Region I Report

Region I Report Jason Farr, Region I Representative

Jason Farr, NIC Region I Representative

Hello Region I. I have an exciting update to share regarding our Region I Conference, previously scheduled for this year in New York City. COVID-19 has brought an opportunity to do something a little different in 2020 - we are moving the Region I Conference online October 8 - 11. I especially want to thank our Conference Co-Chairs Chris Kelley of GVRRID and Rosa Norberg of RIRID, as well as the many Conference Committee Chairs and Presenters, for their hard work and dedication to see this conference move forward.

The Region’s Affiliate Chapter leaders have also been hard at work, bringing online workshops, social events, volunteer opportunities, and Town Halls to their cities and states. If you are looking for ways to volunteer in your community, or aim to find more resources on interpreter development, your local Affiliate Chapter is a great place to start. RID Affiliate Chapters are the very foundation of RID.

FROM THE BOARD

YouTube Link: https://youtu.be/xeaxYQCM1rc

Connecticut RID (CRID)

Connecticut has waved their membership dues for this fiscal year. We ask anyone who wants to become a member to please fill out a membership form on our website (http://www.connrid.org) so we can have the correct contact information. We encourage our members to support our local partner Deaf organizations with the money that you would have spent on CRID. We will be holding our general membership meeting in the Fall, more information to come. We have also been busy to help support BLM (Black Lives Matter) events across our state by providing pro bono interpreters when available. We thank our coordinator and those interpreters for their time! The CRID board would like to thank our team of interpreters who have been working hard the past few months to provide access for our Governor and other state leaders.

Maine RID (MeRID)

Our newly-elected MaineRID Board members joined their first transition Board meeting. We have a full Board and new energy and ideas for workshops and CEU-bearing discussion groups focused on the role of RID, the meaning of being stewards of the

interpreting profession in Maine, concerns about access to education for Deaf and hard of hearing students in the age of Coronavirus (COVID-19), and possible adjustments to Maine's licensing law.

NYC Metro RID

We held our 2nd General Chapter meeting of the Fiscal Year (FY)19-20 on 6/28 at 12pm with 35 attendees. NYC Metro RID also donated $1000 total to five different community organizations including NAOBI, NYDT, House of Justice, NY Parent Assoc for DB & DB Citizens in Action. Our Emergency Fund Committee raised $2,700 from donations for Interpreters in need during the COVID-19 pandemic and organized and hosted eight workshops, both live and virtually, over the FY19-20. FY20-21 will focus on providing more PPO workshops to address our need for change as a community and society.

We hosted a successful election and welcomed a new Director at Large to the Board, Michael Fisher and we will host our first Board meeting of FY20-21 on Monday 7/13 at 6pm. Solidified dates for the Region I Conference are now Oct 8-11. We will continue to send out Bi-weekly newsletters to our members and update our website and social media!

Rhode Island RID (RIRID)

Dues for this year have been waived. RIRID has also been working with the RI Commission on the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (RICDHH) on two key projects in the state. RICDHH’s Emergency and Public Communication Access Program (EPCAP) which during this COVID-19 pandemic, has been active to ensure that information and communications from RI Department of Health is available in ASL. (http://www.cdhh. ri.gov/covid-19)

RICDHH has also been awarded a grant for a Healthcare System Transformation Project (HSTP) entitled, Improving Healthcare Access for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Individuals. Working in partnership with Rhode Island College (RIC), RICDHH seeks to accomplish three goals that will improve access to medical, mental health, and behavioral health services. Five representatives from RIRID are collaborating with RICDHH and RIC for the development of the interpreting program. For more information contact Christine West, HSTP Project Manager, at Christine.West.ctr@ cdhh.ri.gov

Vermont RID (VtRID)

In Vermont, we canceled public gatherings and face to face events. All of us are committed to the following:

Stay home, work remote when possible

When going out in public, wear a mask and practice physical distancing of at least six feet or more

Wash hands frequently

-When sick, do two-week quarantine

It is what we each can do to flatten the curve and reduce the exposure to other people in the community.

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Journal of Interpretation Volume 28

Hosted by University of North Florida (UNF) Digitalcommons.unf.edu/joi/vol28/iss1/