Social Justice

Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz is a longtime feminist, native rights, antiwar, and antiracist activist. She is a teacher and the author of five books, including "An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States." This is part of the Will Miller Social Justice Lecture Series. 

Sponsored by:

International Socialist Organization Burlington Chapter • United Academics • Toward Freedom • Global Justice Ecology Project • Will Miller Green Mountain Vets for Peace • UVM Sociology Department

Host Marcy Esbjerg speaks with Kirby Dunn, Executive Director of HomeShare Vermont, and Barbara Swinton, a Burlington Homeshare Host .

For mre info visit: https://www.homesharevermont.org/

Family Room Parents and Community announce that $80,000 has been pledged to support the return of Family Room staff.  

From the press release:

Just as the Family Room succeeds because it is a hub for many services and organizations, the efforts to restore its staff and programming have succeeded because of a wide variety of donors and supporters.  The organizing efforts of the past few months demonstrate the importance of the program within the community, and the continuing need for it.  Parents remain dedicated to fundraising within our April 1st deadline--if we can reach $100,000 full programming will be restored for a year.

On March 3rd the VNA announced its intention to transition the Family Room to another organization, or a stand-alone center.  A taskforce comprised of parents, VNA and Family Room staff, representatives from the city and state, and other community partners are currently meeting to examine which of those options would best support the Family Room.  Parents are committed to a successful transition and created a list of necessary components. We look forward to beginning this transition with a memorandum of understanding, in writing, as soon as we can.

We recognize that for a successful transition, we will need:

1.     an intact program with fully supported staff and programming;

2.     a timeline agreed to by all stakeholders;

3.     a consultant experienced in this particular type of transition, approved by all stakeholders;

4.     sufficient time for the sustainability taskforce to meet and produce its recommendation;

5.     a plan for greater autonomy in fundraising/grant-writing during the transition;

6.     more input from staff and families on the specifics of the Family Room budget

7.     a written agreement detailing these plans.

We are committed to working with Family Room staff and the VNA to ensure that the transition will be successful and that the resulting Family Room will meet the needs of the community it serves.  

Gov. Shumlin Press Conference - Singing of Executive Order establishing a Disability Employment Working Group - March 23, 2016.