Judy Jackson
20330 NE 20th Court
Miami, Florida 33179
[email protected]
940-255-9241
- What office are you seeking, and what are your qualifications?
My name is Judy Jackson and I am seeking the office of ACB Secretary. I believe the core function of the office of ACB Secretary is to facilitate communication between ACB Officers, Directors, affiliate Presidents and ACB members. In order to achieve effective communication with these groups the candidate must have the requisite experience and be able to point to proven results that accomplish the goals of the organization and meet the needs of its members. Throughout my ACB service I have worked to accomplish this at the local, state, and national levels. In Texas I have worked on the local level to establish programs to work with blind children, institute a student transition program, coordinated a highly successful state convention and spent the last seven years as chair of the Resolutions Committee. In addition, I have served for 4 years on the Board of Publications, working to insure that ACB's message of equality, opportunity and service are effectively communicated throughout our web pages, monthly magazine, social and mainstream media. This is the breadth of experience that I wish to bring to the office of Secretary.
It is this experience that enables me to understand the needs of a variety of ACB members, those struggling to make ends meet at the local level, others who wish to affect change at the state or national level and communicate those needs to ACB officers, Board members, and affiliate leadership. However, it is not enough to just facilitate communication among all of these groups; you need a Secretary that will give you results that are measurable, achievable, and reliable. As Secretary, I pledge to listen to the needs of the affiliates, members and be held accountable to achieving your goals and meeting your needs.
- What would you do to strengthen the relationship between the ACB national leadership and state and special-interest affiliates?
As Secretary my first job is to be a keeper of the record. That is, to ensure that all actions taken by both the board of Directors and the membership are recorded accurately. Secondly, I believe that as an officer of this organization, it is my responsibility listen to the needs of the affiliate Presidents and members. To accomplish this task I would hold a series of "office hours" on a bi-weekly basis from August 1 through November 1 to gather the needs and interests of affiliate Presidents and members. Along with this effort, I would initiate direct communication with committees and members to gather additional information about needs and desires of the membership. Following this survey process, I would bring to the Board of Directors and ACB Officers the results of this survey and an action plan including dates for accomplishing the goals outlined by the members. I would ask the governing body for their help and input into the feasibility of accomplishing the tasks outlined by the membership and then report this back to the membership by January 2014. The "Judy Jackson Action Plan" will be a plan that represents the goals defined by the members and state affiliates with hard due dates. This plan will be one that is defined by the members, with due dates that the Secretary can be held accountable for. This plan will show results that are specific, measurable, and attainable over a specific timeframe. It will allow ACB to define, through its membership and affiliates at the grass roots level, a series of priorities that are critical for organizational growth, but may not rise to the level of a national "ACB" resolution.
It will allow the membership to measure the effectiveness of a Secretary who wishes to increase the communication between members, affiliates and the national organization.
- In light of the current national economic crisis, how can long-term financial stability be achieved for ACB?
It is evident over time that ACB cannot balance its books on the backs of its members or state affiliates. As generous as the membership is through the MMS program and the affiliates through their yearly contributions to ACB, we do not have the base of support to accomplish all the priorities that we or the affiliates have. The first order of business is to look at our priorities both nationally and with the affiliates and assess their priorities. To my knowledge, this has never been done at the national and state affiliate level. This element could be part of the "Jackson Action Plan" outlined in question 2. Once our national and affiliate priorities have been prioritized, we can approach companies that work in the disability field to work with us as partners to create a win-win scenario.
What ACB has to offer in this partnership is an organization that has a good name and a good reputation. This organization has individuals that are subject matter experts in their fields. Companies that have a stake in disability issues, whether it is in transportation, government, 504 IT/508 issues rely on the expertise of our group to help solve their problems. In the past, we have volunteered our services asking for little or no compensation now is the time to negotiate to be partners. We need to approach this opportunity carefully so as not to lose our "independent" status as an organization that both advocates for accessibility and uses products. Lastly, we need to move forward with promoting the activities of the newly established Advisory Board. According to our Constitution this Board has been established to assist ACB in making contacts within the business community to facilitate our fundraising capability and its diversity. Now is the time to use these contacts. - List three issues you plan to work on should you be elected and how you plan to effect change in those three areas.
As Secretary I outlined an ambitious plan to survey the affiliates and members by holding "office hours" to gain an understanding of the needs and desires of the ACB family. The product of these efforts is a grass roots set of priorities that I expect to work on throughout FY 13 and 14. This is a long range personal goal for which I expect to be held accountable and expect to show measureable results. These results, whether it is improved transportation infra-structure, more jobs for blind individuals or just a better standard of living will be defined by the affiliates and those individuals who wish to share their dreams and goals with me.
As my second priority it is fair to say that my strength and passion has always been around the needs of blind children and those in transition. It is my goal to work with this population in 2013 and 2014 to improve their lives and bring as many as possible to join the ACB family. As our population ages we need to recruit new members, mentor leaders and communicate our story to them so they can move our effort forward.
Lastly, I would like to insure that the newly formed Advisory Board has the structure, strategic plan, objectives and goals in place to be a successful partner for ACB. There are highly successful Advisory Boards who have been in operation for years and we need to leverage their plans and strategies for ACB. ACB does not have to reinvent the wheel, but does need to leverage its expertise to work alongside the best and brightest.
This web page was last updated June 4, 2013.