Call to Order
The June 30, 2023, ACB Conference and Convention Board of Directors Meeting was called to order at 9:05 AM Central Time by Interim President Deb Cook Lewis. Members of the Board and guests participated both in person and virtually.
Roll Call and Introduction of Guests: Denise Colley, Secretary
At the call of the roll the following members were present: Deb Cook Lewis, Ray Campbell, Denise Colley, David Trott, Kim Charlson, Jeff Bishop, Donna Brown, Gabriel Lopez Kafati, Terry Pacheco, Doug Powell, Rachel Schroeder, Kenneth Semien, Koni Sims, and Jeff Thom. Board of Publications Member Penny Reeder was present representing that body.
Members absent: Chris Bell who had an excused absence.
Staff present: Dan Spoone, ACB Interim Executive Director; Clark Rachfal, ACB Director of Advocacy and Governmental Affairs; Swatha Nandhakumar, ACB Advocacy and Outreach Specialist; Jo Lynn Bailey-Page, Associate Director of Development; Nancy Marks-Becker, Chief Financial Officer; Cindy Hollis, Manager of Membership Engagement; Kelly Gasque, Manager of Communications; Tabitha Kenlon, Audio Description Project Coordinator; and Rick Morin, ACB Media and IT Manager.
Several guests were also present in-person and virtually.
Approval of Agenda: Deb Cook Lewis, Interim President
It was moved by Campbell and seconded by Semien to approve the meeting agenda. The motion carried.
Review and Approval of the April 25, 2023, meeting minutes: Denise Colley, Secretary
There being no corrections or additions, it was moved by Trott and seconded by Sims to approve the April 25, 2023, telephonic Board meeting minutes. The motion carried.
Mission Moment: Deb Cook Lewis and Dan Spoone
This Mission Moment applauded the amazing collaboration between staff and volunteers to bring about our first hybrid leadership conference and the currency rally. The rally itself was a landmark experience which most definitely got the attention of the US Treasury Department, and the conference received overall positive reviews. The format was also a first with plenary sessions, breakout groups, tours, and social activities, exhibits and so much more. The hard work of our ACB Advocacy committee along with all staff members and other volunteers working together made the difference.
Dan reported that, for the first time, both the entire Presidents Meeting and Legislative Seminar were broadcast in both Spanish and English. The in-person portion of the DC Leadership Conference was more interactive with breakout sessions and chances for members to provide input on several different topics inside of ACB, as well as having vendors, tours, and socialization. The highlight of the entire event was the Show Me the Money Rally. Everyone was in it together and it was a team effort.
Consent Agenda: Deb Lewis
All the staff reports were sent out and put into the Board Dropbox for reading and review prior to the Board Meeting.
It was moved by Brown and seconded by Colley to approve the reports and the consent agenda. The motion carried.
Convention Report: Janet Dickelman, Convention Committee Chair
The convention started out with minimal glitches. Travel cancelations and illness have been the biggest problems. The first tour went off without a hitch, as did the preregistration the evening prior to this meeting. The hotel and convention center are large, and they are working hard to get a good number of volunteers.
The Board was reminded that the Fall Board meeting is the weekend of September 29th, in Jacksonville, FL, at the Hyatt Jacksonville Hotel. Janet will handle making room reservations for the Board meeting and members are asked to give her our arrival and departure dates. The 2024 Conference and Convention is in Jacksonville, from July 5 to July 12.
President’s Report: Deb Lewis
A. ACB Voting Task Force (3.0) Ad Hoc Committee
Deb said that the work of this Committee will be continuing. They will continue the process of looking at and proposing more workable options for our voting format for future conventions, as well as looking at our Standing Rules process. We will need to continue to work through the process of determining how to manage our convention business processes in the future. This will incorporate input from the Constitution and Bylaws Committee, Voting Taskforce, Resolutions Committee, and others.
Along with changing timeframes for the annual appointment of the Constitution and Bylaws Committee, they are going to be working on an identification process to determine whether Constitution and Bylaws changes are needed.
We continue to work through the challenges of how things need to flow in a hybrid environment and the kinds of options we could have in the future. Working groups will be established to identify what those might look like, and then put forward proposed formats for future conventions.
B. Auction Committee - Thanks Board for Donations
Deb expressed her appreciation of everything that went into the summer auction, and to the Board for their contributions and participation.
C. Next Telephonic ACB Board of Directors Meeting
The next Telephonic ACB Board of Directors Meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, August 15 at 8:00PM ET.
It was moved by Campbell and seconded by Schroeder to accept the President’s report. The motion carried.
Staff Reports
A. ACB Executive Director: Dan Spoone
Dan acknowledged the great work of our former Executive Director, Eric Bridges, and that one of the most important things Eric did was to assemble a truly dedicated and amazing staff who represent ACB both internally to our membership and externally to our corporate partners, the associations we are connected with throughout the disability community, and to our federal agencies and our U.S. Congress and legislators.
From the Accessible Currency Rally, and the connections made by our Advocacy and Governmental staff, which led to ACB having a meeting with the Bureau of Engraving and Printing prior to the Rally itself. Those in attendance at the meeting included the Deputy Chief of Staff for the US Treasury, the Director and Deputy Director of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, their Chief Counsel, and the Communications Director. We got the attention of those who have the power to bring about accessible currency. All of this collaboration led to an invitation for Dan to attend a meeting with the U.S. Treasurer, Lynn Malerba, who has direct oversight for the U.S. Mint and the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. Earlier in June, a second meeting was held with the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, with the same attendees and the addition of a representative of the Advanced Counterfeit Deterrent Group. This meeting covered all the major milestones for going live with accessible currency, and plans are to go live with the $10 note in the fourth quarter of 2026. We finally have a commitment of a date and time that they are shooting for.
The Alexandria move to our new temporary location took place seamlessly. We will remain in that temporary location free of charge until our permanent space in that same building is ready for occupancy.
B. Advocacy and Governmental Affairs Director: Clark Rachfal
(See report in the Consent Agenda packet.)
Clark stated that the greatest share of our advocacy efforts are related to the accessibility of technology in some form. All of our legislative imperatives deal with making technology in different sectors more accessible. We are making solid headway in these areas. The Communications, Video, and Technology Accessibility Act (CVTA) is scheduled to be reintroduced this summer. As highlighted in the report, the Medical Device nonvisual Accessibility Act (H.R. 1328) has already been reintroduced, and the bill has 48 bipartisan cosponsors, including 4 Republicans. Meetings have been held with disability groups affected by lack of digital/web access, along with representation from the Domestic Policy Council, National Security Council, Department of Justice, and the State Department to talk about why it is so important for the DOJ, with the Administration’s support, to move forward Title II and Title III ADA regulations for website and digital accessibility. There has also been discussion regarding the importance of all the other agencies and departments within the Federal Government to update their Section 504 regulations.
C. ACB Advocacy and Outreach Specialist: Swatha Nandhakumar
Swatha reported that ACB, along with others in the disability community have sent a letter to the House Energy and Commerce Committee to urge Congress to pass legislation that would create a national framework for accessible autonomous vehicles. There were fifteen signatories on that letter. ACB has received a response thanking us for the letter, and including text for draft legislation, and asking us for our input on the draft before Congress begins having hearings on the legislation.
The Federal Aviation Administration is up for reauthorization, and they are seeing the introduction of bills that incorporate accessibility for people who are blind or have low vision in the digital space. One such bill mandates that airlines maintain accessible websites and mobile aps. Parts of this bill’s requirements have made it into the House and Senate versions of the FAA Reauthorization.
D. Audio Description Project Coordinator: Tabitha Kenlon
(See report in the Consent Agenda packet.)
Tabitha talked about the most recent ADP Conference, which was a part of the ACB Virtual Conference and Convention. In total there were seven sessions. Attending were representatives from various arts organizations and people from around the world doing research and advocating for audio description internationally.
The next Audio Description Institute is coming up in mid-August. The ADP Awards are going to be officially announced at general session on July 5. November 14 is the date of the third annual AD Awards Gala. It will be simultaneously streamed in English and Spanish.
E. Associate Director of Resource Development: Jo Lynn Bailey-Page
(See reports in the Consent Agenda packet.)
The Resource Development Team is still focusing on the two key development objectives for 2023, which are to keep contact with and ensure the retention of our individual and corporate foundation donors, and identifying new donors at all levels. They are reengaging the annual Giving Society Reception, which will take place on July 2nd, and they have received approximately 70 affirmative replies to attend. They are working on creating an accessible curriculum for teaching fundraising techniques to our blind/low vision ACB membership and the Board. They are also working on a new, stronger, and more comprehensive case for support in the areas of diversity, equity and inclusion, so we are able to position ourselves to gain greater grant and corporate foundation funding. Going forward they plan to focus on four areas: the National Conference and Convention, Leadership Conference, the AD Awards Gala, our Health Heroes and our Health and Wellness Initiative.
F. Manager of Communications: Kelly Gasque
(See report in the Consent Agenda packet.)
One of the biggest areas the Communications Team has been working on this year is ACB’s focus on reaching new audiences through our approach to having more of our program content available in both English and Spanish. More communications efforts were required for the leadership Conference than ever before with the addition of the Currency Rally. Not only was the Rally live streamed on Facebook and YouTube, but it was also live streamed on LinkedIn and Twitter, which expanded our outreach exponentially. The signage at the Rally featured QR codes that could be scanned and shared, as well as being available on our Social Media pages and email lists. There were also links for more information, and pre-populated tweets urging the U.S. Treasury, Bureau of Engraving and Printing, and the Administration to provide accessible and inclusive currency.
With this year’s Convention, much effort has been put into making sure that all our materials are available in as many formats as possible. Podcasts and audio recordings of documents and meetings are being posted on ACB Media. More Artificial Intelligence is being used this year for the reading of documents to make that process more uniform. We are projecting around 300,000 listens to our podcasts by the end of the year.
In the past we have not had much of a presence on LinkedIn and Instagram, and we are now going full speed on the number of posts using those two social media platforms. We’ve had a 71% increase in followers on Instagram and a 99.75% increase in LinkedIn followers.
Jeff Bishop reported that the android version of ACB Link is close to being released within the next month or two, as well as Blind Shell access to ACB Link, which is coming in the near future. We should then be able to provide ACB Link across all platforms.
The meeting went into recess at 11:53 AM for lunch and a short executive session.
The Board moved out of executive session and the afternoon session of the ACB Board meeting was called back to order at 2:00 PM with the continuation of staff reports.
President Lewis reported that a brief Executive Session was held to discuss personnel and legal issues, but no motions were made or actions taken.
G. Manager of Membership Engagement: Cindy Hollis
(See report in the Consent Agenda packet.)
Cindy reported that the March 31st deadline for certification is in place for affiliates to get their delegate votes for convention. From 2020 to 2023 5 special interest affiliates moved from being considered a small affiliate of less than 75 members to becoming a medium or large affiliate. In 2020, 13 had under 75 members, 3 had 76 to 149 members, and 4 had 150 or greater. In 2023 those numbers had dropped to 8 small affiliates, 6 medium affiliates and 6 large affiliates.
State affiliates struggled more. We need to be thinking about innovative ways state affiliates, which are geographical in nature, can be doing to generate membership growth. From 2020 to 2023, the smaller state affiliates increased from 20 to 21, medium-sized affiliates increased from 11 to 12, and large affiliates dropped from 16 to 13.
H. Chief Financial Officer: Nancy Becker
(See report in the Consent Agenda packet.)
ACB’s financial statements were audited at the end of March, and, again, we received a clean audit. Both offices have been busy preparing for the convention. The designing and setting up of the online convention registration form was done by the Minneapolis Office. They worked closely with the convention coordinator to develop the print version of the convention program and have assisted individuals with the registration process. They have been taking donations for the Walk and followed up with Auction winners.
With everything going on, Nancy has not had a block of time to devote to the recruiting and hiring of an accountant or an HR Specialist. This process will begin after convention, and the first step will be to hire the accountant.
It was moved by Colley and seconded by Campbell to accept the staff reports. The motion carried.
Year to Date Financial Report: David Trott, ACB Treasurer
(See report in the Consent Agenda packet.)
It was moved by Powell and seconded by Campbell to accept the treasurers report. The motion carried.
ACBES Report: Michael Garrett, ACBES Committee Chair
Michael began by saying that one of their goals is to ensure that shopping at the two thrift stores is an positive experience. All customers are welcomed when they enter. Merchandise is displayed in a way to entice people and maximize the shopping experience. Staff are putting out a calendar of upcoming sales and sending out social media posts of unique items that can be found in the stores. For the first four months of this year ACBES has contributed $106,800 to ACB. This is 40% higher than what was budgeted for this same time period.
It was moved by Sims and seconded by Pacheco to accept the ACBES report. The motion carried.
Board of Publications (BOP) Report: Penny Reader, BOP Director
Penny reported that the Board of Publications continues to maintain an active schedule. ACB Media continues to expand their efforts to keep all of us informed about one another and about everything ACB. Their monthly outreach statistics just keep getting better. Our podcasts are taking off and are being made available more quickly. The blog still has a way to go, especially with the addition of Members at the Mic. The BOP is continuing to define what the blog is meant to do.
It was moved by Brown and seconded by Schroeder to accept the Board of Publications report. The motion carried.
Update on Status of the 2022 Resolutions: Clark Rachfal, Advocacy and Governmental Affairs Director & Swatha Nandhakumar, Advocacy & Outreach Specialist
(See report in the ACB Board folder in Dropbox.)
It was moved by Campbell and seconded by Sims to accept the report on the status of the 2022 Resolutions. The motion carried.
Officer liaison reports were given, and announcements made.
There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 4:35 PM Central Time.
Denise Colley
Secretary
Date submitted: 8/01/2023
Approved: 08/15/2023