Support the 2011 NFB Youth Slam in the Pepsi Refresh Project

Throughout the month of August, the 2011 NFB Youth Slam will be eligible to receive votes towards a grant award of $250,000 from the Pepsi Refresh project. The 2011 NFB Youth Slam will be a five-day, interactive science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) academy designed to empower blind high school students to explore STEM subjects and demonstrate that the blind can participate in the same fields as their sighted peers. The voting process is very competitive and groups from across the country are mobilizing their members and supporters to get out and vote. We need you to do the same. Anyone can vote so encourage your family, friends, relatives, and coworkers to vote every day in August. Post it to your Facebook page, Tweet it, Blog it, use LinkedIn, anything will help!

Voters are encouraged to go to in order to vote, once per day, throughout the month of August. Please bookmark this pageand be patient with the Web site, as it is slow at times. To allow for complete functionality on the project site, users’ pop-up blockers may need to be temporarily disabled. After clickingthe link above and arriving at the project page, click the link that says “Vote for this idea.” Once clicked, a new window appears giving options to either “Login with Facebook” or “Sign in directly with Pepsi.” Whichever option you choose, you can skip to that part of these instructions.

Users are advised that if they do have a Facebook account, this option is much preferred as it eliminates additional security steps required by signing in directly with Pepsi. After clicking the link to login with Facebook, a new window appears asking for your e-mail and password for Facebook. After inputting this information, click Login. The next window will ask your permission for Pepsi to access your basic information that you have made available to everyone on Facebook. Click “Allow.” If you are not comfortable with this, you will need to close out and go through the directions below to sign in directly with Pepsi instead. If you click “Allow” you will need to return to the NFB Youth Slam project page and click the vote button. In the future you will simply need to click the vote button, sign in with Facebook, and once signed in, vote for the project.

While you will have 9 votes remaining for the day, you can only use one vote per day for our project. As much as you may like other projects in the 250k category, please do not give them votes as we are competing for the same prize as one of the top two vote-getters in this category.

Signing in with Pepsi

If you do not have a Facebook account and opt instead for the “Sign in directly with Pepsi” option, you will enter your e-mail address and then select the option “No, I’m new here!” under “Do you have a Pepsi password?” upon your first visit to the site. You must then input a visual or audio code, depending upon your preference or need. If either the recording or text is unclear, please use the “Refresh Image” or “Refresh Audio” option and try again.

What follows is a brief sign up with Pepsi, with fields such as First Name, Last Name, Password, Re-type Password, Birth Date, and another security code to input. After you have completed these fields, select “Done.” After you have signed up, you should be back at the NFB Youth Slam project page. Click the vote button once more to actually log your vote. When successful, the “Vote for this idea” link should disappear and be replaced with a congratulatory statement in plain text. In the future when you come to the site you will need to use the “Sign in directly with Pepsi” option and simply input your e-mail address, password, and complete the visual or audio code. After you click “Sign in” you will return to the project page and click the “Vote for this idea” link. As before, it should disappear and be replaced with a congratulatory statement in plain text.

For questions concerning the voting process or for accessibility issues, please contact Pepsi at .