 So, what a great day to bring a light on this community, nothing about us without us. All of you as leaders and members of this community to be able to bring congressional candidates together to hear their views on these important issues is just a day to celebrate. And then we're going to the second half, we're going to focus on the 32nd anniversary. My name is Theo Kennedy, I'm co-chair of the Statewide Independent Living Council. And I welcome all of you, I want to thank, my co-MC is Sarah Launderville and she'll also be talking. We're going to kind of pass this between ourselves as we go forward through the day. Theo, Liam's here. Oh, super, we did it. All right, welcome. We're the calculators of Wathable City. All right, well it's even better that we waited a little bit. Welcome, Liam. Okay. So, I just want to, of course, welcome you all, welcome the folks online at Zoom. Thank Orca for helping us out with this today. A particular thanks goes to Linda Malady of the Vermont Center for Independent Living and Tom Hamilton, Executive Director of SILK for pulling this off. And thank you, members who were able to come in our community. Just briefly a few words about the Statewide Independent Living Council. Our main role through our partner, the State, in the Division of Blind and Visually Impaired in the Agency of Human Services, Department for Disabilities in Aging and Independent Living. They're our designated state entity. They're the part of government that we work with at the Statewide Independent Living Council to produce a document called the SPIL, the State Plan for Independent Living. And you can find out, if you don't already know a lot about the Statewide Independent Living Council on our website. You can see our newly adopted bylaws. You can see the current SPIL, which is between the years 2021 and 23. Just a couple other brief introductory remarks. I want to say that the SILK has welcomed new members. If you have an interest in any of the four committees, we have a committee on housing, transportation, education and healthcare. You don't have to be a member of the council to participate. We would love your participation. If you have an interest in the actual council, reach out to Tom Hamilton, the executive director, and we are looking actually for new members on the council. This year, we have a couple briefs, and I'm almost done with the intro for the SILK. But I wanted to see shuffle some paper here, so it goes right into the mic. I wanted to read the mission statement for the SILK. The mission of the Vermont Statewide Independent Living Council is to advance the equality in which people with disabilities enjoy, participate in, and contribute to the lives of their communities, families, and friends. We do that a lot of ways, and a couple of ways that we feel recently that are really worth mentioning. One is how do we team build across the state? So as part of a member of the coalition, we were able to, along with partners in the legislature and the executive branch, bring hearing aid coverage to Vermont. Finally, after about ten years of work on these issues, it's going to profoundly affect as many as 70,000 lives in Vermont. We also have been able to use some monies to focus on underserved and underserved populations within our community. We gave a grant to Vancrow to help build capacity in the support service provider area. We gave a grant to the Vermont Family Network to deal with transitional age issues. And we also are proud to partner with the Vermont Coalition of Disability Rights to kind of do a complimentary version of the Vermont Council on Rural Development work on the proposition for Vermont. And really to have a, and I think Sarah made touch on this complimentary disability proposition that could go alongside the work that the other parties did. I think that's it for the silk. I'm going to pass it over to Sarah and you're going to do your introduction. That's great. So thank you Theo. Yes, you got it. I'll use this. So hey everybody, thank you all for being here today. Thank you to all of our participants on Zoom. It is not easy to do a hybrid accessible production. And so I can't thank Orca enough for coming out and helping us get all of this together. And I just want to echo thank yous to Linda Malady and to Tom Hamilton for really creating such a great event for us. For those of you not familiar with VCIL, we're a statewide organization of people with disabilities working together for dignity, independence and civil rights. And there's brochures here if you want to learn a little bit about our programs and supports. Part of our mission is to encourage people with disabilities to understand and be involved in the election process, from voting access and running for office and becoming involved in the political process yourself. And that's why we've partnered with the Vermont Silk today to bring you this event. So we chose today for those of us with disabilities and the deaf because it's an important part of our history. On this day in 1990, the Americans with Disabilities Act was signed. So we thought we'd let's do it all. We'll have a congressional forum and a celebration to honor the ADA and the access and inclusion that that brought us and continue to bring us for folks with disabilities and the deaf. So we will start with our forum and then we're going to take a break, have some cake and move on to a program for the ADA celebration. And you can find programs at the entrance if you didn't get one when you came in. So now it's a great honor to introduce our moderator for today, Peter Hirschfield. When we thought about having this forum, the very first person that came to mind to moderate was Peter. He is an esteemed Vermont journalist who grew up in Jericho and began his reporting career at the Times-Argus in 2003. This is around the time that I got to meet him as he came to interview us after an action we did in Montpelier, drawing attention to businesses that weren't accessible. He had always taken great care to ensure the voices of people with disabilities are heard, honored and respected. In 2014, he joined Vermont Public where he now works as a reporter covering government and politics. Peter lives in Worcester with his wife and two dogs. Please help me in welcoming our moderator, Peter Hirschfield. Thank you, Sarah, for that really nice introduction and I'll just say in passing that Sarah's work has been critical in evolving the way Vermont media covers disability rights issues. So thank you, Sarah, for everything you've done to help us. And thank you to Sarah and Theo for the introduction and also to the Vermont Center for Independent Living and the Statewide Independent Living Council today for hosting what I think we all agree is an important conversation. This is a forum. It's not a debate and really it's an opportunity for everybody here and folks who are watching by Zoom to learn more about these candidates' positions on the issues and how they would use Vermont's only seat in the U.S. House of Representatives to advocate and represent the people of Vermont including Vermonters with disabilities in the deaf. Here's what to expect today. We're going to start with opening statements. We'll have one minute each for those. Then we're going to move to questions that have been submitted and vetted by members of Vermont's disability rights communities and independent living community. And then we're going to close with two-minute closing statements. And I suppose I should introduce the candidates to folks who don't know them already. We have Liam Madden. We have Molly Gray. We have Erika Redick. And we have Becca Ballant. It's fun about this. Usually during the primary season all the candidates get siloed into their own party events. And today we have Liam and Erika both running the Republican primary and Molly and Becca in the Democratic primary. So with all of that, if everybody's amenable, we'll get to opening statements and just so the candidates know, we have a timekeeper over there, Tom Hamilton, and he is going to be letting you know with those cards. So if you can keep an eye out, that would be great. So Liam, let's start with you. Peter, I actually can't see him. Oh, here we go. We will fix this. All good? Thank you. Hi, everybody. Thank you for being here. My name is Liam Madden. I am a Marine Corps veteran who became the leader of the nation's largest anti-war organization of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans. I'm also an entrepreneur who co-won MIT's Solve Award for organizations working to innovate on sustainability challenges. I'm also a father of two young under three year olds. And that is the real reason I am here. I am here because I love the promise of their future and all of our children's potential. And I do not trust it at the mercy of a broken and corrupt two-party political system. What I want for them is an economy built around human well-being where we all can have flourishing creative expression. And it's not an economy built around securing short term profits for a very tiny oligarch class. And in order to do that, I believe we need to stop using broken political tools and keep in mind that our task is to rebirth our democracy itself. And I am here today to invite us all together to become the midwives to bring that whole new life through. Thank you. Molly Gray. Good afternoon. I just want to make sure everyone can hear me okay. Yes? Okay. Wonderful. My name is Molly Gray. I'm deeply honored to serve as Vermont's 82nd Lieutenant Governor. I grew up on a farm in Orange County, Vermont. I'm a proud product of Vermont's education system. And what I bring to this race is not only a half decade of work in Congress for Congress in Welch and for the International Committee of the Red Cross, but also a unique background as a human rights lawyer. I worked previously as an assistant attorney general. I worked overseas promoting human rights and also with the International Committee of the Red Cross. I've also lived and worked across the state and know right now we need leaders who understand the diversity of challenges we face. I'm glad, particularly glad to be here today because my mom who has multiple sclerosis does live with a disability. And I've, as her daughter, helped her navigate that. And so as I think about our conversation today from housing to healthcare to transportation, you name it, it's not theoretical, it's also deeply personal. So I'm glad to be here and really look forward to today's conversation. Thank you. Good morning, everyone. My name is Erica Redick. I am an accountant and entrepreneur. And that is what I bring to this race. As many of you, I'm sure, are acutely aware folks with disabilities or seniors need assistance, need help and consideration that is not top of mind to the average person. We kind of go through our lives and we take for granted that we are able to be embodied and have whatever we need to get what we want. And what is amazing is how generous and loving Americans are. There are so many services and so many providers and what we're seeing is how, what the problem is, how do we connect folks with those services, with the people that are out there to help them? And what I see is a broken bureaucratic system. What we need are creative solutions to make sure services get to the people that need them and vice versa. And so having spent 20 years in accounting and small business consulting, helping people make good financial decisions, grow and stretch their business, come back from the brink of bankruptcy. I have the skills and the creative thinking to find new ways to make sure that everyone has what they need to be happy, healthy and fully participate in life and in society. And I just thank the VCIL so much for having us here. Good afternoon. I'm Senator Becca Ballant and I am the leader of the Senate here in Vermont. I live in Brattleboro with my spouse and two kids. And before I was a senator and a Senate leader, I was a middle school teacher for many years. And that's really how I sort of chart my course in the world is as a middle school teacher thinking about the students I've had in my classroom and their families and the supports that they need. And that is what I brought into my work in the legislature thinking about what those families need in order to be well cared for by the school system, by their home community. And I know that we've done a lot of work here in the legislature in allyship with all of you, but there's still so much more to do to make sure that all Vermonters are supported, all Vermonters with developmental, intellectual and physical disabilities. And I've thought about the needs of this diverse community as a legislator and as a teacher. And I've also thought about it as a mom to a neurodiverse kid. And I know how hard it is to navigate and advocate for what he needs and how really frustrating that can be. And so I want to be a strong ally to all of you as I hopefully represent all of you in Congress. So thank you. Thank you all for those opening statements. We'll move now to questions which I again want to emphasize come from members of Vermont's disability rights community and lived experience experts. The first is, do you think the ADA provides adequate protection for people with disabilities and the deaf? If not, what changes would you support? And Molly Gray, let's start with you this time and we'll just move clockwise. I think it's wonderful that we're here today celebrating 32 years of the Americans with Disabilities Act. As an international human rights lawyer, I still think it's very, very challenging and I don't want to say disgraceful, maybe that's the wrong word, but disappointing that we haven't signed on to the treaty on the international rights of the disabled. The ADA, however, doesn't go far enough. There's still so much more that we need to do to ensure that it's fully enforced by employers, by governments, at the local, state and national level. Doing everything that we can, I know today we'll talk about housing, we'll talk about transportation, we'll talk about employment, we'll talk about education. I don't want to get into specifics, but I know we will. I think what we need to recognize is that we're here, that 32 years is a huge accomplishment, but there's much, much more to do in Congress. You're aquatic. I don't think that there's any way for any policy or law to solve all of our problems and correct all of the issues we have. That is just the reality. We can set up circumstances and guidelines for people to follow, but we also have to make sure that there is a sense of duty and responsibility instilled in our next generations. So whereas we're seeing, as an example, a big problem with getting folks who are willing and interested in being part of the medical community in ride share and home share and things like that. And so we as a society and as a community, I think, really need to do a better job of reaching out to our communities to each other to let them know why it's so important that they participate, why it's so important that they contribute to underserved communities. Because again, the government just can't do everything, and a bureaucratic system does not have the capability of giving the love, kindness, and generosity that people need. So I think one of the places I want to start in talking about ADA is that it's often framed as if this was something that government did for the disability community. And let's be clear, this was a hard fought victory after a very long time of activism and demanding that you get the support that you need. And we are not there yet. We don't have parity. So I just want to start with that because I think it is a good platform, a good base from which to start, but there's still so much more that we need to do around how workforce, workplaces are still physically inaccessible, thinking about how we don't have assistive software in the workplace, but also here in the legislature, there are things that we can and should be doing better. And there are things that we can do within government, both at the state and federal level, but something that's near and dear to my heart is we have to continue to fight against the stigma day in and day out, because that's how we're going to be able to make the real ongoing change. I hope this comes off as more refreshingly honest than woefully unprepared, but I am not an expert on the inner workings of the ADA. So I am completely reliant on my experience talking to fellow Vermonters with disabilities. And from what I've learned from them, it does have a long way to go. But to zoom out, the context that I think it fits within is what are our national priorities? If we are not adequately protecting and listening to the most vulnerable among us, why is that? And it comes again to me of where are we going to source the resources to build a just healthy regenerative society? And if you want to understand where my values are, it is about making sure that especially the most vulnerable among us have these resources and where it needs to come from is where it is most equitable to come from, which is our bloated military budget, the billions of dollars that companies like Amazon have gotten away with not paying in taxes. And in taxes among the wealth of the people who have more than $50 million to their name. Next question, and we'll start with Eric Eretic this time. What specific initiatives would you pursue in Congress to support Vermont's community-based mental health system? The community-based mental health system specifically? Correct. I would love to see funding for organizations and programs that we know work. Rather than just kind of throwing money at the problem, why don't we identify and support organizations like Catalyst Collective as an example? They have a program called the Purpose Project. This helps people identify their natural gifts and talents and what they're passionate about and then guide them in marrying those two things. How can you get a job or live your life fulfilling your purpose? And with that fulfillment, you get identity and belonging, which are two other things that human beings need desperately. We have seen so much success. Williamson County Juvenile Justice Program as an example, not related to this, but young people who are going to jail, felonies, getting in fights, dealing drugs, 95% reduction in recidivism. The people going through this program do not go on to reoffend. I can tell you I did the Purpose Project in my 30s and it's why I'm sitting here before you today talking about politics. It will benefit everyone and anyone, no matter their circumstances. Becca Bellen. So I think you all know as we come here today, we know that we are living with the loneliness and isolation that has come from the pandemic. And I see it in the schools that I talked to, I see it from the parents and community-based organizations. We are in a very difficult moment with mental health across the state at every level. And it's one of the reasons why mental health supports are going to be one of the cornerstone issues for me if I am successful in Congress. I think there has been a pivot that has happened here in this state, and it's not particularly Vermont, but there's sense of like, well, the pandemic is behind us. The pandemic is not behind us. We're dealing with the depression and anxiety that we're seeing from folks within our families and within our communities and our students. And it's going to take federal support at a large level in order to really combat it. The other thing I want to say is just want to acknowledge that we have a staffing crisis here in Vermont in many industries, but we feel it most acutely among your service providers. And that is going to require federal assistance as well. Back over to you, Liam. So to the extent that mental health is also under the umbrella of health, which it should be, I am for Congress taking the action of universal health care. And having that be a big target of where all the funds that go to fund an economy based on human well-being goes towards. However, this conversation is already taking a track down. It's not all just about health. It's also about meaning. I think mental health is completely bound up, as Erica is right to point to our purpose in life, our communities, our connection to the beauty of reality. And the stories that used to hold us together and provide that meaning on a huge arc of history kind of timescale where things like patriotism and religion and even just work itself. And all of these stories are beginning to weaken and fragment for lots of large historical force reasons. And we kind of have a God-sized hole in the psyche of our civilization. And if we don't fill that with community and we're not willing to invest in the infrastructure that supports community's well-being, we're not just going to have a God-sized hole. We're going to fracture as an entire civilization. As Lieutenant Governor, one thing I know clearly and unequivocally is that as a small state with a shrinking workforce and fewer and fewer numbers of taxpayers, we simply don't have the tax base to be able to invest in everything from our designated agencies, making sure that they have long-term funding and are not operating each year from small amounts of funding to making sure that we have broadband across the state so that every Vermonner can access telehealth. Also looking at, as was mentioned earlier, our workforce, trying to expand the workforce so we have more access to social workers and providers, mental health workers in our schools. And then finally, at the national level, making sure that Medicare and Medicaid are fully covering mental health coverage. What I know, and I'll just share this story briefly, I was at UVM Medical Center at the emergency room recently doing a tour. And on average, kids were spending four to five days in the ER in mental health crisis. Why? Because they didn't have access to outpatient services. The ER is not a place for anyone in mental health crisis, but our staffing levels and system is so strained and that's where we're at. So I'm glad we're finally having a national and statewide conversation, but it's certainly something I'll champion in Congress. Next question, if elected, how would you advocate, I apologize, if elected, how would you advocate for or support accessible housing initiatives for Vermonners with Disabilities? And Becca Ballin, let's start with you this time. So this is something that I've been working on for so many years and it's really, really frustrating that we haven't made more progress because everyone deserves to have a safe, affordable, supported place to live. And I think we have had to do a fair amount of education within the legislature over the last few years, understanding that it isn't enough just to build more housing. If you don't have housing that is accessible to all, if you don't have housing that has wraparound services and supports, then that's not actually housing that all people can take advantage of. So I know at the federal level, we have to just not look at the bricks and mortar piece of the puzzle. We have to look at making sure that we have the mental health supports, the peer supports, and also making sure that we enforce code regulations as new houses and rental properties are being built. And with 15 seconds, so what I want to say is folks in the developmental disabilities community, in the physical disabilities community, they want the same things that all Vermonters want. They want safe, clean, affordable housing and they want to be able to have meaningful work and we should be really focused on those two things. Leah Mann. So housing to me I think of on a short term, mid term, and long term time horizon. In the short term, if we want just anywhere for anyone who is working in this state to have a place to live, the fastest thing we could do is start to regulate Airbnb's. Because there's lots of really good housing that is just being kept for people coming for a weekend or two because that's what the market rewards. In the mid term, there's no getting around the fact that we need to build more housing. And if it was up to me the way I would like to see that done would be to fund a military scale service core that employs young people to get some of the benefits that I got received from the military to help fund my education to do things that are civilian service oriented and building houses and building houses especially for the most vulnerable would be top among the priorities there. And in the long term I'd like to see 0% loans backed by the federal government for housing especially housing for people in certain lines of work like agriculture and community or And these should be houses that are integrated into services as Becca alluded to as well as housing that is integrated into downtown so it is growing our housing stock sustainably in keeping with what is best for community and environment. This is such an important question and one that really strikes home for me. I've lived in 12 different apartments at least throughout my adult life and trying to find an apartment where my mom who can't go upstairs needs to be close to a bathroom can access in the state of Vermont is nearly impossible or quite limited in that respect. So when we talk about housing and when I think about housing today one of course we need to invest in water and sewers that we can build to of course we need to invest in more housing in the state. But what I'd like to see is that any new housing is built with universal design so that whomever is coming into the home moving forward can access a kitchen and a bathroom and it's a place where anyone can live. And that's where federal funding comes into play. We simply don't have the tax base as I mentioned to make a lot of those investments as a small state and also means that we need to have support for modifications in the home so that as Vermonters age as we range in different abilities that we can have more rental units more homes that are accessible also doing the hard work and the important work of adaptation and supporting Vermonters and living independently. And finally just in closing accountability is everything so we have to enforce with all places of account public accommodation and certainly with our landlords. This is one of my favorite questions because it's it is actually very simple to solve one of the the greatest problems maybe not solve but we could make a big dent in is if we could make it so it's easier to build here in the state of Vermont. The reality is our housing shortage is a direct result of policies initiated by our Legislature. They make it so it's harder and more expensive to build here when it costs over $100,000 in permits and fees for a 10 unit apartment complex. And you haven't even done an architectural drawing or put a shovel in the ground. You begin to see what is wrong with our system here. Act 250 needs to be needs to be changed. We need to make it more advantageous for people to want to invest here. The reality nobody wants to talk about is if it were profitable to build housing here in Vermont they would build housing here. But it's not and so people don't want to invest in that. So it's Vermont's fault that Vermont has a housing shortage and that is fixable with your Vermont State Legislature. At the federal level I would support tax incentives because it is not for a lack of care or a lack of heart for a lot of landlords and business owners that they don't make things accessible. It's finances give tax credits so they can afford to make the changes. Thank you all and we'll move on to the next question. We'll start with you this time, Liam. Many Vermonters with disabilities rely on Section 8 vouchers to afford housing. However long waiting lists have emerged because of a lack of expansion. How would you work to improve this program? As with anything that I start with a pretty humble understanding of it I would begin by talking to people affected on both sides of the issues. The people who receive Section 8 housing as well as the people providing housing and all of the chain of community and services in between. Just to understand where the leverage points are in the system. I think fully funding the Section 8 system is something that I think clearly by now you'll get the idea if it's for helping people and the most vulnerable people I'm all for it. But I don't think it really gets around the issue of do we have enough housing and do we have enough development and do we have a workforce that can do that? And all of these things are interrelated problems and if we don't solve them with kind of a holistic umbrella of a bird's eye view then I think we'll never really make a lot of progress. Molly Gray. I think I touched on a number of points in the last question but I'll say this unequivocally. We have to believe and have to recognize and have to codify housing as a human right. And if we start from that perspective then expanded access either through how we build, where we ensure that housing is affordable, is it in our downtowns, is it accessible from transportation, is it in accessible communities. All of that will come into play. I think the biggest challenge that we face in the state right now is that, and I hope we talk about workforce in a moment, but we've been talking about our workforce crisis for decades. But we haven't built the housing to make sure that all Vermonters, all workers are able to live and work in the same place. And so it's not just a question of affordability, it's a question of do we even have the housing at all. So we need to build the housing and then we need to make sure that the LIFT Act, for example, which is a federal law that supports first-time homebuyers, also supports expanded access to Section 8. And making sure that every Vermonter can access a home full stop. I've been speaking with many care providers recently, particularly those folks who work in the nursing facilities. And while the idea that we can provide an independent home for everyone with care for everyone is, it's an ideal, but it may not be realistic. So what would it look like if our communities had a better understanding of the need and were willing to open up their extra bedrooms and their homes to people who are looking for a place to live? I think a lot of times people don't understand even that there is a need or that they have the capacity to be helpful. There are in fact many training programs around the state, including in our technical centers, to give people the opportunity to learn how to have people in their home, how to do home share, how to help take care of people, so that at least there's someone in the home so that they're not by themselves and afraid if they fall or have something like that happen. And so in the beginning when I talked about instilling a sense of duty and responsibility in the next generation, what I would love to see is more programming in our schools that encourage young people to participate with folks who need help. And Becca Bellin. So one thing I think we all have to keep in mind is that what we're struggling with here in Vermont is what so many other states are dealing with. This is not just a Vermont housing crisis, this is a national housing crisis, and there are many factors that are driving at some of it is a supply chain. Some of it is the fact that there's a horrible war in Ukraine right now that's impacting prices of goods. I mention it because there's another factor that is impacting housing stock across the country, and that's that you have venture capitalists and corporations buying up homes and rental properties and pricing out local residents. And so this impacts the number of units that we have available for Section 8 here at home. We know there are Vermonters right now that have Section 8 vouchers who cannot find a place to use that voucher. And so we have to remember it is not specific to Vermont, but we feel it most acutely here. Fifteen seconds. The other thing I want us to keep in mind is we need to be clear-eyed about the fact that there's going to be even more of a pinch on our housing as climate refugees come here from California and Arizona. They're already coming here, and we need to make sure that we're taking care of the most vulnerable in our communities and making sure we're setting aside housing specifically for Section 8. Molly Gray, we'll start with you on this question. How would you address issues of accessibility in the correction system? I think one of the, and I say this, I used to work for the International Committee of the Red Cross, an organization that works to uphold and protect the rights of individuals within detention facilities. We know that our detention facilities, correctional facilities, not only across the state, but also across this country are not set up for individuals with disabilities, which means that we even think about constitutional protections. I say this as a lawyer and a human rights advocate, that can lead to anyone being incarcerated facing particularly inhumane or particularly torturous treatment. That goes from solitary confinement, which I don't believe should ever be used, to just access to basic health care and support services within our corrections facilities. I think these are areas where we need tremendous, tremendous reform. I don't think they're covered by the ADA at all, but it's an area where I feel very, very strongly. An area where I've done a tremendous amount of advocacy when I was working for the ICRC around detainees that were held at Guantanamo Bay and feel very strongly that we have to continue doing this work, and it's an area where there's not a lot of conversation. So, I'm glad you asked it. It's not one that we've been asked in the campaign trail yet, but one I feel very deeply personal about championing Congress. Eric Heretic. There is a voluminous, there's so much wrong with correctional facilities and how those incarcerated are being treated and cared for. And it's not just, I mean, the able-bodied are not. People without any sort of disability are not treated well, do not get the care they need. People with broken limbs literally just being put in splints and then waiting weeks or months to be taken to the doctor where the bone heals and then has to be broken again to reheal it. So, they're not set up for rehabilitation. They are not set up to keep folks who, like as an example, folks who are committing crimes because of addiction versus real, really sick people who don't feel bad for the crimes that they've committed. Everyone is in the same population. And so, not just folks with disabilities. I mean, there's so much wrong with the correctional facility. And the fact that the Vermont state government disallowed people from going into those facilities for care, whether it was 12-step programs, Bible studies, whatever it was, the state decided that no one was allowed to receive care in those facilities. And so, there's too much wrong to even begin talking about what's wrong and what needs to be fixed. Becca Bellen. So, I'll start from the place of, we know that we have a problem in this country with mass incarceration. And when you look at the folks who are incarcerated, you have a high rate within all prisons, jails and correctional facilities across the country of people who grew up in poverty, people who have mental health struggles, people who have disabilities. And this is the thing that so many people don't want to talk about. We are incarcerating people who have mental health struggles and substance use issues that they need support. And we have had for years a really broken frame on corrections. We call it corrections, but we're not offering services within the correctional facilities for people to be able to see a life outside of the walls. And we're not offering school and classes and mental health supports counseling for them to be able, again, to be successful when they've served their time. And we also are not prepared for the fact that so many of the people who are incarcerated here in Vermont are aging out and we don't have a place for them that can meet their physical needs. So, so many, so many issues to be dealt with. So I'll butcher the paraphrase, the quote, but you shouldn't judge the society based on how it treats its heroes, you should judge it on how it treats its prisoners. And I think we can't begin to talk about this subject until we recognize that in the big picture, the United States has one-fifth of the population or one-fourth of the population of China, and we have the most prisoners in the world, despite not being the largest country. So we do have a bit of an over-incarceration problem. And in my eyes, if you're not a violent person, you do not belong behind bars. And so that's step one. If there's anybody who's a disabled person in the correctional facility and they're not violent, that's the wrong place for them. That will probably solve a big portion of this problem. But it would be a tough pill to swallow for a lot of Americans to give really high-quality healthcare to people who have committed crimes, unless we're also giving really high-quality healthcare to the entire population. And I think we need to approach these subjects at the same time to provide high-quality healthcare to everybody in our society. Eric Erotic, we'll start with you with this next question. And that is, how do you define the term universal design, and how would you work to make it feasible for businesses to implement universal design? We presume that universal design means something that people could just, like something that could recreate a postage stamp, a template for a building, and all of the items and things that are needed. Can you repeat the second part of the question? Yeah, and how would you work to make it feasible for businesses to implement universal design? Well, I spoke to this a little bit earlier, tax incentives, tax incentive, tax incentives. It is not for a lack of care. I have worked with literally hundreds of businesses over my career, and landlords, property owners, things like that. It is not for a lack of care. It is not for a lack of heart or desire. It is for a lack of reasonableness of accommodations. So as an example, my husband and I own a three-unit building in Burlington. It is a two-story. I don't know how we would add a lift or an elevator or anything like that. And if we did, it would be cost prohibitive. We literally make no money off of our house between property taxes and all of the compliance issues. And we also rent, we have an affordable housing unit that we rent to folks who were previously incarcerated or previously addicted. So we actually keep our rents lower so that we can provide a service. And so I would love to be able to do more. But I don't make enough money personally to be able to do that. And most landlords, as an example, and business owners in the, oh goodness, time's up. I'm so sorry. Thank you for catching up. I was like, when am I going to? Yeah. Thank you all for your strict adherence to these lines. Yes. Becca Ballin, I'll repeat the question again because it's a two-parter. How do you define the term universal design? And how would you make it, how would you work to make it feasible for businesses to implement universal design? So I think it's clear that we, here in Vermont, because we have so many small businesses, the backbone of our economy here is small businesses. And so we have to do everything that we can to make sure that businesses and workplaces are accessible, have all the supports that they need for every Vermonter to be in that space and working in a place of safety and support. And so it could be through tax credits, grants, incentives. There's not one lever to pull. This is an area where the federal delegation needs to partner closely with the disability rights community and folks that know best. We have to continue to be allies, but look to you for the expertise. Leah Madden. I think how I approach minimum wage is kind of reflective of how I would approach this issue, which is recognizing that there is a huge difference between small businesses and big businesses. For instance, minimum wage, I would say we probably should have something like $12.55 an hour, which is what the Vermont's current minimum wage is for any businesses that's less than 10 employees or $5 million a year of revenue or something like that. Any big business can afford a minimum wage of $18 an hour. And I wouldn't bat an eye about that. So if you're a big business, you can afford to make the universal design of your facilities without any government assistance. For small businesses, for businesses that meet certain criteria and run democratically, work are owned, I think there should be much more support because small businesses are the backbone of our economy, but also the heart of our communities. We need to recognize that they should be treated differently. And Molly Gray. Sure. When we talk about universal design, I think it can take on a lot of different elements depending on the space, the business. It means water doors. It means entry ramps. It means tables or desks or cash registers that are at the right height so that anyone can access them. It means computer systems that are fully accessible. It means setting up a way that a company or an office engages with each other is accessible to everyone. So it's universal, right? It takes on a lot of different forms. Of course, it's about tax credits. Of course, it's about grants. I think it's conditioning federal dollars for a lot of businesses on making sure that universal design is implemented. And again, it comes back to enforceability. Compliance with the ADA isn't optional. Full stop. And I think that's really important as we think about how we leverage and utilize all of the workers here in Vermont who should have the full ability to participate in our economies and also have full economic security. Becca Ballant, we'll begin with you for this next question. What changes would you make to the special education system to better improve educational outcomes for students with disabilities? So it cuts close to my heart so it's difficult to know where to start. I think basically I would start from a place of so many families do not feel like their partners when they meet with their school counselors and their teachers. First, whether it's a 504 or there's meeting for an IEP. I can tell you from my own experience, I had seven years of discouragement, frustration, feeling like my spouse and I needed to play good cop, bad cop all the time when all I wanted was fundamentally for my child to be seen for the person that he was. And so at a basic level, the way that we interact with families and students needs to be more wholehearted. It needs to be more inclusive of the fact that parents know their kids best, period. And I'm happy to say that my time is up but I hope that you can hear in my voice that it's difficult for me to pull back the emotional piece of this. I certainly have specifics that I would talk about but my time is up. Leah Madden. I think we need an education system that is as different from the pulling kids out of child labor and putting them in public schools. Public education needs to be seen as that's the scale of difference we're creating, as what public education was to what became before it, which was children working in mines and in factories. And the difference that is at the heart of what I would like to see in public education is a focus on an individual's interests and gifts. And I don't think we have that in our current education system and I think that applies to whether you're a student of full functioning or you have some sort of disability or special need. It's still what's most important to me is are we focusing on bringing forth your gifts and your interests? So I think how we solve any issue with government needs to be far more technologically assisted. I have a whole section on my website about this. I don't have enough time to get into this but the people who know the most about issues need to have a little bit more disproportionate influence on those issues. Molly Gray. In 1990, Congress passed idea the individuals with disabilities and Education Act, which was an effort to try to bring equity and access to education to every student. And while I think there's been significant strides, we're absolutely not at parity. So that needs to be strengthened, reauthorized, expanded, and especially considering what we now know of the pandemic and how students, especially students with disabilities have been significantly impacted. So what does that look like? It's expanded formula grants to ensure that students with disabilities have the best access to educational and support services. Looking at our schools not only here in the state but also a lot of schools in rural parts of the country where funding just isn't there to support expanded access to social workers, to mental health and support services in our schools. And then finally, making sure that schools are being held to account when any efforts are made through disciplinary actions that might be discriminatory. And I think it's an area where we still have a tremendous amount of work to do to address bias and discriminatory practices. This is a great example of why I support parental rights in school choice. Rather than having everyone go to a public school that may not have the ability to care for and educate a student in the way that they learn best, what I would like to see is the almost $20,000 that Vermont appropriates per student. I would like to see that money follow the student where the parents can choose a Montessori school or a charter school or a private school of some variety that is better equipped and better able to help their kids with what exactly it is they need. This idea that our public schools have the ability to conform to help every single person in every single way that they need, it is an ideal again that I'm not sure that we can reach. But gosh, for $20,000, can you imagine what having that funding would do for you and your family to be able to educate your children? Rather than having it look this way, let's give people the actual choice and ability to help their children in the best way that that child needs. Liam, we'll start with you for this question. How will you support the transportation services that people with disabilities and the deaf rely on as we move through the COVID-19 pandemic? Erica often says something I really like, which is we need someone to go to Congress who can do math. One of the pieces of math that really relates to this question to me is that if we're to grow our economy at 3% a year, in the next three decades we will use the same amount of energy as we have in the last 10,000 years, and that's impossible for a lot of different reasons. One is we only have 40 years of oil and gas left and two we don't have enough land to make renewables make that happen. So we need to use less energy as a society and we need to focus our energy infrastructure on creating transportation, which uses a third of our energy. It needs to be public transportation because no matter which way you shake it, public transportation is just vastly more efficient than having a 2,000 pound piece of metal for every individual on this planet. So how transportation relates to people with special needs is part of how we need to have a vision for transportation that is fundamentally more efficient and is workable in a future with less energy. Molly Gray. We were quite lucky over the last year to have pretty historic investments through the bipartisan infrastructure bill in transportation across this country. Everything from Amtrak to roads and bridges, looking at how in our railways, for example, I know that Amtrak is going to come back online from Brattleboro to Middlebury, and there's more and more investments in making sure that Amtrak is accessible. But what I'd like to see is another round of large scale infrastructure funding that really is focused on and attached to making transportation fully accessible and possible. This is ensuring that every bus, every GMT bus in Vermont, for example, is disability accessible. That we have bus drivers that are fully trained and equipped to welcome aboard anyone, whether they can see or hear or whether they're in a wheelchair, whatever the needs may be. And our greatest challenge as a rural state is transportation. We know that transportation is more accessible in Montpelier, in Burlington, and some of our larger towns, but we need to really consider what it's like to be in Johnson, Vermont, or in Newbury, where I grew up, or in our smaller towns in southern Vermont, all of our 251 towns, excuse me now, and making sure that we're leveraging federal dollars to make transportation fully accessible. Eric Erotic. A larger bureaucracy and more public transportation will not solve our problems. Even though in Burlington we have more buses and more options, if you can't navigate our gnarly sidewalks, it's not helpful. And so we spend all this money on programs like SSTA, which are great and helpful, and we should support. But it doesn't have the ability to really target folks in rural communities who need one-off doctor's appointments or going to the grocery store and things like that. So they're actually already in place programs in our technical centers to help educate and train people, to be drivers, to be in-home caregivers, to do all of these things that we say that we need. And so, you know, we could hire Lyft or Uber drivers to, cheaper than we can expand SSTA. Now, I'm not saying we should just hire rando Uber drivers. We need to have a certification program where those drivers can actually become certified to help specific demographics of people. And we don't have to create any new bureaucracy or put any more money towards it. It already exists here in our technical centers. And Becca Bellen. So transportation really is the key to quality of life here in Vermont for all Vermonters, but most especially for folks who need extra supports around transportation. So for work, for education, for physical and mental health supports. And even just for not feeling lonely and isolated, I see that a lot in my neck of the woods up the Route 30 corridor in my smaller towns. People feeling cut off because there is no public transportation viable. And yes, we absolutely need to learn the lessons that we've learned from the pandemic. We don't have to do things the same way that we've done them. Work is transforming. Commerce is transforming the way that we interact with the workplace is transforming. And we can use this as an opportunity to think differently. Now, I lived in El Salvador for a while. And there were essentially circuit vans that did set routes. And they were people who were able to accommodate people in rural areas off the beaten track. Yes, we need to continue to support buses. Yes, we need to continue to support ride share programs here in Vermont. But most importantly, we need to make sure that we continue those investments long beyond when the pandemic is over. That's in quotes. Molly Gray, we'll go to you first with this next question. How will you address the crisis of lack of attendant services in this state and country? I wanted to say one quick thing before moving to this question. I think the last question was also about COVID and a recognition that I know for my mom, for example, COVID exposure could be extremely harmful if not deadly for her in particular. And so to ask her to consider putting her on a public transportation is just not an option right now. And I think that's an important consideration as we think about also meeting the transportation needs coming out of the pandemic. But attendant care is extremely important. It means where we have enough workers that individuals can stay in their home and that is dignity, being able to remain in your home and to have the support that you need, be it around meals or cleaning or work or you name it. And what we know in the state right now is that we have a 6,000 person nursing shortage. We do not have enough home health care providers. I've put forward as a candidate a federal workforce agenda to support significant investments in our career and technical centers. Further training that's paid for on the job so we can have more and more individuals receive the training that they need to enter the workforce and not having to take out student loans. Free access to CCV in addition to ensuring that for high demand sectors that we're diminishing student loan debt. So top priority, know it's one that we need to address here in the state and that we have hundreds of unpaid caregivers. And that's completely unacceptable. This question along with transportation are there the two top issues that I hear from everyone, whether they're in a nursing facility, whether they're in the ER, no matter what we're talking about in this day or month. There's an even greater shortage of people willing to be the educators of the next generation of caregivers. And so, again, I'm going to say it's the ugly truth. We can use money. We can use tax incentives and other things like that to encourage people to go into these fields. I've asked why isn't there a pipeline for retiring nurses to go into education? Well, they don't want to go have to go get their certification to be an educator. There's all these barriers in the way. So what we see a lot of times is there's actually governmental barriers to continuing the care and the service pipeline. So we need to support and fund our technical centers that have LNA programs. We need to make sure that those young people actually have the ability to do that. We want to also incentivize people to go to school and get these degrees. And part of that goes back to this idea that we want to instill a sense of responsibility and duty in our young people. Becca Ballant. So having sat on the Economic Development Committee for so many years in the Senate, we have been talking about these issues for so long and have tried within the State House to not just incentivize but invest in programs at CCV, invest in programs at VTech and the State Colleges. But fundamentally I think we need, as I count myself among educators in Vermont, we need to do a better job of communicating with students as early as junior high and high school to say that you actually can have a really fulfilling career in a profession like being in attendant care. It's incredibly rewarding and it's something that we don't often talk about within the public schools. We push everybody to go to four-year college and that's just not what everybody needs to do. And it has 15 seconds. It comes back to really letting people know that the path that might be fulfilling for them would be actually in a supportive career like this. And Lea Madden. I mentioned earlier I alluded to the idea of a military-scale service corps and I think there would be branches of that just as there are branches of the military and one would be building, one would be regenerative agriculture and certainly one would be healthcare and I think this would fall under the umbrella of healthcare and I think that would give us an opportunity to have young people who are all the more victim of the addiction and the meaning crisis that I see in our culture an opportunity to have purposeful service and while doing so earning not only hard skills but access to educational benefits and career opportunities. So I think that's one way to look at it but I've also talked to people in this industry who said that anybody who's gaining these skills often becomes more valuable than the service providers that they work for can pay for and then they get siphoned off by private hospitals and organizations like that. So we need to subsidize the people who will stay and continue to build a career with the service providers that are doing this work. Next question will go to you first, Eric Eretic. People with disabilities and the deaf want to work. Many are not able to return to work because of the benefits cliff associated with social security. How will you help address the benefits cliff in Congress? How will I address the benefits cliff in Congress? Correct. I think I'm not sure how this would override states' laws so I want to be careful what I recommend but I mean we've heard this forever. I remember growing up, we lived in public housing and had food stamps and all of these things and my mom really struggled because if she made just a little bit more money we would lose our housing and we would lose everything and so there was never this ramp up like okay I need like six months of making this much money before you cut off my benefits so that I can save up enough to get to the next level and I think that that's something we've heard from everyone who provides these kinds of services so I think setting up some kind of a time frame like a reporting period, you have six months from this adjustment period or something reasonable so that people don't just lose everything and then have nothing and just are incentivized to stay in an uncomfortable position. So fear of losing SSDI and SSI benefits, as you all know, it's a significant barrier for folks in employment and Congress has enacted many programs to try to alleviate this problem but it is difficult to navigate, we need to streamline it, we need to make it simpler and we need to make sure that we peg the SSDI thresholds for all individuals, peg it to the rate of inflation and make sure that there is a gradual phase out so that there's no dramatic drop-off and this can be done, this is something that can be done and should be done. So Erica and Becca have totally stolen my thunder, those are absolutely the points I wanted to hammer on, pegging it to the rate of inflation and creating the ramp off and I would just add to that that we need technology to assist us in doing that because this is actually a pretty easy problem to solve of just making the algorithms that tell you how much benefits you have smoothly go down a ramp instead of drop off a cliff and it's really just a matter of having political leaders who prioritize an issue that doesn't get them a lot of political reward. So that's what I intend to do, be someone as I have throughout my life done things that were unpopular or took courage or took great risk even when there was no benefit in it for me but it was the right thing to do. And Molly Gray. I'm going to be really direct, let's end the cliff, I'm all together. Here in Vermont we have over 43,000 Vermonters with disabilities who are of working age but only half are able to work full time or part time. So as we try to address our own workforce crisis this just doesn't make any sense. So what does that look like? It means that we reform SSDI or SSI benefits to ensure that individuals who can work full time can have full quality of life that can meet the full cost of living. I agree with looking at inflation right now and ensuring that we're increasing pay but also making sure that employers are paying at least minimum wage. I mean it's also outrageous that employers could pay under or less than minimum wage for anyone working in the state or at the federal level. So a tremendous amount of work needs to be done there. And then finally we need to ensure that and if we look to the future that we have an SSI SSDI trust fund that's fully supported right now. It's set to run out by I believe 2034. We are in crisis and we have to address that and we can't wait until 2033 to take it up. We need to take it up now. Becca Ballant we'll begin with you for this next question which is how are you including people with disabilities and the deaf in your work and your campaign? So we have tried at every step to make our materials more accessible both online and our printed materials. We have for any of the events that we've had online we have had interpreters and we're always looking to do better. So I'm in communication with folks within the disability community to make sure that we continue to strive to make all of the things that we do on this campaign more inclusive. But also looking forward to an office. What are the needs of the community as it relates to a congressional office that you don't currently have that you need to see in an incoming congressperson. Do you consider this an ongoing conversation because as technology changes as the needs of the community change I want to be changing with you. I could be doing a lot better about this. I am a campaign that is a one person show and I haven't benefited from the massive amounts of out of state money that people can afford into $3,000 donations as has been to the benefit of some of my competitors. So I agree that Beck is pointing to what should the future hold as a representative and I think it needs to be an ongoing conversation and I'm happy to engage in that. Molly Gray. Sure. As Lieutenant Governor I just want to thank BCIL and everyone here today for their constant feedback, input, the opportunity to continuously engage. I ran a regular seat at the table series and worked hard to try to bring the voices of individuals who are not often in the state house into the state house. On the campaign shortly after deciding to run I reached out to a dear friend of mine who is a disability rights advocate and champion and she's been providing regular advice in support as we think about where are we hosting events? Are they accessible? How are we doing events online? And certainly there's so much we can do to do better every single day but I'm proud of that and it has impacted our whole campaign team and we're thinking about everything differently and certainly in Congress and here in Vermont as we think about setting up an office we're thinking about that. Where is it? Who do we have working there? How can you communicate and what does that look like? I'm excited about this opportunity and know with your support we'll get it right. And Eric Erotic. I have been working diligently in all areas of my life to make sure that there is an opportunity for inclusion and participation. One of the writers for my campaign he helps with press releases is blind. And so it was okay how do we navigate so that you can join our volunteer Zoom meetings? How can you work with the software? How can we accommodate you so that you can participate? And he's one of my most trusted advisors now. I am a member of the recovery community. So my home group as an example in Austin, Texas there's a school for the blind there and so there's a large blind community. We made sure that our facilities were accessible. There's a large deaf community there. So we had interpreters at our home group. We made sure that wherever we facilitated those meetings if we had to switch locations was accessible to people. In my business I have an accounting practice and we're actually developing an internship program so that people who were previously incarcerated or have mental health or drug addiction have the opportunity to have a second chance at a career. So every area of my life I've been looking for opportunities to make sure that I provide opportunities like I've been given. Leah Madden, you're up next on this next question. People with mental illnesses have the highest rates of unemployment despite the fact that they're able and willing to work. They experience the highest rates of incarceration. They're most likely to be killed by police and they also have a lower life expectancy than people without mental illness. What have you done in your current position to address these issues facing those with the label of mental illness and what will you do as Vermont's U.S. representative to address them? Wow. Well, my current position is I'm the director of solar energy at a home energy company. So I just don't know how relevant what I've done really has been. But I grew up in a house where my mother would go to people who had no one in their lives. People were on disabilities, section 8 housing, and that's who surrounded my Thanksgiving table. So it's not a strange thing for me to be very welcoming and responsive and respectful of people who have mental illness. And I think I spoke to this earlier by saying it just needs to be under the umbrella of health and to the extent that it's not under the umbrella of health, it's under the umbrella of creating a society that gives us pathways to meaning through community. Molly Graham. Sure. I guess just, we'll share personally, I grew up in a household where we didn't talk about mental health. Definitely the thought of going to see a therapist wasn't something that my family did. And then in my adult life, coming to terms with my own mental health challenges and going to see a therapist and navigating that. And now as a statewide leader trying to be clear and to be open and to be honest about ending the stigma and making sure that all of us in our communities, but certainly the next generation know that there are support services available, that it is okay. And as Lieutenant Governor, I spent a large part of last summer at this time driving around the state, meeting with communities and really listening and then put together a report for the legislature and governor advising them that with the $2.7 billion that we have had coming through American Rescue Plan Act funds ensuring that a lot of that would be invested in mental health and support services. Not only for young people, but for so many of us as we've navigated coming out of this pandemic. And certainly in Congress know that we will not thrive as a state, we will not thrive in our communities until we end the stigma, until we're fully investing in the workforce and making sure that mental health care is health care. Erogeretic. This is an issue that I'm incredibly passionate about. As someone, as I mentioned already, I celebrated 13 years of recovery this year. And so for myself, I work with women in helping them to continue to recover, to get sober. I have, you know, my husband and I, I've already talked about the Purpose Project. A lot of these things are interconnected. So when we have a lack of community and a lack of a sense of belonging, that contributes so much to the mental health crisis that we're seeing. We had our government tell people whether they were essential or not. We had the government say that these health care providers couldn't go into correctional facilities anymore. And so all of this is a matter of getting back to serving one another. So that's why, again, why I help women in recovery, why my husband and I help facilitate the Purpose Project, why we keep one of our apartments specifically for people who are recovering from addiction or previously incarcerated. Each of us, all of us has a responsibility to not only share our experiences, but to help people in our community and not wait for the government to do it. And Becca Ballin. So I have struggled with anxiety and depression my whole life and have brought that experience with me into my teaching and working with adolescents both in schools and at summer camps and speaking really openly and honestly with those students and my own children about how we reduced the stigma. And it's interesting, I was, I think one of the first politicians in Vermont to start talking openly about this. And when I did, I received some feedback from some older politicians who said, you know, this is going to ruin your career. You shouldn't talk about this. It's too much information. And that is the frame that we're still in right now. We still have a lot of stigma. And the only way that we do it, and I'm so pleased to be on this panel with these individuals today, everybody being willing to share openly about their own experiences. So there are specific things that I can point to in my legislative work. We certainly have invested more money to getting training for nurses, specifically counselors and psychiatric nurses. But I think the biggest thing that I can do from that platform is work with people like Representative Patrick Kennedy who's been a champion on these issues. And I also will be an outspoken champion for the need for mental health supports at all levels. And this is going to be the final question we have time for before we move to closing statements. Molly Gray, we'll start with you. How will you incorporate the voices and ideas of people with disabilities and the deaf into policy discussions, appropriations, and solutions to problems that affect them? I think it starts with how we started out today. Not speaking about us without us and making sure that we don't speak about Vermonters, we speak with Vermonters. And that starts with some of the work I've done with the Lieutenant Governor, creating a seat at the table series and actively trying to seek out those who aren't at the table here in the state and bringing them to the table in Congress. I'll do that work every single day. Showing up, meeting you all in our communities where you're at, listening, really trying to understand what's not working and then navigating what systems, be it the ADA, be it transportation, be it housing, be it employment, be it caregiving, how can we reform government? How can we reform our communities so that they work for everyone? And I know I won't always get it right, but I'm going to try and along the way will depend on you for your feedback and advice and also holding me to account. Eric Oretic. I will ensure to incorporate everyone that I represent. And I've been able to demonstrate that with my podcast called Generally Irritable. It's got a funny name. I started a few years ago because I get irritable when I talk about politics. But what I do, I have a weekly program where I bring on experts in their field to talk about something that matters to Vermonters and to Americans, to educate me and to educate our neighbors on what's happening and what we can do differently. So I've had a number of guests on talking about anything from nuclear power to Article 22 to fill in the blank. And so what I do and what I will do as Vermont's next Congresswoman is ensure to have people around me who know better than I do about whatever topic it is that I need to be concerned about on that day. I'm an accountant, okay? I know a ton about accounting and economics, the economy, math, right? These are my strong points. And so I will rely on experts in their field to make sure that I know what they know before I make any decisions. Piccabella. So in all the work that we do in the legislature, we have tried to bring to that work an equity lens. And that is the same frame that I will bring with me to Congress. And we haven't really talked today about the intersectionality of race and of gender and of LGBTQ plus and how that interacts with the disability rights community. And I know you all know it. But I just want to name it because we really haven't talked about it. And it's a really important piece of all of this. And so I think what I want you to know about me is I am motivated by a deep love of people. That's why I do the work that I do. That's why I was a teacher. That's why I serve my community as a senator. And I'm a relationship builder. And any work that I do on this front is going to be an intense collaboration with all of you. And I'm insatiably curious. And I don't have a lot of ego wrapped up in the work that I do. And when people tell me I didn't get it right, I need to do better. Then it might hurt in the moment because we're all human. But then, the next minute, I'm rolling up my sleeves and trying to figure out how to get it right the next time. And Leah Madden. So if I could summarize what I hear often from every politician from the dawn of time is, I want to give you a seat at the table and I'm going to listen really well. And I'm going to fight for the working person. But let's be honest, no one has the ability to listen to 600,000 voices, right? Like that's the role of the representative in Congress. So what we need, in my opinion, is a new structural and technological tool of collectively solving problems. Right now it's called politics. That's called government. But that tool was built when information traveled at the speed of horseback and now we sit in our back pockets with information that spans the globe at the speed of light. So there is no listening and incorporating people's voices that can really be done without expanding our view of how government works. And to me that means introducing not just a metaphorical seat at the table for people, it's actually giving people the power through forums, through ballot initiatives, conducted online with appropriate safeguards, the ability to actually influence policy. Not just saying I'm going to listen to you and I hope you agree with me or I hope you can persuade me of your point of view. That's not going to work. Thomas Jefferson said there is no other safe depository for the ultimate power of society other than the people themselves. And if we deem them not enlightened enough to wield that power with wisdom then it is incumbent upon us, the remedy is not to take their power from them. The remedy is to help them be wise through education. So that is my vision. Give you not just a metaphorical seat at the table, but a real voice and policy. And now it's time for some closing remarks from each of the candidates. You all have up to two minutes to issue some parting thoughts and insights before we wrap up today. Erica Reddick, why don't you start? I just want to say again, thank you so much for the opportunity to share my experience with you all and what I hope to do and how I hope to represent Vermont as your next Congresswoman. I am unusual I think in a lot of ways. I have struggled and I have overcome many struggles that we're facing here in Vermont, whether it's addiction, having grown up in poverty and a lot of these other things. And all of those experiences led me to becoming a conservative or a Republican. Someone who values constitutional rights, constitutional values, but most importantly, individual liberty. And that's what I hope for everyone, regardless of their ability or things that are in their way that they will have to overcome to be independent or as independent as possible and have a life that is filled with purpose, joy and belonging. And so you might think, well, she's got an R behind her name. That means she doesn't care about people. I hear that a lot. There's this caricature of what it means to be a Republican. And I can assure you that my greatest goal is for that everyone in Vermont has the same opportunity to overcome their challenges and live a beautiful and blessed life like I have been given. This topic is so important to me because I see the suffering. I see it all the time as I travel around the state of Vermont and I speak with constituents as I speak to my friends and my family and I hear what they are dealing with. And so a lot of times, my opponents' solutions are bigger and more government. And my solutions are bigger and more community and family. Thank you very much. So thanks everybody for coming to hear us today. It's really important to be involved in the political process. I started by talking about how I was a middle school teacher and I just want to say, I think one of the reasons why it was really drawn to be a middle school teacher was because that was the time when I was feeling the most disconnected from my own community and my family. It's a time when I was figuring out that I was gay and I knew it was not something that I would have support on within my home or my community and I really set out to make my classroom a place where everybody regardless of background would feel welcome. When you go through life as somebody who is looked down upon who is excluded, who has horrible things said about you, you often become a much more compassionate person and how you approach the world. Sometimes because of sheer survival that's the way I was able to navigate. And I bring this experience with me into my legislative work. I'm always thinking about who needs an ally and how can I show up in allyship in a way that is meaningful in a way that is helpful and is not in the driver's seat. True allyship which is learning and growing together. I just hope that I can earn your vote. I think that's the last thing I want to say. I hope I can earn your vote. I have a lot of legislative experience. I want to bring that experience to DC with me to fight alongside all of you to make sure all Vermonters are cared for and have a place. I am an independent. I happen to be running in the Republican primary but as Bernie Sanders does I would happily renounce the nomination of the party and govern as an independent. I'm an independent because I believe both sides of our political spectrum have value that makes society healthy and from the right they tend to bring a lot of emphasis on personal responsibility. On the left I fully embrace the idea that we are products of our community and the soil that is our community must be healthy for us to grow into strong individuals. Abraham Lincoln said if I had eight hours to take down a tree I would spend six hours sharpening my axe. As an independent I see the tool of what we use to solve our collective problems our political system as a very very antiquated broken rusty axe and if we don't think about none are we going to send another person who has promises this party agenda or that party agenda, but are we going to fix the tool itself if we don't think about that we are going to expend a lot of energy and not be very happy with the results. It's the definition of insanity to try the same thing over and over and expect different results and I think a political figure gets up and touts their experience if their experience is using broken antiquated tools, if their experience is prescribing band-aids for gushing wounds then we should ask do we want that experience to vision and in the book of Proverbs it says without vision the people perish. So if you know in your heart that it's no longer useful to be changing the players, but it's the time to change the worlds of the game, then I want you to look at me as a marine who risked his life both for this country but also as the leader of the nation's largest anti-war organization, someone who risked their life to make sure this country does what is right that I have the courage and honesty to to not be in my own self-interest and to do what is unpopular and what is needed when it is what is right. And Molly Gray. Thank you all so very very much for the invitation to be here today. Again thank you to VCIL and to Peter. I want you to know that the State House here in Montpelier isn't Congress and certainly Montpelier isn't Washington and I know that because I've worked in both and that's something that is unique on this stage. I certainly will be ready to get to work from you the moment I am elected and in this moment I do know that we need a diversity of experience. As I said I've spent my career fighting for human rights it's why I went to law school. We need leaders right now who are going to champion reforms to the ADA who are going to make sure that with this Supreme Court that it is settled law and it's not going anywhere. We also need to make sure that we have leaders that understand foreign policy because frankly if we're not living our best values here at home and abiding by human rights and civil rights here it makes it extremely hard for us to fight for them abroad and we know that Congress has a huge role to play when it comes to strong foreign policy. As I said I'm also deeply honored to serve as your Lieutenant Governor but also to have grown up here in the state in a rural community and personally to be navigating so much of what I believe we all navigate every day. I'm trying to find affordable and accessible housing trying to care for a loved one in a state that doesn't have paid family and medical leave trying to navigate student loan debts trying to make it work and it's that lived experience that professional experience that I believe we need in Congress right now and we certainly need the next generation stepping up. So I'm stepping up and we've got just two weeks until this primary ends and comes to a close. So please if you haven't yet get your ballots and make a plan to vote I look forward to staying around today for a celebration of the 32nd anniversary of the ADA and I hope you'll feel free to ask questions. If anything I haven't answered to ask away but thank you again and I hope to serve as your first Congresswoman. Thank you. Your candidates for Congress. Thank you so much to Liam and Molly and Erica and Becca. So once again let's give a big applause for our great candidates and also for our moderator Peter Hirschfeld. We are going to take we're pretty well on time here so we have at least 10 minutes. We're 10 to 15 there's some food out there there's time for a bio break meet talk with your friends and we'll see you probably somewhere between 3-3-0-5 to begin the next part of the program. Thank you. And I just want to give a shout out too to the interpretation team. Watching you guys has been amazing. Very cool.