The Canadian Federation of the Blind (CFB) is pleased to be able to offer funding, from CFB’s Empowerment Fund, for blind individuals who can use some financial assistance to attend the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) national convention in Orlando, Florida, this year.

The convention will begin on Monday, July 1 and run through Saturday, July 6, ending with the banquet Saturday evening.

Amounts of funding will be determined upon final availability and also quantity of applicants, but will significantly subsidize costs of attending the convention. There will still remain some costs to the applicant.

Who is eligible to receive funding? Members of the Canadian Federation of the Blind and other blind individuals who have an interest to attend.

If you are interested, please write a letter of application expressing reasons why you’d like to attend the NFB convention; and how you hope to use what you learn to help others, and email it to info@cfb.ca.

More details below:

The National Federation of the Blind (NFB) convention is a week-long gathering of close to 3,000 blind people that brings blind people together from around the world to mentor each other, to build self confidence and to learn a positive perspective on blindness.

At this event, participants will take part in a wide array of seminars and classes related to employment, independence and blindness skills; they will hear speakers who talk about blindness from a positive and proactive perspective; participate in workshops on everything from blind parents, to blind lawyers, to blind educators, to blind journalists; and take part in events such as adaptive technology exhibits, employment seminars and recreational activities.

These events provide exceptional training, education, employment information, mentoring and inspiration to participants. But the chief benefit of attending this gathering of nearly three thousand blind people (the largest gathering of blind and visually-impaired people in the world) is the opportunity to network with others and to come to understand the diversity, potential and normalcy of the blind.

Convention is a time for mentorship, in living the positive attitudes of blindness which promote competing on terms of equality with the sighted, in all aspects of life. It is, for the moment, the best form of rehabilitation that we have available to us

The convention will be held at the Rosen Centre Hotel; make reservations by calling (800) 204-7234.

What are the requirements to receive funding? You must do the following and be responsible for meeting these application requirements:

1. Provide your name, address, phone number and email address.

2. Write a letter of application expressing reasons why you’d like to attend the NFB convention; and how you hope to use what you learn to help others.

3. Email your application to: info@cfb.ca., or send to: Canadian Federation of the Blind (CFB), PO Box 8007, Victoria, BC, V8W 3R7.

4. You must make your hotel reservations, so that you have certainty of a room.

5. If you are selected, you must register for convention and attend sessions and seminars of the convention, including the banquet.

6. After convention, we ask that you write a description of your experiences at convention, or be interviewed for an article, which may later be published in CFB’s magazine, “The Blind Canadian”.

All applications must be received by April 15, 2013.

Please use this opportunity to apply to attend your first or next NFB convention and join several thousand blind Federationists at the most important meeting of the blind in the world.

If you have questions or need additional information, please write to info@cfb.ca. or call (250) 598-7154. To read more about the convention, go to www.nfb.org. To read testimonials from past Canadian convention attendees, please go to www.cfb.ca and click on publications, then ‘The Blind Canadian’ magazine.

Funding winners will be provided with more information.