.

National Resolutions a Quick Guide
This has no author, but modesty aside, it came mostly from Kyle Walls.
The resolutions process of the National Federation of the Blind is frequently one of the most exciting and engaging parts of our annual national convention. It is also where we set our priorities for the coming year. That being said, it is no surprise that we take our national resolutions extremely seriously. We want them to be perfect when they reach the convention floor. That effort starts with you as you write and submit them. Below are a few quick guidelines to keep in mind when you begin the process of writing a National Federation of the Blind National Convention Resolution.

First, before you even begin writing the resolution, you may want to ask yourself: “Is a national resolution the most efficient or effective way to address this topic?” If the resolution is about a recently-encountered access barrier, might it be addressed by calling or writing to the offending party before we condemn and deplore them at a national event? Conversely, if an individual or organization has done something truly spectacular for blind Americans, is there an award we could nominate them for? If we keep these questions in mind, then we can save condemning resolutions for repeat inaccessibility offenders, or commending resolutions for those who have corrected their mistakes of the past.

Once you have made the decision that a resolution is absolutely the right course of action, you need to consider the purpose of your resolution. For this, you can ask the following questions:

Who will it be addressing? – Think of the specific individual or organization we will send the resolution to.

Why is a national resolution necessary? – Think of the problem that instigated the resolution in the first place.

What is the ultimate goal of the resolution? – Think of how that problem can be fixed and whether collaboration with the National Federation of the Blind is appropriate, if the reason for the problem should be publicly condemned, or if the accomplishment warrants a public commendation.
Now that you have determined a resolution is necessary and you have identified the purpose of your resolution, it’s time to actually get to the task of writing it. National Federation of the Blind resolutions follow a specific format. First, we start with a series of “whereas” clauses that typically start broad and become more specific with each successive clause. Below is a very generic example of the concept:
WHEREAS, the National Federation of the Blind is the transformative organization of blind Americans; and
WHEREAS, the Jernigan Institute, the headquarters of the National Federation of the Blind frequently hosts events where participants will travel from all across the country to attend; and
WHEREAS, a highlight of these events is the cookie break that features many flavors of delicious cookies; and
WHEREAS, occasionally there is not enough of each flavor of cookie to satisfy all attendees; Now, therefore
The Whereas clauses will continue until the problem is identified. Ideally, this should take approximately six to ten clauses, but on occasion some more complex issues may require more. There is no perfect number, but as a general rule you should aim to state the problem clearly in the smallest number of whereas clauses as possible. Including an excessive amount of whereas clauses in your resolution only serves to make the resolution unnecessarily long, less focused, and more difficult to follow.

Once you have identified the problem in the final whereas clause, it’s time to write the “resolve” clauses, wherein you will identify a course of action to resolve the problem. It doesn’t need to be incredibly specific, it just needs to identify who should take charge in solving the problem. Continuing from the example above:
BE IT RESOLVED that this organization will strive to ensure that there are enough cookies for all attendees of future events at the Jernigan Institute to receive at least two servings; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this organization will ensure that each flavor of cookie will be plentiful.
As with the whereas clauses, only use the resolve clauses sparingly. Two to three resolves should be sufficient, and any more than that can become cumbersome and unwieldy.

Proposed resolutions should be submitted to the chair of the Resolutions Committee, Sharon Maneki, at nfbmdsm at gmail.com<mailto:nfbmdsm at gmail.com>

Thank you for your patience and understanding.

Have great rest of your weekend!

Respectfully,
Frank Bragassa
Resolutions Committee Chair

From: Ohio-Talk On Behalf Of Frank Bragassa via Ohio-Talk
Sent: Saturday, September 16, 2023 5:10 PM
To: NFB of Ohio Announcement List <ohio-talk at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Frank Bragassa <fbragassa at msn.com>
Subject: Re: [Ohio-Talk] RESOLUTIONS

I will certainly do that. I will send out later tonight or tomorrow at the latest.
Sent from my iPhone

On Sep 16, 2023, at 4:54 PM, marianne denning via Ohio-Talk <ohio-talk at nfbnet.org<mailto:ohio-talk at nfbnet.org>> wrote:

Can you please send an example of a resolution in the correct format? Thank you.

From: Ohio-Talk <ohio-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org<mailto:ohio-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org>> On Behalf Of Frank Bragassa via Ohio-Talk
Sent: Saturday, September 16, 2023 3:50 PM
To: Ohio-Talk at NFBNet.ORG<mailto:Ohio-Talk at NFBNet.ORG>
Cc: Frank Bragassa <fbragassa at msn.com<mailto:fbragassa at msn.com>>
Subject: [Ohio-Talk] RESOLUTIONS

Hello Ohio Federationists!

Fall is in the air and October is fast approaching which means we must turn our attention to resolutions. If you have not done so already please begin the process of writing your resolutions.

A, friendly reminder from, the resolutions committee, that, all resolutions must be received in writing and in the proper format.

Please SUBMIT your Resolutions via email to FBragassa at MSN.com<mailto:FBragassa at MSN.com>
THE DEADLINE to SUBMIT RESOLUTIONS IS WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 25th, 2023.

If you have questions my contact information is listed below.

Now let’s go build a stronger, growing, and thriving Ohio affiliate through great resolutions!

Sincerely,
Frank Bragassa
Resolutions Committee Chair
National Federation of the Blind of Ohio
Phone: 513-399-2828
Email: FBragassa at MSN.com<mailto:FBragassa at MSN.com>

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