October Committees Report

AADB October 2011 Monthly Report
5-YEAR STRATEGIC PLANNING COMMITTEE
Co-chairs: Mark Gasaway and Karyn Campbell

The committee has added some new members in the last month. One of these members has brought forth a proposal that is being worked on by three members of the committee. This will then be brought to the whole committee for further comment. This deals with a main goal for AADB and has potential to deal with some of the issues facing AADB. It does not replace dealing with the issues discussed previously by the committee.
The issues that were raised within the committee have also been further discussed with resolution on one part of one of these issues. Confidentiality form is no longer required for committee members. It will still be required for board members, volunteers and staff. The reason it is required for volunteers is that they may be handling confidential information such as membership information or website material. Revision of this form has been referred to the Law Committee.
A time line has been proposed for the issues and action plans for these issues. Fundraising seems to come up quite a bit in discussions. The organization needs money in order to carry out its mission.
And speaking of the AADB mission , there are also discussions within the committee of changing the mission statement to fit in with the main goal when the above mentioned proposal are presented to the full committee. We are not yet sure how much the mission statement may change, if at all, but the changes, if any, will be done by the Law Committee as well.


FRC (FUNDRAISING COMMITTEE) Report
Submitted by Co-Chair Darran Zenger
Since Bapin is out of the country and will not be back in time to contribute to for this report I am going to go ahead and write up a report and would like to seek input from everyone here to ensure we cover everything. I'm mostly going to bullet items of what has been going on this past month:

Delta Gamma national fraternity (sorority) has a philanthropic giving program that focuses upon blindness. We will investigate further on their efforts and see if they would broaden to include deaf-blind.
We have provided feedback for Development on the Direct Mail letter. The letter should be mailed out no later than the end of October, or first week of November.

Darran has awarded a $25 Visa Gift Card to René Pellerin who was the first to bring in $1,000 for the Challenge. Darran has extended that Challenge until December 31st, and the Member that brings in the most money will receive a $100 Visa Gift Card.

Darran has secured funds for prizes for next year’s Challenge to the Members with a reward of $250 Visa Gift Card for the first person to reach the goal and a $500 Visa Gift Card for the individual who brings in the most money. This challenge is separate from any organized fundraising efforts by the FRC or AADB.
Multi-Media Committee Report
Co-Chair: Scott Davert, NY
Co-Chair: Kacie Weldy, IN
Mission: To provide IT support with the membership database and the AADB.org website. Also, to provide continuous updates, notifications, information, and resources to the members of AADB and all others who have an interest in being involved in the actions and various roles of AADB. These will be provided, but not limited to the following means of public relations, communications, and various media platforms: Email, Facebook, Twitter, AADB Blog, AADB.org website, Newsletters, AADB Today, mailings, and any other means deemed necessary.
Sub committees
IT committee – This committee provides direct support for the website maintenance and interfacing with the membership database. Also provides support to the board and Executive Committee with the decision making processes regarding commitments and system interfaces for credit card transactions and online payments. This committee will also make use of volunteered outside consulting in regards to technological aspects of setting these processes up for optimal use of AADB resources.


Activities and tasks performed:
1. Board of Directors’ page updated
2. AADB.org home page updated with new information and blogger button to go to the blog page.
3. Updated Accountability links with the 2009 and 2010 financial forms.
4. Initiated gathering of AADB Financial reports for 2008, 2009, and 2010.
5. Started set up of Committees web page.
6. Started set up of various pages for 2011 Symposium highlights.
7. Started set up of Policies and Procedures Manual page.
8. Started update of Bylaws page.
9. Research of various options for on-line payments, membership database management, and email functions.
Conclusion: Our best option is to stay with Convio and Common Ground for the time being as it is currently the best option for our needs in respect to the costs of maintenance and the costs that would be incurred to migrate to a new system and still have these features.
Short term goal
Update the AADB.org and Convio website information with current data.

Long term goal:
Timely updates to the AADB website and membership
databases and possibly changes to the website for more accessible formats.

PR committee – This committee is responsible for all mailings going out to the general membership, including but not limited to AADB Today, board election forms, conference information, proposed changes to policies and procedures, and all other information. The members of this committee will be responsible for compilation and creation of documents to be sent out in all means necessary to be accessible, in print or electronically. They will then be responsible for setting up the printing, and distribution of these documents either electronically, in braille, or in print. The focus of this committee is to be able to distribute the information in all possible accessible formats.
Co-Chair: Scott Davert
Co-Chair: Kacie Weldy
Activities:
1. Recruited a member to the committee for mailings and compilation of articles.
2. Posting of AADB updates to Facebook, Twitter, and AADB blog.
3. Connection with the membership database has been made; now working on confirming records of members and donors to include in the mailing in the near future.
4. Emails sent in an attempt to recruit members.


Short term goals:
1. Facilitate and establish an open line of communications between the Board and Executive committee and the general membership- both on-line members and those without.
a. Set up a team of people to create an informative mailing to be distributed to the membership of the changes and happenings of AADB since the Symposium, the proposed bylaw changes, and the financial state of AADB.
b. Distribute this mailing no later than November 1st.
Long term goals:
To provide accessible, timely, and routine distribution
of information to the general membership.

1. Set up a team of people to create and/or compile articles to go out in each AADB Today.
2. Provide to the general membership timely and informative mailings of board elections and proceedings, FCC updates and technological updates affecting deaf-blind people.

NRC (Network and Recruitment)
Committee:Chair: Mark Gasaway


The Networking and Recruitment Committee has gotten underway and we are now reviewing the membership forms for membership at all levels for AADB.

We may be working with some others on new brochures but I need to find out and will alert the committee when I do.

We are also about to begin discussions on how we can do membership drives successfully in different sections of the USA. A report on this aspect should be forthcoming in the November report.

The committee is looking for a few more members to join. If you are interested please let me know at mark.gasaway@comcast.net.



Office Committee Report
Chair: Lynn Jansen


During the month of September, Jill and Lynn were in the AADB office for eight days to continue to clean up and to get things organized. Some of the tasks done were to put important papers in proper storage (some of them at the Gallaudet’s archives), to donate the office furniture to Deaf Reach (www.deaf-reach.org), to have the old computers cleaned up and donated to a local church, and to reorganize the filing system for donors, membership, accounting, and other important documents. We are still working on updating QuickBooks. Thanks to the volunteers who came in to help out with moving furniture and boxes and shredding papers. We are also researching our options for telephone service to save money. This includes landline, fax, VP, TTY and online services. We will be going back in a few weeks to continue to clean out the office and are looking at other office space as an option.
While in Silver Spring, Jill and Lynn held meetings with several non-profit organizations and agencies. They met with Howard Rosenblum and Andrew Phillips from National Association for the Deaf (NAD), Claude Stout from TDI, Joe McNulty from Helen Keller National Center (HKNC), Steve Rothstein from Perkins School for the Blind, and Greg Hlibock, Rosaline Crawford and a several other people from FCC. The purpose of our meetings was to introduce ourselves, to let them know that AADB is being restructured, and is moving forward. We asked many questions and talked about how we can collaborate and partner together with them in AADB’s future endeavors. They are very supportive of AADB and are behind us all the way.
Respectfully submitted by Lynn Jansen


Report from the National Task Force on Deaf-Blind Interpreting

The National Task Force on Deaf-Blind Interpreting (NTFDBI) was established by a motion at the 2005 RID conference to address the communication access needs of deaf-blind individuals. The mission of the task force is to establish a standard of effective practice to ensure the quality and availability of interpreters for deaf-blind people. The NTFDBI is a collaboration among RID, AADB and the National Consortium of Interpreter Education Centers (NCIEC). Other member organizations are the Conference of Interpreter Trainers (CIT), the National Alliance of Black Interpreters (NAOBI), and the National Family Association of the Deaf-Blind (NFADB). The Task Force also includes consumer and interpreter members as well as representatives of stakeholder organizations.

Since its inception, the task force has undertaken a number of projects and trainings to address issues of skills, instructor resources, information and resource availability and dissemination. Among the accomplishments thus far:
two face-to-face meetings to move the work of the Task Force Bibliography of Deaf-Blind Interpreting, done in conjunction with DB-LINK, the information arm of NCDB

a national survey of interpreter educators and program administrators on deaf-blind interpreting education
the development of a Curriculum Guide for Infusing Deaf-Blind Interpreting into an Interpreter Education Program

a paper titled “Deaf-Blind Interpreting: Many Paths on the Road,” which lists many ways for interpreters to become involved with the deaf-blind community and develop their skills as interpreters and Support Service Providers

training sessions and presentations at numerous regional and national conferences on working with deaf-blind people, curriculum infusion and results of data gathering

the establishment of a website - http://www.deafblindinterpreting.org/

several information gathering sessions with interpreters and interpreter educators regarding needs, programming, challenges and future steps

the establishment of an e-mail distribution list used to send out periodic announcements of trainings and conferences

the development and teaching of a deaf-blind mentorship program to prepare interpreters for working at the AADB symposium in 2011. This was a collaborative effort with the Gallaudet Regional Interpreter Education Center, the Western Regional Interpreter Education Center, the CATIE Center and AADB.


Future Steps:
Information was gathered from stakeholders at the last Conference of Interpreter Trainers conference in 2010 to inform the future work of the Task Force. The next step is for the Task Force to have another conference call to discuss these items and set the course for future work.
Current membership of the Task Force:
Co-chairs:
Rhonda Jacobs, AADB Representative; Maryland
Susanne Morgan Morrow, RID Representative; New York

Members:
Aimee Chappelow Bader – Deaf-Blind; Kansas
Ashley Benton – Deaf-Blind; North Carolina
Janice Cagan-Teuber - Massachusets Commission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing; Massachusetts
Jane Hecker Cain - Conference of Interpreter Trainers; Maine
Richelle Frantz – Interpreter; Washington
Jill Gaus - AADB Board; Michigan
CM Hall - National Consortium of Interpreter Education Centers; Oregon
Richard Laurion - National Consortium of Interpreter Education Centers; Minnesota
Michelle Moore - National Alliance of Black Interpreters; North Carolina
Ellie Savidge – CDI, Washington
Pearl Veesart - National Family Association of the Deaf-Blind; California
Jeanette Ocampo Welch – Interpreter; Massachusetts

RID Board Liaison:
Lewis Merkin, CDI - Member at Large, New York


SSP Committee Report
Chair: Elizabeth Spiers

Currently, we have several members working on the committee. Some are experienced SSPs, some are beginning SSPs, and some are deaf-blind people who use SSPs. The committee has been working on goals and objectives, listed below. The next step we will take is to survey SSP programs around the country to identify how they train their SSPs and what they include in their curricula.

Mission
Provide a mechanism for standard training and certification of support service providers.

Short Term Goals
Educate the public about the roles and responsibilities of SSPs, as well as the need for SSPs as a service, so they can begin to be recognized as a profession.

Collect information on SSP training and curricula from SSP programs around the country to see how SSP programs are training SSPs.

Collect data and report the outcomes of various SSP trainings.

Examine curricula used by SSP programs to see if any could be used as a master curriculum (with or without modifications).

Identify needed modifications (if any). Examples may include deaf-blind people with other disabilities, wheelchair users, deaf-blind people who don't sign, people who use service animals or personal assistants.

Identify SSPs and provide a list of available SSPs for board meetings and events.

Provide SSPs for board members and events.


Intermediate Goals
Identify deaf-blind events around the country where deaf-blind people use SSPs through newsletters, e-news, listservs or other media.

Identify trainer for SSPs.

Collect data from training sites and instructors.

Set up at least one training for SSPs who are working at a deaf-blind event or conference.

Identify funds and scholarships for SSP trainings; consider providing continuing education unit credits for SSPs as an incentive.
Long Term Goals
Provide a standard certification and training process for SSPs through AADB so they can begin to be recognized as a profession.

Define SSP responsibilities using standard curriculum or training

Use standard SSP curriculum with continuing education credits.

Set up temporary listing of approved SSP trainers