Pam Allen stands at the podium beside Julie Deden, who holds the Jacobus tenBroek Award. President Mark Riccobono looks on.
“Just think about what we all can do next!”
Julie Deden, Executive Director of the Colorado Center for the Blind (CCB), received the Jacobus tenBroek Award from the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) on July 13 at its annual convention in New Orleans. The tenBroek Award is the highest honor the NFB givs to a member.
Executive Director Julie Deden stands beside the fountain in the McGeorge Living Room at the National Federation of the Blind Jernigan Institute in Baltimore, dedicated Dec. 5, 2019.
On a recent visit to the National Federation of the Blind Jernigan Institute, Center Director Julie Deden and I were able to preview the new McGeorge Living Room at the NFB’s headquarters. It is a comfortable, couch-bestrewn space with a fireplace in the center of the room. From one corner comes the soothing sound of trickling water. It’s the lovely fountain shown in the photo, a Rocky Mountain accent in the heart of Baltimore.
Julie Deden and Dan Burke outside Gennetti’s Hotel in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania where a plaque hangs commemorating the birthplace of the National Federation of the Blind on November 16, 1940.
The national Federation of the Blind turns 75 today!
The NFB was formed in 1940 to bring the collective voice of the blind into being. Blind people in 1940 had little chance to be employed in meaningful jobs or to attend college. Some did, and in a number of states the blind had organized. On this date in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania delegates from seven states gathered with the express purpose of creating a national voice. The constitution was written, voted on and accepted by the delegates and the National Federation of the Blind was born.
