Welcome to the California connection for April 28.

Health Wishes

Please offer your thoughts and prayers for Cathie Skivers. She is battling Bronchitis just days before her birthday on May 2nd.

Connection Guidelines

In order to best serve all interests and to allow the phone recording of the entire connection we are making some changes to connection submissions.

Beginning with the May 5 edition of the connection chapter, local, and non CCB announcements can only include the event, location, time, and who to contact. We apologize but we are no longer able to include details such as biographies and menus in the space we have.
CCB state announcements will still be full length in order to provide everyone as much information as possible.
Thank you for your understanding as we move forward with this endeavor.

Updates From The Office:
From CEO Paul Shane

Please join me in a warm welcome to Nicole Pacheco, our Operations Manager.

Nicole holds a Bachelor's degree in business with a concentration in marketing and communications. She also has extensive experience in customer service, solid clerical abilities and has seen success in fundraising as well.

Grants

We were selected to take part in the 2017 Financial Literacy Disabilities cohort from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Judy and Steve will fly to Washington D.C. from May 7-9th. Judy will represent the CCB and Steve will be the volunteer trainer for the grant. The CFPB pay's all of Judy's costs and Steve will absorb all costs personally out of his commitment to the program and the CCB.

The VISTA Concept Paper has been submitted on behalf of the Fresno, Yosemite and Sacramento Chapters. Notifications occur around the end of May.

Ruddie Youth Memorial Foundation grant submitted to create a blind/low-vision youth employment cooperative in San Francisco. Notifications occur in June.

Dining In The Dark - The first work group meeting occurred on April 26th. We have some awesome people in this group with some great experiences and ideas.

Looking forward to this rolling out as a great success for the CCB.

Social Media Is On The Horizon

With the addition of Nicole to our team, social media is on the horizon.

Looking forward to the first meeting of the social media committee and to marketing the amazing things that CCB does to a much wider audience. Exciting times indeed!

Blind Californian Update

For those members still waiting for their audio and braille Spring BC: Linda Porelle, publications chair, reports that the audio has been sent to the duplicator and that NBP is working on the braille.

When these issues arrive at the office, the mailing labels are ready for a quick turn-around.
If you receive the wrong format please let the office know immediately so we can update your format choice in the database. Meanwhile the publications committee is hard at work on a more permanent solution for formatting future issues. We apologize for the unavoidable delay this time.

California Council Of The Blind 2017 Annual Conference And Convention Feedback Survey

The California Council of the Blind (CCB) is very appreciative of those who attended in person or online via ACBRADIO the 2017 Annual Conference and Convention.

This survey is intended to obtain attendees' input as to their satisfaction with the Hilton Woodland Hills/Los Angeles Hotel concerning both guest and meeting rooms and the Conference and Convention program. We appreciate your recommendations for future conferences and conventions.

In answering the survey questions, be as specific as you can.

Please complete the survey form, found below the line, on or before Sunday May 14th, 2017.

Survey responses are to be emailed to jsthom@comcast.net.
For those needing assistance in completing the form, call the CCB office 1-800-221-6359 no later than Friday May 12.
Sincerely,
Jeff Thom
Chair, Conference and Convention Committee

Conference And Convention Survey

1. How satisfied were you with the Hilton Woodland Hills/Los Angeles hotel (e.g. rooms, plated meals, lighting, etc.)?
   Tell us why or why not, and be specific.
2. Tell us your experiences with the hotel restaurants in regards to the: quality of food, meal prices, and level of service.
3. Were the hotel staff and volunteers helpful and courteous?
   Were there sufficient numbers of each? If not, please explain.
4. What were your experiences in accessing individual exhibitors in the exhibit room?
5. Please provide contact information (e.g. name, phone number, email address, and mailing address) for exhibitors who should be invited to exhibit at future conferences and conventions.
6. Were you satisfied with the sound quality of presentations in the main session room and in other rooms used at the convention?
7. If you used one of the assistive listening devices, did it function to your satisfaction and were you able to participate more effectively in those sessions where the technology was available to you?
8. If you listened to the convention via ACBRADIO, how satisfied were you with your listening experience?
9. Were there any presentations made or topics covered at the general session or by a committee or special interest group you found to be informative and valuable to you?
   Would you like a similar presentation to be given as part of a future general session or committee or special-interest affiliate program?
10. Were you satisfied with the format of the Candidates Forum, and if not what format would you prefer?
11. Did you enjoy the new plated meal themes? Should they be continued and are there other themes that you believe might be worth trying?
12. If you are a guide dog user, what were your experiences with the relieving area? If you feel any changes should be made, please include them.
13. Should we continue the practice of holding our primary business session Sunday, and if not, how would you change the convention format?
14. Overall was the Conference and Convention a success?
15. Is there anything else that you would like to tell us

CCB Scholarship Message From Christy Crespin

As chair of the CCB Scholarship Committee, I would like to invite all eligible legally blind students to follow the link below and apply for the CCB 2017-2018 scholarship at your very earliest convenience. The link will close at the end of business on Monday, May 15, 2017.

We have special interest in those students involved in music, government, and fine arts.

If you are a graduate student, a full-time under-graduate, or will be a freshman student in the fall, please stop by and apply at the link below.
http://www.ccbnet.org/scholar_intro.htm

For questions, contact the CCB office at 800-221-6359 or Christy at ccrespin@att.net

Glendale Burbank Chapter Meeting

The Glendale Burbank Area Chapter of CCB will be meeting in a new location beginning April 1.

The meeting begins at eleven a.m. members and guest are welcome to arrive earlier to fellowship and order food.

The address is: Media center, Holiday Inn, 150 E. Angelino Avenue, Burbank CA 91502. The cross street is San Fernando. phone number at the hotel is: 818-841-4770.

For any further questions call Anthony Signoriello at: 818-982-3411 or cell: 818-426-9123.

Yosemite Gateway Chapter Fund Raiser

The Yosemite Gateway chapter will be hosting a Brunching Blind fundraiser at Applebee's in Merced, CA, on Saturday, May 13, from 8:00 - 9:30 am.
Tickets are $7.

Contact Tanya Williams at 209-626-0258 or Margaret Buchmann-Garcia at 209-722-8118 for more information.

Thank you for reading, Have a nice day