Region II Report

Eliezer Sierra, Region II Representative

Eliezer Sierra, MS, NIC, BEI Advanced Trilingual Region II Representative

Hello everyone!

Hello everyone. My name is Eliezer Sierra and I am the Region II Representative. I would like to start my final report with appreciations. First, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to the current Board of Directors for their leadership, integrity, and commitment to excellence. Thank you for the guidance, for the words of encouragement and for the advice provided over the past year. Thank you for being passionate and compassionate leaders. I want to thank in particular my fellow Region Representatives. Thank you for willingness to answer questions, offer support, or just to lend an ear/eye when needed. I am truly honored to have served on this board.

I would also like to thank the Affiliate Chapter Leaders in Region II. Thank you for your constant support and for all the hard work that you do for your members. Thank you for showing up to our meetings to provide updates, ask questions, offer suggestions or support, exchange ideas, and sometimes just to spend some time with people who are going through similar experiences. Thank you for the moments of levity and for the great conversations that we had. And thank you to RID’s Affiliate Chapter Liaison, Dr. Carolyn Ball, for always showing up happy to offer her perspective and provide us with leadership tools and resources. It has been a pleasure to work with all of you over the past year.

FROM THE BOARD

Alabama - ALRID

ALRID hosted an introductory legal workshop July 24, 2021. We have begun planning our biennial conference to be held in Mobile in 2022. -Wendy Darling, ALRID President

Florida - FRID

Our Board recently met for a two-day retreat to plan for our upcoming fiscal year. We have begun the planning stages for a statewide conference in October, preparing a poll for our membership related to workshop topics. Our Advocacy, Education and Outreach Committee is in the process of working with Florida Association of the Deaf and other stakeholders to continue work on legislation for licensure/ regulation in the state of Florida. We have recently had a number of members volunteer to staff our committees, and we are very appreciative of their service to the Organization. -Kenneth Houghtaling, FRID President

R2 Report continued --->

Georgia - GaRID

At the end of July, we successfully held an in-person conference in conjunction with Georgia Association of the Deaf at Valdosta State University! This has been two years in the making and we are so excited it all came together. We are looking forward to hosting another professional development opportunity in the fall as well as our annual educational interpreter workshop in January. -Amanda Tate, GaRID President

Mississippi - MSRID

MSRID has completed its Member-at-large elections. We welcome and congratulate Cheryl Thomas, Jordon Oswald, and Tracy Blocker on their win. We are looking forward to having them join the team! MSRID is ramping up for the 2021 virtual state conference. Our conference will be held Friday and Saturday, September 10/11 evening and morning sessions, and Friday and Saturday, September 24/25 evening and morning sessions. For workshop and registration details please go to www.msrid.org. -Jamie Olson, MSRID President

North Carolina - NCRID

NCRID had our first virtual conference on June 1819th and we are proud to say it was a huge success! With over 100 participants and two tracks we were able to offer over 1.5 CEUs. We are excited to work on our new strategic plan and update our bylaws for the upcoming term which will begin at our fall retreat in August. -Antwan Campbell, NCRID President

Potomac Chapter- PCRID

PCRID started an initiative called Community Care Chats. These confidential, safe space chats are centered around wellness and support within the interpreting field. The goal is to foster healthy dialogue and outlets to discuss experiences that are not often shared at large, but often impact professionals at some point in their career trajectory, no matter the years of service, age, or location. We have created three pillars that focus on various aspects of the interpreting profession. The first pillar, hosted in June 2021, was "teaming". Please follow us on Instagram (@pcrid) or subscribe to our mailing list to learn about the next Community Care Chat. PCRID created a Position Statement on the recent resignations. Related: we are re-examining our policies, procedures, and operational structure; examining our own internal biases; focusing on recruitment of individuals from marginalized communities; and investing in future practitioners of our profession. To that end, we have created a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Survey to garner feedback from members / attendees of previous events. Survey is now closed as of August 1, 2021. -Antonio Burkett, PCRID President

South Carolina- SCRID

SCRID hosted the bi-monthly Interpreter Hangout testing the waters for in person gatherings. The community showed up from low country, upstate, and online simultaneously! SCRID’s recent annual conference was a success— laying the groundwork for a fall CDI workshop planned for November 6th. SCRID and SCAD (SC Association of the Deaf) are partnering to provide an opportunity for stakeholders interested in becoming CDIs. Stay tuned for official presenter information. SCRID is interested in building in cross regional relationships with Affiliate Chapters. South Carolina is looking to begin “Host a Region” talks to connect with other ACs. If a board member or AC member is interested, please reach out to sc.rid.pres@gmail.com. -Heather Knight, SCRID President

Tennessee - TRID

TRID hosted our 2021 annual conference in June. For the first time, we collaborated with the Tennessee Schools for the Deaf for their annual Educational interpreters Institute (EII). It was a great week! TRID members collaborated and learned with educational interpreters from all across the state of TN. We made great connections and look forward to working together again in the future! -Megan Potts, TRID President

Virginia - VRID

VRID has offered several CEU earning opportunities this past quarter. Including a series of webinars focused on ASL concepts used in Classroom settings including, Math, Science, English and Social Studies. -Amanda Wharton Stacey, VRID President