Welcome to the California connection for January 27.

From President Judy Wilkinson

Save The Date:

We will hold our first Presidents Call of the year on Tuesday, January 31 at 7:30 PM.
Judy will send out an agenda and dial in instructions to the various CCB email lists over the weekend.

CCB Board Meeting Recording

To listen to the recording of the January 26 2017 CCB board meeting by telephone please dial 1-302-202-1115 and enter Recording ID: 23150908 when prompted for it.

Some recording features are available to you once you're listening.
1 will pause
2 will rewind 1 minute
3 will forward 1 minute

From The CEO

I wanted to take a minute to let you all know that the Tommy T's Comedy Benefit was very successful and mutually supported by both the CCB Membership and the greater Sacramento community.

I want to thank our devoted board members who traveled from outlying areas and braved late trains, hurricane like weather and Trump protests to support the event. I also wanted to send a special "shout out" to all of the folks at the Sacramento Chapter who supported the event, we could not have done it without you. And, one final thanks to all of those voices across California who encouraged others to attend. I truly appreciated your efforts.

Airbnb Outreach Announcement

Rosen Bien Galvan & Grunfeld LLP has been retained to investigate complaints from blind individuals, individuals who use service animals, including guide dogs, and individuals with mobility disabilities who have recently attempted to rent lodging through Airbnb. Airbnb operates a website and mobile application where people can browse for and book lodging throughout the United States and around the world.

We would greatly appreciate speaking with you about your experiences using Airbnb if you have a disability, including if you are blind or low vision, you use a service animal, and/or you use an assistive device such as a cane, walker, or wheelchair.

To share your experiences, please contact paralegal Sara Long by phone at 415-433-6830 or at slong@rbgg.com.

Self-Service Kiosks

Disability Rights Advocates (DRA) and Goldstein Borgen Dardarian & Ho (GBDH) are investigating the accessibility of self-service kiosks to individuals who are blind and low-vision. These kiosks have become prevalent in retail stores, healthcare facilities, pharmacies, and elsewhere.
We would like to hear about people's experiences with self-service kiosks relating to any aspect of life.

To share your experience, please contact Kyle Ruiz by email at kruiz@dralegal.org or by phone at (510)665-8644.

San Gabriel Valley Chapter Fund Raiser

The San Gabriel Valley Chapter invites you to come join us for our 32nd annual Pizza and Spaghetti Fundraiser: Saturday, February 18, 3:00 p.m, to 7:00 p.m, only $10.00 per ticket, from SGV Chapter members or at the door.

Menu includes: pizza, spaghetti, salad, garlic-bread, regular and diet soda, iced tea, coffee, bottled water and dessert. Alcoholic beverages may be purchased at the Bar.

Address: VFW Hall, 825 South Magnolia Avenue, Monrovia (Northwest corner of Magnolia and Chestnut).

Two Grand Prizes: an Amazon Echo Dot and a first generation Chromebook; winner need not be present. There will be door prizes; winners must be present, along with a 50/50 raffle.
Everyone is welcome!

If you need more information: please contact President Pam Polagi at (626) 445-7297.
Thank you very much.

CCLVI Scholarship Announcement

The Council of Citizens with Low Vision International (CCLVI) will award three scholarships in the amount of $3,000 each to one full-time entering freshmen, undergraduate and graduate college students who are low vision, maintain a strong GPA and are involved in their school/local community.

Application materials must be received by March 1. Scholarship monies will be awarded for the 2017 - 2018 academic year.

To read the scholarship guidelines and complete an online application, please visit http://www.cclvi.org and click on the "CCLVI Scholarship Programs" link.

Applications will be available to submit online from January 1 until March 1 at 11:59 pm Eastern Standard Time. Questions may be directed to CCLVI at (800) 733-2258 or scholarship@cclvi.org.
We look forward to receiving your application materials!

Thank you for reading, have a nice day