 Hello everyone. Thank you for tuning in to the SS show today. We have some incredible guests that we'll get to in a second. And so I'm Bruce Wilson, Executive Director of Service Rundit Incorporated. We have a lot of different programs that we do. We're primarily a youth service provider, but we work with adults in the community and business, art galleries in the malls and music programs and college programs. So look us up, Service Rundit Incorporated. So here today, my wonderful guest from SS, as you can see the SS show, is Wisa Makuku. Wisa Makuku, what do you do? What's your title in SS? Hi Bruce, thank you for inviting us to be on your show. I am the Community Development Director for the town of Essex. We have a great doogan. I'll get it right. That's tough. That bothers you too. No, not really. I'm used to it. What do you do? I'm the Deputy Manager for the town of Essex and the village of Essex Junction. And thanks for having us on the show. People know that's like the mayor almost, you know. Not quite. Well, if you're either the mayor or town manager. Constable. All right. That's a good one. I wouldn't know is it a constable. I have no idea either, but I know it's not a mayor. So let's talk about yourself a little bit there, Wisa. So where do you hail from? What's your goals, dreams and aspirations? We got you into this position. So I grew up in New York City and I went to Middlebury College, which is how I ended up here in Vermont. But after Middlebury, I went into the Peace Corps. And while I was in the Peace Corps, I decided that I wanted to do something with a social purpose. And so I graduated from... I left the Peace Corps and I went to graduate school for architecture and urban planning. And I've been working as a planner ever since I graduated. Oh, you've done... We're going to talk about some of the things you have done in Essex. So, great. What about you? What brought you into this position? What's your goals, dreams and aspirations? I also went to Middlebury College. That also brought me here. I also wanted to do social stuff. No, I went to Middlebury College. I was an English major, so I was trying to figure out what an English major does after college. And I ended up working in journalism for several years, community journalism. And I liked that work. I liked talking to people. I liked telling their stories. I liked digging into issues and doing research. And I always found myself wanting the stuff that I really liked writing about. I always found myself wanting to do it. So, I decided to go back to school. I went to graduate school. I got a degree in public administration. And then I was hired in Essex as the town planner almost nine years ago. And I've had some different roles since then. And that brought me to the deputy manager role that I have now. But it was basically a desire to get involved with community building and community development and trying to create community and build community. That's great. So, Middlebury College is part of one of our programs. I guess you should put a plug in. People always have the Middlebury flag, but I forgot mine today. So, let me tell you a quick story. So, first of all, the first black or African-American graduated out of college in the whole United States. Alexander Twilight. That's right. When you first come around the roadway to go up into Middlebury, they got the Twilight building right there. What an incredible building. I'm always so honored. When I first saw years ago, I snuck in the building one downstairs. I had used the bathroom next door. I snuck in the building one downstairs. I was like, yes! Here's a man who, the first black man in America graduated from Middlebury College. How important is that? I think I never really appreciated what a statement it was, but it's such an amazingly beautiful building with such prominence as you're entering the Middlebury campus. No doubt. I'm actually really honored and excited to think about its physical presence there at the Gateway to Middlebury. Yeah. I know it's like the first building. So, another thing, too, is the president, Charlene Fu, is the ghost of Middlebury. When she was in high school, she was like a four-person high school, and she helped to create the Chill Out Youth Center in the University Mall at the time. And she was ready, we were trying to prepare her to get to college, and she only wanted to go to... She's from China, so she only wanted to go to one college. I said, and that was Middlebury. And I said, Charlene, you got to fly to more... I only wanted to go to one college. I said, you got to fly to other colleges. And she did, but I said, don't worry, we're going to get you in Middlebury. She had like a 4.04 GPA, so she was qualified anyways. I've met her, she's driven. She's going places for sure. When I see her today, when I always see her, she seems like a senator or something when I'm talking to her. I'm like, wow, girl, Charlene, the bomb diggity. So thank you for going to Middlebury. I went to Northwestern University. Well, that's another damn show. So I know you guys, what are you working on in your department? I was there one time in your office, and I saw you had a meeting and your staff there. I was doing all the talking and doing stuff. So what are you doing? What are you guys talking about? So community development is the community development department is the umbrella for community development, economic development and planning and zoning. And so it really speaks to how interconnected all of those aspects are. And these days I'm working so I'm working on a big event called an Essex. So I'll put in a plug for out and about an Essex. It will be October 2nd and 3rd in the town and the village of Essex. It's a joint collaboration between the two entities. And a good time was had by all last year. So look for flyers. Is there going to be any food there? I mean, what's going on? We got to pay for food this time. You will have to pay for food, but the event was conceived of with grant funding during, well, we're still in COVID, but last year they provided this grant funding to support small businesses. And so how we used our money in Essex was that we provided $15 vouchers to Essex households and solicited Essex businesses to be part of the event and to accept the vouchers and we overlaid the whole weekend with music and family friendly entertainment. To put it simply, a good time was had by all. It really helped the businesses. They felt really good about it. They felt supported by the town. The residents felt there was something that could bring them all together and it really was a very successful event and so we're building on the success of last year with this year. We've got new sponsors or we've got sponsors this year that we didn't have last year and so we're increasing the vouchers. Northfield Savings Bank is a big sponsor so is Vermont Federal Credit Union so is CCOM. We're getting gift certificates and gifts for raffles that will be held throughout the weekend from all of our small businesses that are participating. We've got a couple of gift baskets from the likes of like TwinCraft. We have I don't want to forget any sponsors because it's so important for people to be recognized. Look at your community bank. You got a community bank. What's that on the bank down there? What's the name of that one? CCOM was the one. Thank you CCOM for sponsoring this out and about event in essence so we appreciate them for doing that and we appreciate you planning. Let me ask you some questions about that event. Last year so you're going on off the measurements from last year and how you got getting better for this year. Who showed up? Thank you for asking that. Last year we had a really short planning period for it because the grants were available in late August and we needed to spend the money by the first weekend in November and so we really had to act really quickly and so we used a venue at Five Corners and we used a venue at the town center but this year we're also wrapping in Suzy Wilson Road because we've got hundreds of rental units on that side of town. We've got multiple single family homes and a lot of businesses that benefited to some degree but actually having this in their backyard especially with the increased number of vouchers that we have this year should bring a lot more business and a lot more recognition and awareness of the businesses that are there for the businesses on the part of the residents and this isn't just an Essex event I mean once you start folding in music it really just becomes anyone's invited all of Chittenden County feel free to come on over and enjoy the weekend. And that's real that's a big deal It fills community and helps and makes people feel as though the town is looking out for them No doubt about it No doubt about it and just pray that you know like boy I mean it's places in the mall that don't have like the shoe department gigantic 8,000 square feet they don't have enough people to they couldn't stay over for so many hours a day because they don't have enough people to work there hallmarks same thing was across I'm like I'm like dad we just don't have no workers to help these business help those else it's kind of weird I know it has something to do with the unemployment benefits that the federal government gave out people also deserved and earned That is part of the equation but I think we're also finding that people have thought about what they want out of life while they were in lockdown and have thought about quality of life and the type of business that they want to work for and I think that you know there's some of that contemplation happening also salaries and wages of course are things that people realized I guess with a few more dollars in their pockets you know everything's still going up like they're running and leasing places they just like some people they would double you know I'm not double but almost like a running apartment they really want to go up at unprecedented rates I think plus you know what Vermont is they own it baby those real estate guys I guess they try to they have their needs in too I think it's going up on there like of course you remember we were doing COVID like a lumber can I get a 2x4 yeah it was going to cost you five more dollars because we don't have nobody to cut the wood or it's crazy so we went out and about was conceived last year and it was Uiso and her counterpart in the village of Essex Junction when Uiso says that the money was there and they had to spend it that's what it was and they turned around this huge event fast last year was the time of year when a lot of the restaurants had been closed a lot of the businesses hadn't been open to the public we were in the depths of COVID and so it was really an opportunity to get the community out to shop at these stores to eat at these restaurants and get people out and it was awesome feedback amazing job by Uiso and the rest of the people working on it and like she said just trying to build off the success of it this year and expand to another part of the community and really make it a county wide event statewide event we'll have the tourists in town for the leaf paper season exactly and the more people we can get to come to Essex the better it's true I was just going to say that I think that I've told you my my attitude about how boundaries are really arbitrary and the more festivals and events there are the more people are coming to Chittenden County they're coming they may be coming to Essex for out and about but maybe they're staying overnight in Burlington or Williston and every time that something happens in Burlington and we get some benefit or any time something happens in any other city or town in the county we all reap the benefit and so the fact that we're having this one event I think we'll have a ripple effect for a lot of different people and so you know if we can establish ourselves on the map for you know potentially the first weekend in October every year it'll be that much better for everybody all the time yeah and you will you're working on it so now you explained everything how last year and how big it is almost to Susie Wilson Road with this event but what is what do out and about mean what does it mean though again it goes to playoff of the COVID situation last year of everybody being quarantined stuck in home not being able to get out and it was just trying to drive home I don't want to call it a pilot project but a smaller scale version in Essex Junction that the village hosted and I can't remember if you were involved with that but it was Essex gets out it was no so Essex eats out is the other event that the non-profits put on I think the social service agencies the other event was it's on the tip of my tongue maybe they'll come to us but it was really out and about was really just on emphasizing get outside get out and see some people I mean Parks is part of it the administration team is part of it there's so many different layers of people not out and about they did something up there around the village there did they do something I think the person was seeing something they did open it outside that was the one in June as far as Parks and Rec they've got stuff going on throughout the year trying to think of exactly what it was but there's been some food truck events in town the Essex experience did some stuff throughout the summer there was an event weekly event at Price Chopper in town got stuff going on at Five Corners throughout the year so yeah, there's a lot happening Peter Edelman at the Essex Experience they've got tunes and trucks on Wednesday nights maybe Thursday nights also I must be just hungry there's so much going on in Essex these days so we're going to stay on you for a minute because you did this incredible Juneteenth event what do you think about that? so yes, we held the first the first Juneteenth event was held last Juneteenth and you were one of our speakers or one of our performance artists that was really fabulous I read stories out there and that was so many community volunteers came together to realize that event and it was really that to me was sort of a labor of love for a bunch of the students that I'd worked with on the Essex Westford School District's equity policy that was ultimately yep huge advocate was completely behind it was completely in support of input from I'll say the non-white community in BIPOC I don't know the global majority that was really in support of people of color having tremendous input into that policy and we had a lot of students who were involved in that and again Juneteenth would have happened even if I hadn't been involved with the Essex Westford School District equity policy but the moment of celebration of African American contributions to life in the United States as we know it just seemed like a fitting tribute after after some of the conversations that were maybe not so pleasant that happened during the school board meetings before they voted before they ultimately adopted the equity policy and we had some great speakers and then we had another student saying and was our MC for the event amazing and Andre came up saying something yeah so that was cool that was really interesting it was cool a lot of multi-cultural type individuals in the audience and they all came up and read some type of poem fact from your fact cards hundreds of those and they would actually come up and keep reading them so that was cool, I learned a lot from the interviewers it was really, oh yeah it was fun, it was amazing I didn't know that a person of color invented central heating or the sliding double door elevator or what is it called oh my god the super soaker water gun like how did you did the research and found that stuff, was it a whole team who put it together some of the team contributed as well I did the majority of finding the information just because I was more worried about people wasting time with overlapping sources yeah so there was a lot there once you get going you're like oh my god you just can't stop, you just keep doing more research and the cards were so fun and oh my god the volunteers created the cards we strung them out on clothes lines and that's how people were able to take them down and read them so the community was really part of the event and next year I think that that's what's going to define our event in the future is that it's going to be really inclusive some of the volunteers were talking about getting African dance instructors who can dance instructors who might teach a small lesson or something and then the people in the community that took the lesson might perform for the crowd so yeah so I think we're going to reconvene talk about the things that we could have done better and talk about a greater event next year you can name many examples you want but what what you think you could have done better what you could have done better well the location might have been better we might have had the location was great we used the pavilion at the Brownville library but it turned out to be a really sunny day and there wasn't necessarily enough shade the location was great because it was very central and cars were going by so people could see and join if they wanted to but I mean I guess my critique is not about the venue but just thinking about things differently you know that was good the location you just talked about the environment you know there wasn't enough shade so when you were talking I was trying to think in my brain where the face could it be I know you know we traditionally use five corners as a venue and it's a very high profile location and it is fabulous for that reason but I'm not 100% sure from what I've heard from community members that it's necessarily the most central venue that it's we see the same faces at events and so that was one of the reasons for the expansion because you Wilson wrote is that we don't hold events on that side of town generally speaking and so why not spread the wealth maybe Fort Ethan Allen Park is a better location I mean maybe it allows people to spread out picnic a little bit more shade trees since I got into the umbrella yeah you gotta people walking to walking right it's served by public transportation yeah so I think that was a good spot for that though right people being able to walk to that location even this little young middle school with their little team and it may be that there's not one ideal location I just can't think of another but based on what you just said that was a good one didn't think about how to transportation you know it's always something right so one more event we help SS and jumping in on Greg did their first national night out and there's something wow that was cool chief Ron was so happy about how the outcome he felt the measurements was good I did too I really did too so many different John Roddenberg Roddenberg Corporal Roddenberg boy he did a lot he pulled so much stuff together from individuals who just wanted to be a part of it you know the lions club and you know the army name you know people you know national guard was there right with there and the army band that was awesome they got a lot of donations and sponsorships and so everything was free at that event and I know I saw at least a couple of single moms with kids who came towards the end who were really excited that there was no cost to anything and that you know their kids could be part of this event and there were all sorts of information booths and the other tone manager was flipping hot I told him it was the best I know he was steady too he was just going he's been volunteered for next year too he'll be back we just had some confidence I said you know great you're going to be flipping dogs wait man I never Evan was so good at it he had his team out there I think that was good like a national night I was happy they asked me to help plant it I was letting them know what national night is because I planned a few some other cities helped plan a few so the thing is that a national night out is an event across the country that's usually put on by police departments and basically just a way to say we love our community let's work together let's we want to give back to you not necessarily give back but we want to just do these things in our community normally they have a parade they start with a parade most of us start with a parade and everything else we did the parade was a little tricky for us but we did everything free food, refreshments, face painting bounce houses, DJ's bands cool cool paraphernalia from the armed forces with big old trucks and a hundred foot ladder all the way up who don't want to see that? I know I felt like a five year old I was like that is really cool I could see it from a distance and I was like oh my god that's really cool I grabbed two bottles of bubbles and they hurt but another important aspect of national night out is the sense of the police going into the community without their uniforms and creating relationships with community members I mean the serious note of that is just that after all of the violence and protests and anger that right that rippled across the world you know I think that there is a real need for those sorts of events that support, reinforce, create those relationships I think last year during COVID one of the big things that I got out of it and I think a lot of people did was that life is all about relationships work is all about relationships it's all about understanding understanding who's around you who you want around you understanding how to build ties to your community and to people that you don't even know and the big deal about it when we've talked about this and that's one of my objectives is to get the people who live in the community to plan it I mean every beginning I'm Italian I want to show I want to bring some of my Italian peers or family and community to the block club and guess what we're going to make meatballs and spaghetti or whatever and when you taste the sauce and the meatball they're going to be giving it to you quick grandmother's recipes wonderful I can't wait to start planning those but also too we've got to bring them all together how many years have you heard melting pot but really you have to you've got to get all these individuals diversified individuals and niceties together so we can all learn about cultures we all need to learn about each other and you don't have to learn about it from A to Z but we need to learn about what all of us do, who we are what's our cultures and why you wear your turban or whatever what does that mean why you wear certain colors different things I don't totally understand I know someone about it on the surface but I want to know more so one of the groups that we'll be performing at Out and About is going to be the Nepali cultural dance group I've seen them perform more than once they're amazing, I've just seen a video of them and I can't wait to see them in person and Jitan Khadka was my connection to this group and I'm so excited about what he talked about how he talked about taking a moment to explain the tradition of the dance to explain the importance and the symbolism of the outfits that they're wearing as he expressed it that someone's walking down the street in traditional Nepali garb and people know what it is people feel like they embrace it because they understand something about it and they it's just about education and really looking at exposure and Jitan, he knows about it because those dancers we had them perform for us when they were in Berlin High School so look at the message now they're like, you know they're all stars now, you know what I'm saying and he was in high school too and so while we had him performing to come to his auditorium actually and God, what a performance something else, you know it's like the Irish dancers wow, do you see the Irish dancers? I mean, how do they be able to dance like that and then jump up and then back down I used to see them dancing on the table at Rira me too I love that how do you do that? and we are talking about within the town and the village talking about how to fold in more cultural events diverse populations involved on our boards and committees and holding events and doing things intentionally like so that's part of the incentive behind these events is just it's community building, it's getting people out it's coming together, it's celebrating the positives around Essex and that's the Juneteenth or Out and About or National Night Out but just getting people to come together to see each other the bosses in the community and appreciate each other and also too they need to feel a part of something and then do things so they know what they feel they're worth that's my thing every year that's what we're going to be doing we're going to do the dance just see a little piece of yourself reflected in the goings on in a community makes you feel more of a sense of belonging bring some of that stuff to your house right into the community and that's very important very important and nothing too administrators shouldn't be out there doing that just like me and my youth advisory boards I don't tell them you've come to this dance my youth advisory boards do it, my job is to get the building get the permits, get the security that's my job and that's it I'm not supposed to be out there hustling getting to bring all the people together so my youth advisory board are the people and same as your community residents they are the people they don't want you to be doing it and guess what, they're going to want to do it I've done over 700 events so I already know that they want to do it they're going to be so excited to do it because they want to share themselves and their family and culture and everything that's a great example of how to do it right, how to involve youth properly I know one of the things that I noticed working with youth on the equity policy was that a lot of times youth are invited to the table but sort of as a gestural proposition as opposed to any sort of meaningful interaction or expecting any sort of meaningful input and so taking that extra to empower youth and give them meaningful roles and get meaningful input from them I mean, coerce it out of them until they're ready until they feel comfortable and safe in an environment where adults have not asked them traditionally for any advice or information or input or anything is really important and so it's nurturing it You know, my organization created youth on boards on three. They said on a police commission a planning commission in Skupo and so now we're going to we amended it and now they have, we added more boards to commission in Burlington and they got voting rights now they can't be in certain qualms but they definitely have voting and so what's going to happen, I'll just talk in Evan don't happen in Evan South Burlington we have something to do they did it, they made a resolution Don turning Milton and a lot of the mayor said Bruce, we got positions just some sign up so youth on boards is important this year has going to be different from the other years that you've been on boards is that exactly what you said they said now, like if they're on a finance finance committee which is pretty damn boring I think it is some kids might like it they think they'd like it it's a good resume, building for them it's a good way to get into getting a for CPA or whatever but the thing is that now, because my youth board president we're around the Collinstrum and Sophomore at Burlington High School now we're going to do like you have to make sure that they have youth agenda items on these boards they had to come in and talk about if you've got $600 left in the daggon finance plan, let's spend it on some youth education around some come whatever, visit them to the zoos I don't know, whatever but they're going to have youth agenda items and the rest of the board which our youth board is going to sit on these commissions and committees are going to work with them they're not going to be like if you're on a finance committee or you're on a police committee they're going to work together and say how can I help you on your thing what can we do like that let's use some of this money for the police committee help our peers do the things that they want to do so Ok has a network which we're very happy about I'm very happy about so that's the whole thing the youth board is like the community let them make the decision on the programs, projects, events that they want to do let them feel they buy in we're making successful people by doing this because somebody got a letter from one of you guys because they work with you on some committee or board college you know they're probably going to go so how important is that for us in the community and the other thing you said too if you for planning things with you on your board department we don't want them to become part of your department we're tired of going out to Ruba somewhere but anyways we don't want them to say let's just get rid of everything Bruce did and start from scratch we want to say Bruce is not hitting them we're in charge let's amend to the following can we help plan it right so that's what we want continuity that's what's going to happen so now we'll keep going but I'll talk about this big event so let's talk about we still got a little time are you still good for time let's talk about justice, equity diversity and inclusion now a lot of cities around Vermont have some issues around it when I came it was the white state of America it seems like it was a good thing I wasn't sure whether I was a little bit confused about that too when people said we were the whitest state in the United States it's okay it's okay but the reason why people don't understand much about equity, diversity and inclusion or even justice people who like me don't get the right sentence instruction because of our physiologists like me I'm like you see me doing my arms like this and that could seem threatening to some people instead of getting like a disorder they might give me a simple assault and they have been doing that so you gotta understand who I am first and so another thing too I understand it's all about education white people not people of color should learn about like we're gonna be doing more of first of all I don't go to school with you I'm not going to your church when I walk around and you know what I'm saying how do you really know about me you know about me through magazines you know about me through the news you know about me through what people say there are typical things and they're not all saying like I walk around and I got my booze cap on you know what I'm saying I'm looking like I'm from the South Side of Chicago yeah but I am from the South Side of Chicago I am but I'm from Hyde Park but still I got in trouble too but you know but I was one of the richest part of the city in Chicago but anyways I went to Northwestern but they don't know that and they don't know what people's cultures are usually they have the negative stuff on the news black people is turning up the town looking at how they live all these things but they don't understand that more white people live worse than that than black people and then that's so white about all that but the thing is that now you got to understand when you learn about Bruce Wilson oh god he's got this program that's over 50 wars he's got all these programs for youth and families and he does here in white state America here's the guy most of my clientele is not black you know why because they're not here so once they understand what I do and who I am it's just changes you know what I'm saying they start like oh wow look at this guy I know about the youth centers in the malls I know about all those murals around the community I know about the programs that they did in the schools you know what I mean that's you you know what I mean it's the people who I serve we all work together to do it but yeah they don't even understand that it's a black person doing all this for this state at least four places for a long time for free to youth, for families in the community had the best stuff brand new stuff, best stuff in our places best stuff in our art galleries nice gigantic that was like 5,000 square feet so you know what I'm saying we don't come crappy with nobody we stay high we don't want to like walk it in a crappy place it's got to be nice so a lot of people don't even know when I sit in my own art gallery I come stand at the front desk and they say oh wow and then you know they ask questions and I say yeah well you got artists, yeah well let me see some art and they show it to me I say wow that's incredible here's my director's card and tell her that she talked to me and we'll make sure he's getting in I'm telling you right I'm getting caught blunt you got it right like you know how could that be you know this is like 5,000 square feet, gigantic art incredible art everywhere how could you be the one to charge this and so I get it they just can't believe that there's a lot of things we do they believe it's me and I stay low I don't mean like I do this or do that so that's what I'm trying to say people need to know about us they need to know they can start right today they can be a part of what we do they can be a part of your image out and about even be a part of National Night Out and be a part of what we're going to do in the community bringing those cultures together so this can be a part you can start right now and you can understand what they do so what are you guys doing with that equity, diversity and inclusion what are you working on how are you bridging I know you got Erin McGuire working in within the school district doing that work and I guess Margarita you got something CCE we have a CEE Comedian Equity and Essex Comedian Equity and Essex sorry a lot of the stuff that Essex has been working on growing on trying to improve on trying to recognize and get better at basically since George Floyd was murdered last year and the community came to the select board they came to the trustees and they said what are you doing about it what are we going to do here in Essex and from there we've been trying to respond we have been responding the term is it can be slow going and that can be frustrating but as far as not having everything change right away but we've got a small group internally that's Erin McGuire from the school district is part of that it's Jill Evans the community justice center director Chief Ron Hoyg of the police department Aouiso's on the committee Mark Riet Ladd who's our assistant manager and Evan Teach who's the unified manager in that group they act as a steering committee in terms of getting some of this stuff going and trying to identify issues trying to bring in some training for some of the staff from some of our officials we're working closely with Tabitha Moore Sue McCormick of creative discourse we've been giving us some guidance and some leadership in that area we have a racial I'm blanking racial and policing task force it was formerly the policing racial justice and safety task force and now it's Essex best building equities solidarity and trust oh great so they've got three subcommittees that are meeting regularly trying to figure out how do we get more representation on our boards and committees how do we work on policing how do we do better communications to the community some of the stuff we've done the town and the village both adopted in the budget this year we're giving stipends to volunteers and our boards and committees it's something that we'd heard would be useful for and try to get more people out it would be to try to recognize that people are giving up time they might need some money for transportation for food, for childcare so that's one of the things we've done it's actually a tangible benefit a tangible outcome from some of this work that we've been doing and the events the Juneteenth event that was the first time that happened in Essex all the events it's all this effort at community building that you were describing before I think that's at the heart of equity, racial justice and inclusion I mean until we know each other and feel comfortable with each other I mean there's apprehension probably on both sides and these community building events really start to break down those walls I mean when you're watching a band having a beer with someone watching your kids play together because the kids don't care they don't notice they see another kid that looks their age and door not their age but they see another small person who will run around with them and they're all about that those sorts of encounters creating those opportunities for those encounters makes such a difference I don't know if I told you the story I probably did when you talk about kids don't really care they color blind and so I was down on church street and I was right there by where the mall is in the second zone got all about heading towards the church Unitarian church and so I was standing in the street like a mule whatever and this little girl walked up on me she was probably like 4 years old her mother let her hand go and her mother walked over here to one of those stores and then her daughter walked over to me and she grabbed my arm and started rubbing my arm my hand like this I think she was trying to see if this black come off me and her mother said don't do that I said yeah let her do it let her do it they walked all the way to Unitarian church that little girl was looking back at me all the way waving back at her to me that was like that's one of the biggest things in my life right there let's see that girl do that try to rub this black off me I might have been the first black person she ever saw in her life she's only 4 years old probably somebody said I was the third one but anyways 3rd, 1st where she lives she might never saw a black person you know she walked she started looking at me she started rubbing my trying to rub the black off me that just speaks volumes though that was so cool man she looked approachable enough for her not to be scared you know they don't care about they got they walk up on you especially with 4 years old they're just adventurous they little minds want to know but I thought that was what her mother was so embarrassed I was like oh man no don't let her stop I said I'm good with that that's a good lesson for her she went she's like this guy he don't look like me let me walk up on when she does it when she's 4 means she's not going to do it when she's 24 she could be married to somebody but I bet she's going to learn more about the culture of people who look like me I'm guaranteed she will because when she sees her book you know that's one of my highlights in my life right now that little girl she just waved all the way smiles and waves from kids the nicest things what are some of the boards tell me what are some of the boards and committees that people can volunteer for and get stipends the stipends are going to be available to all of the boards what are some of the boards and committees that you well since you mentioned this we have vacancies on the housing commission on the economic development commission there's an energy committee conservation and trails the village has a bike walk advisory committee a tree advisory committee a capital planning committee we've got plenty of opportunities I think television is looking for representatives from f6 so there's another opportunity help us both out what was that Jordan told me he was coming to do your show the other day with the trustee show was that yesterday Tuesday he knew you tell my cello so that's cool alright so you want to add anything you know so what else is going to what's coming up so you guys are busy going everything is good economics is good for us is the economics good for the town I mean the city is it all good everything's worked out you got money for everything we were pleasantly surprised that the tax receipts came in just as they always do as well as they always do during covid what was going to happen with unemployment and people's ability to pay taxes but they came in taxes were due yesterday the latest installment we are starting to work on budgets now it's budget season so we're already planning ten months ahead and prepping that stuff for the boards to look at and the residents to vote on in March and April we do hope that any renters that may be struggling reach out to us either through the housing commission development generally or finance if they feel comfortable going to finance but you know we want to create these relationships that we haven't historically had in the community I think it's historically and you can correct me if I'm wrong I feel as though there was government and then there were the people and I feel as though there was some there wasn't necessarily as much outreach as we're doing right now it's been up and down so I've been with Essex for about nine years right when I was starting Essex was in the middle of a project called Heart and Soul, Heart and Soul of Essex and that was really based around getting that community engagement, getting that input and we learned a lot of lessons from that the challenges it takes a lot of time and it's hard and it's an ongoing process to keep doing it and people like Oviso are here and great at it and committed to it and that's a big part of it for people who have challenges paying we work with try to work with their taxpayers put them on payment plans try to get them so that they can find the finances that work for them that also continue their commitment to us less stress for them they feel better, they feel like the community is actually helping them they actually want to work with me to help me that's so important because they'll get back to you they'll get back to you as well volunteering on some of these committees and commissions and helping them make some decisions on things that you're doing have some great ideas probably because they live there see a lot of things one more plug, the Vermont Housing Finance Authority has some federal dollars coming in for COVID relief through ARPA Money they're also helping out with is it mortgage assistance or renter assistance? both okay great so there's another opportunity for people, the Vermont Housing Finance Authority and just another resource that people can benefit from I think the focus may be more on renters but because I think that there was there were initiatives before and so here's a little breaking news I was just elected to be on the steering committee of the Vermont Affordable Housing Coalition I'm glad you only got the right person too well thank you I'm really excited to sort of bring my knowledge to that committee but also bring that knowledge that that committee has I mean there's a vast amount of knowledge and expertise in that committee to be able to bring that to Essex so exactly what's their main objective this committee? all levels of and any and all levels and all aspects of affordable housing whether it's social services homelessness you name it I don't think that I could pinpoint any one thing that they do they're literally that umbrella of affordability and focusing on that for the state of Vermont so great so let's talk, why don't you say something about this master plan you know is that people might be here I'm putting your hand for me I'll hold it, this is Oiso's project she should be proud of it and the Essex Planning Commission but I'll just be the model here while Oiso talks about it I helped to bring it home this is the Essex Town Center master plan and it lays out the vision for a better connected wait we haven't go ahead girl you go ahead and tell us what you're talking about better connected, more cohesive town center and this is a better connected more cohesive town center yes and so the um I'm going to find the pictures there's a nice map there's a nice area we're talking about I think Greg started on this this project was um a three year effort oh at least yeah three and a half almost four years centered around the Essex Outlets um what you're now called the Essex Experience and it's um the historical down to the historical center of Essex which is down at the corner of Roots 15 and 128 Towers Road um kind of down by Hoagies Memorial Hall that area and so all the land use and area around there so yeah and it's going to serve as the foundation for the zoning changes that we make and what we hopefully um how we develop that area the mixed use neighborhood so what that mean mixed use is is generally residential mixed with um with commercial or and retail sometimes it's commercial and retail but that to me is sort of a big mixed use it's I generally think of mixed use as residential and commercial and so um you know it seemed like a lot of cities doing plants right they get the BTV plant in Burlington oh yeah no we're doing this one this is a live document this is going to be a living document it's not going on a shelf in fact one of the one of the changes that um that I encouraged when um when I first got this was that it was on an 11 by 17 um it was an 11 by 17 inch format which really made it a coffee table book I mean to be able to turn the pages I'm doing this and I can't I don't have space for anything else on my desk and I'm like why do we have this if this is going to be something that people are actually going to use it's literally got to be in a format that sits in your hand that you don't need to make special place for it's not a coffee table book it's an active living document it was a gift but we got a copy back at the office but we want we don't want to just plan we want to do and I think we have a good track record of doing after we do the planning we still work now on doing the zoning updates we focused on that about five years ago now Essex adopted its town plan I mentioned Heart and Soul Heart and Soul was kind of the framework that went into the town plan which is the vision for the community for the next eight years it's required by the state but we do it and then we do the stuff in it and um the housing commission creating a housing commission which is pretty new that came out of the town plan we've got a conservation fund that we adopted a few years ago that came out of the town plan it's something that all residents contributed to and we did like a photo contest to get people involved did a lot of neat stuff around the heart and soul and it's something that won some awards it's something for the community to be proud of and to be even more proud of that to actually be doing the stuff in there and start chipping away at the stuff that residents said they wanted I've got to put in a plug for the housing commission because they have been they've been formed they've been formed for less than a year and they're planning on addressing the um the select board on inclusionary zoning next month and that will be followed by another presentation from a subcommittee on the housing trust fund on a potential housing trust fund and how that could look and these are all aspects from our plans and our assessment like things that we're actually putting into action and these are dedicated volunteers that are doing these things working with staff and you know I mean that's an example it's a huge example of it takes a village they just gave their support we worked with Champlain housing trust and Vermont foundation of recovery recently they own some property in Fort Ethan Allen that they're converting into recovery housing for people who are coming off of substance abuse and they got a grant opportunity that the town is supporting them on the housing commission reviewed that and gave it support they showed up with the select board meeting on Monday night they eagerly and proudly gave their support wow that's awesome SS is doing a lot and we're proud of SS I'll be working with you guys more soon so that's partying last words thanks for having us on everybody come out in about October 2nd and 3rd it's gonna be all over Essex showcase what we're about and all the fabulous businesses that we have and restaurants and people in the community hope you can make it well thank you everyone for joining the SS show we're gonna have you back again and talk about what's the measurements a lot of things we talked about thank you for tuning in