 of the town select board. I'm going to kick off our speaking portion of the program here. First off, I'd like to again thank you all for coming. I'd like to thank Sherri-Ann from SisterSpeak and Rick Hagechel and his family, his wife Tammy and daughter Blake for their performances. Thank you so much. And then I'd like to introduce the facilitator for our guest speakers. Fatima Khan. She's a senior at Essex High School. Fatima's involved in the community through Essex Chips where she's on the board of directors and through the Brownout Library where she's on the board of trustees. So Fatima. Hi, my name is Fatima Khan. I'm currently a senior at Essex High School. I'm really excited to be here today and see so many wonderful faces. This is such a great community event and I'm really excited. So I'm introducing the first speaker, Ali Diyang. Ali is the building Bright Futures Regional Manager supporting the Chittenden Center of Vermont and Franklin and Grand Isle Regions. Ali is the founder and former manager of the Burlington School District Parent University Program where he engaged parents, educators and community partners. Ali is the co-founder of the Vermont New Americans Advisory Council, VNAAC, an organization working to increase civic engagement and a sense of belonging among the new American population. Ali is a third time elected Burlington City Councilor and the chair of the Racial Equity Inclusion and Belonging Committee for the City of Burlington. Ali, please come up. We'd love to hear from you. Hi, can you hear me well? Thank you and hopefully this will stay well and please join me again in giving a round of applause to Fan for her great work in the town of Essex. Thank you so much because this is exactly what is needed, what this country, what this state and also the town definitely need like young people like her to step up and be civically engaged. Thank you again for all that you do. I was really impressed by also the performers from, as we all know, we all live in this Abenaki land and to all Abenakis we also want to say thank you for welcoming us in this great state. And you have a name for it but I don't know what it is, but thank you. And also Sister, I mean, when you were definitely doing that song about having a crush, I had a crush on Kenagens, every one of you. Thank you so much for all that you do as well. Yes, you know, I think it will be also important for somebody maybe to educate me about what's going on in Essex. I don't know, you know, about the town of Essex, the village of Essex, I am so lost, right? And hope that you, whatever it is, people are enjoying it and people want to make this state, this part of the state a great, wonderful one, right? Thank you for doing what you do every single day and for the beautiful table, you know, and all that you do. It is imperative because this is exactly what it takes to build a community and a strong one, right? But we all need to strive for unity and also for action, right? And also show the rest of the nation that in the state of Vermont we do it well and we do it meaningfully and we rely on the people that live, work and raise their children here to make it better. Thank you very much. My name is Ali Jang. I am originally from Mauritania, West Africa. That's my story and I immigrated here in 2007 with my wife, who I met back home in Mauritania. She was a Peace Corps volunteer and I was an active member of my city and we met, we worked together and with all the Peace Corps AmeriCorps members to fight glaucoma, to fight AIDS and to involve youth, you know, with activities that will help them ultimately to go back to school. So I created an English club. That's how I met my wife and for those that don't know, Mauritania is a French-speaking country but I was courageous enough to build English, you know, within our curriculum back home in Rosso. And I fell in love with her and I came here in 2007. We lived in Washington, D.C. and until we had a baby and then we moved here and she joined, I believe, Karen in Atangafri Vermont and now she works for the state. We have two beautiful children. We live in Burlington and I do a lot for my city and also for the state. But today I'm here to talk about, you know, Vermonters, we must renew civic engagement, strengthen trust, civility and democratic decision making while empowering young Vermonters. As you know, in the state of Vermont, the largest population of the local New American is made out of refugees, immigrants, asylum seekers. Reason why the refugee resettlement state was created in late early 80s, now making Chittenden County the most ethnically diverse county in the state. Despite these significant and ongoing challenges, civic engagement remained vastly inaccessible to New Americans in the area. Prohibitive policies and practices around language access along with the lack of educational and informational resources and platform to draw New American into the democratic process have led to the mass dissent franchisement of New Americans living in Vermont. There is a critical need for New Americans who live here, work here, raise here to be civically engaged and have a say in the public sphere of the country, the communities that we are all rightfully calling home. Everyone has a story, our story on Earth, our shared humanity and have the power to break down oppressive stereotypes. Silencing this power is part of the tyranny of marginalization. As an aging state, you know, we with almost one third of the population over the age of 60 in the state of Vermont. It is imperative to strengthen the sense of belonging and engaging all Vermonters across the lifespan. Not all the ones, not younger one, but every single Vermonters. It is especially important to engage young Vermonters as well. This ethnically diverse demographic in our decision making processes so that they are involved early and see Vermont as a place where they are welcome and valued. When we talk about civic engagement, let's move away most of the time from just those who are educated or those who have the means, basically homes, you have a business. At the state house, you won't see a lot of young people. We have a problem that we need to change. You don't see a lot of people of color. We have a problem that we need to solve. You don't see a lot of women, but I think that one is changing now. Yes, the women's please give yourself those of you who are stepping up every single day. Yes, stepping up to definitely because leadership, the face of leadership is changing in that area, but we still have a long way to go. As you know, also Vermont accomplishments in terms of making demographic participation easier and more accessible is all inspiring. Vermonters adapted meaningfully and provided a strong coordinated approach to beat the COVID-19. The COVID-19 public health emergency has highlighted the gaps in our system, but we must recognize and appreciate the tangible action steps that our state leaders have taken to secure meaningfully meaningful participation. The universal mailing ballot legislation being a primary example. I think we have done something meaningful and during a public health emergency. The public health emergency also has also highlighted our gaps in our evolving system of governance. In Chittenden County, the most diverse place in the state, we have witnessed many local organizations such as Howard Center, the Association of African Living in Vermont, the Vermont New American Advisory Council coming together to fill the gaps, providing critical information about fighting this virus to new American communities and making that information accessible via oral communication, translated outreach materials and written videos also that were translated. I think when people come together, we definitely show the power of concrete action. We have done it. No one was felt, no one felt left behind. The issues here in that state should not consider the need of new American as an afterthought. Those processes did not exist, but COVID did open our eyes. But I am confident that this will no longer be an afterthought. The need for accessible information, cultural, appropriate materials and intentional outreach to increase engagement must be at the forefront of our efforts. I am confident that this town of Essex or the village of Essex, whatever it is, I'm confident that moving forward that you will do it. I got always inspired by my good friend, Gino Sullivan, who I feel now is in your system of governance. You guys are lucky and I want to also take the time for you to please applause her for the invitation and everything that she has done. She has done, yes, for the state of Vermont as a legislator for the city of Burlington and now for this town or village of Essex. Thank you, Gene. Yes. We can do and we must do better. Doing so requires both focus and investment. Con story, as someone who step up and leading, should be replicated in all area of governance in our local organizations. We need to meaningfully increase participation from young people and also from those that are called new Americans in the state of Vermont. There has also been a lot of great work in the city of Burlington. I'm going to talk about just a few. It has, because the Burlington school district, the city of Burlington, they have taken some key steps. It has established a language access plan. The city of Burlington is doing it for the first time, making sure that new Americans and those who do not speak English or who do not see English as their primary language, how do we make sure that they have access to all the great things happening in the state? Great language access plan. The Burlington school district has established a family and community engagement program to empower families as equal partners in their children's education. And it was through the parents university program that I have created in 2014. It is going very strong. I just created it and now I'm out. But all the people are strengthening and making it better. And young people have demonstrated their own power in the city of Burlington. I don't know if you remember the summer of 2020, they outlined demands about the public safety. It was challenging, but they have done it. Their ideas, their energies is always needed. It is supported, they're learning as well as their growth. They might not need a stipend, including young people might not need to give them a stipend. No, but a successful completion of their service, they could access college credit or scholarships. The state is better off when young people are involved and in the decision making processes that shape the future and the future of our state. Vermonters have a long tradition of seeking input and delegating and debating issues. We are all experiencing a different level of community conversation with the rise of social media platforms. While social media can be beneficial to share critical information, it also raises, it also raises some level of toxicity. We must be mindful to the impact that negative engagement could also have. We must also be mindful that the next generation is paying attention, as we respect each other, to the present precedents that we set as adults. Let us call for civility in all of our decision and our debates, because children are watching. The more that elected leaders can remind their constituents that while we disagree, we should stay civil. We can strengthen trust and lead by example for the future Vermonters. This is the responsibility of all Vermonters, to not bring negativity in our discourse, but rather to make sure that all voices are being heard and respected. This is meaningful participation in our democracy. In closing, despite our political affiliation or our disagreements around polarizing issues, Vermonters, especially elected officials, are accessible to their constituents. Karen is right here and I'm pretty sure a new representative, Grafano, is like right here. We do not shy away from talking to the people that elected us. We respect them and actually we do definitely appreciate that level of engagement from them. Any decision that we make, we do it on behalf of the people that elected us. None of them, I can tell on behalf of all the Burlington City Councils, none of us are running away from hard topic. But all we need is just please respect and civility. It is a human nature to have completely different viewpoints on issues, but we are also required for the health of our democracy to see in each other the common humanity, the shared dignity and love of our state, of our neighbors, and of our city or town. The shared dignity and love of our state, our city, our neighborhood, our family. The shared dignity again and love of our state. I am confident that if we can do these things, we can make a great feature for Vermont and the diversity of all Vermonters. Thank you the town of Essex and the town of Essex. Thank you so much for having me. Thank you. Thank you, Ali. Next, I'm going to introduce Representative Ray Garfano. Ray has been a public servant for the state of Vermont for 16 years, serving in a various leadership roles supporting Vermonters including the most vulnerable populations. In January of 2022, she was appointed to the Vermont House of Representatives to represent Essex. Representative Garfano has a deeply personal commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion, and has been actively engaged in multiple community projects over the past decade to promote racial equity and inclusion. Walk and talk because it's easier for me. So nice to see everyone here and thank you for the sponsors. Thank you Fatima for that lovely, lovely introduction. I'm really, really grateful to be here and I want to spend my time really telling you about me and how I became involved in politics and how I became interested in representing my town and my community. I think that's something that's been lacking in our government is getting young people, marginalized populations involved in our local and state government. I have lived in Vermont since 2005 and I adopted my daughter in 2010, my husband and I. We moved to Essex in 2009 and in 2010 we adopted our daughter. She is black. I'm Iranian American and my husband is an immigrant from Canada with the Italian heritage. So we call ourselves the multinational, multiracial family that shares I think seven or eight passports amongst the three of us. But because my daughter is black and we are raising her in a predominantly white area in the country, we took it upon ourselves to really make sure that our daughter saw mirrors in her life and she had authority figures that were black and look like her and that she wasn't always the only person of color in the room. So that became a mission and when I look back in the last 12 years that she's been in our home and the love of our life, I think about all the things we've done to ensure that we are sometimes uncomfortable and she's not always the one that's uncomfortable. We put ourselves in situations where we are the minority. We travel to places where we're the minority. We friend people, we bring people into our homes where we're the minority and our daughter sees people around. We seek out black professionals in Vermont to do her hair, be her dentist, be her teacher. We drove 45 minutes each way to take her to school when she was in preschool so she can experience having a black teacher in Vermont because we all know how rare that is. So that's kind of what got me started into government and working in community because I started looking around in Essex and I thought that's missing. People that look like me and look like my daughter with my background aren't in leadership positions, in government positions. So I started getting involved with the school district. I was volunteering in her school and there was various amazing organizations within our community that were working to increase diversity, inclusion, help lift up marginalized populations in our community and I thought this is what I need to be and this is what I want my daughter to see me working on in my career, my passion and my free time. As Fatima indicated, I'm a 16 year public servant. I work for the state of Vermont and I've had many, many different roles there but two of my most influential roles at the state working for DCF. One was in 2016, I was hired at the Office of Economic Opportunity working to expand and support a housing program for folks that have experienced chronic homelessness and have a lot of challenges with very young children. In addition to my daughter coming into my life and that job, those are the two things that kind of changed the trajectory of my career and led me to public service because when I was working with these families and seeing the challenges that they had and the lack of public supports that were available to them and the red tape and the bureaucracy that they had to go through just to get the benefits that are supposed to be there to help them, I thought this is fixable. It shouldn't be this complicated when we all pay taxes as a community to ensure that there is a certain level of public service and services available for people that are having a hard time or having a lot of challenges. Those services shouldn't be very difficult to access. They should be available. So that led me to really get involved at work and in my community to find out what can I do? What can I do to help fix the problem? A few years later, I got involved with what is now VIEW and I'm a proud board member. Our organization is growing but our commitment is to increase education around equity and inclusion in our community and work to make sure that people understand why this is important. Ali so eloquently described the problems and the challenges we have in Vermont and with folks, new Americans, marginalized populations and the lack of leadership opportunities that are available to them. So we can do better as a government. We can do a lot more to ensure that people have opportunities and are at the table making the decisions that impact them directly. So in 2018, Mary Beth Redman who was running for the first time for the House of Representatives asked, she's a friend, she asked me if I wanted to help her canvas and get involved in her campaign. I got involved in her campaign and she said, I can see you doing this one year, sometimes soon. And my daughter was young. I was like, this is a long-term goal. It's not something that I'm going to be thinking about right now. And circumstances changed. Mary Beth stepped down in December and I was appointed to the House of Representatives by Governor Scott. And to be at the table in the House of Representatives making decisions has been transformational for me. It has brought a voice of an immigrant, of a person of color, of someone who grew up in poverty, of someone who has a black child to the table where decisions are being made that impact all other people that are like me. So this is what I say to the young people, other people who have the time and the capacity. Get involved, get on school boards, run for city council, run for select board because your voice is what is needed at the table to make decisions about climate change, affordable housing, affordable, high-quality childcare, free public, high-quality education. These are all issues that we all face. And our state, as Ellie mentioned, is an older, aging state. Our population growth will come from immigrants and people of color in the next 20 to 30 years. What will impact Vermont in a real economic way is when those people come here, we need to do what we can to make them stay here. We need to make sure that we support immigrant families, new Americans, and not just give them housing for a few months and then shake off and here, thank you very much, you're on your own. We need to make sure that their children are in schools where they have mirrors and they have teachers that look like them, understand their culture. We need to make sure that we have affordable housing for them. We need to make sure we have high-quality early childhood education accessible to them. I've spent the last three, four years of my life at the state of Vermont working for the Child Development Division and there I have done so much work to make sure that early childhood education includes a lens of diversity and inclusion because the reality is our early childhood education teachers are mostly white. And when they have children of color in their programs, they need their own education on how to teach those children, on what challenges those kids experience and how to lift them and educate them because all that, everything I just said, it doesn't only benefit the immigrants or new people of color that move here or the refugees. It benefits all of us because it will improve Vermont's economy for all of us. It will bring people who have to increase our tax. I didn't have an education until I got my degree as an adult at Champlain College and I am sitting at the table making and passing laws and I push and continue to push for these topics that are priorities of mine because I am someone who has had the benefit of having that lived experience. So if you have that lived experience and you know what it's like to improve the lives of people that need it which will really impact our whole state economy, get involved, work on a campaign. There are so many elections coming up this term. Work on a campaign, donate to a campaign, get involved, run for office, sign up for workshops to teach you how to do it. There are so many resources available. I'm really proud of a lot of the work that organizations that are here have done and across the state to really make this more accessible for people. And you know from the inside, from the House of Representatives, we are doing a lot to make sure that the citizen legislature that we have in Vermont becomes more accessible to people like me, to people who have young children, to people who don't have a spouse that has a great job, that can allow them to just leave their job for five months, to people who need health insurance because those are all priorities that a citizen legislature should prioritize because we should want and respect everyone's voice at the table. Thank you for your time. Thank you. That was really wonderful. Our next speaker is going to be Tracy Delphia. While previously living in South Burlington, Tracy served on the planning commission, multiple committees and as an elected justice of the peace from 2012 until 2017. After moving to Essex in 2017, she was appointed to the zoning board of adjustment in December of 2018 and was elected as a justice of the peace in November of 2020 prior to her election to the town of Essex Select Board in March of 2021. Let me give the floor to her now. Thank you. And thanks for being here on what has turned out to be an absolutely gorgeous day. If you don't like heat like me, it's a beautiful day out. When I was first asked to speak at this event, my one question was, what can I as an almost middle-aged white woman add to this conversation? So I wanted to share a little bit about my experience, how I ended up where I am today, hoping that that gives a path and potentially shines a light for others to do the same. I grew up in a very small town in the lower Adirondack Park. My father was a volunteer firefighter. He also served on our town council. I never remember him spending a dime to run for office, but I remember him having multiple, multiple late night conversations with many, many of our neighbors. My father also taught me a very important lesson that I've tried to live throughout my life. And that is knowing the name of the person who empties your trash and the CEO are equally as important. It speaks to respect and it speaks to value regardless of where someone lies within the organization. When I was a college student, I was involved in student government, caring for my fellow students, implemented a program called SafeRide, run by college students for college students. If you needed a SafeRide back to campus with no questions asked, you called me. I came with a van and picked you up. In South Burlington, I ran for city council. Just sort of on a whim, I woke up one morning and said, hey, I really want to run for office. I quickly became aware of how important money is in elections, whether it be local, whether it be at the statewide level, whether it be at the federal level. And it really frustrated me and I didn't understand why, but I knew that I wanted to fix it. So after I unsuccessfully ran for city council, it opened a window. As things most often do, someone closes the door, typically there's a window that opens and that's where you're supposed to go. I was asked to apply for the planning commission, which I did. I was asked to run for a justice of the peace position, which I did. And that allowed me to really get involved in South Burlington from the ground up to really learn the inner workings of the city in order to prepare me for future work. As mentioned, when I moved to Essex, I wanted to sit back, listen, learn, get to know my neighbors, get to know my community before really dipping my toes in the water to get involved. I applied for the zoning board. I ran for justice of the peace. That allowed me to network, which ties back into the removal. You can't completely remove it, but really focusing on how to run a campaign, how to get involved without having to fund your own campaign. I was fortunate. I have some expendable income where I can fund a campaign initially while waiting for contributions to roll in. Most people do not have that ability. Those people are the people we should be listening to. Those are the people we should be encouraging to raise their voice and really get involved because their voices, their lived experiences, I would argue are more important because who has been making the decisions are folks who do have the money. In Essex, we do have committees that have openings. I would encourage everyone to get involved. Put your name in. It's a great way to learn what we're doing, to have a voice. If you have experience with not particularly zoning regulations, but if you have experience with interpreting rules, if you are detail oriented in that way, you may be a good fit for the ZBA. You may be a good fit for the planning commission. It's a great way to really leverage your skills in a way that's going to make a difference in the community. Committees are also a great way to represent all of the ideas within our community. Another way that we are expanding ways to get involved are hybrid meetings. Even after the first wave, second wave of COVID, we are still having hybrid meetings. What does this mean? This means that single parents can put in headphones while they're making dinner for their children and still be engaged in their local community. Those caring for elderly family members can increase their engagement and raise their voice and be heard within their community. We've also implemented stipends for participants on committees. This can go to fund a babysitter if you are a single parent. If you are the maker of meals in your house, you can order a pizza without money and not have to commit out of your own pocket just to have your voice heard. Or if you need to transport yourself via public transportation, put money in your gas tank, which we know is growing ever, ever more expensive. At the end of the day, my goal is how can we reduce and hopefully eliminate barriers for people to have a voice within their local community. If you have ideas, if you would like to be involved, if you would like to talk, please reach out. I'm always available for conversation. Thank you. Thank you, Tracy. That was great. Before introducing the last speaker, I just want to provide a special mention to Marlin Versami for attending the event. Marlin will not be speaking at the stage with us today, but we're very happy that he's here. Marlin Versami has lived in Essex Junction for about six and a half years and recently earned an elected seat on the EWSD School Board. Marlin grew up in Boston, attending Boston Latin School, the oldest public high school in America before joining the Air Force as a meteorologist. He has spent time in the military and currently works for the National Weather Service. Marlin prides himself as having a sense of service above self and serving the public as one of the best ways he believes he can give to the community. Thank you for being here and please be sure to say hello to Marlin. Our last speaker is going to speak through a video presentation and it's from Shanae Chase Clifford. Shanae grew up in Essex and through her personal experiences, Shanae found social work where she has made addressing and healing trauma, the trauma of poverty, community violence, institutional racism and systemic neglect, her chief priority. Shanae's work earned her the recognition of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation and was named a John Lewis Social Justice Fellow serving the office of Congresswoman Ianna Presley. And so now we're going to view a video presentation from her. And I want to share a very special thank you to the co-sponsors of this event Essex Westford School District, Essex Municipalities and it's both for inclusion in Essex and Westford and every person who made this event possible including you who are showing up today and hopefully enjoying what is beautiful spring slash summer day. What makes Essex such a beautiful place to live is simple, it's teaching every one of us and it is together that we can continue to make our community a place where every person can see themselves still in a life and in thriving. As we navigate our way out of what has been incredibly difficult and tragic years we have an opportunity to step in and come together and heal as a community. Our town, our state and our nation have real fractures in trust and significant collective challenges that we face but we also have collective solutions and core to those solutions are your public and civic engagement. So join an advisory board or committee you'll be able to spark new ideas, engage in conversations with your neighbors and help shape the future of our town. If you've always wanted to get involved in local education and literacy then apply to join the Essex Free Library Board of Trustees. If you're passionate about our town's green spaces and natural areas and trails then join the conservation interest committee. If you love seeing more businesses bringing vibrancy to the Essex experience and want to help support even more new locally owned businesses then we need your voice on the Essex Economic Development Commission. There are many more opportunities and truly all are welcome. We need young people to join these commissions. We need folks of color and new Americans to bring their perspective to these organizations that not only make our town function but make our town a bright and great place to live. These boards do also offer statements our town really wants to make it accessible for you to show up so you can cover your cost of lunch, your travel or childcare to make it to the Essex. We truly need your voice and your energy. You can make a difference in all of our lives and get to meet new people and gain a better understanding of how municipal government and management works and maybe you'll even find a spark to run for office yourself. To learn more about all of these opportunities visit ssbt.org.com Lastly, one of the most essential ways we can all work together to go from where we do thrive is to vote. Make sure you are registered to vote and have a plan to vote. Ballots for the August 9th primary will not be mailed out automatically so make sure you request a ballot from our town clerk if you do not plan to vote in person. And of course, stay engaged. Voting is not just about showing up to your polling place and that moment you first look at a ballot it's about understanding who and what you're actually voting for. So from Congress to the Governor's Mansion to new districts that have been created to represent our town at the State House there are really exciting dreams that are going to have great debates and forums and opportunities for you to engage with candidates and talk about the issues that are most important to you. So show up and ask those questions. Hold candidates with a catapult and get to know what's on the ballot because we have a real opportunity to pursue change and to stand up to the things that we believe in in the selection. So please enjoy the rest of this great event and I can't wait to see you around town soon. Please say hi and wave when you see me on the station. I hope to see you all soon and thank you. I just want to thank Shanae for sending us her video presentation. That was wonderful. Now I'm going to invite all the speakers back to the stage area to answer questions from the audience. The speakers will pass a microphone. So if you wouldn't mind coming up please. I'm going to ask members of the audience to raise their hands and our event host will bring a microphone to them to ask their questions and then members of the speaker panel will answer. What is that process like? What did they do? That process I believe does Tammy collect those? Did those emails go to Tammy? We have an application form on the website that will get sent in to Tammy and then we bring it to the select board. SXBT.org there is a form on the website that gets submitted. Tammy will reach out to you in order to collect your information. It was ultimately go in front of the select board for interviews just some quick vetting and hopefully an appointment. Are there any other questions? This question is for Ali. I'm just curious about if there's any examples that you have seen in Burlington work well to bring people to committees and diversity and including those who do not speak English or who do not have English as a first language to be successful that we might be able to learn from here in Essex. Wonderful, thank you. So I feel like what is the difference sometimes in Burlington is we have so much amount of boards and commissions that diversity of expertise that we are seeking we might not miss people who are interested or have knowledge and expertise and recently the Burlington also allocated 150,000 from its budget to just give intensive to boards and commissions. This never happened before. And also before that we also encourage young people by giving them $400 in order for them to apply to become on boards and commissions. But I feel like most of the time also in Burlington it's a fight even to access a board or commission because so many people are fighting for one. And to your question I think why it's important also is that decisions are the holder, right? And even that is also sometimes making it harder for people who are asailis or refugees to get involved. I think it's a working progress but I think comparing Burlington sometime to the town of Essex is a little bit different too. I love the town too. Thank you. To demonstrate what you can do on a board or committee could you maybe each say one thing that you're really most proud of through your community service? I can start. I'm super proud of the work that we've been doing with The View, Voices for Inclusion Essex and Westford. We've, you know, it started as a very small community project and we grew it and even through the pandemic we're able to hold events, virtual book reads and really put some effort into engaging and educating the community and last fall we became a non-profit. We just hired our first project manager that's going to work on implementing the plans that we've planned out for this year and we've been doing some fundraising and really have a lot of plans and goals for that organization to be involved with all of you and, you know, we would love to see more community involvement. We have monthly meetings so please reach out, go to our website and sign up to attend and then I'll share a little bit about my work at the legislature. I'm on the Human Services Committee as our retiring chair. The remarkable Anne Pugh says it's the People Committee which is the perfect place for me. We've done some really remarkable transformational legislation this year, Prop 5 which is the reproductive rights amendment is out of our committee and I'm just so honored to have had the opportunity to vote on that proposition this year. We have also done a lot of work this year on substance misuse treatment programs to support folks with substance challenges. We have done a lot of work on disability support programs for families who have disabled adult children. So it's just been really, again, coming from my background to be able to always inject the voice and the equity lens has been really amazing and an honor. Is it okay if I give two? In South Burlington, sitting on the planning commission, the city as a result of a litigation, the city had to work with a developer to develop zoning regulations for a very specific part of the city. I sat on that committee as the planning commission representative, worked with the developer, worked with the community, the open space committee in order to come up with a solution that was amenable for everybody and ultimately it went into effect and everybody was happy with the result. The other example is separation talks. Essex has been lively over the last year or so and really focusing on leaning in and having those difficult conversations. Whether or not I agree isn't the important part but it's having that discussion even though they're difficult and there are emotions involved but really coming up with a solution that I think will work for everyone and that we've all had a voice in. Thank you. So I feel like my achievement before even becoming a city counselor, I created the family parent university program which is to increase engagement from new Americans in their children's education. The program is going very strong. So when I became a city counselor also I noticed that we did not have a racial equity inclusion even position at the city level. I brought the resolution that created a racial equity inclusion and belonging department, not even a position but a department and also the creation of the racial equity inclusion and belonging committee which I share now. Those are my personal initiative because of just love of my city, identifying the gaps where we put an action in motion. It's going well. Something very specific for my, the neighborhood that I represent which is the New North End, I run on bringing a library in the New North End and I was successful after let's say five years and for last summer we integrated the library of the New North End. Also in my neighborhood we did not have an ambulance but what I wanted is definitely to have a community health center and the resources I changed course and then worked with the mayor to bring an ambulance that is now fully staffed with nine people. All of those are accomplishment of my civic engagement trying to identify gaps, what is missing and working, collaborating with others to make them happen. I know you did arrive in Vermont when you first came here but is there something that we can do at the municipal level that would help in terms of what your experience was the website has all sorts of languages now then a part of it from my estimation from living in different places is part of scaling welcomed and use the word year and I think that's part of it. Do you have any types of recommendations that we can do at the municipal level? I have some thoughts. My experience was different because I came in the 80s and the environment was very different in Southern California but one thing I do remember is a supportive program and I think that's been my work I mentioned with the office of economic opportunity supporting families who experience chronic homelessness I think when there's a problem and you have a group of people who are experiencing that problem it would be nice to have a website people can go to and access information but do people know how to access that website? Do people know what to look for on that website? Culturally do they know? I know in my culture I'm Iranian American generally people can be meek and not ask questions and not advocate for themselves especially in a new environment not knowing the language so I don't know my thoughts are have a program that supports people that's what's going to make an impact and those supports should come from people that look like them and understand their culture and can really help people continue to honor their culture but also learn how to do things here because I know like the immigrants that are coming from Afghanistan right now like my understanding and I'm not at least you're more familiar with what AALV and USCRI offer but my understanding is that it's just one year of supports and Matt like if you gave me one year of supports after I came here and was just kind of dropped me off like how are people supposed to find housing, childcare how are they supposed to know what benefits they have what's available to them I mean there are resources out there but people just don't know about them and if you're an immigrant and you're American it's just that much harder but those are my thoughts in Michigan one of our experiences in terms of us as a municipality is to identify people who just moved here and maybe create some kind of welcoming packet mentorship so I don't know if we have a musical level a way to identify some who just moved here to in a way kind of have some kind of community or welcoming crew or something that kind of approached them so that we can find out what they need like a resource packet in it even if they don't speak another language you'll get translation services and things like that but it seems to me like that's one of our limitations is we can't figure out how to bridge that divide and access so that people understand that we are here to help but we can't identify people who need help often and how do we identify people who need help yeah I mean for me personally and I know I'm hugging the mic a little bit but I would really as a legislator I really love to spend the summer and like the early next session is understanding how that like does USCRI or ALV can they give towns information on who's new in their community so we can wrap them with some supportive service or just offer help you know that is available because like we all know there are resources there we just it's part of it is connected you know there's volunteers so I would love to kind of delve into that a little bit more this summer and do research on how are you know I've been doing research on some of like the databases that are available to candidates like and race and ethnicity is not listed on there so I mean we ran into this at the state level which I don't know if you've all followed but there's been some investments made this session and data systems and upgrading data systems so that information is collected so we can look back and see where the gaps like we don't even know because we don't have the capacity to actually have know the information know the numbers know who's being impacted and why so I'd love to you know delve into that more and try to figure out you know what's available that we can leverage and then next where the gaps you and that the because the website I noticed does have a ton of languages now was there a metric to measure whether that helped or worked or is working? Yeah I think that's a great question and the first question too was was very good and to your last question how do we ensure that this is successful that people are actually reading it I do not think that there was a metric but now you just reminded me that okay we talked about and we putting all these resources including translating materials but is it really accessible right but I remember during the COVID-19 the only way we would know whether or not people are accessing the information is through YouTube because a number of views would give you an idea about who's doing what and who's accessing what information and who's not asking you for asking that and I do believe to your initial question that yeah being in boards and commission is perfect but also we need to be intentional in hiring the staff to represent the people that we serve like do you have a Nepali on staff do you have a Somali person on staff it's important but also very important we have boards around economic development but how about creating a committee that is specific in looking into civic engagement and sense of belonging and not from the perspective of only those who need language support but also the gaze the lesbian, the transgender it's they are old people they live in our community and we have to create a committee where all the you know minority groups can reflect about what the town of Essex can better do for all of us I think the creation of the committee is something tangible and you know invite people to be on board and also to serve this great town of Essex thank you I've worked really hard to keep my children to be fluent in Spanish it's a struggle but it's connected me to organizations like Migrant Justice that work with people that really wouldn't have a voice if it wasn't for them taking it like having to organize themselves which is really exciting to see how does a community like Essex start to recognize that there are people living in the shadows in Essex and when we keep the conversation as oh Vermont is so white Vermont is so white that you're just eliminating supporting your economy you know and even in a place like Essex that is not Winooski or Burlington you know there are people living here you know we see them at Hannaford's sending money home at the western union desk I see them shopping for cilantro and hot sauce like you know how do we make sure that people that maybe don't want to join a committee don't feel safe you know don't have the transportation don't have the schedule still have a voice I think it all goes back to what's known as the platinum rule instead of the golden rule it's not treat others how you want to be treated it's treat others how they need to be treated and we need to step one continue to have conversations like this realize that those folks do live in our community they are should not be invisible their voices should be heard and it's we really need to focus on communication as a whole our communication mechanisms it's not are we getting the word out there are we getting the word out there in a way that's meaningful and really qualitatively say people know people can have a conversation we need to create spaces where we can have dialogue about what do you need what is meaningful to you and how do you need to receive that help that communication and have those discussions thank you for that question and I believe that it is also very important to collect data how many people are Nepalese living in the state as a local government we need to be intentional how many people of those different groups do we exist also where do they gather try to understand the places of worship for example what are the celebration that really matters to them we try to understand all of that and I think from there you will also identify leaders in those community groups and those leaders will ultimately better support the town and the well-being of everyone it will not cost anything for the manager of the town to make a declaration of Nepali Day today for example how do we also make sure that the children in our schools value the diversity that we have here as a gift and also as a future we should not maybe just target only people because they are different but we need to also make sure that the differences are also celebrated but tangible data collection and concrete action step working with their leaders I think it's a great next step I'll just add that I think it's really important to embed equity and inclusion in all of our work but it's also important to have investments and put investments it does get embedded right so at the state of Vermont where my other job is during the off session when Susanna Davis was hired as the racial equity director for the state of Vermont she implemented statewide a program that every department division and every agency should have a racial equity liaison it's a great concept you know to really have someone who focuses on racial equity within you know there's I don't know 7, 8,000 employees within the state of Vermont so it's not something that one person in the governor's office can manage and take care of but what was short-sighted there is it wasn't a paid position it was volunteer on top of your regular everyday work it had no authority so the person who volunteered in our division me I had to get my regular job done I also had no authority over any of the policy changes that would be recommended as a result of our work which I formed a committee within our division that started doing just education around racial equity because it was the only thing I knew how to do and I could do and I had expertise within the division that I could draw on so you know within Essex if we want to embed equity in policies at the school board or town level or zoning or housing it's not enough to say we just either hire someone over here that might volunteer their work to kind of think about equity you have to do both you have to have somebody whose job it is to make sure that an equity lens is applied to every policy to every decision but you also have to have volunteers and people who are willing to do the work so I think part you know I'm trying to say if we want to do this work and to do it well I think we need investments and I look at the equity policy that the school board passed and you know that policy was crafted by people of color who got you know stipends to come to the meetings and got paid for their time and now it's being implemented again we're paying for the work that we are getting for this policy to be implemented so I think it's important for someone to figure out how to embed the work in all parts of government and to follow up on the data collection comment professionally I'm an IT director and collecting data simply for the sake of collecting data tells us nothing we really need to focus on what metrics do we want to measure because that's going to inform what data we collect and how we collect it and how well are we doing it and is anybody better off at the end of the day thank you I just want to thank Ali, Ray and Tracy for speaking and Shanae too I want to thank everyone who came for attending this was so great I think we really learned how we can take action in our communities to really make a difference I also want to thank the district and the town of Essex for hosting the event I want to thank the members of the boards and committees in attendance for sharing their work and providing an opportunity to show us what they do I want to thank McDonald's of Essex and Vermont Dunkin Donuts and Essex for their food donations for the event I want to thank Channel 17 and Town Meeting TV for attending and filming today thank you so much and I hope you all have a great evening