The Vigilant Blog

How often have you had a question you felt too shy to ask? Sometimes you work up the courage and just ask. At other times, it’s better to read about someone else’s experience at your own speed and in the privacy of your own space.

Our blog is a collection of posts aimed at stimulating discussion about assistive technology, independent living, and blindness philosophy. Please comment freely to keep the discussion moving, and please share content you find thought-provoking with your social networks to help spread the discussion to people we might otherwise not reach.

And, please don’t forget to check out the publications from our parent organization. The Braille Monitor, our general magazine, and Future Reflections, our publication for parents, are just two examples of the excellent resources you’ll find in our NFB library.

Do you want to write a guest post? Send us a note, and tell us about your idea!

How to be More Popular

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on June 15, 2020 - 1:00am

By John Bailey

I was honored to be a part of the South Eastern Division weekend held at our National Center in Baltimore in early August. It was great to catch up with old friends and make lots of new ones.

One of the activities during the weekend I particularly found interesting was the breakout session where the students talked about the challenges they were facing and the ensuing conversations about how to resolve them.

Do You Want to be Your Own Boss?

Submitted by Joe Orozco on June 8, 2020 - 1:00am

I've heard blind people give advice that in today's job market, starting your own business is a viable option. And, it is, but most people fail to see the reality of going at it alone. I run a freelance copywriting business outside of my day job. It keeps me afloat when our federal government shuts down, and I have to go to work without getting paid. I figure maybe one day I'll grow old and retire from catching bad people, but when that day comes, I had better be prepared to make a smart transition.

Here's a blog post I previously wrote for my freelance blog:

Tags: 
Leadership

Nonprofit Development: Grant Writing 101

Submitted by Joe Orozco on June 1, 2020 - 1:00am

In the coming years our affiliate will implement a diverse fundraising strategy to make it possible for us to have more services like Project RISE. One of those funding strategies will likely be grant writing, and while grant writing will make the most sense at the affiliate level, where we can project the greatest impacts, that does not mean chapters and divisions cannot pursue their own grant writing strategies to help fund activities they would like to sponsor. Here's a starting point to thinking about grant writing.

Tags: 
Leadership
Project RISE

Ten Tips for a Resume that Gets You the Interview

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on May 25, 2020 - 1:00am

By John Bailey

Let’s face it, the whole goal from searching online for a job, creating that perfect resume, talking to your career buddies about unadvertised job opportunities is to get you an interview. Getting face-to-face with your potential employer means that you are almost there in terms of getting the job you want. Once in the interview, you can let your skills, knowledge, and personality take over to dazzle so that you will get the offer. Once in the interview, you have all the power.

Tags: 
Leadership
Project RISE

Nonprofit Development: Planning a Special Event

Submitted by Joe Orozco on May 18, 2020 - 1:00am

No aspect of fundraising should exist in a vacuum. Organizations should use grant writing, event planning, direct mail, and other aspects of nonprofit development to help build up budgets through a diversified fundraising strategy.

Tags: 
Leadership

NFB Coin Holder for Sale on eBay

Submitted by Joe Orozco on August 20, 2019 - 11:45am

From Chris Walker, President -- Winchester Chapter

Dear Federation family,

We are pleased to announce that the membership coin holder is now available for sale on eBay. Please click on the below link to purchase yours today. Only
a limited quantity available, so be sure to order yours today.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/NFB-Membership-Coin-Pendant-Locket-Holder-/2236...

Tags: 
General Announcement

Board Meeting Minutes for May 2019

Submitted by Joe Orozco on August 15, 2019 - 8:28pm

From Sarah Patnaude, Substitute Recording Secretary

National Federation of the Blind of Virginia NFBV
Meeting of the Board of Directors

Saturday, May 18, 2019
1pm-4pm
Virginia Department for the Blind and Vision Impaired
Library and Resource Center
395 Azalea Avenue
Richmond, VA 23227

The National Federation of the Blind of Virginia’s Board of Directors meeting was called to order by President Tracy Soforenko

Invocation by Susie D’mello

Roll Call: 46 members were present including delegates and alternate delegates

A Mother's Advocacy

Submitted by Joe Orozco on July 26, 2019 - 1:00am

The following remarks were delivered to the NFB of Virginia state convention on November 4, 2017 by Gao Lai.

When my son was 6 months old, the doctor said my son would never be able to see the world like me. It was scary. My mind was flooded with questions. I can tell you my biggest
worries were how will my son be independent and take care of himself when I die? Will he graduate from college? Will he have a career? Will he ever move out of my basement? How will he get around? I was looking at a 6-month-old and I was petrified for his future.

Tags: 
Parents

BELL on Youtube

Submitted by Joe Orozco on July 24, 2019 - 1:00am

The following appeared in the December 2017 issue of The Vigilant, our former newsletter:

The Braille Enrichment for Literacy and Learning (BELL) Academies in Virginia were a tremendous success. This year, we produced an outstanding video to introduce parents, students, sponsors and volunteers to the program and we wanted to share this great video with you. We look forward to introducing more students to BELL academies in 2018. Please help do your part to help spread word of this wonderfully enriching opportunity.

Tags: 
Students
BELL Academy

NFBV.org: The Next Online Chapter

Submitted by Joe Orozco on July 22, 2019 - 10:08pm

For years the Virginia affiliate relied on the WordPress platform to render its website. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with the WordPress platform, but we took our cues from the National Office and switched over to Drupal as a way to better integrate with their future web development. Also, we wanted to eventually align ourselves with their branding for consistency.

And, well, let’s face it. The website needed to be updated anyway. Over a time a website will become cluttered, and switching to a new platform helped us clean house.

Tags: 
General Announcement

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