 Well we'll get started anyway so thank you for joining us for what in many ways has been a long awaited event. We are gathering today to recognize the end of the longest emergency in the in this community's history 457 days. We are pausing to reflect and honor the terrible grief and loss many in Burlington have suffered over the past year during the worst global pandemic in 100 years. At the same time we are marking a moment of renewal and commemorating the incredible resilience, bravery, and ingenuity exhibited by so many that helped Burlington the Burlington community navigate through the COVID-19 pandemic. Through countless actions made by individuals, businesses, organizations, schools, and neighborhoods Burlington remained one of the safest cities in the nation throughout the past year and a half. Even with these great efforts we still saw many people struggle with the coronavirus, many hospitalized, and most tragically we lost dozens of our neighbors, friends, and loved ones. Each member of our community is irreplaceable and the loss of their life is immeasurable. The impact on many in this city has been terribly hard and dark over the past year and so before going further I would like to pause have us all pause and take a moment of silence to contemplate that loss. Thank you everyone. With the high vaccination rates in our state and our county we are nearing the end of a period in our history that will be marked not only by grief but also by spirit of resilience. We will remember this time not only for the losses we endured but also for the incredible things we've accomplished together. I am so grateful that after 15 months of sacrifice and collective action to suppress the virus we're able to celebrate important events together in person again. Today's Independence Day celebrations. I'll be happy to talk to you later okay we have a moment here. I'm happy to talk to you about it later okay. Today's Independence Day celebrations where we expect thousands from across the state to gather on the waterfront mark a significant accomplishment one that rests on the hard work of our dedicated city team and countless community partners. This year the day the day holds particular special meeting. This year we should celebrate a new independence from a pandemic and lockdowns yes but also from the old ways of doing things. As a nation we have too long allowed systems to remain that perpetuate racism and inequality and allowed ourselves to be bound by inertia and outdated practices. This cannot continue. As with the pandemic I am confident that Burlington will rise to this moment and build a stronger and better future and as with the pandemic I know there are heroes among us who will help push pull and lead us in a new direction. Today it is my and really our whole community's tremendous honor to recognize some of the heroes of the past year. Partners who went above and beyond for extended periods of time who demonstrated an incredible commitment to our community and their partnership to the city and whose actions surely saved lives. Jacob Bougre and Jacob Bougre and Tate Oratzebe are here representing ALV the Association of Africans living in Vermont. In normal times ALV does so much for our community. In a crisis they became an unparalleled source of knowledge advocacy solutions and commitment to this city. ALV is a shining example of our organizations across Burlington transform themselves during this crisis from translation services to vaccine education and outreach to supportive quarantine assistance and more. ALV demonstrated a clear knowledge and compassion for the needs of Burlington's immigrant and refugee community and a strong willingness to partner and collaborate with the city team and countless other organizations and service providers. Jacob and Tato took on significant personal risks to themselves during this pandemic to extend a hand to educate and to console families suffering terrible loss. They are selfless dedicated to assisting their fellow humans kind and far-seeing in their strategy and interventions. There is no doubt that their tireless work saved many lives. It is my great honor to present a key to the city to ALV. Tracy Shamburger is here representing Agewell. Agewell was one member of a senior provider's cohort that provided critical support to the city by sharing their skills and expertise, leveraging their extensive contact lists and the high trust that they have built over many years in this community and by quickly and effectively communicating critical public health and vaccination information to our older neighbors. Agewell is also the largest provider of meals on wheels in the state and from the earliest days of the pandemic they responded quickly absorbing the rapidly growing needs of food insecure and homebound neighbors. Agewell is also a key partner in the city's vaccine distribution efforts setting up a call center deploying volunteers to do vaccine outreach education supporting transportation needs for folks to attend vaccine clinics and working with Garnet Health remarkably to deliver vaccinations for homebound seniors during that critical period this past winter when it was so needed. Today vaccination rates for those over 60 in Chittenden County is over 95 percent. Surely this work saved countless lives and it is my pleasure to award Agewell a key to the city of Burlington. Virginia Finn is here representing a new place. Very early in the pandemic it became clear that folks living in congregate housing would be extremely vulnerable to illness and that we would have to quickly act in order to safely house everyone who is sheltering at a new place. In days literally days a new place supported the opening of a managed campground at the city's north beach first of its kind in this city. The experience of handing over the keys to temporary shelters to a new place staff and late in the evening on move in day is a moment of last year that I will not forget. Then as an amazing second major accomplishment in this pandemic that will long endure a new place was a critical partner in achieving a long held goal of this community which is to open a permanent year round low barrier shelter for those experiencing chronic homelessness. As a result of these actions Burlington did not experience the deadly COVID outbreaks within the chronic homeless community that many other cities did. Today I am pleased to hand over a key again and award another key to a new place. Here's the key to the city of Burlington. From no the deputy director of operations is here representing Garnet. The pandemic challenged businesses and organizations in so many ways especially new startups which Garnet was at the beginning of this pandemic. However Garnet grew, innovated and adapted repeatedly during the course of the pandemic overhauling their operations sometimes literally overnight in the face of evolving needs and challenges our residents faced. When the city's wastewater surveillance program began pinpointing neighborhoods at higher risk within the city Garnet stepped forward to help our community partnering with the city and standing up pop-ups and test sites in the old north end the new north end and elsewhere within 36 hours of the request. When high viral prevalence made rapid indigent tests a viable tool to help contain emerging outbreaks Garnet again stepped forward to organize a rapid test option at the Burlington International Airport for travelers and residents alike. Garnet supported the state's efforts for on-demand testing by standing up the outstanding site at 405 Pine Street in Burlington and stepping forward to provide testing access to prisoners in Vermont jails. When vaccines became available Garnet again reinvented itself to get our most vulnerable residents vaccinated as quickly and safely as possible supporting homebound seniors handling the late night church street marketplace clinics and even staffing major festivals and distribution distribution efforts like Jazz Fest. And Garnet has proved their ingenuity dependability and commitment to the community they become a critical partner for the city and I hope this is right I think they're still working hard do we have a Garnet testing site even right here in the park right a vaccination site where is it oh it's over in north beach so they're still working hard glad you guys could take a few minutes out and be here for this it is a great honor to award a key to the city to Garnet. Elliott Katz is here representing generator makerspace generator is exemplary a Burlington spirit of innovation inclusion and community take yourself back to the moment that the pandemic hit our stockpile of vital resources like masks face shields and other PPE was non-existent healthcare workers and their patients were dying across the country as we struggled to understand the nature of the threat we faced and to equip our healthcare providers with the equipment they needed to fight the virus in this environment the team at generator applied their talents skills and equipment to rapidly prototype and then produce at a substantial scale lifesaving PPE in the form of specifically designed face shields for local healthcare providers and essential workers at a time when we had great uncertainty and doubt whether the national effort to supply PPE and E would ever get going because of their quick and creative thinking Burlingtonians were able to close a gap in the supply chain that airborne pathogens could readily have x exploited without them as our understanding of the virus evolved generator also worked with the city analytics team around questions of ventilation and its relative importance generator asked excellent questions and gave helpful advice and with that input and its own research the city ultimately helped over a hundred businesses and other organizations improve their ventilation and air quality and made dozens of upgrades across city buildings and schools as well we are so fortunate to have such intelligent creative and community spirited people in our midst that have helped us so much already and there will be beside us in the many challenges ahead and I have to add that Elliott and his team they also made this podium several years ago and these keys to the city come from Elliott and his team as well and let me let me just describe I mean I hope people get to pass these around these are really pretty pretty great keys to the city they have the city flag integrated into them they also were done by a program that under stand is a workforce development program is really helping some youth in our in our city get the skills they need these are beautiful and it's you know really my honor to present a key to the city to the to the makers of them generator maker space let's see where is Aaron Aaron great Aaron Aaron Everhart's is here representing Lyric theater company Aaron and her colleagues are the very picture of creativity and action as a community drama company Lyric theater became a critical partner to the city in our early and ambitious mask initiative with good humor grace and a talent for both organizing and problem solving Lyric theater jumped into action and helped lead an effort that included hundreds of communities so us to produce and distribute thousands of masks on May 13th we passed the mask ordinance and on May 15 we begin we began to come out of the first stay home stay safe order as we announced that we had met 25,000 mask distributed goal all of this was months yeah really it was remarkable all of this was months before the statewide mask mandate was implemented on July 24th which was about the time that many public health experts began to really stress mass making in this country we'll never know how many lives were saved because of this early intervention but I'm confident the tireless work of Lyric theater company made Burlington a safer place I'm proud to present a key to the city of Burlington to the Lyric theater company Allison Seager is here representing the multilingual task force the multilingual task force was a community-wide effort within a community-wide effort Allison along with colleagues at ALV and USCRI sorry USCRI and many local translators understood that very quickly translating and rapid the rapidly evolving public health guidance was a life and death endeavor the multilingual task force posted their first round of translated videos in French Dinka Somali and Spanish to YouTube on March 18th 2020 just a couple of days after I announced the emergency order repeatedly and on short notice as situations and circumstances suddenly changed over weekends and holidays and late at night or early in the morning the multilingual task force created dozens and dozens more videos in the languages of Burlington's refugee and immigrant communities including Vietnamese Bosnian, Swahili, Arabic, Nepali, Karundi, Mai Mai and more undoubtedly these translated messages were lifeline not only for Burlingtonians but for countless other immigrant communities and families in untold communities around the country facing the universal challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic I am honored to present a key to the city to the multilingual task force Dr. Steven Leffler is the CEO and president of UVM Medical Center and I am sure that many of you are familiar with the fact that he also joined me on over 30 COVID briefings reaching all the way back to March 15th of 2020 I know that Burlingtonians and Americans will long remember the heroism of our health care workers throughout the COVID-19 pandemic our many nurses, physicians, CNAs, pharmacy technicians and hospital and skill nursing facility staffs who accepted incredible personal risk to care for our most vulnerable and those that were suffering and to deploy testing and vaccinations at a once unimaginable scale separate from his duties as an emergency room physician and leader of Burlington's largest health care provider by far Dr. Leffler went above and beyond accepting every invitation to speak publicly about the risks of the COVID-19 virus providing clear leadership to the entire community and giving Burlingtonians guidance clarity and confidence and otherwise uncertain time I will always be grateful Steve for your counsel and partnership throughout this challenging period I'm very happy to welcome Dr. Leffler once again and to award him a key to the city of Burlington Emila, where is Emila? Right there. Hi, Emila. Emila Merdanzovic is here representing USCRI Vermont USCRI stepped forward in so many ways as well some I've already touched on their work through the multi-lingual task force and with ALV was crucial for Burlington and our outcomes here USCRI Vermont interpreters and translators also staffed our testing sites and vaccination clinics for thousands and thousands of hours alongside dozens of interpreters from ALV they provided accurate interpretation and support for tens of thousands of families navigating the daunting unknowns of COVID testing and then vaccination over these many months USCRI along with ALV also served as incredible advocates knowing what was happening and learning what was not working and providing a clear voice for the needs of a refugee and immigrant neighbors in times of great pressure and stress this advocacy helped change state policy it led to a better contact tracing system it led to better food and quarantine supports a restructuring of the state's health equity response and vital information about impacts at the family level that the city team could weave into larger data pictures to make the case for additional testing sites access issues or vaccination needs this remains vital work I am hopeful that the city will work even more closely with USCRI in the future and I am very proud to resent USCRI Vermont a key to the city of Burlington okay and for our last key to the city here representing the Vermont professionals of color and their second initiative the Vermont health equity initiative our Weiwei Wang, Blaine on Tensei and Luis Calderon this is a special recognition several years ago Pitt Keo Manivan at CEDO started a group called the Vermont professionals of color as a way of creating network opportunities networking opportunities here in Burlington little did we know what this group would go on to do this spring as vaccination rates lagged for BIPOC Vermonters the city joined many advocates in calling for the lifting of limitations on BIPOC vaccinations the state first allowed all households of eligible BIPOC Vermonters and then ultimately removed age banding for BIPOC Vermonters the only state that took that step I believe those were vital steps but to see vaccination rates increase required much more leaders from the Vermont professionals of color network with the support of groups like the racial justice alliance and the black perspective formed a new organization called the Vermont health equity initiative this group is focusing on vaccinations but it will continue to grow and focus on health disparities for for BIPOC Vermonters more generally beyond the end of the pandemic and the Vermont health equity initiative alongside its partners and with the support of the city has made great strides in vaccination rates using the cleared out sanctuary of this Cathedral of Saint Paul which is right across the street if you if you don't know it these leaders alongside the city which initially managed all the registrations and some of the process to allow the group time to form as well as the National Guard and the UVM Medical Center which did the vaccinations this whole team vaccinated thousands of BIPOC Vermonters from Burlington and around the state since March the effort has been huge and the clinic itself has been an enormously welcoming space with music and food and good cheer it is unlike any of the other clinics that I've visited and I think any that are out there anywhere and it is a remarkable testament to the creativity and persistence of these three leaders and their many partners and these efforts have undoubtedly saved lives we know that the disparity in hospitalizations and deaths nationally by race has been stark and the efforts here in Vermont have helped limit those outcomes the efforts of this group are a reminder of why we need to reflect especially on this Independence Day on the better future that is within the grasp of this generation and these efforts are why it is such a deep honor to present to the Vermont professionals of color a key to the city of Burlington all right so in conclusion I would just like to say clearly that without the creative heroic and determined work of these individuals and organizations as well as many others Burlington would have not have had the exceptional outcomes that we're able to enjoy and celebrate today it was interventions like the masking initiative translation efforts by BIPOC vaccination clinics low barrier housing and in-home vaccinations driven by data innovation and a crystal clear commitment to equity that made the Burlington community a shining example of what is possible during the pandemic what I've learned over the last 457 days and what this community I really think should hold on to and long remember is that even in the face of a seemingly insurmountable challenge the people of Burlington are capable of forging incredible progress it is this lesson this optimism and determination that we must carry forward into the the many crises that we still face I have every confidence in the remarkable people of Burlington together we can accomplish great and enduring progress on the remaining challenges of the time now before we conclude and depart there's one more thing that I'm hoping everyone will will join us for and that is to make a short walk over to the new COVID-19 memorial stone where our great parks recs and waterfront team has planted a celebration maple and independent spirit hydrangeas and we're gonna head over there I think it's right around the corner here right great thank you everyone