This is being provided in a rough-draft format. Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) is provided in order to facilitate communication accessibility and may not be a totally verbatim record of the proceedings
DANIELLE: Good morning, everyone! Thank you for joining us here. It's board meeting day!
MELISSA: It's board meeting day! Happy Friday!
ANIL: I didn't know that. That's fabulous, celebrating the board meeting.
MELISSA: We have everybody that just popped in. This was amazing. Ask and you shall receive, your co hosts, good morning, everybody!
DANIELLE: Good morning!
MELISSA: Where is everybody calling or coming into Zoom from? Where are you, Danielle?
DANIELLE: I am at the interpretations booth. I'm waiting for the interpreters to arrive for the board meeting, and for anyone who wants to come to convention next year and interpret, please, please do so.
MELISSA: Nice. Why don't you say that in Spanish so people who are listening right now can hear it in their Native tongue.
DANIELLE: That's right. They do such a good job. I did a little bit of interpreting for the NAVS meeting last night and probably one of the hardest things I have done. You have to speak so fast and make sure
you are intelligible. I tip my hat to them, because it was really hard for me.
MELISSA: Absolutely. Chris, where are you?
CHRIS: I'm in the hotel room. I came down with a little bit of a cold last night. Feeling much better this morning, but... so I hope to be back in action pretty shortly here, but for right now I am joining from one of the beautiful guest rooms at the Rosen Center.
MELISSA: Got it. Anil, where are you?
ANIL: I'm in one of the beautiful suites. We just adjourned the morning meeting. We have 11 students here as part of the NFB Career Quest Program from Mississippi. So we meet every morning to debrief the previous day and set the tone for the current day. A lot of good young people here being engaged. So we just adjourned, and I'm heading down to the board meeting now.
MELISSA: Fantastic! And I am also in a guest room. I was making coffee in the presidential suite this morning and it always takes longer to fill up our coffee urn, large urns than I think it will, so I decided that instead of rushing and making myself super crazy, that I would call in from my room and then go down to the board meeting in that little while.
So I am staying put. That's where we are.
And I hope all of you at home are enjoying the convention and the virtual experience. I have gotten a couple of emails. One email was from Jessica. She asked if the performing arts division showcase of talent is going to be streamed. It generally is streamed. I have a message into the president of the performing arts division, Kaitlyn McEntire. She might be texting me right now, because I just got a text message in my ear.
But I will pass that link along and make sure people have access to that link. And Donna was asking where recordings of sessions and things will be provided. I believe, Donna, if you go on to the virtual convention experience page. So if you just go to NFB.org /convention first, click on "virtual experience." On that page there is already archived recordings of -- I think I saw it yesterday that the pre show from the first day of convention, so the 3rd, was already up there. It's possible that the pre show from yesterday is already up there too. And a lot of these things are also archived on YouTube. Any of the -- not the free shows, but any of the actual sessions will be on YouTube, and I believe in that virtual convention page we're going to make sure that those links get up there pretty quickly. So that is the place. Danielle, if you have any other -- or Chris, if you have other thoughts or things that I'm missing, I would love to hear that.
CHRIS: We also will post the highlights of the convention on NFB.org /convention as soon as we can after the convention. And you know, all of the things you just pointed out, Melissa, are really important, because then people can access things during convention. But, you know, if you're not able to get to something during the convention but that you really wanted to hear, especially from the general sessions, there will be the highlights posted as soon as we can make that happen, once we return from the convention.
MELISSA: Yeah, and those will be split up. The thing about the YouTube is, it's a long file.
CHRIS: Right.
MELISSA: So if you go the other way -- the other way you can do it is go to Nationsblind on YouTube and everything will be there. They're longer files. Of course you can navigate through them, it's not really a problem. But anyway, that's what I know. Danielle, any shout outs? Should we just start talking about the board meeting?
DANIELLE: Yeah, so we have got shout outs in the Q&A from Arizona, Tim from Arizona says he misses being here. And then we also have Kendra from Oregon. Kendra has been here for every single virtual session. Thank you so much for joining us, Kendra.
MELISSA: It's early in Oregon too. Good morning, Kendra. I hope you have coffee or tea or whatever, and get your eyes opened in the morning. Because it's early there. So should we pivot and talk about the board meeting? Who is on the board, what the board meeting is, why we're excited about it? Why we're celebrating the board meeting?
DANIELLE: Yeah, let's do that.
MELISSA: Yeah.
DANIELLE: So Melissa... go ahead, Chris.
CHRIS: No, go ahead, Danielle, sorry.
DANIELLE: I was going to say that you did a great summary of the questions. So I think that the first thing is, you know, this board meeting, what are some of the reasons that we're excited for a board meeting?
MELISSA: Well, I'm excited just because it's truly the first convention session. It's not technically the first general session, but it is the first time that President Riccobono will gavel something to order, and where we will hear from many of our leaders. It's just a really nice way to kick off the convention. Shout out to Sandy Halverson. I just heard that you joined. Thank you for being with us.
So that's one reason I'm excited and there are many others, but I will not take them all, because I'm sure my cohosts have their own reasons why they are excited.
CHRIS: I would say that another reason to be very excited is there may be a reveal of our next convention. I'm not promising anything. I'm not guaranteeing anything. But there may be.
And there probably will be a reveal of our scholarship finalists for this year. So that's
MELISSA: I wouldn't say "probably." I would say "definitely" (chuckling)
CHRIS: Yeah, something would really have to go wrong. But usually definitely the scholarship winners are -- introduce themselves at the board meeting. And this is really important because, you know, when we present the scholarship awards at the banquet, the scholarship winners don't really have a chance to share very much about themselves.
So this is the time when they really have a chance to speak directly to the convention, and let people know not only what they are studying and where they are from, but something about who they are.
MELISSA: Yeah, and that is always -- it's nerve racking. I was a scholarship winner, and I was very nervous when I had to get up in front of the whole board, and Dr. Maurer as a president at the time. But it was really fun. And it's always wonderful to be sitting in the audience and hear from these amazing young people who are doing fantastic things.
ANIL: And what an audience! Look what is going on in this room. Oh, my! A room full of blind people.
MELISSA: What will we do?
ANIL: Good morning, everybody!
MELISSA: Are you down there already, Anil? I think Anil flew if he's in the boardroom. That is a long walk. He must have been booking.
CHRIS: You know what, he's probably borrowing
ANIL: Yeah, I'm here in the mix. I had to mute myself because I had people asking questions. Excuse me... hey, how you doing? Good to see you! Oh, man, Larry out of Alabama, ladies and gentlemen.
MELISSA: Hi, Larry!
ANIL: Say hello to the morning group.
LARRY: Morning!
ANIL: Look at all the energy! Larry must have been spending a lot of time doing Federation activities last night. (chuckling) Yes, I'm here!
MELISSA: How did you get down there so fast, Anil? What is your secret?
ANIL: I walked.
MELISSA: You're a fast walker.
ANIL: You have to know a different way to get around the hotel. I can't tell my suite number, because people are here, and they'll redirect everybody, all of a sudden everybody will be taking my shortcut.
MELISSA: Got it. Well, I'm glad you're down there. That's great. What will you be looking forward to, Anil, about the board meeting?
ANIL: I'm experiencing right now a group of people living the life they want. Ron Brown, I get all that... yeah, it's all good. All good men. Love that! So that's part of the two, the informal interaction, the organic meeting and conversation. I love the fact that we're highlighting our leaders and the work that our leaders do. This board meeting is just a time for us to do that. I'm going to mute.
MELISSA: Absolutely. And there will definitely be other awards possibly given. There is sometimes an Educator of Blind Children Award that is given at these board meetings. We have scholarship and educator of blind children. Sometimes an educator award and sometimes not. It depends on whether we have candidates. We don't give them every year. Those are only when deserving candidates apply and the committee chooses to give those. We don't have to give every year. And this is also when we'll find out -- because elections, of course, are tomorrow.
So sometimes there are board members who, for a variety of reasons, choose not to run for re-election, so this is when we might find out if there are any people who might not be running for re-election and thank them for their service on the board. So that always goes on as well, and lots of announcements. John Berger usually gets to speak to the crowd. There are great reasons...
ANIL: I have breaking news, Melissa.
MELISSA: Breaking news! I love breaking news! Da da da da!
ANIL: Making a breaking news noise. Talk about scholarship class, I'm sitting with the scholarship committee chairman, Kate Mendez. Do you want to say good morning?
KATE: Good morning, everybody. For some of you it's very, very morning if you're on the west coast. Thanks for being awake.
ANIL: We were talking about that, a young lady in Oregon tuning in. Recognize that she's sacrificing an early morning. Tell us, we've got a good group this year?
KATE: Absolutely. Lovely. They represent a whole bunch of different states. A whole bunch of different careers, everything from aerospace to social work. They are lie school seniors all the way up to adult returning students. They're a wonderful scholarship this year.
ANIL: And it comes together because of the great leadership, Kate Mendez. Our scholarship committee is a group of Type A personalities and to get them to work together in concert to give us a stellar class, that's phenomenal.
KATE: Thank you for the opportunity. It's been the greatest honor of my Federation career getting to chair this committee and getting to know the students.
ANIL: Very nice! Back to you. Back to our regularly scheduled program.
MELISSA: I also have breaking news, which maybe isn't exactly breaking news, but I can reveal something about next year's convention. And I can reveal this because it is actually on our American Action Fund for Blind Children and Adults, makes calendars, and we partner with the American Action Fund and the National Federation of the Blind. So we always have the National Federation of the Blind Convention listed on these calendars, and on the 2025 calendar, it says July 8th 13th is when National Federation of the Blind will be.
And then it says TBD. So to be determined. But we already know the 8th 13th. So we're going to be a little later this year... we're in the midst of this year. We're going to be a little later next year. You'll actually have the 4th of July at home. Which, I mean, oh, my goodness, which hasn't happened for a little while. What are you going to do? But you can already begin to plan. We don't know where we're going, but we're going there on the 8th of July through the 13th of July. So that's my breaking news.
ANIL: I was talking to President Riccobono, and he said, Mark AI, the artificial intelligent personality that is supposed to be the intelligence of President Riccobono, but even Mark AI will reveal where the -- won't reveal where the convention is going to be next year.
MELISSA: As stubborn as the real Mark.
ANIL: Crafty. I won't say "stubborn."
MELISSA: Crafty, that's a good word for it, actually.
(chuckles)
MELISSA: But I'm his spouse and I can call him stubborn, and I think still be invited, you know, to be his spouse. I think it's okay (laughing)
ANIL: Exactly. This room is full. Yesterday the Resolutions Committee meeting was packed. It was standing room only. I don't think we've had that type of crowd for a Resolutions Committee in that very long time.
MELISSA: That is so exciting! That is fantastic! So exciting.
CHRIS: 22 resolutions by the way. If you want to review them online, hopefully you got a chance to hear the meeting. And you know, it's really important to listen to those discussions, and anybody who... you know, one of the myths about our movement is that the resolutions process is this rubber stamp process, and yesterday was a demonstration that it really is not, so...
ANIL: That is true. That is true. There is vigorous debate on issues that concern the Federation.
MELISSA: Yeah. No, absolutely. And there are policies. So there should be vigorous debate. That's really, really important. Yeah, and the Resolutions Committee, it was a great meeting.
CHRIS: Talk about being nervous... sorry, Anil, go ahead. I was just going to say, talk about being nervous about doing something, I haven't done this in a while, but I was a proponent for a resolution yesterday, and that's that little nerve racking. Because you've got to make the case for the resolution, and you have to make it as briefly as possible. So there you go.
MELISSA: And you did great.
ANIL: I'm looking forward to the debate, looking forward to bringing it to the convention proper and debate those 22 resolutions. That will be a fun busy day.
MELISSA: No, absolutely. But we got a little bit to do before that time, but, yes, I'm definitely looking forward to that. And the committee did a great job and did its work really well. And the board has been busy doing its work all year. You know, the reason we somewhere a board is to advise the president and to help this organization move forward, and we have a very diverse board and make sure that they are from different parts of the country, that they represent different diverse characteristic, gender and cultural and all of those kinds of things, and so we're very excited to have the board and the board meeting and have people here a little bit from the board.
And if you don't know about these board members, their biographies are on NFB.org. Sometimes they're featured in the Braille Monitor, but it's really good to learn a little bit about the board members, because they have very interesting stories. Grace Pires from Rhode Island is one that I think has just a fascinating story. She is from originally... now I can't remember, unfortunately, where, what country, but she came to the U.S. when she was like eight or nine, and her story is just... I had no idea until I read her little bio, I had no idea that she had those experiences, and I think there is always something to learn when you read bios of people about, you know, sort of how they grew up and what they bring to the board.
CHRIS: And all kinds of diverse backgrounds, too, as you point out. You know, Tom Page is a professional musician, and he has a recording studio, and he produces for other musicians.
MELISSA: Wow! That's super cool. I love audio editing, so maybe I have to have Tom Page's ear one of these times. Because that would be really interesting to learn about.
CHRIS: I'm sure the two of you could definitely geek out together.
MELISSA: Yes, we could.
CHRIS: He's got a full recording studio that he built out. So...
MELISSA: Wow! Oh, my gosh, that's super cool.
DANIELLE: Guys, we've got about five minutes left before the board meeting starts. I did just want to give a couple shout outs if that's okay. Kendra, to our question about this morning, Kendra is saying she had cold brewed tea and says it's early but worth every minute.
MELISSA: Thank you, Kendra! That's so nice.
DANIELLE: And, Melissa, I got a Facebook message -- sorry, a message app last night from Wesley in New Jersey, and Wesley said he appreciates the virtual so much and is having a great time. Thanks for listening, Wesley.
MELISSA: Thanks, Wesley. We love that.
ANIL: The give 25 campaign, I just want to put that out there.
MELISSA: Yes, we have a great GIVE25 dream big and GIVE25. There's many different ways that you can give. If you have been having trouble giving online or been calling, please know we are doing all we can to answer those calls and emails as quickly as we can, and we will get to you before the deadline. We promise. The deadline is -- is it July 6th or 7th this year? It's July 6.
CHRIS: It's tomorrow.
MELISSA: Oh, my gosh, I better get on it!
CHRIS: I know! Me too! But this is a great... there are lots of ways to give. And just be patient with us. And I think I can safely say that if you have called, you know, you will get into the competition. It's just a matter of us responding to you and getting your credit card information and what have you.
So this will happen, and, of course, this year, you know, make sure you put that GIVE25 link on your Facebook and your Mastodon and X/Twitter or whatever. Because people can make donations in your honor, and you get more entries in the contest that way. And the Federation gets more money to dream big. Because after all, that is one of our core values. Along with believe in blind people, lead courageously, champion collective action and foster inclusion. Dream big.
MELISSA: Yay!
CHRIS: The other day, I promise I was not looking at anything.
DANIELLE: So really quickly, we want to give a shout out all the way across the pond to Jim from London. Hey, thanks for being with us.
MELISSA: Wow, London! How is Big Ben? I didn't realize Big Ben is not the name of the clock. It's actually the name to have bell. I had no idea. And now I know. And I cannot -- I definitely want to go to London. That is on my bucket list. And Big Ben has fascinated me since I was very little. So I would love to go and hear Big Ben and get as close as I can. I don't know how close you can get or what that looks like, but anyway, I'm so glad that you are here, Jim. Thank you so much!
CHRIS: That is really great. And I hear the UK has a new government. So...
MELISSA: I was hearing that too.
CHRIS: So you know, the Jim is not worried about the UK government, or if he is, he's taking time away from that news to share in the convention (chuckling)
MELISSA: Absolutely! (chuckling) I think it's kind of interesting that the UK had their election on July 4th.
CHRIS: I know, right!?
MELISSA: That was fascinating to me (chuckling) Anyway, we digress. Anything else, Danielle, that we should talk about before we -- because we're going to get cut off very soon with the gavel.
DANIELLE: A quick reminder, I'm flying solo this afternoon for the final virtual session that we have. So wish me luck, y'all. We're doing an interview with Leah Stone from the Employment Committee. That's happening at noon. So 12:00 p.m. convention time, Eastern time. It will be a good time. But otherwise, thank you again for listening and I'll throw it back to you, Melissa.
MELISSA: All right, fantastic! Well, thank you all for listening. Anil, Chris, any last thoughts?
ANIL: I'm being bombarded. Hello, Suzanne, Melinda, Gene, good to see you guys. I'm going to go enjoy the board meeting. You guys enjoy the rest of the virtual experience.
MELISSA: Absolutely! This is great. Fantastic!
MELISSA: We're just waiting for the...
CHRIS: All right, here we go!
MELISSA: Have a great morning!
CHRIS: Have a great morning, everybody!
PRESIDENT RICCOBONO: Pam Allen. Ron Brown. Norma Crosby. Everette Bacon. Sheila Wright. Shawn Callaway. Marci Carpenter. Marilyn Green. Barbara Manuel. Carla McQuillan. Grace Pires. Donald Porterfield. Tracy Soforenko. Sheila Wright. Adelmo Vigil. The board is accounted for.
(Applause)
Sheila doesn't want to come before Adelmo. It hurts her feelings.
(Laughter)
But we saved the best for last, so...
All right. Greetings, fellow Federationists. If I could have your attention. By longstanding tradition, we would like to begin our board meeting, the first of general session at the convention by remembering those who could not be with us because they have passed on. These include from the last year...
Paula Achter, Dar Aldrick, Annette Anderson, Tom Anderson, Matthew Wade Bailey , Perry Blackstone, Leta Boykin , Maria Bradford, Manny Caddy, Ethel Carlize, Cordell Castleman, Lois Copeland, Joe Cordova, Ron Cox, Mattie Dixon, Claude Edwards,Penny Duffy, Gina Falvo, Pam Farnholtz, Sharon Fleeman, Queen Franklin, Jerry Garafolo, William Gardener, Roberta Glickman, Imani Graham, Mary Ellen Halverson, Gloria Hicks, David Holladay, Joe Jeffery, Oscar Johnson, William Jones, Al McKenney, Magnolia Lyons, Donna Menges, William Messing, Steve Montgomery, Terry Ann Moore, Jack Munson, Joe Naulty, Ted Robbins, Sue Roe, Martha Seabrooks, Jim Sheets, Garry Siebern, James Snyder, Sue Soldan, Pat Stab, Ken Staley, Daniel Taverne, Nancia Tompson, Jamie Turner, Teresa Wakefield, Dick Walker, Peggy Washington, Dominic Williams, Nicole Yarmolkevich.
And all of those who we may not have known about, let's have a moment of silence for our members we have lost in the last year. Amen. Thank you all for coming to our board meeting.
(Applause)
This is an official convention session, but there are no mics in the audience. The board are the ones that have the mics. I would like to now invite all of you who are able to stand for our pledge of allegiance and Federation pledge. The flag, as you are facing the stage is to your left, to my right. We will start with the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
This is a good crowd! They're in sync. And to your right, to my left is the Federation flag. And hopefully everyone knows the Federation pledge. If you do not, you can definitely find it in many places.
I pledge to participate actively in the efforts of the National Federation of the Blind to achieve equality, opportunity, and security for the blind; to support the policies and programs of the Federation; and to abide by its constitution. Man, this group sounds good today!
(Cheers and applause)
We'll see if a spontaneous "Live the Life You Want" breaks out. We'll have a good chorus.
(chuckling) Okay, let me see... We do have a lot of business this morning. And just a couple of notes before we get underway, I do want to note we did the Federation pledge. This crowd really knows it. That's great! That might be the best ever!
(Applause)
It's worth noting, there are a few here who were there 1974 was the convention where the pledge was first introduced by Dr. Jernigan at the 1974 convention.
So this is the 50th anniversary of the Federation pledge.
(Applause) I think it served us pretty well, right? Just a couple general convention notes before we talk about the elections coming up. We make a commitment in our organization to have an inclusive and safe convention for all. I would encourage everybody to take all of the steps that you can to make sure that we all can navigate the convention and be safe. I have noticed that at least so far this week there hasn't been an overwhelming urge to over pack the elevators. Thank you for that.
(Applause)
The elevators will come back and thank you for those who have not forced your way in to the elevators. That helps a lot. And just a reminder that, of course, we still have the COVID virus amongst others among us, so please take the precautions if you need to. If you want to mask, I encourage to do that. I encourage you to respect other people's space and make sure that you are using good practices, certainly if you are feeling symptoms, don't feel like you have to be sitting in the middle of your delegation during the session. Remember that it's not just you, it's the people around you. So do what you can in that regard.
I also would like to note that many in our Federation community have a sensitivity to various artificial chemicals. So although we want you to bathe...
(Laughter)
We don't have to bathe in your cologne and your perfume. It really can have a detrimental impact on people.
(Applause)
I was with someone earlier this week who accepted a hug from someone else and they smelled like their cologne for the rest to have day. So you know, just be aware that there are those of us that that's not just an annoyance, it's a real health issue. So do what you can in that regard. And of course remember that we should treat everybody in our environment with dignity. We should do what we can to help each other, be patient and respectful, and, of course, that includes individuals that we have invited to our stage to speak. We may fervently disagree with them, but we also want to treat them with respect for their coming to our convention.
We are known as being a respectful, yet forceful organization and we should keep it that way.
(Applause)
We do have a number of elected positions that will be up at this convention. Elections will happen on Sunday. Positions up for election are...
President, Mark Riccobono, Maryland.
First Vice President, Pam Allen, Louisiana.
Second Vice President, Ron Brown, Indiana.
Secretary, Everette Bacon, Utah.
Treasurer, Norma Crosby, Texas.
Board Members Shawn Callaway, District of Columbia.
Barbara Manual, Alabama.
Carla McQuillan, Oregon.
Donald Porterfield, Arizona.
Adelmo Vigil, New Mexico.
(Cheering)
And Shelia Wright, Missouri
See, they were in the right order. It confused me.
(Laughter)
The "right" order, yes.
Holdovers to the board that are not up for election this year include Jessica Beecham, Colorado.
Marci Carpenter from Washington.
Marilyn Green, Illinois.
Tom Page of Kansas.
Grace Pires of Rhode Island.
And Tracy Soforenko from Virginia.
(Applause)
SPEAKER: Mr. President...
PRESIDENT RICCOBONO: I would like to acknowledge Ron Brown.
RON: Mr. President, I live by a mantra from Maya Angelou who has said "When you know, teach. When you get, give." In the year 2001, in this city of brotherly love in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, I was elected to this board of directors. In the year 2008, I was also elected as Second Vice president of the great organization.
(Applause)
To my Federation Family, my esteemed colleagues here on the board, and Mr. President, to you, I am honored to serve and have been honored to serve all those years, 23 years on the board of directors of the National Federation of the Blind.
(Cheers and applause)
I have tried to give as much as I have gotten from this organization. And I am going to continue to do so. I also know that I have had an opportunity to help drive this train, our movement, and now it's time for me to put on my shades, to go out there and get Ms. Jenny Brown Miss Sunshine and kickback and ride this train for a while.
(Applause)
But Mr. President, and to my colleagues, I want you to know, though, I'm in the next train car behind you, so if you need me, call me. At this time, I will not be seeking election to the board of directors, and I thank you, and I thank you all for allowing me this great honor to serve this organization. Thank you, sir.
(Applause)
PRESIDENT RICCOBONO: Let's hear it for Ron Brown!
(Cheers and applause)
PRESIDENT RICCOBONO: Thank you very much, Ron, for your service. You have been a great rock for this board, especially as we transitioned between presidents and, you know, probably we will never again have a vice president with as many national baseball rings as Ron Brown.
(Applause)
SPEAKER: Mr. President...
PRESIDENT RICCOBONO: Yes?
CARLA: This is Carla McQuillan, I have served on this board of directors eight years under Dr. Maurer's presidency and eight years under your presidency, sir. As many may know, I have served 26 out of the past 32 years as president of the National Federation of the Blind of Oregon, and I will not be seeking re election to that office in October when we have our state convention. In addition, some of you may also know, I was recently elected as chair of the Blind Incorporated board of directors.
(Applause)
The intent there is to help guide the reimagination of blindness living in new dimensions, our Minnesota NFB training center, and therefore I will be dedicating most of my time and energy to that effort to see that we are successful, and I will also not be seeking re election to the National board of directors. I have thoroughly enjoyed mid time on the board, my colleagues, my family in the Federation, and Ron Brown said, I hope... I'm sorry, I didn't say at the beginning, my husband, Lucas, is getting a 50/50 fundraiser on when Carla will cry, and people put their bids on it, and -- because it's not a matter of when. It's not a matter of "if," it's matter of "when." And this isn't about my pink poodle pinky. This is from the heart. And Ron said, I will give as much as I get. I don't think that's possible. I have...
(Applause)
This organization changed my life in more ways than I can tell you. It changed my family's life, and I can never give back as much as I have received.
Thank you all so much for your love and support over the years.
AUDIENCE MEMBER: We love you, Carla!
(Applause)
PRESIDENT RICCOBONO: Thank you, Carla. A couple of things are true. One of them being that Carla was one of the very first people that I met at my first convention in 1996 and has been a mentor to me in many ways along the way. The other is that there are many in this room who had many wonderful experiences or whose children had many wonderful experiences because she decided to take on from the ground up building the NFB Camp Program and now has passed that off. And that is a tremendous legacy for this organization. So thank you for that.
(Applause)
SPEAKER: Mr. President.
PRESIDENT RICCOBONO: And the Blind Inc. work is going to be very demanding work, and so it's -- I notice she didn't say she was in the next train like Ron, because she's got a big assignment she's taking on. Adelmo Vigil.
ADELMO: Mr. President, fellow Federationists, in 2016, I was elected to this wonderful board. I have served and done everything in my power to be able to continue the programs and what the philosophy that the National Federation of the Blind stands for. I remember when I first was elected, I thought, what do I have to offer?
But you know what... I have learned so much serving on this board and being part of this great organization. The organization that has changed my life, when I was growing up in a small community, I always wondered what I was going to do. I never dreamed that I would be sitting here before you serve on this wonderful board. It has been great to serve with President Riccobono and all of my fellow board members. I can tell you that I have learned more every day, but I am not going away. I am still going to be around. I have threatened many times that I'm going to retire. That retirement seems further and further away.
(Laughter)
Because there is always something going on that I am willing to work with. I remember -- and I'm going to share a quick story. President Riccobono, my second or third meeting that we had via phone, it was a beautiful day in Alamogordo, and I decided I'll step outside and joy the beautiful day at this board meeting. I thought I had put my phone in silent mode or something.
And I'll never forget the train came by. And President Riccobono says, "Whoever Is Sitting by the Railroad Tracks, please mute your phone." I was so embarrassed, I wanted to crawl under the table. What am I doing!? But, you know, we learned. We have been through many challenges in the past years. Eight years.
But it is up to us to move forward, not just the board but all of us to be able to march forward and take our life and be able to live the lives that we want. I want to thank all of you for your support in electing me to this board. I want to thank my wife for all the support that she provided in the past eight years, and not only that, but the last 49 years almost.
(Applause)
And today I am letting you know that I will not be seeking re election to this board, but I will be working behind the scenes, whatever I need to do to continue building the National Federation of the Blind. Thank you!
(Applause)
PRESIDENT RICCOBONO: All you had to say was that's the sound of the movement, rolling by, you know?
(chuckles)
If you have not had a chance to get to know Adelmo, he is not the loudest member of this board, but when he speaks, he commands everybody's attention, because when he speaks, he speaks with genuine authenticity and authority, and it means something.
AUDIENCE MEMBER: Amen!
(Applause)
PRESIDENT RICCOBONO: We're so glad to have all of you still on the train with us and we look forward to your continued contributions. So thank you very much for your longstanding service. Give him another round of applause.
(Applause)
Now, we're celebrating being back in the great state of Florida, and especially back at the great Rosen Center property. I think one of the -- well, I'll say the best hotel staff that we have dealt with anywhere in the country. So it's going to be a high bar for future conventions. Here to greet us on behalf of our host affiliate is the president of the National Federation of the Blind of Florida, please welcome Jorge Hernandez!
(Applause)
JORGE: Thank you, President Riccobono. Good morning, Federation Family!
(Cheering)
Welcome to Orlando, Florida once again! On behalf of the board of directors of the state of Florida, welcome. the last time we were in this hotel was in 2015, we all know what we did, right?
So what did we do? We set records, right? So once again we're back literally home. We're here for many years and it's great to be here once again. Lovely hotel, lovely staff, and it's great to see all of you here. We're going to have a great convention. I hope you all are having a good time so far. Guess what, it's going to get better.
Tomorrow we're going to have a great opening ceremony. I hope everybody is there early. We are going to get the show really rockin' and rollin', and it's going to be a great way if of opening our ceremonies at our convention. Just a quick note... we do have the hospitality suite in Room 1456. Please stop by. We have plenty of good stuff up there, soda, coffee, Danishes, you name it, we got it. I'll give you a brief schedule. Today it will be open right after the open board meeting, it will open up at 12:00 and close at 7:00. For the next couple days. We know we have a general session coming up so we're going to be busy. We'll be open from 7:00 in the morning to 8:00. Gives you enough time to get down to the salon and sit down and get ready for opening board meeting. It will open briefly for lunch and then again from 5:00 to 7:00. Same schedule for Sunday.
However, Monday, we're going to be limited. Don't show up at 5:00 in the afternoon, because we're going to be closed. Schedule Monday, again, 7:00 in the morning until 8:45 and briefly for lunch. So that way there will be no schedule after 5:00, so that way we can all get ready for our lovely banquet. And I can't wait to hear President Riccobono's banquet speech. We're all going to be inspired, energized and ready to continue the movement. So once again, on behalf of the Florida affiliate... welcome home one more time to Florida!
(Cheers and applause)
PRESIDENT RICCOBONO: Thank you very much to the Florida affiliate for all the hard work. I encourage you to stop by 1456 to take advantage of the hospitality, and the good news is it's hot outside, so all the more reason to stay inside. This convention happens because of many, many people. Certainly members jump in to help. Thank you for that. Our great Federation staff who are here working the convention.
(Applause)
And our primary lead on the convention arrangements is a gentleman who has been with a staff member of the Federation now for 25 years. And he thought he would kick around with us for a year and do something else, but he hasn't found anything better that is more fulfilling and makes a bigger difference in the world, and we're certainly glad for that, because he makes a great difference for the last 10 years as our chairman of convention arrangements, here is John!
(Applause)
JOHN: Good morning, everyone! Thrilled to be back here in Orlando, and especially at the Rosen Center. Time has flown since we were last here. And by the way, 25 years, I started with the Federation when I was 12. That's how it has come to be 25 years.
SPEAKER: Child labor (chuckling)
JOHN: Some things you should know about convention this week... agendas, lots of places to get the agenda. You can find print and Braille copies of the agenda at the registration counter, at registration desk 1 to the right when you head outside the ballroom. The information table will have some. The presidential suite has agendas. There are also electronic versions, many electronic versions, audio, HTML, the mobile app as a copy of the agenda.
And I should mention the latest and greatest agenda is the electronic version, HTML and mobile app. Any last-minute changes that may have occurred will be noted with an asterisk in the agenda. And there are a few. Not too many. But double check those electronic versions to make sure that you have got the information you need for your next session. And speaking of the mobile app, I encourage everyone with a smartphone to take advantage of that. If you search the app store, it's #NFB24. I can't believe I just said "pound." "Hashtag."
Maybe I didn't start when I was 12... (laughing) #NFB24. That mobile app will be available. You can download it. Please note that if you registered onsite, the registration doesn't automatically trigger an invite to the mobile app, so you may have to wait until the end of the day to find that email in your inbox that gives instructions for how to log in and start creating your own agenda.
If you are not with us here in the room today, we hope that you are listening virtually. We encourage you to register. It's just 10 dollars. It helps support our efforts to stream the board meeting, the general sessions, the banquet. Earlier this week we had a number of sessions as well. And you can listen as well on YouTube, your Amazon devices, you can say "open nations blind" and you can listen on NFB NEWSLINE. Lots of ways to participate if you are virtual. We'd love to have you join us next year in...
That line is smeared. I can't tell where we are next year. We would love to have you join us in person next year, but we're glad you're with us online with us today this week. A very important thing... we hope you will join us for one of the highlights of the week, our banquet come Monday evening.
(Applause)
You can get banquet tickets from registration if you haven't done so yet. It will be a terrific evening, but I want you to keep a couple things in mind. If you have bought a banquet ticket or do so in the next couple days, you will have a ticket to get into the ballroom. But if you want a place to sit and a meal to eat, you need to exchange your banquet ticket. Now, if you were to head out the doors of Ballroom C here, almost directly across the pre function area is the banquet exchange table. You will be getting, after the board meeting, you will be able to exchange your banquet ticket for an assigned table. If you are adventurous and want to meet nine new friends, just exchange your ticket. If you have met nine new friends already and you want to sit together, make sure you take all 10 tickets up to the banquet exchange and you can have your own table. The same holds true for affiliates who would like to have their members sit together.
Doing that banquet exchange is very important. If you need a special meal, a vegetarian meal, a gluten free meal, a halal meal, please, please tell the folks at the banquet exchange table that that's what you want. They will put a sticker on the back of your exchanged banquet ticket and that will help the hotel staff know to whom they are delivering those meals. I did slip up with Braille there. It was not accidental. Well, it was accidental, but our exchange tickets are embossed so that you will know what table number you have drawn. So that's a plus.
(Applause)
And I really look forward seeing you at banquet. It's going to be a great evening. A couple other items before I let you go. Guide dog relief areas. If you are a guide dog user... well, if you joined yesterday morning, hopefully you have already found the relief areas. There is one -- if you are coming down from the sleeping rooms, probably the closest one is the one the hotel provides, you head out the front door, follow the sidewalk around to the right, and you will get to the relief area sort of at the end of the sleeping room building.
If you are here in the meeting areas, the closest one is going to be the relief area just outside the Signature 1 room. There is an exit there to the exterior, and if you have taken a shuttle from either of the other hotels, that is exactly the same door that you would use for the relief area. When you go through the doors, the relief area is on the right. Since I just mentioned shuttles, throughout the week we have shuttles running between our overflow hotels. I know at times the wait has been a little long. We're trying to move those shuttles along a little quicker. There is one bus that runs between each of the hotels. We have two buses rather than doing one big loop. Please note those start in the morning at 7:45 a.m. all week. For most of the week they... well, for today they will run all day until 9:00 p.m.
Tomorrow, Sunday and Monday -- got to get my days right -- we will take a break in the afternoon, from 7:45 until I think 2:30. So you can get back to your hotel for lunch and come back for the afternoon sessions. The shuttles will pick up again at 4:30 and run again until 9:00 p.m. On Monday there is a slightly different schedule. The shuttles aren't going to run during banquet, but they will start at -- I think it is 10:00.
And they will run until midnight. So you will have some time to get out of the ballroom and catch your shuttle but keep those end times in mind. 9:00 p.m. for the rest of the week and midnight on Monday after the banquet. It's a long walk back to Shingle Creek. It's a long walk to the plaza, but at least it's air conditioned. You can go through the Convention Center. And speaking of the Convention Center, know that the doors of the Convention Center will stay open until 11 p.m. each night. They will remain open until midnight on the evening after banquet.
I said a couple items. I have just two more. Let me tell you about assistive listening devices. If you would either like Spanish interpretation or amplified audio for the week, the table will be in the back of the ballroom. Sometimes -- in past years it's been outside the ballroom, to make it a little easier to find. It will be in the back of the ballroom starting tomorrow morning. Bring an ID and I believe it's a $40 deposit for a receiver, and you're free to use that throughout the week. We'll have the table in the same place after the banquet, so that you can return that device before you go home.
I would like to mention a shout out to the NABS folks. They are offering some terrific swag. I encourage you to find them in the exhibit hall or find any of you student division leaders. If you are interested, they have -- their stuff has been way laid a bit and should arrive today, but you can get ball caps with our logo and "Live the Life You Want" underneath it. They have some very -- I would say timely and location advantageous sweatshirts. You can get a black hoodie that says NABS with the logo and the word "Orlando" underneath the logo.
So I encourage you to pick one up. They also come in red. I encourage you to see your favorite student and grab one of those clothing items. And then lastly, if you are hungry, adding time during the middle of the day and find that the lines at the outlets are longer than you would like to wait, in the -- almost to the lobby area there are going to be two service stations providing Curry chicken bowls and beef noodle bowls. They are I think 13.50 each. And you can also get a bottle of water or soda there. You don't really need directions. You just need to follow your nose.
They smell delicious. I haven't made it there yet, but before the end of the week I'm determined to take advantage of it. So that's a good deal and a quick way to grab some lunch, and the portions are not skimpy. So I think, Mr. President, that is what I have. Thank you all. Enjoy the week! Take advantage of everything.
(Applause)
PRESIDENT RICCOBONO: Thank you very much, John. Sorry for the error in your notes there about next year, but we'll figure it out. We'll get that corrected. We will have a convention, though. Our staff is awesome. We have the best staff.
And some of them you will see running here and there. There are many who you probably won't see because their activities happen at the back of rooms or before you get to rooms. Know there is a lot of people putting in an effort. There are also a lot of people volunteering their time. This convention really could not be what it is without members and volunteers.
(Applause)
And a primary source of organizing those folks is our Ambassadors Committee. We have two chairs, co chairs force our Ambassadors Committee. One is Dan Burke from Colorado. A long-time chair.
And the other has been a long-time ambassador but has more recently taken on helping to co-chair the committee and doing a lot of organizing. He serves as president of our National Federation of the Blind of Minnesota. I would like to acknowledge, Corbb O'Connor!
CORBB: Thank you very much. I have to tell you; you're not going to find talking signs on the roller coasters this week. Why? Because they don't want to get all twisted up!
(crowd responds)
But what you will find is that we do need more talking signs. And those who have so graciously signed up, we are looking to get in contact with you. Check your email. It will have several messages from Dan Burke the last few days and you will find Dan and my phone numbers all over the place. We would love to chat with you if you want to help be a talking sign, number one, if you see a place where a talking sign is needed, you are hereby deputized. Number two, you are welcome to join an hour before general session starts, and we are meeting -- our meeting spot is outside the Everglades restaurant, where the tile and carpet meet. We would love to have your help there.
If you are hosting a meeting, we would ask that you provide deputized folks, provide your own ambassadors, and kindly, if you are selling things, please try not to do that right outside the meeting rooms. It really does conflict with the talking signs and meetings that are happening.
So make sure that we have somebody posted outside the salons and over by the escalators and exhibit hall, but if there is anything you need, don't hesitate to find myself or Dan Burke. You can always email us, the best way to reach us. It's [email protected].
And finally, I would just like to give a big Federation thank you to those who have been volunteering their time as ambassadors this week.
(Applause)
PRESIDENT RICCOBONO: Okay, thank you, Corbb. And thank you to our ambassadors for the work you all do. Again, if you want to jump in, feel free to jump in and help. Just remember that the way not to jump in and help anybody in the audience is to jump in and grab somebody. Not what we do, right?
So we are known from getting people from place to place with style and grace. I remember one of my fond memories of this hotel is that we hosted the general assembly of the World Blind Union in 2016, and the World Blind Union said you've got to have a lot of volunteers. And our immediate past president Marc Maurer said, yeah, no problem. Just don't expect them to all be ones that possess eyesight.
And we had many blind people. By the end of the week we had delegates all over the world acing as talking signs. It was really cool.
We do... I want to acknowledge that we are somewhere a quiet space, which is Salon 19. And for those who may be serving as ambassadors or just for everybody's knowledge, Salon 19 is right at the top of the escalators, which sometimes might be a great place to start to congregate. Just keep in mind you are outside "the quiet room." So the quiet space is there if you need a moment to retreat to a space. It is available to you there.
And, of course, you can also visit the hospitality suite, and I would invite you to visit the presidential suite also, which is 2442. Many of you have already found it. 2442. Please come by.
And we would love to have you. Now, we will accept announcements during the convention. If you need an announcement in Braille, we will only accept them in Braille. We do discriminate.
(chuckles) But we provide an accommodation, that is you can go to the information desk and get your announcement Brailled. You don't have to know Braille or be able to write it. We'll take care of it for you. It's no problem. But it will only be considered if it is in Braille. During the general sessions, Barbara Loos of Nebraska will help with that.
By the name, Barbara Loos was one of NLPVC's TWIG winners this year. Congratulations to Barbara. As an example, I have an announcement here from David Goldstein of Pennsylvania who says the NFB of Pennsylvania will caucus tonight at 6:00 p.m. in Salon 15. Bring your banquet tickets. And announcements do have to be signed. If they're anonymous, they have zero chance of getting... (chuckling)
Okay. Let's see... earlier this week, my good friend, John Berggren, was worried about the registration. You know, he puts in all this effort, and he was worried about the registration numbers.
So let me give you the top ten in registrations so far. And there's still plenty of time to register.
So you can change these numbers. Number 10, with 81 people registered, North Carolina.
(Applause)
Number 9, just ahead of them, 87 people registered, South Carolina.
(Applause)
And we jump up 10 individuals, 97 registered is New York.
(Applause)
So you got to be able to beat New York, you've got to be over 100. And with 103 is Louisiana!
(Applause)
And we have a bunch of affiliates that are kind of close together. We have with 112, California.
(Applause)
116 registered, Colorado. That brings us to the top four where we have 118. So Colorado, you could get in there... 118, Texas!
(Applause)
And just because Donald Porterfield registered, Arizona snuck by with 119.
(Applause)
And the second place got a little bit of work to do to get to 200. Second place is at 194. That's Maryland!
(Applause)
And so that means number one with 232 registered is Florida!
(Applause)
Come on, Maryland, get registered! We also have 75 individuals from foreign nations who are registered here with us. So thank you for being here.
(Applause)
So as of close of registration yesterday... so if you registered today you're not counted in here yet. Close of registration yesterday, 2,526.
(Applause)
So we blew away John Berggren's prediction, but I'm sure he's not sad about it. Keep it up! Let's see if we can get to 27 or 28, you know? Let's see... other convention announcements. Oh, okay, well, I had a note that John was going to talk about future conventions. But I guess -- yeah, unfortunately his print was blurred. now, my Braille is still fine, so if you want me to, I can talk about it.
(Applause)
Going back to the 1970s, the convention authorized the board and president especially to work on conventions. We work very hard to get a convention site that can meet all of our criteria for meeting rooms, sleeping rooms, accessibility, other things, and that can also get us a decent rate. We're a growing organization, and it can be increasingly difficult to find places. We know there are many factors that we consider, and we do work very hard to find locations like the Rosen Center that will also offer our members a very high-quality experience.
So I feel really good about 2025, when we will be getting together from Tuesday, July 8th through Sunday, July 13th. So that's Tuesday, July 8th... I know there are those that... many people love spending Independence Day together here, but there are a lot of people that have family events on July 4th. So Tuesday July 8 next year. And our headquarters hotel will be the Marriott. And we'll have an overflow hotel, which is across the street. That's the Sheraton. And our room rates will be 119 dollars for singles and doubles. Yeah, there you go! 129 for triples and quads. So that's our 2025 convention.
(Laughter)
Oh, I'm sorry... I'm sorry... (chuckling) I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Pam says I forgot to mention that that's in New Orleans, Louisiana!
(Cheers and applause)
AUDIENCE MEMBER: Let the good times roll!
PRESIDENT RICCOBONO: Norma Crosby.
NORMA: Yes, sir, I was talking to some of our family members this morning, and they had the idea that you might know where some future conventions are. And I said, you know, our president doesn't want to keep secrets from our family. Am I right, people? So I was wondering, I thought it might be fair to everyone if you shared your knowledge of other future conventions.
PRESIDENT RICCOBONO: You don't think that's going to hurt the attendance at next year's convention?
NORMA: No! Everybody loves NOLA. We'll all be there.
PRESIDENT RICCOBONO: If you're sure it's not going to hurt.
NORMA: I'm sure.
PRESIDENT RICCOBONO: Is there any place better than New Orleans?
(Laughter)
NORMA: "Better" is an interesting term. But I think there are some places who might be equal to the same.
PRESIDENT RICCOBONO: Equal, that's fair. I mean, I do have on my paper here, it says that on Friday, July 3rd through Wednesday, July 8th, 2026, we'll have a convention, and the hotel will be JW Marriott, and overflow hotel will be the Marriott downtown. And we'll also have a Courtyard Marriott and a Residence inn. There is a lot of overflow hotels. And the rates in 2026 will be 139 for singles and doubles.
(audience responds)
Hey, man, it's tougher these days. Triples and quads will be 155. Oh, where? I believe this is a city we have never had a convention in. It is in the great state of Texas. And it is in the city of Austin.
(Cheers and applause)
Does that work for you, NORMA?
NORMA: Is that all you got?
(Laughter)
PRESIDENT RICCOBONO: I guess I could tell you that in 2027... we'll meet on Friday, July 2nd through Wednesday, July 7th, and, well, that year our hotel headquarters will be the JW Marriott Austin.
NORMA: Thank you for sharing.
SPEAKER: Yes, Mr. President, with all due respect to Ms. NORMA, who I respect, I think there are other affiliates that would like to have a national convention in their state.
PRESIDENT RICCOBONO: You think so?
SPEAKER: We have 52 affiliates, sir.
PRESIDENT RICCOBONO: That's fair. I am patient with the feedback. Thank you for that, Marilyn.
MARILYN: My colleague said it's hot in Texas. I think there might be someplace cooler.
PRESIDENT RICCOBONO: Like by a lake.
MARILYN: We have Great Lakes around.
PRESIDENT RICCOBONO: You want me to mention from Monday July 3, Saturday July 8, 2028, we'll be at the Sheraton Grand Chicago?
(Cheers and applause)
MARILYN: Sir, that is what I'm talking about! Thank you!
PRESIDENT RICCOBONO: I mean, I guess as long as we're at this, we should also mention that July 2nd to Saturday July 7th, 2029, we also will be in the great city of Chicago.
(Cheers and applause)
MARILYN: Sir, we'll have the deep dish waiting.
PRESIDENT RICCOBONO: Don't heat it up yet. All right. That will also be at the Sheraton. There will be an overflow hotel. But you have a long way to go to worry about that. So that is all of the future convention information we have available.
(Cheers and applause)
All right. I'm pretty excited about this convention, but I think we've got some great things in store for future conventions too, and some cities we haven't visited or visited in a while.
So it's going to be exciting. Make your plans now. I will tell you, if you have stayed in hotels you know that inflation is real, after the pandemic, and we have been working really hard to negotiate good deals and places. We'll continue to do that.
I'm pleased to switch gears a little bit. I want to invite to give some remarks a gentleman who is no stranger to the National Federation of the Blind. Unfortunately, his commitment did not allow him to be with us in person at this convention.
But he is continuing to do good work to build opportunities for blind people, especially from his position as executive director of the United States Access Board.
So I would like to give a few minutes to address the board to Sachin Pavithran!
(Applause)
SACHIN: Thank you, Mr. President, and good morning to all my Federation Family. I regret not being among all of you, being among my Federation Family, and I really wish I could have been there to enjoy the Orlando convention. As Mr. Riccobono, as President Riccobono stated, you know, I'm looking forward to the future conventions in New Orleans especially, because the U.S. Access Board, for those who don't know, is a small independent federal agency that defines accessibility and also sets standards and regulations on accessibility.
So it is something that is very, very vital in the disability space and it's very vital in hearing from all of you for how we write regulations to make sure accessibility is done the right way. President Riccobono and I have been in conversation over the last year or so trying to find ways how the U.S. Access Board can be part of the NFB convention. So without further ado, I want to say that the U.S. Access Board will be at the convention in New Orleans in conjunction with...
(Cheers and applause)
... with the national convention. So we will be bringing our entire board and many of our staff to the New Orleans convention, and we'll be holding a Town Hall the day of the Resolutions Committee.
So we can hear from all of you. I do have to say, the work that we do is important, but the work that we do cannot be done without the voice of all of you that is out there. We need to hear from you. We need to know what needs to be fixed, what needs to be addressed.
So please do join us next year at the New Orleans National Convention. Because the board and the staff of the U.S. Access Board need to hear from you on what needs to happen when it comes to accessibility. Like I said, the U.S. Access Board will be holding a town hall the morning of the Resolutions Committee, the same day, and we also will be holding breakout sessions so you can learn more about that regulations that we have already finalized. also want to note, the work that we do, when we work on regulations, it is driven by the comments we hear from the public, from the public, from the industry, and from other individuals who where interested in accessibility.
So I want to bring a particular regulation to your attention that will be available for public comment in the next few months it's a regulation on self service transaction machines. So it's anything and everything.
(Applause)
That is any kiosk, any kind of touch screen interface that you use to have any kind of transaction. So that will be available for public comment hopefully in the next few months. And we want to hear from all of you. Because your voice is going to drive what that final regulation is going to look like.
So please be on the lookout for the self-service transaction machine regulation public comment period, which will be coming out in the next few months. With that said, Mr. President, I am looking forward to working with you and I'm excited that the U.S. Access Board will be part of the NFB national convention in New Orleans.
(Applause)
PRESIDENT RICCOBONO: Thank you very much. I appreciate your leadership in the government. It makes a difference. So thank you very much, Sachin, for stewarding the work at the Access Board. We have long had a relationship with the Access Board and have had leaders who have served on the Access Board. And this is an historic moment for the United States Access Board bringing their meeting to a convention run by people with disabilities. So hats off to the Access Board for that bold move.
(Applause)
So just one of many reasons to come to the New Orleans convention, and I know some people waited a little long this year to make reservations. So next year consider jumping on it early. Thank you, Sachin. Some convention communications notes, just a reminder that you should use the "pound sign" -- ha ha! -- #NFB24 in your social media. Please help people know on the various social media platforms what is happening at the convention, spread the work that we are doing, share your selfies. You can come to the presidential suite and take a picture in front of our step and repeat the logo background. Share what is going on at the convention so people know why they should be here and participate.
We will have the portrait studio open. The portrait studio allows us to get a photo of you so that when you write an article for the Monitor we have a nice photo on hand and that sort of thing. If you want to get your photo, especially before banquet, you can do that. And I believe the team will share that photo with you, although probably not today, because they're busy. But you will get it.
The portrait studio is available across from Grand Ballroom A during the following hours. Friday from 10:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
Yeah, that's today, Friday. What day is it today? Okay, we're good. Saturday, tomorrow, 6:00 to 9:00, and also on Sunday from 12:00 to 1:00 and then again on Monday before the banquet 5:45 to 6:45. So definitely make sure to get your photo taken.
And it's helpful to us to have photos of you, your families, so that when we publish stories in our publications, we can use those photos. We like action shots, so if you're out at the amusement park take a photo of you and your friends and share it with us so we can include that in our database and consider using it in publications. I do encourage you to write articles for the Braille Monitor, as it is our flagship publication and a place where a lot of dialogue happens throughout the year.
Now this year I want to also encourage you to try out some AI that we are playing with. You can talk with Mark AI by sending a text to 833-564-2271. 833-564-2271. He doesn't yet know where the future conventions are going to be, but he will soon. Especially after this meeting.
You can also scan the QR code in the presidential suite, and you can -- that will take you to Riccobono.personal.ai. We're trying to build the only AI built on the authentic experience of blind people. If you add your stories, experiences, especially throughout this convention, we can stack those memories and continue to build the most authentic blind centered AI, which is pretty cool.
I want to mention in your registration packets, at least some of you received a card. It might have had a number on it 1 5. It has a QR code on it. And if you scan the QR code with your phone it will take you to a webpage where you can answer a question. If you answer all five questions -- first of all, if you answer four questions, you can get a pin that celebrates at this convention our work to establish the Museum of the Blind Peoples Movement.
(Applause)
I'm wearing the pin here on my lapel myself. It's in the shape of an M. And you will be able to get it at the GIVE25 table, but you have to answer at least four of the questions. Now, not everybody got a card in your packet. So don't throw them away. Share them. Try to find all five of them in and about the convention. I noticed someone left card number 2 on the table in the presidential suite. That was very nice. I don't think we have all five there yet. But play the game. And this is part of our effort just to keep the conversation going about the Museum of the Blind Peoples Movement.
(Applause)
I also want to get people thinking about our Blind Equality Achievement Month, which will be coming up quickly, of course. So our chapters and affiliates should be thinking about how we can find innovative ways in the month of October to talk about the stories of blind people and help change the understanding throughout society.
I want to remind everybody that this organization has a strong code of conduct, and that affirms our commitment to appropriate conduct and treatment of each other within this organization. We all have the right to be here, and we want to create a welcoming environment that honors the diversity and environment of backgrounds and perspectives that we have.
So I would encourage everybody to be an ambassador of our code of conduct and to uphold your accountability as part of that. Our code of conduct, of course, applies to any attendee at our convention, and so if you are not familiar with it, I would encourage you to go to our website, NFB.org/codeofconduct.
The convention is the supreme authority of the Federation and has final decision-making power, and so we want to make sure that it's possible for everybody to fully participate and be respected in the convention process. As I already mentioned many times, that includes our guests. Where are our first timers?
(Cheering)
All right! Welcome, welcome! I encourage everybody to help be ambassadors for our first timers. If you do have an issue that might need attention under our Code of Conduct, that is not something pressingly immediate where you need hotel security. We certainly hope you don't need hotel security, but if you do, call them. You can leave a voicemail on our Code of Conduct line at our main number, 410-659-9314 Extension 2475. You can also send an email to [email protected]. There are Braille copies of the Code of Conduct also at the free literature table. We have done a lot of work in this area, and I want to commend all of the Federation member for really being champions for creating an environment that is positive and welcoming.
The code of conduct reports this year have been very few, which is nice. And we continue to improve our process. One way we do that is through the Code of Conduct Feedback Committee, which is a way for you to give information about how we can improve our process and be more effective in implementing the code. The Claire for this committee I wanted to introduce for a few remarks is president of NFB of Maryland. Here is Ronza Othman!
(Applause)
RONZA: Good morning, my Federation Family! it's fabulous to be with you this week and I'm so excited to be with you next year in New Orleans and then Austin and then Austin and then Chicago and then Chicago.
(Applause)
I grew up in Chicago, so that is a personal favorite and I'm getting ready to go on a diet to get ready for all the food and cultural experiences as soon as I go home from this convention. As President Riccobono said, the National Federation of the Blind is committed to ensuring safety and support throughout our organization. Among our membership and in our affiliates, divisions, local chapters, and, of course, in our affiliated training centers.
The code is one of the mechanisms we use to establish the standards and expectations for safety and support but also for diversity, equity and inclusion. As part of our safety and support, the National Federation of the Blind code if of conduct feedback committee is charged with enhancing -- sorry, is charged with and has been gathering information on improving the participant experience, socializing the code itself and associated procedures, and assessing and helping to overcome any barriers to understanding the policies and standards established for our community.
We once again are requesting your direct feedback to the NFB code of conduct committee. You can share that with us confidentially by email [email protected]. Or call 410 659 9314 Extension 2284. Only committee members are able to see your information. We will aggregate the feedback that we receive from you, we will protect the identities of anyone with whom we are communicating, and we use that feedback to compile recommendations for code updates and process improvements.
We are incredibly grateful to you for your participation and ensuring that our code of conduct and associated processes are accessible to all and effective. We cannot do better, improve or make changes without your impact, without your participation. Thank you very much and I hope to hear from you soon.
(Applause)
PRESIDENT RICCOBONO: Thank you Ronza. And Ronza mentioned our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion efforts, which is an important part of our membership building capacity to make sure that we are taking steps to reach out to folks that maybe we haven't reached out to in the past and to make sure that we are continuing to build a diverse organization. Anybody that has spent time around the convention knows that we have a tremendous amount of diversity in all respects, and we want to continue to build on that strength that we have. This year we have a new co-chair that has come aboard the committee and I wanted to give her a moment to address the board. I did want to point out to all chapters and affiliates that we do have a five-year diversity calendar, which is on our website, which allows you to make sure that when planning key vents you aren't stepping on any particular important holidays or times when those dates might limit the participation of some in our meetings.
We want to try to get as great amount of participation as we can. And want to note that there are a number of activities throughout the convention here that you can find in the agenda and the app to support various religious observances that blind people might want to participate in. So here for a few words for if first time in this capacity the individual is who joins Shawn Callaway as co chair of our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee. Here is Kenya Flores.
(Applause)
KENIA: Good morning, it's wonderful to be with you all here in the Sunshine State. Anyone who knows me knows I love the sunshine. It is an honor to serve as our co chair of the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee, and I want to take a moment to thank Colin Wong as previous co chair for all his hard work and showing me the ropes and for his mentorship. I also would like to thank the entire DEI Committee for all your help. Who in this room has attended DEI programming this week?
(Applause)
Yeah! Everyone has done a fantastic job facilitating and helping. So we are so appreciative. But going back to sunshine, you know the warm feeling that we experience when walking into convention? We want every member and every potential member to have that experience in our organization. And each one of us is the first contact that they have.
So that is our goal. We want to make our organization as welcoming and inclusive as possible for everyone. One of the questions that we get a lot is what our demographics of the membership are. But that is a little bit difficult to quantify for the moment. So I'm going to ask a favor of you.
However, this favor is not for myself. It is for our organization. It takes five minutes, and you can do it while you are standing in line, Smooth Java. And I know you go there before the board meeting and general session. So that favorite is to please complete the member profile on NFB.org. It takes five minutes. It allows us to collect demographic information which allows us to allocate resources accordingly.
So it's very, very important. We promise that we will keep your information confidential. If you would like more affirmation regarding that, you are welcome to read our privacy policy. It is lengthy, but worth it if you would like reassurance. And with that, thank you so much. I hope all of you have a fantastic convention, and if there are any concerns that you would like to share with Shawn and myself, please reach out at [email protected]. Thank you!
(Applause)
PRESIDENT RICCOBONO: Kenya is someone you should definitely get to know in our movement. She's an up-and-coming leader. And please don't get to know her just because she also happens to help with the door prizes.
(chuckling)
Because it won't help you. It's the computer that decides, right? But you should definitely get to know Kenya and Shawn and the work of our committee and thank you all for your participation. Diversity, this is very intentional, comes right before this next presentation, because it is key to membership. Of course membership is the core of who we are as a people's movement. I have my membership coin right here.
And I know this next individual does. She chairs our National Membership Committee, here for a few remarks is Denise Avant.
DENISE: Thank you, Mr. President. Good morning board members and also fellow Federationists. Yes, I do have my membership coin with me right here. Because I am here to talk about how to become a member of the National Federation of the Blind. I know that there probably are a number of people in our audience in person who are not members yet.
And I also know that there are people who are listening virtually who are not members, and you probably are wondering how to become a member. Well, the best way to become a member is to get in touch with your local chapter, and they're all across the country. And you can find your local chapter by going to your affiliates website.
For example, if you want to join the Chicago chapter, it is NFBofillinois.org and you will find our affiliate president as well as myself, the president of the Chicago chapter. Or you can go to our NFB.org website. Go to "join" and you can go down to "affiliate president," locate the affiliate president and get in touch with your affiliate president, and they will direct you to our local chapter. The local chapters are important because these are the people that will help you understand and grow in our movement.
Now, if you decide to become a member of the National Federation of the Blind, you will receive some wonderful benefits. You will become a member and have access to national and local resources and information. You will have the support of a powerful community and Federationists. You will have connections to blind mentors, access to training, and national and local NFB voting rights.
So when you become a member, you have a right to elect officials in your organization. You have a right to vote on our resolution us. You will give subscriptions to our monthly e-newsletter. When you get to become a member and pay your dues, go through the onboarding process, you will get this coin. This is a symbol of our togetherness in the movement. It represents all that we have done in the National Federation of the Blind for the past 84 years together.
So reach out to your local chapter. When you become involved, you can even join one of the divisions, maybe the guide dogs or the parents of blind children, or the blind lawyers, which I'm a proud member of, and you can roll up your sleeves, find your talent, get involved and help advance the lives of blind people.
Now, if you still have questions, I just want to mention one other thing. We have calls, introduction to the organized blind movement, those are quarterly. Our next one is August 8. You can find information about that underneath our membership link, NFB.org, and come and join us. And listen to experienced members of the Federation, answer your questions about the National Federation of the Blind. Mr. President, I just have one other thing... I want to thank Danielle McCann, who is our membership support coordinator.
(Applause)
For everything that she does. And I also want to thank members of the Membership Committee, when you asked me to be the chair, I asked the Membership Committee members to come on some of our calls and be present to help me spread the word about the Federation and help our chapters and our affiliates build the National Federation of the Blind. Many of them have answered the call, and I want to thank them for that. Thank you, sir.
PRESIDENT RICCOBONO: Thank you.
(Applause)
PRESIDENT RICCOBONO: Thank you to Denise and all the members of our Membership Committee.
Throughout this convention there will be meetings of divisions. Many of them will happen tomorrow, but a couple different times. I want to note that...
AUDIENCE MEMBER: Not tomorrow. Today.
PRESIDENT RICCOBONO: Well, today. What day is it anyway?
(chuckling)
I got to check my calendar and see if I have somewhere to be tomorrow.
(chuckles)
So today... And to the extent that there are changes in officers, please send those to Beth Braun at our national offers. Beth Braun serves as chief of staff for the National Federation of the Blind.
(Cheers and applause)
So we ask that you send the list of new division board members so we can have a record of it to Beth Braun at [email protected] Divisions should continue to recognize that they are part of the National Federation of the Blind, and therefore are bound to upholding the policies of the Federation and to build the organization.
And we have, for many years now, asked divisions to file with the Office of the President an annual report, which is due no later than 30 days after close of convention. So this year we're actually going to ask for it by August 15th. So you've got a few more days. This allows the National Board to make sure we are keeping up with supporting Divisions and that Divisions continue to be viable.
And we have made a number of changes to divisions based on their current status of changing times. So once in a while divisions say, oh, we didn't know we had to file a report, even though we say it at this meeting. So if you are in a division meeting, remind the leadership that a report have due.
Now, committees of the Federation are appointed by the president with the exception of the nominating committee, which will be appointed by the delegates tomorrow. If you are interested in serving on a committee, you can find information about them in the agenda. You can send an email to me at [email protected].
But better than that is I would ask you to go to our website, go to NFB.org /committee interest and you can fill out the brief form there. You will need to fill out the form for each committee you are interested in. There is sometimes a lot of demand for committees, so just know that we look at many factors in terms of who to appoint, but please express your interest if you wish to serve.
Before I go to the next presentation, actually, a lead in to it, first, let me be the first to thank our sponsors and exhibitors here at this convention.
(Applause)
It's getting close to a decade relationship, because they're about a decade old coming up, with the Aira Corporation. And the best...
(Applause)
And the best deal on the Aira service is only available to NFB members, and so you can get that and information about it in the exhibit hall. If you want to learn about the service. I wanted to mention that. Here to talk about some of our outreach efforts, including sponsors and exhibitors is our director of outreach for the National Federation of the Blind. She comes from Chicago. Here is Patti Chang!
PATTI: Thank you, Mr. President. What a perfect segue, because the first item on my agenda is our supporters. Exhibitors and sponsors come in and give us financial support. They will be available in the exhibit hall, most of them, to share products and services with you. I am going to go through our list really quick, but take a thought ahead of time and think about some of these have been with us for a good long time. And some are new.
So take the time to thank our sponsors. So platinum sponsors this year... Google, Microsoft, Oracle, van da pharmaceuticals, also known as Non-24-Hour Sleep Wake Disorder. Waymo, Wells Fargo.
Gold sponsors this year...
Amazon and Target.
Silver sponsors...
Brown, Goldstein and Levy, one of the long-time supporters.
Delta Airlines. JPMorgan Chase and Company. Market Development Group. Uber.
Our bronze sponsors are...
Amgen, formerly known as Horizon Therapeutics. American Printing House. Centene Corporation. CVS. Crews, guiding Eyes, HumanWare, Spectrum, united Airlines, and Zoox
White Cane sponsors. ABLE United and ABLE today. Aira. ADA, American Foundation for the Blind. Chris Park Technology.
CIA, the Central Intelligence Agency.
Computers for the blind.
Democracy Live. We all believe in private and independent voting.
And Vision America. En Vision, Inc.
Good maps, IKE smart cities. Jackson walker, LLP. Leader dogs for the blind.
McGraw Hill. National Industries for the Blind. The National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled.
OrCam.
Penny Forward.
Personal AI. Saavi Services for the Blind.
Salivas, BLV, formerly known as HIMS, Inc. Tactical engineering and independent science.
I urge everyone to visit the exhibit hall because you want to check all the stuff out. But make sure as you are contacting sponsors, you do say thank you. That makes a huge difference to them. Reminder that the exhibit hall will be open until 5:00. Take note because it's different than other years. Tomorrow is the last day that you can visit the exhibitors in the Exhibit Hall, and we'll be open noon to 12:45 and the last opportunity is 5:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. in the Exhibit Hall. Let's touch on vehicle donations. Somebody asked me if we still take cars. Yeah, we still take cars. The easiest way to have someone donate a vehicle is to call -- and this will be easy. The beginning is 855, but the rest of the number you'll recognize. 659-9314. 855-659-9314. We take almost anything.
So just call and see if it qualifies. I want to talk about Lyft Round Up. I acknowledge issues with Lyft for sure. But one of the things exciting about Lyft is we are one of the few charities that they will Round Up the fair and give the difference of money.
If you use Lyft already and you want to go to the menu, it's easy. Go menu, go donate, and find National Federation of the Blind. Once you do that, every fare that you incur will be rounded up to the nearest dollar. That money is passed through with no fees whatsoever to the National Federation of the Blind.
(Applause)
So before you use the next Lyft, make sure you are rounding up to give to the National Federation of the Blind. And I want to talk about the dream maker’s circle. We have a legacy; Francisco and I are members because we want to pay it forward. How many have gotten so much from this organization? I won't cry like Carla, but I feel the same way.
So we pay it forward by including the National Federation of the Blind in our will. You can do it for will trust, there are simpler instruments like payable on death account, but if you want more information about the dream makers circle, reach out to me at [email protected], or extension 2422.
And then finally, Mr. President, can I give away the thing that we talked about that is coming in October? Or do you want to wait on that?
PRESIDENT RICCOBONO: Oh, yeah, talk about it!
PATTI: Awesome.
PRESIDENT RICCOBONO: I figured divisions are meeting today, so go for it. Yeah, we should promote it.
PATTI: So we somewhere with us at convention, you know, Dean Blasey has been a great friend of the National Federation of the Blind.
(Applause)
Now, his son -- a couple of his sons are here, and they have a company and make a new product called the BT Speak. They want to support the Museum of the Blind Peoples Movement.
So what they have offered us is we can give away a BT Speak. We're not going to do it at this convention. What we're going to do is as part of Blind Equality Achievement Month, we will set up a way for people to give and enter a drawing to win a BT Speak.
So go check out the BT Speak in the Exhibit Hall. Mr. President, that concludes my report. Thank you.
(Applause)
PRESIDENT RICCOBONO: It is a long way to wait, so if you want a BT Speak, I know there is a number here that you can buy.
So you should do that. But thank you for the longstanding relationship we have had with the Blasey family and their work to innovate technology. We appreciate the support for the Museum of the Blind Peoples Movement.
Now, want to now introduce our chairman for our White Cane Fund, which is the general fund. And he has important announcements to talk about related to this year's campaign, which is going to end -- I do know this -- it is going to end tomorrow. The divisions will end today.
But it's going to end tomorrow.
So you want to listen to what he says, because you only have a limited amount of time. And I don't know where the chairman and the team got all this stuff to give away, but I mean, it pays to give to the National Federation of the Blind. Here is, from the National Federation of the Blind of Utah and our corporate secretary, here is Everette Bacon
EVERETTE: Thank you, Mr. President. Welcome Federation Family. I have my membership coin. I'm excited to tell you about our newest campaign this year. In previous years we always had a GIVE25 campaign. This year we changed it a little bit. We now titled it the "Dream Big Give 25 dollars" campaign. It's a little different but has really cool features to it. First and foremost, it's a chance for you to help us sponsor our many different funds that we have in the National Federation of the Blind. We have the Jernigan Fund. We have the SUN Rainy Day Fund and the tenBroek fund and my personal favorite fund is the White Cane Fund. The white cane is a general fund. What does the general fund you may ask. Well, how about our BELL Academy?
(Applause)
How about our STEM 2 U program?
(Applause)
How about conventions like this one?
(Applause)
How about resources from our Independence Market that you can use throughout the year?
(Applause)
And most importantly, how about a free white cane, right? Lots of different things that our fund funds. And so this is a chance for you to help us with our general fund. It's so important that we be able to continue to do the wonderful work of the National Federation of the Blind.
Now, you know, the great thing about that Dream Big Give 25 dollar campaign is we don't just do this where you are giving. You get a chance to get. Which is kind of cool.
So think about this. You get a chance, if you give 25 dollars, you get a chance to win a trip to next year's NOLA convention.
You get airfare, you get room and board for two. And you get some walking around money, 1,000 dollars in cash, which is pretty darn cool.
Now, if you don't want to go to New Orleans -- I don't know whiney one would not want to go to New Orleans, but if you don't want to go to New Orleans, we would also give you a cash prize instead of 2,500 dollars.
So you have that choice, but we know you want to go to New Orleans. Then that's not all. You also, if you give 25 dollars, you could be entered in to a chance to win a Monarch Braille display. Is that not amazing!? The Monarch tactile Braille display, which is universally new of its kind, it's just been released. It's an outstanding product that is in conjunction with the HumanWare, the American Printing House, and that National Federation of the Blind. It's here at this convention opinion you should go check it out. It's a marvelous piece of technology.
You want know what the price tag is of this piece of technology? 18,000 dollars! So you have a chance by just giving 25 dollars to win an 18,000 dollar Monarch Braille display. So definitely do that. Maybe you should give a little bit more. Okay.
But that's not all! We something more. If you give 50 dollars, if you give 50 dollars... so if you already have given 50 dollars, or if you decide to give 50 dollars by the end of day tomorrow, you will also automatically win -- while supplies last, you will automatically win a pair of Aftershocks headphones. Those are the phone conduction, Aftershock headphones. Those are pretty awesome. Everyone who gives 50 dollars will get a chance to win the headphones. That's pretty amazing. You can pick the headphones up starting July 7th. Right now you have a chance to give 50 dollars to win that.
So again, the Dream Big Give 25 dollars. Where do you give this? Well, you can go to NFB.org /GIVE25 donate. That's one area there and you can fill it out. You can call the general phone number. Or you could do it much easier, if you have the really cool NFB 2024 app on your phone, like I have, you can go to the support section under "more" tab and support the NFB, click on the link there and it will take you to the page and you can fill it out. I just gave 75 dollars and my wife Angela gave 75 dollars. We wanted headphones.
So there you go! You have many multiple ways to GIVE25. I'm excited to report that we are just at around 10,000 dollars. I know we could really raise that up. I want to see that jump up another 10,000 dollars. Can we do it, folks? All right, so here we go... let's go GIVE25 and Dream Big! Thank you very much, Mr. President.
(Applause)
PRESIDENT RICCOBONO: I believe you don't have to one the headphones, right? If you give $50, you get them as long as supplies last?
EVERETTE: Yes, as long as supplies last. It's like Oprah, you get a... you get a...
PRESIDENT RICCOBONO: If you give early, you will get them. It's not a drawing. So really great opportunities. And, of course, the biggest opportunity is to support the work of the National Federation of the Blind. So thank you for that. And certainly use that social media, pick up the telephone, call your grandmother and ask her to support you with a donation of 25, you might have to put it in for her, but, you know, she's good for it.
So if we can encourage people outside the convention to give, that will benefit us that much more. The next individual could not be with us at this convention, and, you know, we sometimes face circumstances that prevent us from being here at the convention. She has -- we have deputized someone to help with the SUN Fund, but I wanted to give our good friend from the great Commonwealth of Virginia the opportunity to speak to the board and to the convention. We miss her very much at this convention. Here is Sandy Halverson!
(Applause)
SANDY: Good morning, Mr. President. I assume I can be heard.
PRESIDENT RICCOBONO: You can be heard.
SANDY: Wonderful! I'm sorry not to be at convention, however, I am looking forward to next year, my first convention, full convention that I was able to attend was in 1976 in the great state of Louisiana in New Orleans. John and I will definitely be there next year
(Cheers and applause)
This morning, though, before I get cut off -- and I know people know how to do that, I need to talk about Shares Unlimited in the National Federation of the Blind, which is our SUN program. And it serves an interesting purpose. We have not spent any money yet, which is a wonderful thing, because this is our rainy-day fund. We have no idea what comes along that would require us to need to use our SUN resources, and we are happy that is the case.
But if we don't collect funds and something happens, it's a little late to be trying to get back on track and make up for lost time. The data that we have, about I want to thank the National Center staff for providing this data. I'm a volunteer. I don't do this. I'm happy to take people's money. I thank our deputized SUN table captain, Briley O'Connor, for equally being excited to take money at our table any time the general sessions are convened except during the presidential report. We need to pay attention to that report and will not be collecting money then.
Let me get to the data that I have, which I think is pretty exciting, this report covers the period from January 1, 2023, through December 31, 2023.
And if your state is not mentioned, I hope that you will -- someone will go to the table, the SUN table in the back of the room and cause it to show up on next year's report.
So we start at 45 with
Georgia, 25 dollars.
44 Rhode Island, 50 dollars.
43 Puerto Rico, 50 dollars.
42, Delaware at 50 dollars.
41 is Alaska at 50 dollars.
40, New Hampshire, 95 dollars.
39, Oklahoma, 100 dollars I bet Oklahoma -- I mean, New Hampshire can probably beat Oklahoma, but I won't go down that road yet.
38, Missouri 100 dollars.
37, Mississippi, 100 dollars.
36, District of Columbia, 100 dollars.
35, Indiana, 125 dollars.
34, Tennessee, 150 dollars.
33, South Dakota, 150 dollars.
32, Michigan, 150 dollars.
31, Arkansas, 175 dollars.
30, Nevada, 200 dollars.
29, Montana, 200 dollars.
28, Florida, 200 dollars.
27, Connecticut, 200 dollars.
26, Wisconsin, 250 dollars
25, North Carolina, 275 dollars.
24 DCTVs Iowa at 37 dollars.
23 is Oregon at 38 dollars.
22 Idaho 400 dollars.
21 Hawaii 400 dollars.
20, Nebraska, 410 dollars.
19, New Jersey, 475 dollars.
18, Washington, 500 dollars.
17, New York, 500 dollars.
16, Alabama, 500 dollars.
15, California, 510 dollars.
14, Massachusetts, 520 dollars.
13, Texas 550 dollars
12, New Mexico 600 dollars.
11, Pennsylvania, 650 dollars
10, Minnesota, 650 dollars.
9, Ohio, 720 dollars. Getting closer to 1,000!
8, Utah, 1,000 dollars.
7, Louisiana, 100,000 -- I mean, 1,000 dollars. Sorry, Pam.
(Laughter)
That was a test. That was a test to see if you were paying attention.
6, Maryland, 1,035 dollars.
5 is Kansas at 1,085 dollars.
4 is Illinois, 1,570 dollars.
3 is Colorado at 1,720 dollars.
2 is South Carolina at 2,510 dollars.
And number one, of course, is... the Commonwealth of Virginia, 2,975 dollars.
(Applause)
So that gives us a state total of 23,823 dollars. And not attributable to states. Because some divisions, committees, and other entities make donations, is 5,395.50 dollars. And that gives us a grand total of 29,218.50 dollars.
(Applause)
Our total SUN assets are 1,000 -- good grief, I'm having trouble reading numbers too, Mr. President.
1,656,895.14 dollars.
I love the 14 cents. I don't know where it came from. But I think this goes to show that any amount -- one of my favorite things about our SUN program is unlike some kinds of programs that we have that need to have a specific amount for your donation, SUN does not. If you have 2 bucks, bring it to the SUN table. When your affiliate has a meeting and caucus, pass a SUN basket.
Any amount is what matters, because you are investing in your future, and we in the National Federation of the Blind very much appreciate what you give. That, Mr. President, concludes my report.
PRESIDENT RICCOBONO: Thank you, Sandy.
(Applause)
And continue to send our love along to John. I guess we can send our love along. He's probably listen. So John, we love you.
(Applause)
And keep up the strong recovery.
SANDY: And he is listening.
PRESIDENT RICCOBONO: I knew he would be. We'll check in later in convention, Sandy, great to hear your voice. So before we move to other business, I want to hear from the chairperson of our pre authorized contribution program. This was not a Chicago setup, but she's
also from Chicago, president of our NFB of Illinois affiliate and national board member, here is Marilyn Green!
(Applause)
(music playing)
¶ the best things in life are free ¶
¶ That's what I want ¶
¶ That's what I want ¶
¶ That's what I want... ¶
¶ That's what want ¶
MARILYN: All right, Federation Family! You heard the intro song, you heard the walk up, I want money, we want money, right? Because the pre authorized contribution plan is the way that we fund our movement. It is our way of making monthly contributions to the work of the National Federation of the Blind. All of the great programs that so many of us in this room here in Orlando, Florida, and out there in Zoomland have come to love. The programs like STEM EQ and Bell, and our national convention right here. Which will be in Chicago in '28 and '29!
So we're excited to talk about monthly contributions. So you ask how to get involved. You can start with as little as 5 dollars a month, from your debit card, your credit card, or your bank account. It's the way to fund our movement. And we realize that times are hard. And maybe you personally don't have $5, but it's another way to get your friends, your families, your coworkers, parents out there, TB Is, all of those different people to make that monthly contribution to our movement. 5 dollars a month. We pay more than that for a Starbucks over in the coffee shop, right?
I know for me personally, it can be a lot sometimes, but it's the way we contribute to the movement. We are the National Federation of the Blind. We are the blind speaking for ourselves, right? And what is the best way for us to do that? To show our energy and our enthusiasm.
So just to encourage you a little bit more, you all know that we have our contest here at the National Convention. Our Divisions and Affiliates compete.
But also this year at convention we're upping the ante just a little bit. I'm going to talk about our regular contest if but one of the things that we are doing this year at National Convention is for each person, while supplies last, each person who starts a PAC contribution for $10 or more, or increases their contribution for 10 dollars or more can stop at the PAC Plan table and visit my friends that will be there and they can get a pair of Aftershocks.
Yeah, they're not cheap. And just for 10 dollars a month you can get a pair of Aftershocks Lyle supplies last. And you can fund our movement, all of the great programs we have in the National Federation of the Blind. So let's talk about that program. Let's talk about the contest we have here at the National Convention. We like competition, right? You saw me and my friend NORMA competing for the National Convention, right?
So we have a few different contests during the National Convention. For the affiliate, don't have the little critters with me, unfortunately. They're here in the convention center. I just don't have them here with me. But for the affiliate that increases their PAC contribution the most during this convention will get the PAC Rat.
AUDIENCE MEMBER: Colorado is coming home with us again!
SPEAKER: Colleague Beecham says it's coming home with Colorado again. Sorry, guys. It's the PAC Rat, effectively known as Ryan the Rat. I'm sorry for the Ryans in the room. I didn't do it. I didn't name it Ryan. That's the name it came with.
And so then we also, for those divisions out there, we heard about our students’ divisions, right? We heard about our seniors. So many great divisions within the National Federation of the Blind, seniors, parents, students. If you increase your contribution the most, you can get the PAC Mule. I've heard his name is Scott, I think. I think his name is Scott. We all remember Scott LaBarre.
(Applause)
And for affiliates out there, if you're an affiliate and you feel like, hey, my affiliate members, they don't have a lot of money. If you increase your percentage the most, you can win the PAC a derm. I haven't named it yet. I don't know if it's going to be named Marilyn, or maybe Illinois or something like that. But, you know, it doesn't have a name right now, but it definitely has a home until somebody maybe snatches it.
So for those affiliates and divisions out there, encourage our members, your members of those divisions and affiliates to go to the PAC table and increase or start a PAC contribution. It's a great way to fund our movement. So you want know where your affiliate is right now? Well, I'm so glad you asked...
And I know that we are so used to having the numbers with us, but I don't have those. I will give you the annualized projected numbers at the end, but I'm going to start with number 10 and work our way up, or maybe work our way down, I don't know how you consider it.
So number 10, over in the Midwest, we have... Ohio! Another one in the Midwest... Nebraska!
Let me see what we have here. My friend Pam Allen from Louisiana... you all are at number 8! All right, right over the border from Illinois, I visited them. Over in Missouri. Missouri is number 7! Number 6, I haven't visited you all yet, but I plan on making my way up there. Pennsylvania! All right, we're at the Top 5 now. I haven't heard Illinois yet. Illinois, you know, do you think we made it into the top 5. Maybe they'll name the PAC a derm after your state president if we make it to the top 5.
Let's see what we've got here. Number 5... California! All right. Number 4... I don't know how I feel about this. I like the man who is the president over there, but number 4... Virginia! I'm always loving my Virginia peanuts. Number 3, right across the border, you know... let's see, it starts with an M, but...
AUDIENCE MEMBER: Minnesota!
MARILYN: You're stealing my thunder, people! Minnesota is number 3! All right, number 2. I think they took the PAC Rat last year.
AUDIENCE MEMBER: It's coming home with us again too!
MARILYN: Number 2... Colorado! All right, I have heard there are plenty of mountains out there.
AUDIENCE MEMBER: Yes, Mile High Affiliate!
MARILYN: I still haven't seen Illinois on this list! What is going on, Illinois family? All right, I'm not hearing them. I think they got so excited they're out texting. They're texting people to let them know where the conventions are going to be. Okay, that's okay.
Number 1... what is number 1? The state of Maryland! Not to be confused with "Marilyn," which is my name, but the state of Maryland!
And so our numbers, our annual...
(audience response)
MARILYN: There it is.
AUDIENCE MEMBER: For a brief moment one time!
MARILYN: And annualized projected numbers for 2024 is... 452,318.34 dollars.
(Applause)
That's projected as of the numbers that I had as of last night. But we want to increase those numbers, right? You heard talk about how we... we all know the price of everything is increasing. So to fund all of our movement, all of our Bell programs, to fund our STEM EQ, to send out the long white canes to blind people who need them. We know costs are increasing.
So we want to increase the projected numbers for 2024. And we're asking you to -- when the PAC table opens, go back there to the PAC table and do what? I want moneyyyyy! So that is my report, but I would not... I cannot end without us singing the PAC song.
¶ get on the PAC Plan ¶
¶ Sign up today ¶
¶ We need your contributions right away ¶
¶ Funding our movement ¶
¶ It must be done ¶
¶So all our battles will be won ¶
Thank you, Mr. President!
PRESIDENT RICCOBONO: All right, thank you, Marilyn. She kind of got more energetic after talking about a Chicago convention. I don't know... (chuckling) All right, get on the PAC Plan, please. And the AfterShokz all around. So no excuse for you to be left out of the AfterShokz headphones. I would now like to call on Carla McQuillan for a special presentation.
(Applause)
CARLA: Thank you, Mr. President. The National Federation of the Blind every year honors a teacher of blind students for going above and beyond everyone's expectations to meet the needs of their students. And this year's distinguished educator comes from the great state of Texas!
So this was a tough one this year. We had several very qualified candidates, but when you get letters from Norma Crosby and Emily Gibbs like I saw and the committee saw, it is absolutely the correct person we have in this seat today. And before I move on, I would like to thank all of the members of the committee of the Distinguished Educator of the Year Award, for participating, going through applications and making decisions that will ultimately thank and reward the individual who has really shown attention to the students that she serves.
So this individual teaches at the Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired. She runs the day program for students there.
And I think to sum it up the best was a quote from one of her students, Madison Flores who said, "She told me that I was in the driver's seat, and that has stuck with me."
So this year's Distinguished Educator of Blind Students, is... Dori Senatori!
(Applause)
So the Distinguished Educator of the Year gets the opportunity to speak for our National Organization of Parents of Blind Children at their annual business meeting, which will take place this afternoon.
She also has her expense paid for this convention, and will receive a check that I have in hand for 1,000 dollars.
(Applause)
In addition, we have a plaque that is in both print and Braille.
Do you want to hold that? And the plaque reads...
The National Federation of the Blind honors Dori Senatori as Distinguished Educator of Blind Students for your skills in teaching Braille
and other alternative techniques of blindness, For graciously devoting extra time to meet the needs of your students, and for empowering your students to perform beyond their expectations.
You champion our movement. You strengthen our hopes. You share our dreams. July 5, 2024
(Applause)
And now for a few words, Dori.
DORI: Thank you, Carla. I just want to start off by thanking Norma Crosby, Emily Gibbs, Micah, Kaylee Joiner, Liz Weisscarver for nominating me, and the National Federation of the Blind for such an incredible recognition and award. I'm incredibly honored to be selected as this year's Distinguished Educator of Blind Students. To be recognized by the NFB is extremely significant to me. I always work hard to ensure that my students have the services and supports they need, including widened perspectives, to help them shape a plan for the life they want to live.
As Carla mentioned, currently I'm the day student coordinator in Austin at Texas School for the Blind. Yay, Austin! For the last eight years, although I was in our 18+ program, experiences and transition program, also known as EXIT, that's where the goal is to customize the curriculum to students, empowering them to live independently. Or as independently appropriate in their home community.
You know, I always tell my students they have a Lifetime Warranty with me, and I love it when I hear from them or see them at convention. I think I've counted at least seven people here today so I'm very happy.
Recently I was able to see firsthand what happens when somebody is connected to the NFB, and that is -- it makes my heart so happy, because when I see them at convention, you know, I know that they are connected, and I see them thriving. So the collaboration between the career mentor program started after I completed the teachers of Tomorrow Program
(Applause)
In 2021. Prior to that program, I had the -- a lot of help from Rosie Carranza, I don't know if she is here, but she helped me, and maybe some NFB members are in the audience, but she helped me set up numerous guest speakers for my students. I knew I really wanted to add that into their individualized curriculum. I wanted them to hear from blind professionals all over the U.S., and Rosie sent me numerous people.
And it was fantastic. And after that was when I had reached out to the Career Mentor Program, and I had the idea to collaborate and make it a part of the curriculum that I teach my students. Well, this started, like I said, in 20 -- well, after the completed the 2021 Teachers of Tomorrow Program, we started it shortly thereafter in the fall.
And then in the spring we started the in-person sessions where a mentor comes to TSBVI, and we only had, I believe, seven students at the time when the program first started. And this year we had a record 22 students in our program.
(Applause)
After our collaboration together. It was fantastic! I think that the growth of this program is... you know, I love teaching, and I think that, although mentors have -- we share the passion, you know, to teach students and work with them and give them all these different experiences that they may never have had before.
And I could -- I just could not have done this without the collaboration and just to see how it's grown over the years and to see how students, even after graduation have chosen to participate and become a member makes me so happy. I just have witnessed students blossom and grow in ways that I had not observed prior to partnering with the mentor program. I'm so grateful for this opportunity to work with the mentor program and other NFB members that have helped me throughout the years and spoken to my students.
And I just couldn't have done it without the support of the NFB.
Thank you so much for this. And I'll always keep this in my heart.
PRESIDENT RICCOBONO: Congratulations! Thank you. We really appreciate the opportunity to work with you. And congratulations on this great acknowledgment. And Carla, thank you to the committee.
(Applause)
We have a partnership with the American Action Fund for blind children and adults and they have made available at this convention Braille calendars, which you can find in the free literature area. I noticed they left some here for the board of directors, so thank you for that.
The Action Fund has pledged to make available up to 50 calendars for any Federation affiliate that would wish to have them. You need to order them by August 31st in order to receive them, and you can do that Federation affiliate presidents by sending an email to [email protected]. You also will be able to order up to three catalogs -- individuals can order up to three catalogs by going to the actionfund.org website, or by sending an email to [email protected]. The action also sponsors the book fair, which will happen today.
(Applause)
And the Action Fund has sent 81 boxes of books to the Book Fair. So there will be a lot of books available. The kids get let in first.
But there is content there for adults. So I would encourage you to attend the Book Fair. And the Action Fund also wants me to remind you that it offers a free monthly Braille book program, where you can get on a monthly basis a Braille book that you get to keep.
So this is a great program for young Braille readers. You can find more information at actionfund.org. I encourage you to sign up. There are some great titles that you can't get anywhere else in Braille. And also a reminder about the Braille readers are leaders’ contest. Know we had a number of adults in this group participate, but also youth. The contest will be coming up again at the end of the year.
So listen for information about that. And finally I want to note that we worked with the Action Fund and there are now a number of online issues of Future Reflections available in Spanish.
(Applause)
So we would call that resource to your attention. Thank you very much to the American Action Fund for being a nationwide leader in providing Braille and tactile fluency to blind people in partnership with the organized blind movement.
(Applause)
Now, we have a couple of funds we have not talked about yet, and one is a very important one to many in this crowd, whelk, all of us in this crowd. But some have come to this convention because of the work of our Kenneth Jernigan Fund. Here is the chairman from Virginia, Tracy Soforenko!
(Applause)
TRACY: President Riccobono, members of the board of directors and Federation Family... Kenneth Jernigan would be so proud of the work we are doing together. And the work that is supported by our Jernigan Fund. Our Kenneth Jernigan Leadership and Service Program is a growth and development opportunity for national leaders or leaders to grow across our affiliates to build a next generation of leaders. Our convention is an opportunity where we grow the opportunities for Blind people. And Kenneth Jernigan loved the convention. He would be so proud of the opportunities that we are making happen here at that convention. Things you can't get anywhere else!
Where can you have an event for blind people where we're throwing axes and doing a rock wall? I bet he would love accessible darts and would be eager to do that. Now, President Riccobono, I have a little bit of a challenge here. And the challenge is that sometimes you have put forth ideas and people really listen. And that is a great thing.
But you said, let's make the problem of our Kenneth Jernigan Committee hard by having so many people apply. We had our largest class... almost 200 people applied for the Kenneth Jernigan Fund.
(Applause)
We awarded 111 grants to individuals and families. Our largest set of awardees ever! And the committee, I'm proud of them. 20 people on our committee who have been all over the place, will be at the GIVE25 table to help usher and marshal at our GIVE25 table outside this room, which is another way you can also give as part of the process, and this also would be where you pick up your AfterShokz headsets. We are thrilled by the support and appreciate the fact that so many individuals are attending their first convention, learning and growing alongside all of us. Get to know these first-time convention attendees. Help them engage in our programs. Understand what is going on and make a friend.
Because each of us learn by connecting with others. There is a set of people who have not learned how welcoming our Federation Family is and you can be part of that welcoming process. I want to recognize that as part of the GIVE25 campaign, you too can give to the Jernigan Fund and help first timers attend their convention, a first convention, and also help with leadership development programming that we are doing. Thank you very much, President Riccobono.
(Applause)
PRESIDENT RICCOBONO: Thank you very much, Tracy, and to our Kenneth Jernigan Fund Committee, first timers, welcome. I would encourage you to help pay it forward by encouraging people you know to support our Kenneth Jernigan Fund. This year, as the chairman notes, we did put into place a new Kenneth Jernigan Leadership In service Program. This was the first year.
And so I want to invite our participants in this program who are completing this year to come up to the front of the ballroom to be acknowledged. I'm going to read their names, and at the end we can give them a big round of applause. Our first cohort in the Kenneth Jernigan Leadership and Service Program for the past year has included Susan Bellamor of Vermont, Aubrey Bird, New York, Christopher Bowles, Rhode Island, Felicia Bradford from Michigan, Janice Bright who from so called, Jenny from Missouri. Hunter Keester from Wisconsin stay sip Leap of Pennsylvania. Carly Mullen of Maryland. Marula of Maryland, Santos from Puerto Rico. Camille Tate from Florida. Liz Wisecarver of Texas and Becky Young of Iowa.
Congratulations to our first Leadership and Service Program cohort. We appreciate that they have been in and around the convention helping out and I know that you will find these individuals as leaders in the organization and many different ways in the future. We do have an open application period for the next cohort of the Leadership and Service Program that will start in September.
So if you are interested, please talk to your affiliate president. Those who apply need the support of two affiliate presidents to be nominated to participate in this intensive Leadership Program. And thank you to the Kenneth Jernigan Fund for making this possible.
(Applause)
John Berggren apparently worked out some smudges on his paper and has more announcements. John, hopefully you were okay with my convention announcements.
JOHN: I was pretty pleased about those. Yeah, I'm excited about where we're going in the coming years. Really, just one of the items I left off my list was the post convention survey. A lot of you are first timers. Thank you for being here. A lot of you are long timers. Thank you for coming back.
But we would really like to know, as we head to New Orleans, Austin, Chicago, what you would like to see in future conventions. What worked for you this year? What didn't? So please look for a post convention survey. It will be sent out to everyone who registered with their email address, and even if you registered without an email address, if we have one for you, we'll send a copy of the survey. I would strongly encourage you to fill that out before you forget what I was that made this week great.
So maybe on the plane ride home, as you are recovering, look for that survey and, please, give us your feedback. We welcome it and we're happy to have it and do what we can to make this event better every year. Thanks!
SPEAKER: Did you say complete via telephone also?
JOHN: I did not say that.
SPEAKER: That is true, right?
JOHN: We will have it available via phone as well.
PRESIDENT RICCOBONO: If you need to take it via phone, you can do that as well with a touch tone phone. Great innovation of the National Federation of the Blind. All right. So we have one more fund that we have not talked about, and I don't know if we're going to be able to connect with the chair. Our chair for the tenBroek Fund is... lives in New York Connecticut, depending on how you count her. She's Kathryn Webster. She is a dynamic young professional of ours and she got called away by her employer.
So you know, that's an important thing. Kathryn would want me to tell you that the tenBroek Fund is the fund that supports the property where the National Federation of the Blind has its headquarters. That property is managed by the Jacobus tenBroek Memorial Fund. It takes resources to have a property like that, and the tenBroek Fund has as parted of its mission to support programs for the blind, especially the National Federation of the Blind, and so your contributions to the tenBroek Fund help us have a beautiful property in Baltimore that is the envy of all in the Disability Rights space. It allows us to do all the many things that we do, and we're continuing to make improvements every day. The tenBroek board at this convention just approved installing a fancy new guide dog relief area that is under cover.
(Applause)
So one way to give to the tenBroek Fund, of course, is GIVE25, you can designate the Jacobus tenBroek Fund, and we appreciate affiliates that have made contributions to the Jacobus tenBroek Fund as it helps us have the best headquarters in the world for blind people. Now, I want to move to a very special part of the agenda. We've had a packed agenda, but I know most of you have been waiting for, especially now that we told you where the convention is, our scholarship program!
(Applause)
Without further ado, I would like to introduce from the great state of New York, our chair, Cayte Mendez.
CAYTE: Good morning, Mr. President and members of the board. Can everybody hear me okay? I'm being told that you can't hear me.
Okay, let's try that... is that better?
AUDIENCE MEMBER: Yeah!
CAYTE: Okay, wonderful. This is the seventh year that it has been my privilege to introduce the National Federation of the Blind scholarship class to all of you. And every year it is as much of a privilege as it was the first time. This year we have 30 wonderful students. They were selected because of their academic excellence, their leadership potential, their community involvement, the quality of their applications, and I am delighted to be able to present all of them to you and to the folks watching.
The way we are going to do this is they are going to be lined up along the front of the stage facing all of you. Something a little unusual is happening at the moment behind me. In seems to be a photo taken from another group. So hopefully those two things won't overlap.
But, okay, we'll be passing the mic down. They will have about 30 seconds to introduce themselves to you. They are going to tell you a little bit about who they are, where they're from, what made them excellent candidates for the scholarship program and a little about their vocational goals.
This year we have 10 tenBroek fellows with us. Jacobus tenBroek was the first president of our organization and we reserve the fellow for those receiving their second National Federation of the Blind scholarship, and we have two of those this year.
Scholarship finalists, are we ready? Wonderful!
They have been ready for the last two hours. They're ready to go and get this done. I will be introducing them, first name, last name, home state, school state, and vocational goal. And for the purposes of making sure the agenda moves along as it should, I'm going to ask that you hold your applause until the end. I know that can be extremely challenging, but please help us all out with that. Without further ado... Lindsay Adair, Louisiana, Louisiana, psychology social work.
SPEAKER: Hello, my name is Lindsay. My career goals are to be either working in psychology or social work, and I am a person who loves to help other people. I want to give back, and something I would like to do is to reach out to other blind people who may not have heard of us. And I encourage you all to remember those who have no hope and who have not heard of NFB. And please reach out to those people. I do not know where I would be without this organization today. Thank you.
CAYTE: Thank you for the 95% of people in the audience who remembered to hold applause. For those 5%, there you go.
Krystle Allen, New Jersey, New Jersey, social work.
KRYSTLE: Good morning, everyone. Thank you to the scholarship committee for selecting me as one of the finalists. I am excited because I am a non-traditional student, and I am pursuing the goal to become a full-time employee. I currently work at the New Jersey Commission for the Blind and Visually Impaired as their state community outreach specialist part time.
So with my education credentials that I'm acquiring for social work, I'm in the health field and want to go full time to help blind customers to pursue their dreams. I'm excited that during my education experience I'm celebrating a milestone year with a non profit I founded ten years ago called "Eyes Like Mine, Inc.." I'm wearing a crown for you guys today, because I am Miss New Jersey 2024!
(Applause)
CAYTE: Cole Carper.
COLE: I just graduated high school in May. I'm super excited to be here. It's a great honor thank you to the National Federation for doing the convention, and my career goal is eventually to work at NASA Boeing, SpaceX, I don't have a specific company I want to work for yet, I just know I want to work in that industry. David Carrillo. Utah, Utah, counselor.
DAVID: Thank you to NFB for the honor of being chosen as a finalist. I'm working in my Master of Social Work with the goal of becoming a licensed social worker so that I can be able to counsel in specializing with grief, trauma, and bereavement. Having lost my three-year-old son in 2020 and my sister in 2022 to suicide, I feel particularly versed in order to understand that grief and what comes with it. I want to be able to be there for those newly experiencing that and help them through the journey, that there is a light at the end of the darkness.
CAYTE: Hannah Clemenson, Montana, California, journalism and broadcasting.
HANNAH: Good morning. I grew up in a small town in Montana, and at the time National Public Radio was about the only sound on my dial. Despite isolation in rural Montana, I was able to build a vivid and nuanced image of the world around me through listening to public radio. I want to use my scholarship to jump into that world and continue to be a storyteller for the people.
CAYTE: Before I introduce the next finalist, I just have to tell you, if you haven't applied -- first of all, how many people in the room have received a National Federation of the Blind scholarship?
(Cheering)
Okay. So from where I am sitting, the whole left side -- right side, you have to get on that, okay? If you want to know what month you should have a birthday in to win a scholarship... those that sit through this presentation each year, you know that I love birthday trivia. August, you guys are my people, Leos and Libras, you almost made it this year. We lost too many which has six. This was a year to have a May birthday.
And next Abigail Finklea, Wisconsin, elementary education.
ABIGAIL: I have wonderful experiences working with elementary schools and equine therapy programs for children. My goal is to use my degree to improve the education system and empower underserved students to reach their full potential. Thank you.
KATHRYN: All right, Madison Flores Texas, Texas Law.
MADISON: It feels good to be here, thank you for selecting me as a finalist. My career goals, currently studying government at Austin community college with plans to transfer to the University of Texas at Austin where I will complete my bachelor’s in government before going to law school. Thank you.
CAYTE: I have to apologize... Virgos, sorry. Leos and Virgos. John Geraci, Massachusetts, Massachusetts, marketing and public relations.
JOHN: I am John Geraci, a senior at Merrimack College, and I have been very involved in the local blind community in the Greater Boston area for most of my youth. I currently work at the school for the blind in water town, Mass in the marketing department and pretty involved locally, but this is my first convention, and I have enjoyed it so far. Thank you to Cayte Mendez, the rest of scholarship community, Ryan, Cassandra, my mentor for guiding me through the whirlwind. Finalists, because it's not easy being the only visually impaired student at your college, and you guys get it. Most importantly, the donors for giving the scholarships away and allowing me and other students to liver out the college experience we want and deserve. Thank you.
CAYTE: The scholarship class this year is representative of 22 states, but 24 affiliates. One of the affiliates that is not a stale, where the next finalist hails... her name is Thelma Gonzalez Santana. She is representing the affiliate of Puerto Rico.
So Puerto Rico home state, Puerto Rico school state, and she is looking at going into a career in international development. She will be speaking through an interpreter. So we're going to give time to let the process work out.
THELMA: Good morning Federation Family. I am honor to share with you this is my first convention. I am a student in communication strategies. My philosophy is to have all the community join in. I am actually starting several projects. I would like to create ways for Puerto Rico to see how many Puerto Ricans have this diversity.
Besides creating mobile fashion and creating -- for emergencies. We can accomplish everything we do, we want, accomplish all my dreams and goals. Thank you.
Nebraska, software engineer.
SPEAKER: I popped around several addresses before settling in Nebraska and I am a software developer and love using skills to contribute to open source, especially in the web accessibility space.
CAYTE: I'm going to remind everybody about save applause until the end thing. Next finalist is one of the tenBroeks,
Rachel Grider, California, Louisiana, orientation and mobility.
RACHEL: Thank you I'm so excited to be here today. Thank you to the scholarship committee and National Federation of the Blind for selecting me as a finalist.
So up until less than a year ago I was teaching music at a music academy. And during the course of several years teaching there I started becoming more and more involved in the National Federation of the Blind of California. As I was doing that I started to see more and more there is such a strong need for orientation and mobility instructors and all kinds of instructors of the blind who help empower blind people and I started to feel a calling and passion to come and give back.
I am pursuing a degree in structure discovery game travel orientation and mobility and my goal is to teach structure discovery in a place where there is not a lot of SCT around and one of my dearest ambitions is to start a structured discovery center in California.
Amanda Juetten, Tennessee, Tennessee, blindness training.
AMANDA: Good morning, Federation Family! How are you? I'm Amanda Juetten from Tennessee, currently getting bachelor's degree in organizational leadership and will go from there to work on a graduate Walt certificate in blindness rehabilitation teaching. I am opening a training center in the wonderful state of Tennessee, and we have established our nonprofit and working on the process of funding and development and getting that thing up off the ground. I enjoy serving on many boards and positions within the Federation, but I mostly enjoy serving and doing whatever it takes to see the Federation reach the blind community. I believe in the philosophies of the Federation, and I believe that we need more quality teaching in the area of alternative skills of blindness, and that is my aim and that is my goal. Thank you so much! Thank you for this opportunity.
CAYTE: The next one I mispronounced twice. I'll see if I get it right this time. This is Thor Kargatis. And I mentioned earlier there were two affiliates not states represented in this class. Thor hails from the District of Columbia, going to the School in New Jersey and pursuing a career in urban planning.
THOR: Cayte right on the third time. Nicely done. Good morning, I'm Thor Kargatis, the guy that has been doing neurodivergent things in the front right corner of the room for the past two hours. I'm interested in studying urban planning. I've come to realize there is often an overlooked aspect of accessibility, which accessibility means frequent bosses and accessible rail services and fair systems that work and whatnot. I'm new to the NFB. I didn't find out about the existence until I applied for the scholarship. I'm here to meet people. This is my first convention. I implore you to come up and say hello and talk to me about anything, whether you want to talk to me about me living in D.C. or urban planning or anything really. I'm eager to make some friends here.
CAYTE: All right, Miranda Lacy, West Virginia, social work.
MIRANDA: I'm humbled and thankful to have been chosen as a finalist from West Virginia. I'm studying social work at West Virginia University. My master’s degree, undergraduate degree is psychology from West Virginia State University. I spent 13 years out of the workforce thinking that I would never be able to work and raising my children as a single mother, I have two boys, ages 12 and 18, but blindness is not the characteristic that defines me.
And I am excited to start my internship at the Appalachian Center for Independent Living. It's the first time I've worked since 18 years. It's exciting and overwhelming. I found the National Federation of the Blind when I was seeking assistance with discrimination from my university.
So I am thankful to have an advocate in the West Virginia chapter. Ms. Sherry Cook, and I'm excited to be here and learn about the NFB philosophy. I am a new member. And I can't wait to get to know you all. Thank you so much.
Julia LaGrand, Michigan, Massachusetts, violinist and educator.
JULIA: Good morning Federation! Thank you to everyone for giving me this incredible opportunity. I am about to start a joint degree program at the New England Conservatory at Harvard pursuing violin performance and liberal arts education. I want to continue my work becoming the best classical violinist I can be, but also be a more broadly educated person and continue my passion for disability advocacy. I have had a number of professional opportunities to engage in this kind of work and I have also learned so much about the organized blind movement and how that interacts with music through my role as a board member of the National Federation of the Blind performing arts division.
I am so grateful for the Federation. This year of music, intensive training, I have heard so many times in different ways about how classical music doesn't work with blindness, and I have been so grateful to my Federation Family who I have called often to hear reassurances and grow, and it has changed me so much. Aid look forward to continuing growing with the Federation and thank you for making that all possible.
Miles Little, District of Columbia, District of Columbia finance.
MILES: Good morning, everybody! First off, I would like to say that I'm very thankful and grateful for being here, and I have plans of being a financial adviser. Also, one thing I'm excited for is that I want to show everybody that we can do it and that it is possible. Thank you.
Tamara Lundy, Louisiana, New York, healthcare finance. Got two finances right in the middle here.
TAMARA: Good morning, everyone. I am honored to be standing before you this morning. My career goal is to become a financial analyst or health insurance specialist...
AUDIENCE MEMBER: Louder!
TAMARA: I'm sorry? My passion is to serve patients and I'm honored to be do that once again. I'm looking forward pursuing my CDC as a coder once I get a master's degree. And I also look forward to serving you all once again in New Orleans. Thank you.
Enrique Mejia, Iowa, Iowa, special education teacher.
ENRIQUE: Good morning Federation Family. My name is Enrique Mejia and I'm currently pursuing my Master of Science and teaching with endorsement in special education at Drake University for the last ten years, I have worked at the Iowa Department for the Blind as a technology specialist where Dr. Jernigan developed the philosophy we refer to as structured discovery. During the summer I have worked with students to become empowered and pursue their goals.
Throughout the years they have inspired me to no longer be a bystander and pursue my own goal to work with children who are receiving special education services. I am deeply thankful to the National Board and the Scholarship Committee, as well as the generations of Federationists who have come before me. Like Shawn Mayo, Emily Wharton and my wife, Helena Mejier, who is in the audience. Let's go build the National Federation of the Blind.
Jose Montano, District of Columbia, New York, jazz pianist.
JOSÈ: Hello, everybody, I'm Jose Montano. It's an honor to be select as a finalist. Thank you so much. My goal in the future is to become a piano teacher and mentor for other young musicians like me. And despite the challenges I have had, I'm still here today transmitting joy and happiness with my music. Remember that life is a trip to be enjoyed, and we can all love our differences and who we are. Thank you so much.
Samuel Morgan, Colorado, Massachusetts, meteorology.
SAM: Good morning, Federation. I wanted to say I'm deeply grateful to be here and it's an honor to be among such great people. For my degree, I am pursuing a master’s degree in meteorology at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell, with a minor in math and minor in sustainability.
And thanks to the Federation scholarship this fall, I'm going to be doing research in Iceland on how climate change is impacting precipitation trends in the arctic. Further in my career I hope to be able to help with the presence of those with blindness and low vision in the fields of STEM and atmospheric science. Thank you.
Joshua Olukanni, Georgia, Minnesota, organizational development.
JOSHUA: Hello, everyone, good morning. I just want to start off by saying I'm very appreciative to have the opportunity to be a scholarship finalist. I am currently majoring in human resource development at the University of Minnesota, in which I want to leverage this degree to become organizational development consultant where I can come up with strategies to better implement DEI and how to best develop and organize an organization to make it run most efficiently. Currently I am learning a lot from the current internship I have at Unilever and hope I can continue to build on the foundation I have. Thank you.
CAYTE: So there are 32 years between our most seasoned scholarship finalists, and our youngest, the next finalist is toward the younger and I would like to shout out the more senior member of the scholarship class, I won't say who that is, that person's birthday is Valentine's Day, which is really fun.
Our next finalist is not "the" youngest, that one is coming later, but F, Texas, Texas, cybersecurity.
NATALIE: Hi, everyone, I want to express how deeply grateful I am for this incredible opportunity that the Federation has offered me. I am deeply passionate about protecting privacy in the digital age we live in and fully intend to use the scholarship to help in promoting safer cyberspace accessible for all. Thank you so much again.
Casey Reyes, Utah, Utah, public relations.
CASEY: Hello all. I'm very grateful for having been select as a 2024 scholarship finalist for National Federation of the Blind. I'm currently studying strategic communication at University of Utah and pursuing a degree to go on to pursue a career in crisis management.
Mentorship is only something that I deeply value, and since becoming more involved in the National Federation of the Blind, I have been blown away by the abundance of mentorship available to me and look forward to taking advantage of this mentorship and growing and I cannot wait for where the Federation can take me and where I can take the Federation to live the life I want. Thank you.
Muntaha Ruthba, Texas, Texas, international blindness program.
MUNTAHA: I am
Muntaha Ruthba and I go by "Ruth." I'm a Bengali American woman from Texas and majoring in psychology and minoring in disability studies at UT Austin. My goal is to remove mental and physical barriers for blind children and families so they have tools and trainings to be independent and successful. I'm so grateful for everyone for this scholarship who made this possible. Thank you.
CAYTE: All right, Dishon Spears, Colorado, Colorado, nonprofit tech.
DISHON: I want to thank the board and NFB for giving me the opportunity to get this scholarship. I'm studying business right now with my focus being on non profit organizations. My hope to do -- to be able to start my non profit, being able to give back to blind people, and the technology area. Thanks again to the NFB and to all of you who helped raise money to help make this possible.
CAYTE: All right. Before I introduce the finalists, the youngest... which is not our next person. I'm trying to be respectful of ages here, okay? Not everybody wants business out there. But the youngest finalist is in the last group and this person turned 18, which means they qualified for the scholarship on July 2nd.
So just squeaked under. So since we shared a fun fact about our most seasoned birthday, I thought it would be a fun fact about our least. As we commence the last group of scholarship finalist this year, we have
Jonesti Steele, Mississippi, Alabama, rehab counselor.
JONESTI: Those that don't know, I went blind three years ago due to physical assault. I looked at my predicament negatively until I realized I was blind but blessed. I aspire to continue working alongside my Federation Family within our movement to make a difference. My plan is to encourage individuals to see capabilities before disabilities. Thank you.
Maranda Ulvestad, Arizona, Arizona, elementary teacher.
MARANDA: Hello, Federation Family! Thank you so much for the opportunity to be a finalist. For me... I'm sorry...
For me, I have seen my confidence grow from being a member of the NFB through the opportunities I have received through this organization, some of which included advocating for the blind community at the Washington Seminar, as well as working as a mentor for the Bell Program this year.
I am looking forward to becoming an elementary schoolteacher sometime in the future and working to build the NFB in rural parts of my home state of Arizona.
Colin Wong... oh, one more. We said we had two. Got to the Ws, almost forgot. Our next finalist is tenBroek, Colin Wong, Washington, Washington, professor.
COLIN: Thank you, everyone, my name is Colin Wong, and I'm honored to be here today. The Federation shaped me as a student of CCB and LCB, and even when my first job was offered to me outside general session at Shingle Creek. So I'm incredibly thankful for the Federation and Scholarship Committee for supporting me again in advancing my career and pursuing a Ph.D. in becoming -- sorry, Ph.D. in educational leadership to become university professor and researcher, to study adult education and blindness education. There needs to be more research in blindness with highest expectations expect from the National Federation of the Blind. Thank you.
CAYTE: Lynn Wu, California, California, non profit tech.
LYNN: Good morning, everyone, I am the youngest of the scholarship class this year.. I just wanted to begin by saying how grateful I am to the NFB and Scholarship Committee for selecting me as a scholarship finalist. I just graduated high school a month ago and I'm going to pursue a major in computer science at Stanford University with the hopes of improving digital accessibility, especially making STEM more digitally accessible to encourage and let more blind people explore the topics in STEM more easily to really help in the age where technology is rapidly advancing. Thank you.
CAYTE: And last of all, we have
Henry Young, New Jersey, Montana, park ranger.
HENRY: Hello, my name is Henry Young. Again, I would like to thank the Scholarship Committee for the great honor that you've given all of us is truly appreciated. I attend the University of Montana studying history and mountain studies in beautiful Missoula, Montana. This summer, as well as after I graduate, I will be pursuing my dream of living in and working in the National Parks, and that is for one simple reason. I love National parks.
I want to spend as much time as possible telling their stories in a way that is unafraid of conflict and controversy and one that showcases narrative. At the same time I want to issue a special welcome to those Americans that do not yet feel a sense of ownership of their national parks, their inheritance, America's best idea.
CAYTE: With that, President and members of the Board, I'm pleased to conclude the presentation of the 2024 National Federation of the Blind scholarship funds.
(Applause)
MARK RICCOBONO: What a great lineup of finalists. Congratulations to our finalists. You've almost, almost made it halfway through the week, so great work. And I wonder how the Board..
SPEAKER: Allen?
SPEAKER: Pam?
SPEAKER: I move to continue our scholarship program.
SPEAKER: It's been moved and seconded to continue the scholarship program into the future. Any discussion? All those in favor say aye.
SPEAKER: Aye.
SPEAKER: Okay, we shall continue the scholarship program. I know it's late. I know that people are hungry. I want to before we close the meeting I want to give an opportunity to our chairperson of the Board real quickly to address the meeting. She has served as chairperson now, well, since we've had a chairperson actually. She's been reelected to that position every year. Here from Louisiana is Pam Allen.
PAM ALLEN: Thank you. Hello, my Federation family! I'm thrilled to be here with all of you for our 2024 Convention. And whether you're here in person or participating through our Virtual Experience, I know you feel the energy and the love. I wanted to commend President Jorge Hernandez and our Florida team for all of their outstanding hospitality, and I want to send a special shout out to our first-time attendees. It was great to be together at the Rookie Roundup where our first-timers learned firsthand how to make the most out of their Convention. Just like today, the excitement in the room was palpable, and our Convention Veterans and KJ Committee members did an extraordinary job.
This Convention I encourage you to take advantage of all the opportunities. As we gather this week, let us reflect on our core values We believe in the potential of blind people to achieve our dreams. We live courageously, taking bold steps toward a more inclusive society. We champion collective action knowing that together we are stronger. We foster inclusion and celebrate our diversity, ensuring that every voice is heard and valued, and we Dream Big because the possibilities are limitless when we believe in ourselves and one another we have the power to shape our own destinies.
How fortunate we are to have been nurtured by our leaders like Dr. and Mrs. Mauer, Dr. And Mrs. Jernigan, and so many who showed us how to live our philosophy through our actions and words. I also wanted to acknowledge and celebrate the exceptional leadership of President Riccobono.
(Applause)
Your unwavering commitment to each of us and to our mission transforms lives. Your leadership has been instrumental in driving our mission forward, guided by our core values and we are so grateful to you and to Melissa for your loving dedication which motivates us all. I want to thank each of you for being here and for the work we're doing this week, but also all year at our local and state levels, we could not turn our dreams into reality without you and if you have not joined yet, we hope that you will. Whether this is your first Convention or your 51st, I know you will leave here uplifted and renewed ready to spread our message.
Eleanor Roosevelt said: The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams. Let's embrace our dreams with determination and optimism, knowing that together, we can achieve extraordinary things. Happy Convention! Let's go build the National Federation of the Blind!
SPEAKER: Thank you very much, Pam. Thank you very much for those inspiring words and for your leadership. We appreciate you and our great staff at the Louisiana center for the blind. And with that, we will stand adjourned until 9:00 a.m. tomorrow.