IN THIS ISSUE

PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE
by Mike Keithley

Where were you on Saturday, April 17? Were you shopping, god forbid; visiting relatives, perhaps that's better; baby- sitting your grandchildren, that's nice but not what I'm thinking of; or were you at the CCB convention, perfect! Dawn Wilcox made an informal count and 19 SVCB members were there. I'd say that's a pretty good show. We helped support the Hospitality Room, working with the San Francisco and San Mateo chapters plus the Blind Students of California affiliate. I put in an appearance each of the three evenings of the convention, and the place was pretty much standing room only and quite noisy! I want to thank Bev and Vic Clifford and Dawn Wilcox for their work staffing the room during SVCB's watch Friday evening. In addition, a big "thank you" goes to Jeannie Ackerman of the San Mateo chapter for her almost single-handed organization of the hospitality venture.

Additional thanks go to Michelle and her helpers who staffed our booth. Those T-shirts are sure nice! I'm sure Michelle will tell you all about it in her article, and remember that a report on the convention will be given at the meeting on May 15 and appear in the next issue of this newsletter. I'm delighted to tell you that over $1000 was raised over the three days of the event, but I don't know how much money SVCB will receive at this time as not all issues have been settled.

The CCB board agreed to hold a one-day "Capitol Day" event in Sacramento on May 18. This is often part of the spring convention when it is in Sacramento. During Capitol Day, you have an opportunity to talk directly with your assemblymembers and senators. There will be a training session in the morning that explains what bills CCB is involved in this year. After a box lunch, you'll walk about the Capitol talking to your representatives.

If you wish to go to Capitol Day, take note of Frank Welte's article later in this newsletter. We might be able to arrange stipends, so contact Mike Keithley.

PROGRAM
by Roger Petersen

At our May 15 SVCB meeting, Mary Nichols and Julie Lovins from the local League of Women Voters chapter will present "pros and cons" of the five propositions on the June statewide ballot. They will not be arguing for particular positions, only presenting others' arguments. This is a regular feature around election time. I hope not too many of our members will have already voted by absentee ballot.

CCB CAPITOL DAY COMING!
by Frank Welte

Announcing the 2010 California Council of the Blind Capitol Day!

When: Tuesday, May 18, 2010, 10 a.m. - 4 p.m.

Where: California State Capitol, Sacramento

Sponsor: California Council of the Blind

Schedule: 10 a.m. - noon, Legislative briefing; noon - 1 p.m., lunch provided by CCB; 1 p.m. - 4 p.m., visits to legislators' offices.

Purpose: Participants in Capitol Day will inform members and staff of the California State Legislature about the current concerns of California's blind and visually impaired residents. Participants will increase their understanding of current issues and of the legislative process, develop their advocacy skills and build vital relationships with government officials.

Details: Participants must arrive at the State Capitol building prior to 10 a.m. on Tuesday, May 18. Each person will be responsible for his or her travel and lodging arrangements and costs. We recommend that those participants flying to Sacramento should arrive at the airport before 8:30 a.m. on May 18 and depart Sacramento no earlier than 6 p.m. CCB may be able to transport a limited number of people between the Sacramento airport, the Sacramento Amtrak station, the Greyhound bus station and the Capitol building.

Please notify us of your travel itinerary as soon as possible. CCB will provide a box lunch at Capitol Day, but participants are responsible for any other meals.

Participants wishing to stay in Sacramento overnight may find affordable room rates at the Travel Lodge on 11th Street near the Capitol Building or at the Vagabond Inn at 3rd and J Street next door to Denny's Restaurant. There may be accommodations available for a limited number of participants in the homes of CCB members in Sacramento.

Registration: All individuals wishing to participate in CCB Capitol Day must pre-register no later than Friday, May 14. We strongly encourage you to register, make your travel and lodging arrangements and schedule appointments with your legislators as soon as possible. The information you provide when registering will make it possible for us to help you with these arrangements. After you register we will send you additional information to help you prepare for this event.

Please provide the following information to Frank Welte at the CCB office by mail, fax, email, or phone (see below):
name
home address
phone numbers
email address
preferred format for briefing documents (braille/cassette tape/large print)
lunch preference (vegetarian or not)
date, time, and place of arrival at and departure from Sacramento (including airline, if flying)
whether you'll need a ride to and from Capitol Building
whether you want to stay overnight with a CCB member in Sacramento.

FUND-RAISING REPORT
by Michelle McGrew

Do you shop at Lucky's in Santa Clara County or have friends or family who do? If so, you may want to consider participating in the "S.H.A.R.E.S." grocery rewards program. CCB has enrolled in grocery rewards programs offered by two statewide grocery chains (one of which includes several participating Lucky's stores). Each shopper who requests a "grocery rewards card" will receive a card that looks like a credit card. When making purchases at a participating store, the cardholder will slide his/her rewards card through the debit reader and then make payment using the method of choice. Participating stores will then donate three percent of the purchase price to CCB. If you and/or your friends or family are interested in participating in this program, contact Lily at the CCB office.

Many thanks to Lorraine Brown, David Hoffman, Rob Turner, and Alice McGrath for assisting me at our booth in the exhibit hall at CCB's Spring Convention. In addition to selling more of our T-shirts and cookbooks, we received a business card for a possible speaker and shared information about braille with some of the volunteers and other sighted convention attendees. If you didn't get a chance to come by our booth but would like to order or want more information about our "Twenty Years of Favorite Recipes" cookbook or our "reading is for everyone" T-shirts, contact me at 650-964-7973 or at fund.raising@svcb.cc.

Many thanks to our friends at Outreach for helping us to sell the rest of our See's candy bars. Unless some unexpected opportunity comes along, we will not be getting more until after the hot weather.

Remember to save your recyclable aluminum cans. Charlie Stein redeems them for funds which are then used to support SVCB activities. You may give cans to Charlie at an upcoming meeting or call him at 650-494-3258 to make other arrangements.

Have a great month!

MEMBERSHIP CORNER

Happy May birthdays to our members Dinesh Desai, Trish Foley, John Glass, Vernon Phillips, and Susan Schulter!

SILICON VALLEY INDEPENDENT LIVING CENTER ANNOUNCEMENT
submitted by Sarah Triano, Executive Director, SVILC

We are excited to announce our 100 day countdown to the SVILC Disability Pride Festival and 20th Anniversary Celebration of the Signing of the ADA.

The Festival will be Saturday, July 24, 2010! Please mark your calendars and plan to attend. More information to be announced soon!

We are also proud to announce our new mission statement:

SVILC is a cross-disability, intergenerational, and multicultural disability justice organization that creates fully inclusive communities that value the dignity, equality, freedom and worth of every human being. We do this by building disability identity, culture and pride; creating opportunities for personal and community transformation; and partnering with others to ensure that civil and human rights are protected.

Silicon Valley Independent Living Center, 2202 N. First St., San Jose, California 95131; 408-894-9041 or TTY 408-894-9012

THE NEW $100 BILL
by Melanie Brunson

There have been a couple of posts and some calls in the office about the new $100 bill being unveiled by Treasury this week. The question asked is what about accessibility features.

Here's what I know. First, the court order requiring accessibility features applies to the designs that are undertaken after the date of the court decision. The design of this new $100 bill was already well under way when the court ruled in our case, and is therefore not covered by the court's order. However, it does have some interesting features. The numerals are rather large and may be easier for folks with low vision to see. In addition, there are two new anticounterfeiting features that have been incorporated into this bill that people might be able to feel. There is a strip on the bills, which is referred to as a security ribbon, created by incorporating ground up glass into part of the paper. This is a technology that is in use on Swedish currency. Also, on Ben Franklin's shoulder, they have added some enhanced entaglio printing. Depending on how 'enhanced' it is, that might change the texture of the paper where it is located. Neither of these things were done with accessibility in mind, but they could be sufficiently tactile to make the bills identifiable, at least while they're new. We won't actually know this until we can see one. Our attorney, Jeff Lovitky, told me this morning that the actual bills won't be available until February, so we may have to wait until then to find out more about these features. In the meantime, I thought you might be interested in a bit more info.

EVENT CALENDAR
compiled by Mike Keithley