Tulsa Council of the
Blind (TCB)
Affiliate of OCB
TCB 2000 Accomplishments
I've heard it said that Tulsa Council of the Blind
(TCB) doesn't ever do anything. Let me see if I can start proving that
statement wrong with the following list of things we've accomplished in the
last 10 months of year 2000.
1.
We've had 8 programs at our regular meetings including:
· Four city
counselors who've talked with us about things happening in Tulsa and listened
to our concerns.
· Morgan McClelland
from the Tulsa Transit Call Center talking about his plans for the call center.
· The choir
from Parkview School (Oklahoma School for the Blind).
· Representatives
from the Citizens Crime Commission/Tulsa Police Department to talk about personal
safety and TPD’s relations with the blind community.
· Mark
Pritchard to talk with us about Tulsa Transit’s future plans.
2.
We have reduced our annual expenses by $96.00. This doesn't
sound like much, but when you don't have much working cash, it means a lot.
3.
We’ve held 2 fundraisers both conducted by TCB members:
· A garage sale that raised $105.00 to cover state convention expenses. Rain on the second day prevented profits from being even better.
· Java
Dave’s coffee sale-Proceeds from this sale to go toward the purchase of
adaptive technology for a visually impaired student in Tulsa Public Schools.
4.
We've moved our chapter funds to another CD with a higher
interest rate increasing our monthly income by approximately $12.00.
5.
We played a role in Tulsa Transit implementing special
will-call services for election days to assist people with disabilities in
participating in the election process.
6.
We've played a role in encouraging OETA channel 11 in
beginning descriptive video service on their programming.
7.
We supported a resolution calling for textbooks to be made
available in accessible format.
8.
We've worked with Tulsa Police Department to improve the
communication between TPD and the blind/visually impaired citizens of Tulsa.
This will also improve the services they provide.
9.
We supported Tulsa Transit during the annual city budget
process when some councilors would have reduced the budget for mass transit.
10.
We passed a
resolution supporting the “Its Tulsa Time” project to bring conventions/tourism
to Tulsa.
11.
We’re currently
working with Tulsa Transit and the Mayor’s commission on the Concerns of
Tulsans with Disabilities to do the following:
· Increase
the money for public transportation.
· The
formation of a separate transit coalition.
12. We’ve increased the level of involvement of
blind/visually impaired persons in local government:
·
blind members on the Mayor’s Commission on the Concerns of
Tulsans with Disabilities.
·
1 blind member on the Tulsa Human Rights Commission.
13. We held a cookout for our members with a
great turnout of about 20 people. This was accomplished with no cost to TCB.
14. We started selling Lift program coupon
booklets to blind/disabled persons. TCB gets 4% profit from these sales and it
makes these coupons more accessible to our members particularly.
As you can see, the statement that TCB doesn't ever do anything just is not true. In 10 months, we've had 14 accomplishments and I expect to add even more to that list by the end of the year. Participation is the real key that will make this possible. We've accomplished these 12 things with the participation of just a few. If we can do this with a few, think of what we can accomplish with more so if at all possible, I'd encourage you to come whenever you can to the regular meetings and become a part of this community force called Tulsa Council of the Blind.
We
realize things such as families and jobs as well as other things can some times
conflict with the schedule, but we look forward to seeing those who can
participate whenever possible.
If any of you have
comments/suggestions you'd like to discuss with me, I can be contacted at the
e-mail/phone shown below any workday or at home by e-mail (rhoward@geotec.net)
or phone (254-7248). I look forward to seeing you at a meeting.