by Catherine Skivers

If you read the last issue of the Blind Californian, you learned from our new president about the status of affairs in CCB today. Throughout our history
we have experienced changes, and realized outstanding successes in many areas. But just as our personal lives experience ups and downs, so it has been
in the life of our organization: We have known some bad times too.

The first magazine distributed to our members in the early days was called the California Bulletin, and it was published monthly. Recruitment of members
was not difficult back then. The first two presidents of CCB were Dr. Newel Perry and Robert Campbell. From 1934 to 1959, they were directors of Advanced
Studies at CSB. Many blind students attended the School for the Blind and so they became acquainted with friends from all over the state. When they heard
about the California Council of the Blind, quite a few of them joined the organization. Through the years, many adults were involved with CCB throughout
the state. Along the way it was determined that blind children should go to public schools along with everyone else. This left many of them alone in
a community where no one was familiar with working with the blind. If they were lucky, they had a resource teacher who helped them learn braille and the
other skills needed to become independent people. Quite often, when I have attended national conventions, I have heard college students receiving scholarships
from ACB say they thought they were the only blind persons in the country, and they didn't realize how many blind people throughout the United States were
gainfully employed and living independent lives.

Early in our history, the membership sold candy, held independent programs, and gave money to CCB. Dolly Glass, who was a successful blind business woman,
contacted many unions and other organizations and was able to get them to donate to the council. For a long time, CCB was connected with a thrift store
from which we received thousands of dollars each year as we were given 10% of their sales. Unfortunately the store management dropped us and partnered
with a group who took less money. Then for many years we were connected with a car donation program, which helped us to remain financially sound. Some
cars are still donated to us, but because of a change in laws for donations and less publicity, this source has not been able to help us sustain the cost
of our programs.

Throughout the years, we have been able to count on our membership to do whatever it took to help us raise money and become known. This was done by attending
many county fairs and passing out literature, as well as writing countless braille notes and alphabets for the benefit of those who had never seen braille.
We have always worked for education, independence and employment for the blind.. In future issues of this magazine, I hope to list some of the benefits
we enjoy as a result of the countless laws we have passed in the California legislature. It would be hard to find a blind or visually impaired person
in our state who has not had a better life because of our efforts.

In 1959, a quarter of our delegates left the council and formed the Associated Blind of California. The members of this group helped form the American
Council of the Blind and became the first California affiliate of ACB. This was the first major change of this type in CCB. While having two organizations
in the state meant that we had two groups working on state committees and legislation, it did create some difficulty because our legislators were reluctant
to vote on a bill if the two groups did not always agree on it. While testifying before an investigative committee, I was asked why the blind groups didn't
get together and just have one organization. My answer was "that's a great idea Senator! Why don't Republicans and Democrats do that and tell us how it
happened." This brought laughter and applause from the audience and a hug from Oakland Senator Nick Petras. In 1978, the council found itself threatened
by the national federation. It was a policy for quite a time, to give half of money raised during White Cane Week [see Cathies article in the winter,
2017 BC] to the federation. It seems that half of our other monies were also expected to be given to them also. A bequest was received by CCB for California.
The federation demanded half of it, and a court battle ensued. Bob Campbell and George Fogarty, who belonged to the Associated Blind of California at
that time, assisted the council, which finally succeeded in keeping it's money. There have been other difficulties that you will hear about in our history
articles at a later date.

CCB has taken the lead in many areas. For years we have had the California Connection, which has enabled our members to call an 800 number and find out
what is going on throughout CCB. Most of the time this support was provided by our own members. I myself had the privilege of recording the English version
for more than 10 years. Maria Lopez and many other CCB members translated the material for our Spanish speaking friends, and for several years now staff
members have been reading the Connection in English.

CCB has prided itself on receiving no funds from any governmental agency. In the 90's we combined forces with several disability groups and applied for
a grant to bring AIDS education to disabled communities. As far as we were able to ascertain, no other such group existed in the United States or the
world. During that time, about a half dozen of our members got part time work in reaching out to the blind throughout the state, supplying braille and
large print materials and other training regarding AIDS.

In 2002, our council and the National Federation of the Blind of California combined their efforts to secure the passage of SB105, a bill that gave California
a division within the State Department of Rehabilitation to serve the blind and visually impaired and the deaf and hard of hearing. It took two years
to accomplish this. In about the year 2000, Jim Willows, at that time the President of the NFBC, and I talked about the need for our organizations to
work together. The blindness community has wanted a commission for the blind for a very long time, and while we had not been successful in accomplishing
this, we were finally able to get our division. When we appeared before the legislature, Senator John Burton, who had introduced the bill for us, agreed
with my testimony that this was a history-making bill because for the first time, the major organizations for the blind had come together to bring about
this monumental change.

As I read Judy Wilkinson's article in the last BC, my heart went out to her; history really does repeat itself. When I came in as president in 1997, we
were out of money and some of our restricted funds had been used. Thanks to the car program, some variety shows we had to raise money for us, and some
wonderful people who left us extremely generous bequests, we were able to build many programs we wanted for CCB. We did quite well for a very long time,
but times have changed and tax exempt organizations are finding themselves with much less support from the public than we have known in the past. When
things go wrong, we always think we should have a change, and change is good if you choose a path that has the likelihood of succeeding. Our membership
has always supported us in our changes, so we have remained successful. But you have to be careful with change. If you doubt that, just take a look at
what's happened to our country lately!

I hope that you will all remember that we can't have success without your help. Please join me and many others in supporting our new president and our
new executive director, Paul Shane, in continuing to build and strengthen CCB. There is still much to be done for the blindness community. Our children
need help learning braille, there's talk about eliminating specialized services for the blind, and the unemployment rate among blind people is still ridiculously
high. Wonder what the powers that be will think of next? Can we count on you?