 and welcome to On the Waterfront with me. I'm Melinda Moulton, your host and my guests today are Elise Grieves and Shane Rogers, who are the co-directors of the New Leaders Council Vermont and graduates of the first ever Vermont New Leaders Council Institute of 2019. Elise and Shane, thank you for joining me today. Good morning Melinda, thank you for having us on. Thanks Melinda, can't wait. Yeah, this is really exciting. So I want to talk to you a little bit about the two of you and what brought you to the work of your social justice and the really proactive activism work that you have been doing in your young lives. And so I'm going to start with you Elise. To share with me a little bit you were with Rights and Democracy. We were involved in the fabulous Women's March that shut down the interstate back in 2017. I mean, what a highlight of our lives, right? Absolutely. It took me 70 years to have a moment like that. So talk a little bit, Elise. We'll start with you about what brought you to this work, who inspired you, what keeps you going every day after day? Yeah, that's a great question. So, you know, when I talk about my personal story, I often start with the fact that I was born and raised in Hardwick, Vermont, which is a small town in the Northeast Kingdom. And I grew up in a working class family. And I realized as I got older, I was the first person in my family to graduate from college, that a lot of the issues and the rhetoric that is happening or was happening at a national level, especially around like the Occupy movement at that time when I was in college really helped open my eyes to see that a lot of the experiences that I had as a child, a lot of the tensions and stress around money and the injustice of that, and just the scope of economic injustice across the state and across the country really lit a fire in me. And I remember it was one of the first times that I really felt that was actually seeing Senator Bernie Sanders speak at UVM when I was a sophomore. And that for me, that was during Occupy again. And I feel like that really changed the trajectory of what I wanted to do with my life and what kind of change I wanted to make. And so I got a degree to be a social studies teacher in high school, thinking that that would be sort of my path to making that change. And after college, I got a job with the Organization Rights and Democracy, as you mentioned, Melinda, where I worked for four years as an organizer. I started out there as a canvasser around getting paid sick days for every Bremont-er and also raising the wage to $15 an hour. And so that for me, just knocking on doors all over the state, connecting with folks who have real lived experience of the issues that we're fighting for and building and developing them to come and give testimony in front of the legislature and come to organizing meetings and sort of organize their neighbors around these issues was incredibly powerful. And as you mentioned as well, I can't really talk about my leadership trajectory without talking about Melinda Mullen and the Women's March on Montpelier. I remember distinctly, and I think about this sometimes, you know, there are a lot of people in my life, especially, you know, in college and in my work in Rights and Democracy that I felt were really invested in my leadership. And I think that that's really important that folks have mentors and people who are lifting them up and supporting them. And I distinctly remember one of the first Women's March meetings. I had already kind of applied for the permit because it was in November and, you know, we needed to get that stuff squared away. And I remember Melinda saying, well, I really think, you know, whoever took the initiative to apply for the permit should sort of be our point person and then sort of lead the charge on this. And so that's, you know, how that happened. And I have Melinda to thank, you know, I think in a lot of ways for my growth in that experience and also just, yeah, putting on the one of the coolest events in Vermont's history. So that's me. And I'll pass it over to Shane. Shane, tell us your story, my friend. Well, I wish I was as impressive as Elise Screeb. But the one thing that I have going for me is that I do get to work with her just about every day. But I actually grew up in Cleveland, Ohio. And I have decided to make Vermont my home over these past seven years here with my partner. And similar to Elise, I grew up in a working class family. I helped my dad work construction in the summers over high school. I worked my summers throughout college to be able to, you know, have the money that I needed to exist in college. And during college was really, I really like dove into activism, you know, I started around the Occupy movement, but also there was a U.S. on cut movement where we really dove in about corporations not paying their fair share and how honestly, if they just paid their taxes, we wouldn't really have much of the financial problems that were, were paying. And that was my first taste in college in Dayton, Ohio, of bringing together a community of folks that I, you know, weren't interacting with every day. We had about 30 folks show up on tax day outside of the post office. And it was really wonderful to be in that community. And from there, it inspired me to jump into organizing full time after college. I had also pursued a degree in journalism. So as, you know, wayward kids do after college, I meandered my way back to Cleveland where I was bartending full time and writing part time and went down to Washington DC to write and really had that like light bulb moment of, you know, do I really want to be part of the impartial press or do I want to be using these skills towards building something that I can be proud of. And food had crept into my life in this way that of course I would land in Vermont in the Northeast Kingdom at Green Mountain Farm to school because there's no better place to be. And it was up there that I think I came into my own getting involved with organizing. That's where I met Elise was helping on a state representative campaign and really organizing the community in Newport. And I love Vermont for the fact that everything feels very accessible when you get down to it. But as I started diving in more and more, you could just see these inequities popping up. And I think that's what led me here to this moment, right? To working with Elise through New Leaders Council is as I moved out of the Northeast Kingdom, I was really looking for a place to get involved and where I could put my talent outside of work and roadblock after roadblock were being popped up. And then as New Leaders Council popped up, it really promised a community of young folks who were maybe experiencing the same thing and are on their journey. And going through that first institute was an eye-opener. We instantly almost all fell in love with each other as friends and knew that we could rely on each other. And when the opportunity came up to help direct it into the next year and the year after, it was a real gift to be able to work with Elise in helping the stewards of the organization to where it is now. And I'll just say, you know, if it wasn't for NLC Vermont, I don't know if I would have that community, but also those skills to do the work that I'm also doing outside of it, just different organizing throughout it and to really trying to build this useful base of leadership and really highlighting that you don't need to come from money or traditional realms of leadership to step into a role. And to be honest, that's not where the solutions are going to come from anyway, as I think we all know. Wow. The two of you, what a force you make. And still mostly Elise, Melinda. Oh, I don't know about that. I think that's not true. So you came together when you were in the class, when you were in the first ever institute in 2019, which is only a couple years ago. And that's where you met. Was there a, was there, there must have been a Vermont New Leaders Council for you to be part of, who was leading it back then? Was it to give me a little bit about, tell me a little bit about the history of the organization and how you got the role of being the co-directors. And what was it when you first took the class? Yeah. So, yes, the organization, our cohort, which was the first one through in 2019. And so before that, Eric Covey, who you might know Melinda, but he had previously co-directed and helped found the main chapter of New Leaders Council. And he came back to Vermont doing some organizing work and decided that Vermont was kind of an ideal place to have this type of organization that's lifting up young people into positions of leadership and giving them the skills to lead in their communities. And so he built it from the ground up really by himself, which is absolutely incredible. And yeah, we were part of the first institute. And essentially the transition, so it's apparently very rare we hear from our colleagues at the national level for first-time cohort graduates to take over as co-directors. But Shane and I were just really excited when this opportunity popped up because I think that we shared a vision of where we wanted to go and what we wanted to build. And here we are. And I think one of the most exciting things to us too was that vision was shared among our cohort. And we may be like the directors right now, but without our cohort and without the board filled with other cohort members and other folks from the community, I don't see wouldn't be what it is today. It wouldn't be training one of the most like diverse classes throughout Vermont and really providing these skills. So it still amazes me having some of these meetings when you're talking with folks and all these visions just coming together and like shooting off in the same direction. It's pretty wonderful to be able to live through those ideals. Well, to believe it's really a movement. I mean, the new leaders council is really a movement. I mean, I'm going to try to get this right where you're basically saying it's time for our generation of young people to step up into leadership roles and to start guiding our world in a direction that focuses on all the really important things that are going to keep humanity alive and equitable and fair and honest and healthy and strong and facing the light of justice and equality. I mean, that's what that's what you're doing as a now it's a national organization. So let's talk about that. Talk to me a little bit about the national organization, how many states is in, how many people go through the training every year and then we'll move in a little bit to the local to the localism of your organization, the two of you are running. Sure. I think one of the most unique parts about NLC is that it is a national organization. So we have this chapter here in Vermont, but there's 50 other chapters around the country that are doing similar work. But what I think is most important every chapter is rooted in their community and they are meeting the needs of their community for how leadership needs to show up and how young folks need to be trained. So there's thousands of people who are going through the Institute each year. Each chapter has anywhere from 12 to 15 people. There is a common curriculum, but one of the coolest things about it is that we get to intersperse folks from Vermont to help guide how we are learning, how fellows they're interacting and really help them ground the work that they're doing, which you know mostly is most important I think because it gives them space to carve out to think about these things and all these high demanding time crunches that we have, but it gives them to ground their work right in Vermont to make sure that Vermont is the type of state that we all know it can be and that we all have to work towards it. So let's talk a little bit to our viewers about the program and by the way to my viewers out there I want to take you to the website. You're going to go to the national website and you'll notice on that website there is a donate button and this organization is run by donations from all of us. No donation is too small. It is the new leaders council.org and you go to that website. It's a fabulous website that really explains what this organization does in bringing young leaders into the fold. So let's talk about to our viewers about the program and how would our viewers get involved in the program? What is the program like? Could you share a little bit about that with our viewers? Absolutely. So at its core, New Leaders Council is a training program. Our hallmark is actually what we call the Institute and so that's a six-month pretty intensive training program that runs from January to June each year and our fellows, they're usually like 12 to 16 folks who are brought together during this institute for both hard skills training and also one of my favorite pieces of New Leaders Council to really build deep connections and relationships with other folks in their cohort that are going to be there to support them in other aspects of their life and the work that they're doing in their communities after the cohort is wrapped up and that's certainly something that we see with different cohorts every year and really our goal is to bring people together. Shane mentioned this before but from outside of traditional realms of leadership and really our goal is to challenge what the idea of a leader is and what that can look like and to challenge one another to really stir progressive change and connect around our common values and at the end of the day really build collective power to create this change that we want to see in our communities and so we've really been working through the Institute and again through the connections that folks make we want to energize the fellows that we work with to really evaluate and reimagine systems and structures that are in place and so we really encourage you know like a lot of people that come into New Leaders Council have like an issue that they love and are incredibly passionate about and I think that having sort of like this melting pot of issues and backgrounds and even you know as far as sectors of where people work and what sort of work they're doing is incredibly helpful for this conversation about how we can be changing systems and how we're all impacted by one another. So I have a question about age. I have a question about how our viewers if they would want to get involved in the organization and do the training program how would they get involved? How do they participate? The best way to participate especially for younger folks right like think like 23, 24 all the way up to like 35, 36, 37 and those age ranges are squishy anyway because we're not sitting here trying to be prescriptive of who considers themselves a young leader or not but we have a nomination process so there are people in the community that can nominate people that they think would be really good fit for this. You can nominate yourself and submit an application and the process works like you know how you would imagine it right you answer some questions you go through some interviews and talk with us and then really the background and the board helps to decide you know what this cohort is going to look like but I think most importantly about that is that while not everybody is going to get into the cohort we're really not trying to set up this like competitive cutthroat type of environment and we really want this to be about building communities and just because someone may not get into the cohort one year we want them to have that positive experience so they can come back and keep applying and what we are hoping is that with our process that we can really continue to build a community throughout Vermont. So tell me a little bit about after you go through the program what do you stay you must stay in touch with all of these new leaders there must be a program to because it's a six month program and then they leave the program and go back into their into their worlds with all of this knowledge to be able to create the change the two of you ended up actually leading this organization that was where you landed after your training. So tell me a little bit tell me some of the stories about people who have graduated from the program and some of the things that they are doing. Yeah so one aspect of the program is what we call a capstone project which is a really cool and really unique opportunity for folks who go through the program and fellows to carve out some space and time in their lives and through the program to really think about a project right that they want to plan or something that they want to put in place and really get those details nailed down with support from their colleagues and other fellows in the program and so certainly that and the teamwork that comes out of that and the support that they offer each other is certainly like one way that folks remain connected and continue to do great work even if it's not related to new leaders council after the program. For example we had a fellow from last year and actually somebody on our board whose capstone project right was like to apply to grad school and so that process looked like interviewing other folks who had experience doing those applications in the cohort and getting support and accountability from peers and then he actually is going to grad school now he starts in the fall which is very exciting so that's one example of what folks take from the program and I'll also say that we as a board are made up of all we are all graduates of the program from across cohorts and so joining the board is also another really great way to stay connected and as Shane mentioned earlier we really want to be incorporating right like a collective vision and thoughts and insight and feedback from from everybody who goes through the program I mean NLC really is the people that that make it and that are involved and so we want to create space for that so we certainly encourage people joining the board and staying connected in that way as well and I'm going to have to add here so like oh leaf going through our year her capstone was uh you know discover the career that she wanted to be pursuing for the next couple years and lo and behold she's like what two years into a new job and I think why I say that is because NLC gives us some time to carve out space right like that that's one of the biggest goals we have someone in this cohort who is thinking about a career change we have people who want to run for office we have people who want to start animal shelters and all of this is towards like kind of building this like progressive ecology of good in our community and with the demands of today with always being connected we don't always give ourselves a moment to take a step back and say what do I want what is this grounded in what ideals do I want to pursue and we really want NLC Vermont to be that place for folks and we want that to then be taken into the community for those ideals to live through their work in nonprofits or for profits and through their other boards as well we want to emulate what it means to actually be a progressive community-minded organization and to be held up to that not only that expectation but to really shine through that expectation as well I sort of feel that it's kind of like the next the next iteration it's the next generation of of socially responsible humanity coming through the lens of of the youth yeah right I mean what at what point right like we have there's going to be a transfer of power they're happy and we're dying off and if you want to put it like that I guess we can't put like there has to be that transfer of power and we need folks that aren't coming from those traditional realms of power structures to be able to actually have creative ideas and have the space to explore them and NLC Vermont provides some of that platform it's not the it's not the end all be all pollution but it is definitely one of those steps in the right direction and we hope other organizations will you know emulate it but also work towards what we're working towards too and that's why we build these relationships in the community with our cohort and with the other different organizations too so for my viewers out there is there um if they want to nominate someone nominate themselves um is there is there a cost to this program yeah so the institute is actually offered for free um so that is one of the ways that new leaders council really shows up um in an equitable way across the country for folks to access it um there is a $35 application fee um application fees uh can be uh waived if that presents a barrier to applying um and you can just reach out to Shane and I about that um and applications actually open on Saturday on May 1st um so a little bit earlier this year um and so that's exciting if if folks are interested in applying um nominations are free it's totally free to nominate somebody um and you know as someone who was nominated for the cohort I can tell you that uh it feels really good to be nominated and to have someone showing up to say you know this person I believe in you and I think that you'd be a good fit for this program and um so you know go ahead go ahead go ahead Shane go ahead I just and I would say as someone who wasn't nominated we encourage folks to to jump in and apply themselves to if you if you're seeking this out and this is for all of Vermont this isn't a Chintenden County thing we have we have fellows from all over the state and we really want to build that collective identity as well and the way to do that is to go to the website which is newleaderscounsel.org right and you'll find a place to apply uh you'll note that it's in Vermont I have to note that and also you can make a donation and I'm going to say this again because the program is free except for that $35 application fee so for any of my viewers out there that want to support this incredible organization that is helping to to bring uh young people into leadership to move our world towards a cleaner environment more social justice equity racial justice this is a place where this can happen and so if you care about those issues making a small donation to the new leaders council um would be a wonderful thing to do no donation is too small so I want to know from the two of you what um what are the hopes for your future for the future of this organization and also if you could share with me before we leave each other what is the lesson that you've learned from the last uh 18 months of dealing with COVID what is what is something that's that's come into your heart that you've learned from and then also share with me a little bit about the future that you see for the next four or five 10 years for the new leaders council she's putting us on record at least so she can look back to this and see what what ends up coming to fruition yeah I mean uh I guess looking looking forward um for new leaders council um one of the things that feels really important to me is um increasing our reach and and not for the sake of like saying that we've hit every place in Vermont um but because there are young people um there are needs in communities all across the state and so it feels important to me that we're getting into those communities and that people are are taking the skills that they learn and and coming back and doing the work to make it you know a stronger better place for everybody so Elise what did you what did you what did you what have you what is the one thing that you've that you've discovered about yourself through the last 18 months of dealing with the COVID pandemic and you're right yeah I would say like the last 18 months have been um certainly some of the most important uh in my entire life um and I've been a really incredible time of introspection and and some true grounding for me um and so the word that I always think of um is like gratitude um I have really learned um how to be grateful for the time that I have and the the opportunities that I have um and the life that I live um and that is certainly um not something that I that I take for granted so gratitude is definitely what I'm taking away from this experience well we have very a lot of gratitude for you I want you to know that so Shane what about you what do you see for the future of this organization the next few years and what what is the where are you landing um going through this period of COVID as a as a human being I think for NLC Vermont I I really hope and I'm striving to make sure that you know Lou Leaders Council Vermont continues to be that beacon of holding up non-traditional leadership as not only needed but absolutely necessary towards the building the fabric of a community and to allow all voices to be heard and not just those either with the most money or the most clout but really making sure that solutions are based in the community and that folks that have the capacity and the ability are able to step up into leadership roles while breaking down barriers to make sure that everybody can and I see this every year with the fellows and their ideas that come in and it it's really inspiring to know that there's a couple cohorts that are out there like actively hammering away at it and as this grows it's only going to get louder and the the noise is only going to get more as uh people continue to move forward and you know with the pandemic I think it's really only driven this point home that our solutions are based right here in our community and yes there are absolutely important conversations to have nationally and internationally and there are really big issues at hand here but if I've seen anything through COVID and being as lucky as I am to be in the position I still am to see that the community is needed more than ever and if our most vulnerable are left to hang out to dry we all are left to hang out to dry and I really hope to continue to not only hold that but embrace that in my life in NLC and beyond as well. Well we've come to the end of my program and I just want to tell you that you know there's times um where I have felt deep despair about um you know the state of our world and it's moments like this where I'm just like you know what we're going to be okay because of people like you and so for that I want to thank you Elise Grieves and Shane Rogers who are the co-directors of New Leaders Council Vermont. I encourage everyone to go to the website at newleaderscouncil.org and learn about this organization and just as two of you thank you thank you for your leadership and I and I'm so excited to see um to see what happens next and we'll get you back on the show again uh in a year or so so you can tell us how things are going. I want to thank you so much for your time. Thank you Melinda. Thank you Melinda. Thank you. Bye bye.