REPORT FROM THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

By Nancy Johnson

The KABVI Board of Directors met at the Salina Public Library July 17, 2004. Eight directors were present.

Compilation of financial records was completed. To date this year, expenses have been higher than income. KABVI needs twice as much income from outside sources as it gets from interest to comply with 501©3 Internal Revenue Service (IRS) status requirements. This is being monitored and fund raising efforts continue with this in mind. Vehicle donations have dropped greatly, probably because competition for cars has increased.

KABVI will purchase the most up-to-date version of whichever program the treasurer prefers so that he can keep the books as accurately as possible. Whatever funds that requires will be authorized.

Letters to two potential donors have been sent. Additional funding sources will be contacted, but they require materials that must yet be developed. Consensus was that a professional-quality brochure is required. Michael Byington, Mikel McCary, and Bill Lewis will work to finalize the brochure by mid-August.

Other fund raising activities are necessary. Money from the direct sale of a car or other property can be donated to KABVI as a tax-exempt donation. Bill agreed to act as coordinator to help people with the direct sale of items, profits from which they wish to donate to KABVI. Members who have items to sell as donations may contact Bill Lewis.

Other suggestions included a thrift store by computer; raffle of afghans and possibly other items during the annual meeting; competitive events among broadcasters; auctions; telemarketing; and, website promotions. All require information about how to pull them together. Directors who made suggestions were asked to contact Michael Byington or Bill with information about what carrying out their suggestions would entail. This does not mean that an individual who researches an idea will be made responsible to carry it out. Directors were reminded that, in addition to money for special projects for which grants are being requested, money is also needed for operating expenses.

Braille production continues to be behind schedule and is being worked on. On the email list are 83 individuals including teachers of the visually impaired. E-mail costs KABVI nothing to produce; so every time someone switches from another format to email, it saves the organization money.

Quality of the taped issue was again mentioned and, if the problem has not been solved with the fall issue, Nancy will investigate. She reminded people to submit coming events. An article was sent to the State Library for their newsletter.

Bill suggested that Braille newsletters could be sent unbound to those who would not object, to save the cost and time for binding. Ann will be asked to send a note with the next mailing to find out who would accept unbound copies.

Although a great deal of money is saved when members produce the Braille KABVI NEWS, time becomes a concern. Although a version stripped of most formatting is sent for brailling, a fair amount of clean-up is still required to ready it for embossing. Authority to purchase an up-to-date translator program has been given, but this has not yet been done. At one time, a Lions Club from western Kansas had agreed to purchase the translation program, but it is unclear whether this offer still stands.

Rarely do households where readers can share get the NEWS in more than one format. Efforts are made to keep the mailing list up-to-date. A request will be placed at the beginning of future issues of KABVI NEWS stating that names of persons from whom we have not heard within a reasonable span of time will be purged from the mailing list in an effort to reduce expenses.

For information about the Fifth Annual Mary T. Adams Educational Seminar and annual meeting see the article, “Mary T. Adams Seminar and Annual Meeting” elsewhere in KABVI NEWS.

The current Get REAL program allows applicants who are entering college. It does not, however, include students who have already enrolled in college. Work continues to see how the program might be expanded to include that group of students. No immediate expansion of the program is planned.

The next project will be sending packets for the Mary T. Adams Seminar and Annual Meeting to the members as well as to professional persons. “Mailing parties” will be held at the KABVI office in August to get these out. The number of members seems to be holding steady.

The convention of the American Council of the Blind was attended by four KABVI members. They brought back their impressions. Approximately 1100 persons attended. Times are definitely difficult. The program was good. Next year’s convention will be in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Rumors still exist that efforts to close Kansas Services for the Blind exist. They are apparently based on some complaint letters stating concerns about how services are provided. In 1999, KABVI was instrumental in passage of the legislation that says if the closure of Topeka State Hospital necessitates closure of the Rehabilitation Center for the Blind for blind services, those services shall be relocated to facilities of equal or better usefulness for serving people who are blind and shall continue to operate. We are now looking at a possible move to close, not based on closure of Topeka State Hospital. Several legislators and the executive director of Kansas Advocacy and Protective Services (KAPS), which represented KABVI before, seem to think there is justification to believe that legislation remains in effect and even though Topeka State Hospital is no longer an issue, SRS could not legally decide to do away with Services for the Blind. Things may not be as stable as we believed they were, and we may need to again fight to retain services.

The Administrator of Kansas Services for the Blind (KSB) has proposed some changes KABVI may wish to question. Services for the Blind will serve no one, beyond what the Rehabilitation Teachers and Kan-SAIL can do. The Rehabilitation Center for the Blind and the vocational rehabilitation counselors will provide services to only those persons who have a vocational objective and plan to become employed. The scope of the programs KABVI fought to save has been considerably narrowed by these decisions. The Administrator indicates this is the direction her superiors have asked her to take because this is the direction federal funding sources have taken. The people who went to bat and advocated to keep the programs that were saved were the Senior Citizens, who will no longer be able to participate in training at KRCBVI. These are the people who, because of the training they received, are not living in nursing homes and are living independently in their homes. It was also brought to the Board’s attention that funds for two unfilled positions within the Kan-SAIL Program have been returned to the federal coffers because the State wanted to save the 10% match funds for those positions. The president and legislative chair were instructed by the Board of Directors to inform the administrator of Kansas Services for the Blind, the leadership of SRS, and legislators, that the organization does not support narrowing the scope of services available to blind and severely visually impaired Kansans. Services are needed by all blind Kansans regardless of age or vocational goals. KABVI supports giving priority to vocational clients and then filling the Center to capacity with non-vocational clients.

The bill that was previously introduced to establish a commission for the blind was referred to the Governor’s staff for the purpose of developing wording that the governor could feel comfortable with signing. Michael Byington spoke with the governor’s representative, who indicated the governor believes the funding focus for services to the blind should not be concentrated on employment only. It would be the governor’s direction to the secretary of SRS that the Rehabilitation Center for the Blind should not be closed without legislative approval and they should not try to close it right after the legislative session. The governor is willing to work with KABVI on some type of bill to remove services for the blind from where it is in SRS. Whether the governor agrees to a commission is an unanswered question. KABVI may, as has been done several times before, need to put the commission on hold and work to save what we already have. The plan is for some language for a bill to be developed by mid-August.

The Help America Vote Act (HAVA) did pass and is in the process of implementation. Meetings continue to test accessible voting machines. Board members agreed that their e-mail addresses can be given to the office of the Secretary of State so that those who are able can be notified in time to participate in the tests. A controversy currently surrounds the issue of whether or not machines must produce paper ballots to assure an accurate count of votes.

The next meeting of the Board of Directors will be held Sunday morning, November 7, 2004, at the Holiday Inn West Holidome, Topeka, after the KABVI annual meeting.