 So tonight is our public hearing one one of many that that we have all over the state So you've got two members here from house appropriations. Sometimes we have a senator that comes in and out But we we've invited a few other people, but they might show up So here's what's gonna happen tonight. We want to hear your your comments about the budget and How great it is or how terrible or what's lacking or what's needed or what's missing and some people might wonder Is it really worth coming out and what is gonna be sort of a rainy night that we don't know? Thank goodness It's not Friday, but so what do we do with the information that you give us? Some people here are old pros at at testifying and some people this might be the very very first time One of the things you need to know is that we're not here to ask you questions or in there We're here to just take in the information even if we're dying to ask you questions But we're here to take that information in if you want to submit that also in writing because we're we've got a pretty good crowd That we're gonna give two minutes to each person To start with if we can go over a little bit. We're pretty flexible, but I think that would be fair Tomorrow what happens is We will we meet as a committee and we keep all of this together So so the the rest of our committee and others that are across the state are gathering the same information and we sit And we start to compare What went on? What was the what what what did people have to say? What was their comments and we keep track of that and later on in the budget process when we hear from committees of jurisdiction on what what What's going on we pull out The literally the sheets from our testimony from public hearings to see where what we're balancing up against So it is important. We can't always do everything we want to do But but your but what you have to say is important to the process. So hopefully you've signed in and Representative Townan is going to call your name You're gonna come to this table here, and I'm gonna start the clock And so I will call you when your time is up or try to give you a little heads up ahead of time It's being recorded for posterity and So that's why the the center over here so that you can be seen Is any other questions or something? I didn't cover. Yes, ma'am Well the microphones are not to help us in the room they are for the for the television So um, we don't have to scream into them, but for me to be heard in the back I need to But we'll still take notes because we'll go back and watch it All right, so we're all set Who's our first? So I I'm going to be the person to call the names Representative Lanfeer will Take care of watching the time Okay, so please be thinking how to be Very organized and to the point so that you're sure to give us what we need to hear, okay? It does make a difference. It really does Okay, our first person. I'm going to give always who's going to be coming next Barbara Ross followed by Dean Williams And so if the next person could come and sit right over here so as to be close to the Speaking spot. Thank you Hello, my name is Barbara Russ. Thank you for holding this hearing and taking public testimony and thank you for the $600,000 investment you made last year to increase access to after-school programs The funds have been allocated through the after-school for all grant program This is a great first step, but the state needs 2.5 million dollars annually to reach all youth All Vermont youth should have access to high-quality third-space programs The third space is everywhere youth are when they are not it at home or at school an annual Appropriation would ensure all high-needs communities in Vermont could get the financial support They need to provide access to quality third space opportunities Youth in Vermont want and need what we all want in need They want to be successful need community connection Opportunities to learn and access to recreation and other activities They have a right to explore interests connect with each other and build skills and these opportunities should exist throughout our state We can work with youth to provide many opportunities for young people to grow into healthy and happy Vermonters Third space opportunities help families by providing safe environments where children can continue their learning while their parents are at work They keep you safe provide positive adult role models provide real opportunities to lead and offer time to build strong healthy Relationships with peers an estimated 22,000 youth across Vermont who are not enrolled currently in an after-school program would participate of a program Available in their community this represents a 33% unmet need for after-school programs in Vermont an annual Appropriation of 2.5 million is an investment in Vermont's children youth and families that addresses key state concerns Targets those most in need and supports a prosperous and vibrant Vermont We know we can get after school for all with a 2.5 million dollar annual state investment Please move forward now with after school for all young people make better Vermont our future depends on them Thank you for your consideration Thank you Williams followed by Judy Peterson Hello, my name is Dean Williams. I live in South Burlington. I'm thanks to the house and Senate Appropriations Committees for taking public testimony I also want to thank the legislature for the $600,000 investment you made last year from the tobacco settlement funding in order to increase access to after-school programs Those funds have been allocated through the after-school for all grant program The state needs 2.5 million dollars annually to reach to reach all youth, but this is a great first step Young people enrich our communities. They're problem-solvers who are eager to be engaged We have a collective responsibility Responsibility to ensure that all young Vermonters are safe healthy Supported educated and engaged Vermont youth have a right to explore interests connect with each other and build skills And these opportunities should exist throughout all of our communities Students who are consistently involved in activities like after-school programs are about 70% more likely to go to college But there's a widening gap between families of means and low-income families when it comes to participation in after school And summer learning activities Vermont has the lowest percentage in the nation of low-income children participating in after-school programs We know from experience that opportunities like after school and summer learning programs are essential to the well-being health and the future of Vermont's children and youth and We know that We can get after school for all with 2.5 million dollar annual state investment Please move forward now with after school for all Vermont is ready to go Thank you for your consideration Judy Peterson followed by Christine Randall Hi, good to see you. Thanks very much for for holding this hearing tonight I'm Judy Peterson president of the UVM health network home health and hospice And I'm here Speaking on behalf of home health and hospice home agencies V&A's across the state That and we come with a very specific ask and that is to make the choices for care program solvent Through rate increases and provider tax relief If you look at the home health agencies across Vermont Accumulatively we lose four million dollars a year on this program. That's a 27 percent rate loss Rate for choices for care program The choices for care for care program. I'm sure you know, it's you know, a great program It enables elderly and people with permanent disabilities to stay at home. We support them in the home setting If it were not for this choices for care program that that my organization here in Chittenden County Runs we'd have to build another skilled nursing facility here in Chittenden County So it really it makes a difference. It's adds to quality of life and it really Saves money in the budget also The majority of the work is done by personal care attendants Who come in as entry-level employees making about $11 an hour? As I mentioned statewide, there's that 27 percent loss So you lose money every hour of work you do so a large program like ours Loses even more money We have a couple hundred people on the program We have a hundred and five personal care attendants our turnover rate is 60 percent And so we really need to have the ability to give higher wages to our workers And that's an increased Medicare rate a Medicaid rate this first quarter Our losses are three hundred thousand and that's over a million dollars for the year So I will leave now. I want to mention that genie Hutchins our board chair is here tonight and Christy Randall Who's our long-term care coordinator? Thank you. Thank you, and if we could take a moment to welcome senator ash Good evening. I'm sorry. I'm late. I was just coming from Montpelier glad to be here I appreciate that you've taken time out to influence the budget and I'm not sure What made her or Diane said but just as a reminder if these are This is the governor's budget. You're weighing in on and then we consider our priorities after that and after listening to all of you and Appreciate your feedback tonight So continuing we've got Christine Randall followed by Tammy Santamore Thank you very much for listening tonight and I just wanted to talk a little bit about some of the challenges we experienced and trying to find caregivers for this program knowing that the the pay is as low as it is and Just wanted to share with you We had a caregiver who was with us for two and a half years didn't did great work really loved being a caregiver She worked two two jobs part-time with us and part-time with another agency to kind of make you know Make ends meet and she ended up leaving us to go take a full-time position to do commercial cleaning And it was such a huge loss to our our clients who who worked with her and this particular family You know they cried when they found out she was leaving It was something that was heartbreaking for us because we had no ability to like pay her what she really deserved to be able to Stay with us and it just it you know It was a family who's been on the program for over 12 years They've worked with 17 caregivers in that time They really grew to love this person found her incredibly professional and just did an amazing thing And just to have that relationship end because we couldn't pay is really really discouraging and I've had a lot of experience Interviewing folks trying to bring them on board and to try to bring someone on to do the work that we're asking them to do at $11 an hour is I don't know why anybody would want to do that work You know they do it because it's rewarding and it's amazing and it's so necessary and needed But the pay is it doesn't value what they do and it doesn't you know appreciate what they're contributing to our community So I just hope that helps and thank you very much your time Tammy followed by Jamaica white Hi, my name is Tammy Santamara. I'm a parent child center coordinator at Lund. I want to thank you for doing the important work on behalf of Vermonters And I appreciate the opportunity to speak with you today I'm here as a representative from the parent child center network Lund is a longtime advocate for the prevention work carried out by the parent child center network We see the difference this workmate this work makes for families and children every single day I firmly believe that investing in this preventative work changes lives and addresses the most difficult issues that our state and our families are facing today I also want to thank you for the investment you made in the parent child center network last year Parent child center networks make it possible for families to succeed in raising strong and healthy families By helping them identify and use their strengths to get their children off to a good start Parent child centers fully embrace the strengthening families framework. It is the foundation of our work We know that the strengthening families foundation Coupled with our eight core services helps families to build the skills structure and supports They need so that parents can be fully present for their children and address their own issues that may be causing challenges to their families This is key to reducing childhood trauma and helping our children grow into strong successful Vermonters Research studies support the common sense notion that these protective factors When they are well established in a family the likelihood of child abuse and neglect diminishes This work has results that last from generation to generation You often hear us say Okay, uh that parent child centers are the answer for families with young children We are the answer to the problems they face the questions they ask to realizing the hopes they have into finding the skills that they need The landscape of vermont is continuously changing and though the pcc network is decades old The work the parent child centers do is innovative responsive to the community's needs In order to provide these essential services for young families pcc's must be adequately funded The parent child center network is requesting a three-year phased approach to achieve this Our request for fy 21 is to increase the master grant by four million dollars. Thank you Oh I guess I get to keep going Thank you If we could have jamaica followed by susan lamblin Please Thank you for taking the time to hear my testimony this evening. My name is jamaica white and for eight years I have worked in parent child centers in burlington and synaubons I currently work at lund's parent child center Providing services to families living in chitin and county Although my title and location have changed over time The essential work has been the same to provide the support to families with young that Families with young children deserve Parent child centers are the front line of services for families with young children Especially primary prevention services which help to get children off to a good start Even if the family has challenges I would like to tell you about a family. I first started working with at lund over five years ago When their child was just nine months old At the time both parents were in their late teens and did not have their high school education or jobs to support their young family This family worked with me for the next year and they both found employment However, their history of trauma impacted their relationship and the mother lost their her job As I built trust with her with the mother she was able to share that she was experiencing abuse in the home Her own family had a long history of substance use and physical abuse and she was not able to get to turn to them for help I was able to connect her with housing resources and get her into a subsidized unit That for those fleeing domestic violence The family also began to receive home visiting and parent education services through our pcc To support mom with raising her young child now that she was doing it all on her own Through this and or continued work together. She was able to find full-time child care and access other needed community supports for her family Once these were in place. She was able after several fall starts to earn her high school diploma through lund's high school program She was also connected to our clinical services to address her history of trauma and the impact that had in her daily life Eventually she graduated From the subsidized unit and now holds a section 8 voucher housing voucher And rents in the community her daughter now attends elementary school and is thriving Mom has also secured full-time employment and earns an income that allowed her to transition off reach up I ended my services with the family last summer after nearly five years However, the connection she made in the foundation she has built while working with our center Will stay with her as she moves forward and uses all the skills she has built over time Thank you. We have Susan followed by kelsey francis Faith faith faith. Thank you Hi, my name is susan. Thank you for allowing me to speak on behalf of the family room My husband and I left our lifelong home in new jersey to care for our three grandchildren Since then another child was born It has been an intense experience And created a feeling of isolation I showed up one day at the family room and was greeted by jen who loaded me and baby Onto the bus to the garden at the euthan al and homestead from there. It has been a beautiful journey Sorry For me and my family We attend echo sessions on monday and friday my four-year-old Twins my grandchildren attend preschool class And the massage for caregiver For me and all activities followed by Healthy and delicious food I am presently attending A strong families group that provides support for the wonderful but challenging experience of parenting I attended a book group that enlightened me about reading to children and were given books to take home There are also other activities such as sewing and cooking with care provided for children I have formed relationships The staff is caring attentive and nurturing They listen and respond to your needs as best they can They embrace all who come through their doors. They offer stability and hope to families. We are grateful So what would my life be like without the family room? I've always been mentally stable Um, I am mother to four grandmother to 18 and had a 48 Year career. I have weathered many crises in my present situation. I was becoming overwhelmed This was very different for me Um, the family room provided a refuge for me And my family and gave me much needed support Thank you Uh, our uh, Tatro Good evening. Thanks for being here tonight. My name is Kelsey Francis faith And I'm a teacher at the new horizons education program Which is one of lond's parent child center offerings and tonight I live I'd like to share a story with you about one of my students Audrey was 16 when she got pregnant and already in her life. She'd experienced many adverse childhood experiences Consequently she was often truant from school She didn't trust the adults in her life and she didn't know who to turn to for help She felt hopeless and afraid of how she would provide for herself and her child Then Audrey came to new horizons and school started to feel like a safe place again a community that she could trust She studied the core subjects as well as childhood development and life skills classes that are offered as a part of lond's pcc services These courses allowed her to continue her education while also preparing for parenthood and independent living When her child was born She was able to bring the baby to school with her and in doing so she didn't have to choose between being a full-time parent or a full-time student Because lond is a parent child center. Audrey also received a team of supportive providers and services such as parenting education Home visiting support of employment case management concrete supports and referrals to other services like therapy Her pcc team worked in collaboration with school and her therapist all of whom helped her to reach her goals The barriers that proved so powerful in her life started to diminish She found stable and affordable child care She learned to budget and live independently and in the fall she'll graduate with her high school diploma and three college credits Without pcc services the likelihood that audrey would have dropped out of high school is 60 percent Perhaps most importantly audrey learned to envision and experience success for herself and her family She has a future that she's excited about and her child is thriving and safe In my five years as an educator at lond I can attest that inspiring stories like audrey's happen every day But in order for our clients to make these kinds of changes for their families, they need support Some work us as providers to help them set and reach their goals Support from the community to help them realize their place is valued members of a larger whole And support from legislators like you to help protect the spaces in which they can transform their lives So tonight I ask the appropriations committee to ensure parent child centers essential work and our communities are fully funded So that these transformations can continue for vermont families for years to come Parent child centers are requesting a three-year phased approach to achieve this a request for fiscal year 21 Is to increase the master grant by four million dollars. Thank you followed by Mary under coffler Hi, my name is claire. I receive services through lond and would like to share a little about that I don't even remember when or why my addiction began. I guess it really doesn't matter living through it seems to be the miracle I could go on about how my life was before lond But I'd like to focus on how lond CSI family support services have saved and changed my life instead I spent 14 months at lond's residential program working on becoming a completely different person I first started my work with cis family support here Putting the work in was hard and much harder than I anticipated They never gave up on me. I got chance after chance to help myself turn things around All the providers I've worked with have helped me every step in my journey and for that I've thrived I've become a great mother who was standing out in a crowd to be a leader to see myself forth And what I had to offer myself the world and my child The role of cs Cis family supported at lond has been the most essential for me and my son sorry The work that I've wanted to focus on most of my life is the work I do for myself and my son's relationship Without the support of my Of cis providers, I would struggle to navigate systems and advocate myself for myself and my son I've been able to hold myself accountable I have been Challenged in situations that before I would have made bad choices But always having a healthy person there when I needed them has been a blessing for me I'm a first time mom doing it alone And it would be a nightmare for me not having the support from staff here at lond For the first time in my life I felt like a person a mother or sister a friend a powerful woman And I thank the staff at lond for making that change in my life without their guidance and support I don't think my future would be as bright Please remember these programs help those who have been completely hopeless I hope this program can survive to help shape other mothers and their children's futures as it did for me and my sons Thank you perfect Well, I was going to suggest this might be a good moment to thank visack for hosting us here tonight But scott guiles who heads up the whole operation just left When he comes back Send good thoughts um if you could have um mary mary Followed by justine me My name is mary undercoffler, and I am currently a family support home visitor through children's integrated services or cis at lond Since 2009 the cis program has been level funded Which translates into a funding decrease for programs because the money available does not cover the annual cost of living increases Last summer the department for children and families dcf paid consultants to study cis reimbursement rates and make recommendations The study revealed that the current rate for cis does not cover the cost of providing services Because the governor's budget proposal would continue to level fund cis The state plans to provide a statewide rate lower than what the study shows it actually cost our programs to provide the services The right study indicated that cis actually cost $634 per member per month and the current state plan is to fund cis at $502 per member per month For some regions such as chitin county This will involve a significant cut to our current funding on top of 11 years of level funding for the program This will translate to reductions in our capacity to serve children and families in need When a parent is dealing with substance use mental illness trauma and their own adverse childhood experiences What they need to break free of the cycle of poverty and abuse is so much more than just strategies on how to handle their toddler's tantrums In that moment, they may be feeling triggered as a result of the abuse they experienced as a child Guilt and shame that their substance use may have caused the behaviors and unable to support their child's development and well-being Due to their own past trauma The cis funding allows us as family support home visitors to help them to identify this and develop new strategies to care for themselves and their child This is how my client was able to regain custody of her child This mom like many of my clients was determined to overcome all of the hardships She had experienced and give her son a better childhood than she had had Taking the $634 per member per month figure annually across the full cis caseload This would mean a 2.4 million dollar increase in cis funding in fiscal year 21 Thank you. Hi. Thanks for having us Followed by Amelia Briggs My name is justine me I've been a home visitor for the past nine years and i'm currently a family support home visitor through the children's integrated services Or cis at lund Family support home visiting is one of the core services in the continuum of cis The prevention and early intervention services that comprise cis have immediate and long-term benefits They support children's social emotional and cognitive development family unification and stability Parents contribution to vermont's workforce and enhance and improve outcomes of complementary services such as dcf And family and economic services in an era of concern over per student costs k through 12 education Cis supports children before they reach that system providing effective interventions for developmental issues that are more costly to address as children age I've seen firsthand the benefits of these early childhood and family support interventions I currently support a family who has struggled with parental addiction mental illness homelessness and domestic violence All issues that put young children at risk Last year after completing intensive residential treatment this mother returned to her hometown And without the home base family support that cis offers. She relapsed dcf became involved and she was at risk of losing custody of her child I began my work with this family Has their family support home visitor her daughter was three years old at the time When I met them mom was struggling with severe depression as she had not continued her medications or therapy after her residential treatment She was also struggling To parent her child appropriately and reported that she often felt overwhelmed and unsure how to manage the behavior Throughout our work together. She's engaged meaningfully with me and she's learned to support her child's development And I've seen their relationship grow and strengthen Her mom the mother has learned to understand her daughter's needs and learned strategies how to support her daughter Um while the governor's budget recommends a level funding for cis the current state plan would mean a cut to cis services in chitlin county On behalf of vermont families and children I'm asking that you ensure that cis services are fully funded This requires an increase of 2.4 million and cis funding for the fisco year 2021. Thank you Followed by jenna pandolfo I am the parent of a 10 year old who has complex medical needs and relies on high tech nursing care to keep her alive Maintain her health and keep her out of the hospital I'm here tonight asking that the um for the high tech nurse wage to be increased to match that of hospital workers After spending the first six months of her life in the nick year We finally had the chance to bring our daughter home for the very first time Everything was in place medical equipment medical supplies medications specialized formula and all the other items a six month old Baby would need except for there were no nurses available To help us care for our daughter We then had to make the decision of whether to bring our baby home and provide all of her around the clock care ourselves or stay in the hospital until high tech nurses could be found hired and trained We were anxious to be home and develop whatever our new normal would be So we searched and found nurses ourselves to be hired by the home health agency So we could go home by no means were all of our allotted hours covered But at least we would have some help Over the past 10 years. We have not had consistent coverage We have alternated between having all some or none of our allocated hours covered since june of 2019 We have had 50 percent or less of our hours covered the lack of coverage has put the burden of care on us This has caused chronic sleep deprivation isolation caregiver fatigue and financial stress Our daughter has 35 diagnosis that need to be monitored 24 hours a day with interventions as needed When we do not have nursing coverage My husband stays awake and cares for her for four hours while I sleep And then we switch places and I take over care while he sleeps We then need to be able to function during the day My husband at his paying job and me coordinating care between over 20 doctors medical suppliers and pharmacies In addition to attending school meetings and medical appointments before the daytime nurse leaves midday all of which is unpaid If we have no tight daytime nursing coverage I then need to provide all of my daughter's care while trying to complete all of the above responsibilities The shortage of high tech nurses has been a problem for decades and will continue to be a problem And less changes are made as science and medical technology advances more and more individuals be going home with high tech needs Thank you Gina followed by I'm clear here. It looks as if I got two Names at once Shayla Thanks Hi, my name is Gina Pandolfo I'm here tonight as a former team member of the Champlain Valley Office of Economic Opportunity Which is the community community action agency of Franklin, Chittenden, Addison and Grand Isle counties um As you may know the community action agencies were born out of Lyndon B. Johnson's war on poverty in the 1960s um, and the reason why i'm here tonight is to advocate for funding to be allocated to the Community action agencies throughout vermont to their micro business development programs Since my time as a team member with the community action agency I moved on to work in another educational nonprofit in the entrepreneurial ecosystem And there I begin to really appreciate the true need for a community action agency to provide the support For community members who are pursuing self-employment I've seen that the support provided by cvoeo and their micro business development program is unmatched With president johnson's goal in mind of community action agencies in alleviating poverty The work of the micro business development programs are so valuable for giving people the chances they need for self employment to be an option for them As um to move out of poverty Everyone's ideas and dreams and financial goals are taken seriously at the cvoeo financial futures program Please reconsider allocating the funds that have been pulled from vermont's community action agencies and their Micro business development programs. Thank you I'm reading the testimony of trish loraja who was planning to attend tonight, but her childcare fell through She says hello. My name is trish loraja I'm a resident of colchester and a mother to an amazing three-year-old boy deklin When deklin was born straight out of the gate childcare became a huge issue for me Unfortunately, my husband mike passed away unexpectedly a few months after he was born And I found myself needing care immediately I went to the internet and viewed child cares online and after several calls I was tired of being laughed at for asking something as crazy as an immediate opening for an infant All the next person could say was hello before I blurted out my entire circumstance to the owner of a child care in milton Luckily, she had great compassion and was able to find a way to accommodate deklin two mornings a week to at least give Me a moment to catch my breath Vermont needs to increase eligibility for the child care financial assistance program so that more vermonters qualify Sadly after mike passed away the advice I often received was to quit or significantly reduce my hours and move in with my parents That would mean free child care food stamp snap support that I wasn't currently qualified for based on my income That is not what I wanted to do I have chosen to work very hard in hopes that I am setting an example for my son that we can handle whatever life throws at us together So I'm not eligible to receive assistance with child care costs, which are currently a thousand dollars a month I thought no problem. I will work a bit less to get under the income limit I ran the numbers and found that to drop my income down a bit and still cover my bills Which includes a mortgage and car and everything else would be I would be eligible for 10 of assistance which would translate to less money than I'd be cutting out of my income To reduce my income more significantly than that is a risk I can't possibly make while I appreciate that we all need child care It pains me to know when that I don't qualify I strongly urge that ccfap considers a substantial increase in eligibility so that more people qualify In the forefront of my mind is not only the quality of care my son receives at his center But also the quality he receives from me the rest of the time I hate and feel guilty every day that I am spread so thin that I don't feel as though I give Declan the best of myself Parents shouldn't have to suffer on both ends of this issue during such an important time of their child's development Thank you for listening and for your time Hi, my name is Kayla france. I am an early childhood educator I work in williston at an amazing center called children unlimited I Teach toddlers. I teach 12 months to 24 months I started about four years ago as a 21 year old with no experience Just a passion for working with small children I now have my associate's degree in early education and have the goal of completing my bachelor's degree in the next few years I'm here to talk about investing in vermont's early education workforce In 2016 the passing of new child care regulations made it so early educators needed higher education in order to run classrooms as lead teachers Which is very important because we are the most critical resource in the early care and learning system But we don't make enough money to allow us to get these higher educations So many of us continue to be underpaid and undervalued or we just leave the workforce Our directors can only do so much to support us We need more support from the legislature in order to sustain a quality workforce that can provide high quality care to the youngest vermonters In order to support the workforce We need to increase the funding to the teach scholarship program Teach scholarships are what allowed me to get my associate's degree in early education I had 10 college classes Paid for 80 percent by the teach program and 10 percent by my child care program that I worked for I only had to pay 10 percent Without proper funding. I'm stuck. There's no program for a bachelor's degree Um vasy needs at least Six uh 653 thousand dollars to sustain their associate degree program and expand it to educators looking for bachelor's degrees Please think about passing that Followed by kevin Kevin's going to tell us what his last name is when he comes to testify Elaine thank you for your time I'm here to speak in support of funding a study secure the future of public educational and government access television or peg television in vermont H7 44 and s 3 18 the peg access study bill We estimate the cost to be 100 thousand dollars I live in essics and I am the select board chair And I am the chair of channel 17 town meeting television board as well as a board member of the vermont league of cities and towns We uh essics and all vermont municipalities rely on public access to inform our residents and help them stay engaged Public access television is an invaluable resource to essics Many of our residents are deeply engaged in ongoing initiatives like our recent firearms discharge ordinance amendment process And our ongoing exploration of merger They rely heavily on channel 17 footage of our meetings and many residents also live stream In fact this hearing and hearings like it across the state are being live streamed by public access stations in nine locations Providing that access is crucial to keep essics residents informed of what their local government is doing And to keep vermont's tradition of town governance alive But the traditional funding sources for peg access television are starting to disappear as traditional television landscape evolves In 2018 peg funding declined by 500 thousand dollars across the state because of gap revenue reclassification We expect this decline in funding to grow as cable subscribers cut the cord This study will help us address this this issue before peg services are further compromised We are also seeking 500 thousand dollars in ongoing support to maintain our current levels of service Other states are exploring creative solutions to ensure that the funding streams stay strong And 100 thousand dollars for this study will help us to evaluate those solutions Making this investment now will ensure that we explore all of the options to keep vermont's peg access television Funded and continuing to serve our communities into the future. Thank you for your time Followed by melissa south wick My name is kevin. I do have a last name. It's lumpkin just like pumpkin with an l I'm the vice chair of the wanouski development review board and i am the wanouski trustee for channel 17 television And i'm here to tell you about the future of public access educational and government television in the state of vermont Peg access television is critically important to vermont's especially In today's day and age it is critically important for vermont's to hear What their public leaders and community members are saying in settings just like this one all around the state meetings Just like this one being live streamed on channel 17 right now the funding mechanisms for peg access television are Antiquated they're based on the old model of cable television That is rapidly changing as folks are switching to streaming services and we are losing our revenue sources other states are exploring creative solutions to fill that gap that is being created by cable technology evolving and so we're asking for your support tonight in two ways One we have an existing five hundred thousand dollar revenue gap that's been created by this evolution of cable television And we're asking you to help fill that gap by allocating five hundred thousand dollars in addition to secure the long term Prospects of peg access television in vermont We're asking you to fund a study at the cost of one hundred thousand dollars to help vermonters figure out how to Evolve with the cable television landscape take a look at what some other states are doing by way of creative solutions So that meetings like this can continue to be live streamed around the state And your constituents can hear what you have to say directly straight from the source. Thank you very much Melissa followed by Is that Helen really? It is Thank you My name is Melissa Southwick and I am the assistant director of the statewide sash program which stands for support and services at home We provide support and care coordination in every county to approximately 5 000 vermonters statewide I would like to thank you for helping to restore our funding last year Today I am here to express support for new funding for the vermont food bank to scale up their vermonters feeding vermonters initiative The sash model has been shown to improve health outcomes and save both medicare and medicaid dollars We know that 84 of our sash participants have three or more chronic health conditions sash has formally partnered with the vermont food bank since 2015 In that time we have collaborated on getting their direct distribution program to 40 of our sites statewide Where they provide our participants with fresh produce They also deliver the commodity food program and provide hands-on assistance with three square vermont applications According to our sash staff the direct distribution program is helping our participants access healthy nutritious food And the food bank staff are friendly and great to work with this program benefits sash participants in unexpected ways as well Offering meaningful volunteer opportunities and serving as a point of connection and an opportunity to socialize We know that vermonters feeding vermonters has direct benefit for the people receiving the food and also for our state Individuals see better health outcomes when they have access to fresh local produce Our economy benefits when we keep our food dollars in state And our environmental footprint is reduced because the food is sourced locally and served locally The program offered to our sash participants by the vermont food bank have been invaluable With additional funding we are ready to expand our partnership and spread these services to even more of our sash sites Serving vulnerable vermonters. It is for this reason that I ask you to approve new state funding in the amount of $500,000 for the vermont food bank to scale up their vermonters feeding vermonters initiative Thank you for listening in for your consideration Ellen followed by Jill Darn you're going to have to tell us your last thing too when you come up. Okay Helen thank you, and I appreciate the opportunity to come before you and speak I sat on that side of the table at one time and so I appreciate how difficult it is to sit through these hearings and hear the Concerns of your fellow vermonters because I'm sure you would fund all of them if you could But I am here to speak in support of funding a study to secure the future of Peg access television in vermont along with my colleagues elaine and kevin who you just heard from I serve as a trustee on the board representing south burlington I also live in south burlington and i'm the chair of the city council I think they shared with with you the challenges we're facing and I just want to underscore rather than repeat them Really underscore what I see is a an incredibly important part of democracy in vermont as We appreciate it the opportunity for the public To have live streaming of select board and city council meetings allows them to not have to rely on the newspaper to listen for them translate And write what they think is important for the public to hear but you have the opportunity to actually see your elected officials Participate in democracy and the conversations hear the testimony that As a council member we hear and then you you do hear The decisions we make and it allows you to really Become better informed Residents and I think in this period of time where Public information for the public has been rather censored or in some ways disordered It's really critical for vermont to have this opportunity state statewide So I would encourage you to support the study and help us fill that $500,000 gaps. Thank you very much Jill followed by dominique Vita reco Our last name is strube. I'm jill strube. I'm the executive director of the boys and girls club in virgins I'm here on behalf of all of the clubs. There are five of them in vermont in virgins burlington brattle burrow ruttland And a mump earlier and we serve approximately 10,000 children and provided them with after school programs And summer programs. We served last year close to a hundred thousand meals and snacks At our little club in virgins. We served 6446 meals and 20 percent of my kids tell me if they don't eat dinner With me they don't eat dinner So we support the governor's move to pre-universal after school And we ask that the boys and girls clubs are included in that support The after school programs are wonderful at all the schools But there's also after school programs happening at the boys and girls clubs one of the things I think Explains what we do best is we had a family that ended up in virgins. They were had moved from newark, new jersey They had been forced out of their home And they were living with a friend in an apartment building There was a murder in that building right in the hallway in front of their apartment in their So they moved to virgins to get away from the city and they ended up in the john graham shelter, which is a homeless shelter They had four kids and all four kids ended up at my club And over the course of the first year we got to know the kids and um, they sort of relaxed with us and got to know us Because when they first got there they were pretty scared of where they had come from And about eight months in I asked the youngest member of the family I said Why do you like the boys and girls club and she looked at me and she goes because I feel safe enough to fall asleep Because she would come every afternoon and take a nap at the club Because her parents worked at night and she and her sisters and brothers were home alone after the club closed She was terrified to go to sleep at night So she would come after school after going to school all day and she would fall asleep on my couch And we provide that physical safety for the kids and I think that's super important Thank you Dominique followed by Karen Taylor Mitchell, please Um, hi, my name is Dominique Federetto I'm an early childhood educator at the davis studio preschool in south berlington. I live in monoski with my fiance and three cats I'm here tonight because i'm worried about the future of early childhood education And care in our state Highly qualified teachers are leaving the field in droves because they can't afford to live off an early educator's salary I came to vermont in 2011 to attend champlain college Throughout the four years. I fell in love with this beautiful state and the vibrant communities here Many of my classmates were in the same boat and upon graduation most of us planned to stay in vermont to teach in the communities We had found our places in Unfortunately in the five short years since almost every single one of my early ed classmates has moved out of vermont Because the cost of living is so high and the potential earnings for early educators are so low I'm only 26 and with my bachelors and my vermont teaching license I'm already capped at the highest pay rate at my job. I would love to further my education by getting a master's But without the prospect of earning Higher salary. It isn't financially viable to do so Most recently one of the most compassionate teachers I know has left the field because she's more able to support herself on her vineyard salary than she ever did as an educator I absolutely love what I do and I don't want to be forced to make the financial decision to leave a field I'm so passionate about I'm exhausted from defending my decision to stay in early education Tired of being asked when are you going to go teach in public school? It's hard to justify saying when the median kindergarten teacher salary is almost double that of early educators We know birth to five is the most important are the most important years for brain development Our children deserve high quality teachers without fair compensation We are unable to attract and retain high quality educators I'm asking the appropriations committee to please support building and retaining the early childhood education workforce with scholarships loan repayments Supports and wage supplements. Thank you for your time and consideration Denise Jackson It's Denise Miss Jackson. Yes Karen. Hi, I'm Karen Taylor Mitchell. I work with the governor's institutes of vermont Vermont has a lot of pressing problems at the same time that you're all dealing with and that that all of us here are dealing with We're worried about young people leaving the state. We're worried about not not having a sufficient workforce Educational inequity drug addiction Dysmal college achievement rates and more vermont also has a cheap scalable Intervention that is highly effective right now at combating all of these by focusing on underserved high schoolers So 600 students a year attend the governor's institutes They have a 99 track record of attending college after they do Through governor's institutes learning enrichment They discover positive interests and supportive peers. They raise their aspirations They learn that there are exciting opportunities for them and people who share their interests Right here in vermont and they're inoculated against the boredom frustration and hopelessness that encourage drug addiction This is a systemic and scalable solution that reaches into every single community in vermont We're serving students from every high school. It brings in private dollars that match state dollars five to one The only thing holding back this organization at this point is funding We have a line item. It has decreased over the last decade During that time, we've been very dedicated to serving more need and we have doubled our enrollment at the same time that our appropriation has gone down um To continue to grow and to continue to allow students to attend these institutes. We're asking for very relatively small 80 thousand dollar addition to our line item That it's not huge, but it'll make a huge difference I want to finish by telling you that this past weekend in plain field vermont A first generation american high school student from brattle bro new to micro processors Had coded one to play betoven's night symphony by the end of the institute That's what we do at the governor's institutes in many many topics and we'd like to keep doing it with your help Thank you so much Penrose no penrose penrose i apologize Followed by jan dimers So my name is penrose jackson and i'm here to support the uh 500 thousand dollar Plotment for the vermont food bank to scale up vermonters feeding vermonters I first became aware of how too many vermonters experience hunger when i served as the uvm medical centers director for community health improvement I continue to be very interested in this as president of the vermont public health institute and as a member of the vermont food bank board of directors Too many vermonters cannot routinely receive the nutrition they need to live healthy and productive lives far too many children are impacted Which will also have lasting lifelong effects when they fail to thrive mentally or physically vermont has a rich and cherished history of people taking care of their neighbors and vermonters feeding vermonters builds on this tradition Vermonters also value our tradition as an agricultural state where series the god of agriculture is stood over above our state house It's 1858 how wonderful the vermonters feeding vermonters will support these cherished values Vermonters will feed their neighbors. We will provide people in our communities with the nutrition they need and even better We will do this with food grown right here Not only does this provide people with essential sustenance But it also supports another key vermont value of respecting the earth by growing and transporting food locally Vermonters feeding vermonters also supports our value local agriculture Which is we know is under assault in so many ways any and everything we can do to sustain vermont agriculture and our working Landscape works to everyone's advantage I said at the start of these brief remarks that I come with this perspective of three organizations That I am proud to have served or now serve The medical center's vision is that working together we improve people's lives vermonters feeding vermonters will do this The vermont public health institute is committed to improving the health of all vermonters by fostering innovation Vermonters feeding vermonters fosters innovation The mission of the vermont food bank is to gather and share quality food so that no one in vermont will go hungry Vermonters feeding vermonters will do this I offer you my complete support include vermonters feeding vermonters in the 2021 budget Hi jan followed by kathy all well representatives landfair towns and and senator ash I'm here to request that the committee reverse the cuts proposed by the governor to the micro business Development program and the vermont match savings programs These cuts would eliminate two critical anti-poverty programs operating throughout our state Community action agencies are known for meeting the crisis needs of vermonters with low income For meeting the life sustaining needs of vermonters with low income We have also been highly successful in assisting those same vermonters find economic self-sufficiency Through self-employment all the while contributing to the vermont economy These programs are the most effective out of poverty programs the five community action programs offer and are uniquely structured to benefit those we serve Here are the outcomes for 10 years of statewide programs 8361 vermonters with low income were served 1 165 business starts and expansions 872 jobs were created 10 509 303 dollars of capital was leveraged At an average cost per job of 3748 dollars These statewide costs to operate these programs Come under 600 thousand dollars a year for statewide After 10 years as executive director of cvoel I know the differences programs make and while I am passionate about their value It is not my voice that is the most important in this room There are 12 participants of the micro business and match savings program here To testify it is their experience that lends credibility to this good work. Thank you louise I'm sorry. I apologize. I cannot make out the last name, but louise who's here on behalf of age well Hello, first I'd like to thank you all for listening to all of us here And my name is kathie all I'm here to ask the legislature to please Fund the after school for all grant program by appropriating 2.5 million for this program The after school for all grant program was originally funded with 600 thousand in a one-time funds Allowed allocated over two years through a plan submitted by human services secretary alga bay in 2018 The funds have now been allocated and demand is high I have spent more than 30 years working in the field of after school both here in vermont and in germany I began the new north end youth center in burlington in 1995 and broadened the program there to incorporate after school program at Hunt middle school next to the youth center and a five week middle school summer program for both burlington and wanooski middle Schoolers i've also worked in smaller programs in rural communities here in vermont where i've seen thriving after school programs Closed due to parents inability to pay More than what they were paying and the lack of state support for these smaller programs We know that the after school hours between three and five are when our youth are most at risk and they need safe interesting and affordable programs We need to make after school accessible to all and want All who need and wanted in vermont at present that would be 22,000 children whose parents want to need after school programming and have none in their communities We have a collective responsibility to ensure that all young vermonters are safe healthy supported educated and engaged We know we can get after school for all with 2.5 million annual state investment Please move forward now with the after school for all vermont is ready to go. Thank you I'm here with age well as a volunteer so that i'm not asking you for money I'm going to just tell you a story about my experience with the respite program There's been a lot of discussion and talk about Dealing with aging and aging people. I'm dealing with Alzheimer's Person who's 85 years old. She's living at home with her family. She's physically pretty sound but she's Got extreme dementia And one of the things that this family is doing which is very impressive is is that they're managing with a bunch of children Taking care of this woman in her home and have for years She goes to adult daycare. She goes to other family members homes and so forth but I spend an afternoon with her every week and have learned to kind of Reprogram myself to understand that i'm dealing with somebody who has no future and no past But has some emotional strains and one of the things that the family has said to me that made me feel very good is that This is the one time when she has a real one-on-one relationship And she's gotten support Both emotional and physical And entertainment and so forth so Agewell's idea is to relieve the family But I just want to point out that there's something very important To have volunteers that will support families that can support aging in place We've had a lot of controversy lately about A lot of reporting from seven days about care and how people are being taken care of And I would just like to point out that there's a great value to being able to stay in place So I will let the agewell people the real people tell you about the needs, but I just wanted you to know that It's a new program And it's been very satisfying Both for me and for the family Okay, thank you Followed by um, Mayumi Cornell. Good evening My name is Rajni Eddens and Thank you for hearing my testimony I want to thank everyone for coming to speak so vitally to the needs that All of us so rightfully deserve having fulfilled and need to be supported I'm here specifically to speak about The micro business program and how it's been an asset in my life personally I've been in vermont now about 10 years and I've traditionally worked in the schools using spoken word as a way to empower you through self-expression and to hold space for community enrichment through artistic expression I I've I've experienced a great deal of Of racism In my own personal workplace And it actually was on the verge of putting me out of work and it was through my connection to the micro business program that I was able to find a transition into independent employment where They connected me with folks who could mentor me and held space for a host of different opportunities to gain new resources and engagement and connections and networks They really opened doors for a new chapter in my life So now i'm able to sustain and take care of my mother who i'm the essential person for Take care of my daughters. I released my my first book of poetry in 20 years It's got a excellent write-up from the poetry editor harvard review So a lot of really positive developments have come out of this program And i'm thankful that I was able to connect to it as a resource and I think that It's a vital necessity to have programs like this for people in the community so they can have similar experiences Thank you for your time Hello, my name is my Sorry, hello, my name is Miami Cornell And i'm here to support the new state funding for the in the amount of 500 000 for the Vermont food bank To scale up their vermandrus feeding vermandrus initiative. I have seasonal employment that does not pay me enough for me to buy food I will not be able to eat without feeding chitin. I do not qualify for food stamps. I lost my mother when I was 11 I have trauma In the form of PTSD Became pregnant at 23. I moved to the Lund home and I moved out and had a second child Which is when I started using the family room. I support the parent child initiative Access to childcare is important for fair for families and single parents. I would not be successful without all the help I've received from both professional service workers and friends Hi, I'm hannah herrington. I work for feeding chitin Pretty directly in our in our food shelf here in chitin county in burlington And I'm here today to advocate for the the new state funding in the amount of 500 000 for the vermandrus feeding vermandrus initiative of the vermandrus food bank This is a very powerful program that is Poised to bring Fresh vegetables to those in need and I work every day I'm in our food shelf and we see hundreds of people every day and that Most in-demand product that we that we carry is fresh vegetables And as you all know, that is what we are told that we need to eat to live healthy lives And what parents are told that they need to feed their children to be healthy And this is a program that will allow us to to provide more Fresh vegetables and and not good quality vegetables things that are desirable that people are are used to seeing That they want to eat in addition, so feeding chitin is part of CVO and and Our main goal is to to support people in their journey out of poverty And and so I would also like to express my support for the funding for the micro business development loan That has that has benefited benefited many of our of our clients. Thank you Barbara followed by uh, rob rock Hi, i'm barbara prine. I'm a staff attorney at the disability law project of vermont legal aid And i'm here to speak about the need for an enhanced pay rate For high tech nurses for families with children with high medical needs There are Families with children who have high medical needs Children who historically have lived in hospitals who are being cared for by their parents at home and these Kids have been assessed to need a certain amount of medical care as medically necessary But that medical care isn't being provided and the failure to provide that violates federal medicaid law Which says that we when kids get medicaid, they're supposed to get all the care they need The problem is is that the pay rate is Unaverage ten dollars an hour less than people are making in the hospitals And so these kids are not getting The medical care that they need as Amelia briggs described earlier Families are getting on average half of the hours, which is just not acceptable to say that this is medically necessary But we're only going to give half of it and while we do have A nursing shortage in vermont The hospitals nursing shortage is a nine percent nursing shortage. They have a nine percent vacancy rate These families are living with half of the hours not getting filled, which is so Comparable and it's because the pay rate is so low I'm asking that you raise the wage And the cost of that will cost about $460,000 It's a mandatory requirement But it's also what we need to do one of the families that I talked to Said that when they have more than two nights in a row That their kid is sick Because they have to stay awake The doctor says they have to bring her to the hospital so that the parents can sleep because if they fall asleep Their child could die. This is unacceptable in vermont. So I ask that you please raise the wage Hi guys, uh, my name is rob rock and uh, I'm from pitchfork farm here in brallington and uh Here to express support for the new state funding $500,000 for the vermont food bank To scale up the vermonters feeding vermonters initiative. Um, I just want to say a couple things from A farmer's perspective This program it works really great for us as growers. Um We have a lot of sort of informal agreements with buyers around town and It works pretty well, but This program allows us to contract growth. So it means we have a guaranteed outlet for uh, for the things that we're producing And this means we can do the delivery all at once. We know everything's going to work smoothly It'll be efficient, uh, which creates value for us Everything else that we do is kind of piecemeal. So it's nice to have this like this organized Contract We've also donated a lot to the food bank in many different ways over the years We drop off extra produce. We've had cleaners come down And it feels really incredibly awesome to be helping people That that we know need it. Um We're trying to do good work by being farmers for our community Um, but uh, you know, we're people that don't often have a lot of resources whether that's time or Money and so for us to be able to help in this way Um, it just feels really incredible. Um And so Just this program's been great for us. Thank you, andrea for Helping out and then I just wanted to add that uh, I was I went through the um, uh, the micro or the business uh Uh loan program and that worked great for for us as well. That was way back in the day But we've come a long way since then Andrea followed by erica Marks Hi, my name is Andrea Salazo. I'm here on behalf of the vermont food bank And to show my support for a five hundred thousand dollar appropriation to support vermonters feeding vermoners This initiative provides fresh healthy and local food to Many people experiencing hunger and provides economical support to vermont farmers The vermont food bank serves one in four vermonters access to food is a human right This program supports vulnerable members of our community Many of whom have diet related illnesses and supports them in eating fresh fruits and vegetables As we know vermont farmers need increased markets and fair payment for this product This product this program directly buys produce at wholesale rates directly from farmers and distributes to community members experiencing hunger People that we serve the number one item people want accessing charitable food is vet fruits and vegetables So I continue I encourage you to support and consider five hundred thousand dollar appropriation to the vermont food bank for vermonters feeding vermoners Additionally as a board member of the family room I see the life changing impact parent child care centers have in our community And I'm in support of the four million dollar ask for the parent child care center networks Thank you Erica followed by Karen Karen from Milton I'm erica marx and i'm the director of volunteer services and transportation at age well We are one of five area agencies on aging and I am here on behalf of all the older vermonters We are the second oldest state and uh, we have uh We serve over 10 000 vermoners who would not otherwise be able to stay in their home without support My specific asks are 700 000 dollars for the meals on wheels program. We delivered 225 000 meals last year And we are not able to cover the cost of the meals with the reimbursement that we get And my second ask is for a two percent increase in support for home caregiving That includes things like the choices for care program But I want to tell you that the volunteers are the real stars and louise doesn't get away with saying Now you get to talk to the real person Here is not an unusual call for me volunteer goes out to deliver meals on wheels. They call and they say erica I was at roger's house today and it was cold and I asked him Why was it so cold because it's not usually cold at roger's house And he said well, I don't have much wood left and I said well, how much wood do you have roger? And he pointed to two logs sitting next to his wood stove And I said what will you do roger when that's gone and he said I don't know As soon as I hung up the phone with that volunteer, I called our care and service coordinator in adison county She immediately Got the community health worker over to his house She then connected with cvoo and by the end of that day by four o'clock He had two cords of wood not only in his yard, but stacked in his yard Every single day we make a difference in helping people be able to age well at home Thank you Josh miller Thank you for having us and thank you for your support of the developmental services system developmental disability services system I'm karin cekinovic director of operations from champlain community services of ccs A developmental disabilities service agency and i'm here to request that you fund a three percent increase To the statewide designated and specialized service agencies We contribute to the community health care needs by maintaining the health of a unique and complicated Population of vermonters over half of the people in ccs services have co-occurring mental health conditions Nearly 20 have been homeless and nearly 65 have pervasive and chronic health conditions Agencies like ccs have not seen regular cola increases Ccs pays close attention to retaining its staff We were voted one of the best places to work in vermont for the second year in a row Over 70 of our staff take health insurance, which increased over 10 percent this year And we are a good employer Though our turnover rate has decreased through the years due to our diligent attention It is still too high at 27 percent and bringing in new staff is expensive Between recruitment onboarding and training ccs spent nearly 74 000 last year as we welcomed 16 new staff Conducted 36 interviews and advertised almost continuously I also see the human cost to the people in services who are understaffed and whose preventative care suffers. Thank you Not everyone can or is willing to do more and that means people are more vulnerable Uh, recently we had a person whose home care provider did not feel she was getting reimbursed enough to take care of his residential needs So she left employment. This left him immediately homeless Ccs was there to ensure his health and safety and for the past three months We have staffed him 24 hours a day found long-term stay hotels scrambled to find coverage and aggressively sought home providers This has left him His health needs Compromised so thank you and I ask that you Invest three percent for us thanks Hi there, my name is josh miller. I'm the director of the janet s month family room in berlington Uh, thank you for supporting the parent child centers this past year We continue to do what we can do to support families and young children to stay out of crisis survive and thrive in a challenging environment There's much work to be done and I'd like to share a story with you about not what parent child centers Do so much but a story about dignity I was with the dad who needed additional support for his utility bills that were behind and he had received a shutdown notice He asked me to accompany him to economic services where he was looking for help We entered the building where there stood a security guard who looked us up and down assessing danger Then he went over to wait in line as there was someone who was at the protective glass window Someone from behind the window shouted to us stand behind the line A couple minutes later. We approached the window asked for help The person gave us a packet of paper six pages long and told us to wait in the next room until we were called As this parent filled out the paperwork. He made sure his two year old daughter stayed close to him In the room There were a few people there three of which were men who were homeless and carrying on in a conversation That was not very kid friendly After finishing the paperwork he went to the window again And we were given another two pieces of paper to fill out and sent again to the waiting room Finally a person called his name and led us to an office The worker left for a brief moment and the parent said to me josh i've never gotten this far here After meeting with the worker this parent received seven six dollars to help for his utilities Not nearly enough to cover his needs When you come to a parent child center in specific the family room parents are greeted with a hello a smile and invite to come in They're given food a safe place to be with their children and someone or many to talk to about their personal struggles of parenthood Families get what they need and the way that they need it And they get to experience this without the shame degradation and feeling unsafe when they're asking for help Please support the parent child centers asked for four million dollars So they continue the very important work our communities need I also want to state our support for the vermont food bank who Help out our families a lot who come through the family room throughout the whole year with Um with workshops and providing free food for for our families. Thank you Thank you. I'm jillian franks and i'm an s6 resident I also currently work at cvoeo note the current The governor's budget cuts all funds to micro business All funds The 80k that went to cvoeo last year paid for one full-time equivalent That one full-time equivalent is actually two people with a combined 24 years of experience in business development If that Capability goes away. It cannot be recreated overnight They helped 200 clients with a wide range of skills to create 15.5 Full-time equivalents in the economy in chitenden franklin and addison and grandisle county That's nine businesses started Nine businesses from one full-time equivalent You heard jan demirs tell you the amount as I moved from one chair to the other I erased all my notes So now I can't give you exact figures, but it's in jan's information I do want to tell you about my one of my experiences of working in micro business I listened to a person who'd moved to the state of vermont From a very well-paid position and was unexpectedly laid off I listened to his story with some skepticism He wanted to start a brewing company Bill cherry sold his switchback brewing to his employees last year That's one of the people we've served. There's lots more. Thank you My my name is sol vei overby and I'm going to comment on two things I came to support the The request for funding for the the public educational and government financing for the study The 100 000 and also for the the financing as well. It's been very well articulated by the other speakers. So I'm going to Let you work with what they said so well about the the reason why we really need to consider them continue that But the second thing is I haven't read through the whole 1300 pages of the the budget book But and I and I really am sensitive to how much work that is for you guys to look at every line That the the governor has put forward but one part that I did notice because I'm on a sort of participating in a transportation working group in burlington that's trying to find ways to improve public use of public transportation and reducing that 46 of our our green house gases that are caused by transportation and one of the things I noticed is that There are there is only 600 000 dollars being spent of the transportation budget for public transit As opposed, you know of the 606 million dollar budget. So that's Basically a 0.1 of the budget now. There probably are some other other places But I'm very concerned that We say we're going to try to do things about cutting greenhouse gases and transportation is a big part of it And our state budget as proposed right now Has 0.1 of the transportation budget 600 000 dollars going to public transit as opposed to and and only five Five employees of the 145 that are listed. So if you look at at at page 1186 of the budget of the of the budget book the big one It you'll see how much the budget is for the whole agency of transportation And if you look at page 1267 you're going to see the five employees that are For the public transit part. So I I want to ask you to do more than that. That's inadequate Thank you Good evening. My name is noelle cleveland and I'm an early childhood educator here in chintenden county I had Kind of everything prepared, but as I've been waiting I've lost my nerve a little bit So I'm just going to answer the question. Why am I here? I'm here because last session you all Voted to increase the child sorry This is what always trips me up child care financial assistance program or ccf a p And so far that has Helped some vermont families Initial estimates show that about 3000 children have been supported Through that increase. However, we're asking the legislation to revisit that again this session and to increase funding to ccf a p And the reason why this is important to me as an educator is Because I see firsthand how The costs of child care as Someone mentioned over a thousand dollars a month is spent from out of pocket into child care So I see how child how the exorbitant costs of child care Directly impacts families and children Because Quality matters so much Um Families who can afford high quality programs pay Over a thousand dollars a month in care Whereas families who do not have money are either forced to enroll in low quality Unlicensed child care programs are forced to leave the the workforce um And as we know 90 percent of children's brains are developed before they even get to school Um, so these early education experiences greatly matter. Um, they Impact children's schooling throughout their lives. Um, so increasing access increasing ccf a p Will greatly affect vermont families. Thank you for your time Beth followed by heather tory Good evening. I'm beth masters from s extension vermont And I too. Thank you for listening tonight I have three critical concerns related to the proposed level funding for services Um to people with developmental mental health and substance disorder challenges First I've become aware increasingly of how dire the shortages in the workforce serving this population Has become as others have alluded to Do in large part two uncompetitive wages Workers are not easily attracted or easily retained And vermont's neediest residents like my daughter who has lived with us at home for 30 years Um, bear the brunt of this Second the number of people requesting services is growing really rapidly Service providers budgets are stretched to the point of being unable to adequate adequately address the needs of the populations they serve And then third the state is working to overhaul its system of delivery of services to this population An overhaul that as I understand it is sure to add additional cost to the system And one of my biggest concerns there is that cost will be pulled from the already Um strapped budget of the service providers So I'm asking First that lawmakers would approve a three percent increase to the budget for providers serving those with developmental mental health and service disorders Um substance disorders Second I'm suggesting that that proposed statewide overhaul for delivery of services be accomplished In reasonable steps rather than all at once I know that we have some federal mandates Conflict of interest free case management, for example Tracking encounter data is another one and those have to be addressed in a timely matter But some of the other Proposed reforms I think could be put off and that would free up some of that budget money Thank you My name is heather tory and I'm here today to speak in support of farm to school funding for vermont schools I'm a registered dietitian and the assistant director for the burlington school food project I also serve as the president of the school nutrition association for vermont and the public policy chair for the vermont academy of nutrition and dietetics Through my work wearing these many different hats. I see the impact of farm to school daily throughout my community and throughout the state We know that we need five hundred thousand dollars annually in the farm to school and early child care program For fy 2021 we would like to see progress towards that goal And at the very least we'd like to ensure that funding for farm to school does not decrease from the two hundred and thirty one thousand dollar base School cafeterias or as I like to call them dining rooms Are in truth the largest classrooms in schools They represent a huge opportunity to teach children healthy habits that carry through into adulthood Yes investing in farm to school not only helps improve access to fresh nutritious foods for children It also helps them develop connections to where their food is coming from and supports our vermont farmers So I'd like to leave you with a little anecdote from my travels throughout these dining rooms While eating lunch with a group of elementary school students I overheard a kindergarten student telling his friend that he knew where meat came from He said and I quote because I cannot forget this story Um, did you know that beef is really cows? And pork is pigs and chicken is chickens And I I tell you this in part to make you smile Because I thought it was just such a sweet story But also as to offer an example of the ways that we can complement student learning through connections to local foods So thank you for hearing my comments, and I thank you for your continued support of vermont Chelsea brochures Thank you for hosting tonight. I know you have long weeks and long days and I also want to thank you for your services legislators That's a Thankless job many times Um, I um and Kate Baldwin from Burlington, and I'm here tonight as a volunteer for the vermont suffrage Centennial alliance 2020 marks the 100th year anniversary of the women's right to vote and I'm working with the league of women voters of vermont who have formed a coalition of 37 organizations 18 individuals trying to look at ways that we can celebrate and pretty much Tell the untold story of the 70 72 year of the women's suffrage movement and Share that history with people throughout the state In particular for this year for this 100th anniversary The main event for the 2020 celebration will be an event held in Montpelier on the commemorative day of august 22nd with a suffragette fest and a parade But there's other things that we're planning throughout the year, which I'll give you a sample of the the events as I leave today Including a symposium Lectures an original play written by a vermont playwright that will travel around the state with 10 different venues traveling exhibit and That will go to middle and high schools around the lake champlain region speakers bureau And like so many have spoken today a lot of these organizations run with volunteers such as myself But we also need money So my understanding is your colleague representative kim jessup will be proposing a $20,000 grant To support these commemorative celebrations and We're just looking at it again as one time because this is once in a lifetime Where we as vermonters can look back And and look forward in terms of this right to For women's right to vote. So thank you for the opportunity My name is chelsea broshu and I will be speaking on behalf of the micro business development program at cvoio I first came to the micro business development program about 18 months ago I spent most of my career in the food and beverage industry and reached a point where I felt that I had exhausted my options in vermont For a financially stimulating career in my chosen field if I did not make a change I would not be setting myself up for other success in life such as buying a home or saving for retirement Despite seeking work in other parts of the country. I have chosen vermont as my home. I was born and raised here I love the state. It's natural beauty and our tight-knit communities However, it is no secret that vermont struggles to encourage young professionals to live and work here New opportunities need to be created in order to breathe new life into our small towns Without small businesses our economy suffers and so do vermonters Some of us are forced to leave and find opportunities elsewhere I began pondering owning my own business and I learned of the complexities and financial risks of entrepreneurship I quickly felt that this path was daunting if not impossible to achieve Then I learned about the micro business development program at cvoeo With support from my business coach. I contemplated the intricacies Of my own business goals and built the confidence to work toward them I have received tremendous amounts of support persistence and answers to all my questions from my business coach Although I have since chosen an opportunity in small business management for a local restaurant group The support I received from cvoeo has been no less integral in my professional development There are many vermonters who have the energy and vision to stimulate our communities and economy And the micro business development program provides the toolkit for them to do so To cut funding for these services would be detrimental to the future of our state and the overall health of our economy Thank you Thanks for having me and thanks for being here Okay, my name is fatuma And I am here to support the family room I have been I have been a family member of the family room since I was nine years old Yes, I did say the family room when I was Sorry, excuse me Yes, I did say the family room When I was when I didn't have anybody there the family room was there for me I felt like a family member to the family room I can say confidently that I'm a member. Yes, I'm a member It's the place that opened up many doors for me and my family as being a new american the family room gave us Opportunity to meet people from different places and learn new cultures and traditions beyond our own The family room is the place where I discovered Diversity more than the one I came with is the place that I can go and try different foods and learn about Many new things If it wasn't for the family room, I don't know what I would do When I was only 18 years old I had my first child and I had no idea how to do baby massage So I just walked in there not knowing who I was going to meet and what I was going to do So I met sarah for the first time and she was the one who introduced me to the instructor of the baby massage The family room is the place that gave my three-year-old son amir the opportunity to go to preschool A chance that would new ski school district didn't have because spots were full The family room gave my sister isha abdi a chance to take English classes that helped her Improve in her job skills. So there were so many skills that we got from the family room as being a new american that We didn't have So I hope that you're going to support and fund the family room Thank you It did great My name is kathy connelly. I'm My name is kathy connelly. I'm from burlington I'm speaking as a parent of a child with special needs and as a board member for howard center I have a son who was diagnosed with a very severe mental illness when he was nine years old Which led to a developmental disability and the um Prognosis for this was extremely grim, but his outcome has been remarkable He has two jobs. He works in the community. He's well liked. He has uses public transportation He is A he pays taxes is a very profitable and giving member of the community and most importantly We finally get to see the person who was hiding inside all along and this happened because he got such great supports from a community-based mental health program through howard center I have been on the board for a number of years and it has been underfunded for many years I I know we came before you over the years asking for extra money for our staff And you came through and we were very very grateful This budget has no increases in it and we consistently lose staff to the hospital to the schools And to the state all of whom are also funded by the state but at a different level than our workers And we can't continue to give the community service that we're presently doing if we can't keep the workers And also we have some remarkable partnerships in the community with law enforcement and with the hospital That are keeping people out of out of jail and out of Impatience it's much cheaper to take care of them this way And we know firsthand what quality of life looks like when you can get good Quality of services the people that are a part of our clientele would love to have that same thing if we could just please have the 3% increase Thank you very much Mary Lee followed by adam hausman Yes, I'm Mary Lee Ritter and prior to my retirement I was employed for many years as a nurse practitioner in a pediatric practice in burlington I provided primary care for families from burlington and surrounding areas I would see families on a regular basis with a focus on wellness recognizing that this enabled strong families These visits would include checkups provide education and parental support as well as referral to outside services if needed for ongoing support During this time. I saw the janet mont family room as a great resource for families Since my retirement, I've had the opportunity of volunteering their weekly and I'm now a member of the family room board Through my volunteering. I am now able to see firsthand the many services and support offered to families with a focus on wellness Family play the program in which I volunteer provides activities Which promote wellness and family bonding through sensory and gross motor play Movement through music and interaction between parents children and staff I observe parents receiving support and guidance from staff Around children's behavior as well as discussions around normal development and child rearing Parental involvement with their children is encouraged and parents are seen engaging in many activities Such as playing in the sandbox with them reading or sitting on the floor playing games nutritious morning Snack and lunch are served in a communal setting I've heard many parents expressed that the family room was their answer to isolation After a new baby or arrival in this country for the new americans As well as staff support there is interaction with other parents, which helps them develop their own supportive network The summer brings special opportunities for these families The family play program occurs at ethanel in homestead where many families have community gardens The program the children learn about growing food Nature and enjoy time playing outside I have enjoyed my volunteering there and working with a dedicated nurturing staff whose families wellness and support Are their first priorities. Thank you Followed by Cara Tobin Hi, um adam houseman from adam's berry farm in charlotte I'm here to speak in favor of investing in the working lands enterprise fund In order to keep the Vermont working landscape both productive and open for future generations These investments supported diversity of businesses Throughout the state they generate jobs. They spur creativity And they keep businesses here and thriving I started my farm down at the interval in burlington and after 12 years of incubation We transitioned to land purchase through the help of the vermont land trust and the working In the farmland access program In 2013 we received a small but impactful working lands grant of $10,000 To invest in expanded refrigeration and freezing units This investment has allowed us to store additional berries for year-round sales It has enabled us to increase our revenue by $50,000 annually Increased the number of employees that we have by 25 and has increased the amount of local foods in the marketplace The awarded funds have not only supported us But other vermont local businesses from restaurants to markets to breweries to service providers On top of this past employees have been influenced and inspired by their experience working on the berry farm and have created small food-based businesses here in vermont The the working landscape is part of the fabric of vermont in a rapidly changing society land-based businesses are what roots us to our home They create jobs expand local enterprises spark the desire for people to move to vermont and support statewide tourism Since the inception of the working lands grant they've helped create over 500 jobs And sparked the investment and expansion of vermont operated businesses I'm here and support a further funding of this grant as a means of supporting and creating a thriving and unique vermont landscape and economy I hope that you too will consider its funding for future years to come And I just want to say I support everyone here if I could speak to all of them I would my name is Kara Tobin. I'm the chef and co-owner of honey road restaurant And I'm actually here to talk about child care because I've watched my employees struggle with finding child care And I've also watched the child care providers that I've worked with with my children struggle with staying in the industry Because they don't make enough money From what I understand most of them make less than I pay my line cooks and they're taking care of our children To me that's That's a problem and it's something that I wish that we could consider making a priority in the governor's budget Even The fact that we need more child care providers that we need high quality child care Like even when you can find the child care, it's expensive I mean people say a thousand dollars a month that they pay in child care I paid 2400 a month in child care and it's a struggle I own a small business in this state and I still struggle to make ends meet because of the amount of money that I pay I don't want to have to I don't want to have to worry about that and I also don't want to have to Worry about the fact that the people that are taking care of my kids aren't making enough money also I think on both sides. It's it's a problem. And I I really hope that it's something that we can consider I'm investing in it's really important And if I have to watch one more of my employees worry about where they're going to send their 10 month old Or they're 10 week old or they're 12 week old when they have to come back to work It's it's heartbreaking and I can't I can't do it. So please consider making this part of the The budget. Thank you Hi, thank you. Larry cup from in south burlington um I was surprised to hear from from my micro business development staff that the but the governor's budget is proposing to cut Their state allocation Um, I want to support the reinstallation or the re I want you to restore that funding. I would hope that that you'd see the the sense in doing that I do a little perspective in 1989. I joined cvoeo as the micro business development counselor at the time It was called the job start loan fund And since 1989, this is the first time in my memory that the Governor has proposed cutting those funds I joined when there was a lapse in funding And I think that was the last time that this funding was was proposed to be cut So I hope you certainly would restore it currently. I'm volunteering as a volunteer income tax assistant And we do a lot of folks who do self employment Who need to have we direct them to the micro business development program If they don't have the if they're not showing there the skill in record keeping and so on and we refer a lot of people to that That site and the volunteer tax program is at cvoeo is where we do that work so just a little historic perspective on This program being around since the mid 80s With one brief lapse. I think a state allocation is very important for cvoeo and other community actions as as For for them to leverage other funding for their programs and I think a state allocation is really important for that to happen So thank you for your attention My name is tom schicker I'm here today to strongly recommend that the forthcoming budget include enhanced pay For high tech in home nursing currently 50 percent of the Medicare eligible service hours for medically complex Patients goes unfilled and the situation Constitutes a crisis for many Vermont families ours included Our daughter is a 14 year old child living with crab A disease a rare neurological condition typically fatal by age three She has frequent seizures Unable to move or speak yet appears developmentally age appropriate in many ways She's learning to use a communication device attends public school when she's healthy Like chocolate pudding creamies maple syrup likes being read to listening to music Being outside and engaging with her peers She's Unfortunately encased in an immobile body and my girl's access to these pleasures demands utter or depends utterly on other people Despite qualifying for high tech nursing and being enrolled in the pediatric palliative care program Nursing support for our family has been sporadic often not available for months at a time Currently we've been without nursing assistance since june 2019 How does the nursing shortage impact Vermont families to start with never having a day off? For years and lifting transporting changing dressing feeding results in unabated bodily and mental fatigue In an age where working families typically need two full-time incomes to get by Unpaid full-time labor of caretaking makes that an impossibility unpaid labor Spent caring for a loved one prohibits Commitment to an outside career your work ethic and value can be questioned local college Chose not to renew a contract with me because I twice requested a semester review meeting to be rescheduled During a medical crisis which eventually ended in a pick you visit Full inclusion of special needs children's and public school require a nurse to accompany the students We've kept our daughter home from school simply because she didn't have a nurse to go with her Um The complications all of these introduce risk to the care of already fragile loved ones doesn't have to be this way People needing care eventually die leaving Burned out family caregivers with no will to advocate for systemic improvement as they deal with grief and how to Live in the wake of their personal loss. So I ask you to please begin the process improving this crisis Create a budget that reflects how important High-tech nursing is to the quality of life of many Vermont Vermonters Followed by Paige Lowry Hi, my name is Jill Evans. I'm the director of one of the 20 community justice centers throughout the state of Vermont And I am not here asking for money. I'm here to just raise awareness about this huge asset that Vermont has in its network of community justice centers And to to make the work that we do more visible at a time When we're starting to look at justice reinvestment with the recent report that came from the council on state governments The 20 CJC's across the state of Vermont which serves the entire state Has a model where we use trained community volunteers to do the majority of the work that we do So we're a very cost-effective program and in fiscal year 19, we saw Diverted 1,200 people from the criminal justice process all together. They were referred directly by law enforcement Provided restorative processes for an additional 500 people who went through the court system Provided 70 coses which are circles of support and accountability for high-risk offenders coming out of prison that helped them be successful And served an additional 600 folks who were re-entering and the way we did that was with 20,500 volunteer hours And so I just wanted to raise awareness. Thank you for your service for staying late to hear all of our comments and I'll be back page followed by Matt Noonan I'm also My name is Paige Lowry And I'm here. I'm not asking for money either But I'm here simply to maybe inform And educate folks about The good fortune I have in the honor to be a volunteer at age. Well Much to to follow up many of your own stories and what you're talking either about seniors or at-risk youth or young children There are a lot of people out there in our state that need our support And I am lucky enough and fortunate enough to be a volunteer for age well and have the opportunity to work with some wonderful elders On regular basis. I spend my time. I have a wonderful lady that I take shopping. She's blind And I take her grocery shopping once a week and it's like the highlight of my week As much as people thank me for what I do and oh, it's great that you volunteer I get as much out of it as and as she ever does and her husband Roger and her Guy dog and I have the best conversations when we get home from grocery shopping And we tell lots and share lots of stories. So it's a wonderful opportunity And I look forward to doing it every week and any opportunity I have to Take anybody shopping or simply to a doctor's appointment or Anything that helps some age in place and keep their independence as elders Is super important and it's something that we can't lose sight of There's as I said, there's a lot of vulnerable people out there Who need our support and simply just need to visit a kind ear and your time and for me it's Being able to volunteer my time with age well is really enriching and I look forward to doing more of it And I was happy to come here today With Erica marks who's one of my great mentors who spoke earlier about the importance of The meals on wheels program and so many of the other ancillary Support of things that happen from a program such as the age well does for the area agencies on aging And I just wanted to further just inform and be here to support that effort. Thank you Matt followed by Lyle Johnson, are you going to choose? There is a lot of people that need help You can just a lot of pain in the room I'm here to I'm a dad from Shelburne for my daughter Nicole who's I don't like talking about it, but um Definitely you need nursing What's the common theme everyone needs help that's been here Um, I wouldn't want to choose By someone that's lived it You have to help the people that can't help themselves first Um, you want to help everyone, but there's only so much In the pot of gold. So If you're going to choose choose to help people that can't help themselves that's The children the homeless That the the families that have nowhere else to turn in my particular instance It's my daughter who was born with underdeveloped brain and we didn't know it until she was born She can't do anything for herself. She needs 24 hour care She gets checked in and out of the intensive care unit if she needs help because If you don't monitor, she could have a life threatening seizure and never set off an alarm And if you don't medicator she'll die but through All our efforts our nurses efforts, etc. She's 19 years old and She can enjoy life through the assistance of others because she can do absolutely nothing for herself But she can smile and that is when people ask me about her You know, they say how sad it is how hard it is for you you you learn to live with it and it's hard But what do we all do for each other? What does everybody here want? They all want to be happy They want to have a quality of life. So the one thing my daughter can do is she can smile So Whether it's the nursing we get through the vna Or it's the volunteers that help us All we try to do is make her smile just like we try to help anyone that we love so I'm here asking for a ten dollar raise to the nurses Um through the vna through the high tech nursing cares Program In a nutshell I could tell you all much more about my daughter But we need to help the ones that can't help themselves through the vna. You could make that happen They definitely need a higher pay scale Like we got 114 hours. They would barely cover it For 19 years. We finally went self-directed. Oh now I I got to turn nurses away because I'm so good At finding my own nurses, but it's because I can pay them 36 or 37 dollars an hour when it's self-directed Can't do that through the vna. They can't find a nurse or if we get a nurse She leaves within a year and goes to the hospital. I don't blame them. Everybody wants to make a decent wage So You know the in working for the vna. It's almost like you should be paying them more money It's a harder thing to do to go into somebody's home You don't know if it's going to be a good home or a bad home But they got to go take care of the patient who needs them because whether the parents are going to do it or not The patient needs to help There's no backup support if the home nurse needs to go to the bathroom or whatever the problem might be There's no manager to I mean there is at the vna, but not in the home So to give them at least comparable pay To the hospital only seems fair I mean if money wasn't an object, they probably deserve more money It's a harder job than what you would do in a hospital with a whole team helping you take care of people So please give money to the people that need it the most followed by Emma bower So my name is lial johnson and i'm a volunteer through age well Serving seniors. I live in burlington I became involved with that organization doing meals on wheels deliveries and often More often than you like sometimes you find that when you put the meal in the senior's refrigerator It's the only food in the refrigerator. So That service is very important The other way I volunteer for them is I I help a an older gentleman pay his bills once a month And he's very very fearful That you know any mispayment Um Of a utility or his rent means that it puts his housing in jeopardy and puts his heat and water in jeopardy So once a month I drive him around town and we pay his bill in person because he's also very fearful the mail service I'm not sure. I'm sure there's a story for that, but he's afraid that that they'll lose and he'll His housings in jeopardy. So I really you know, I think it's important for the state's money that They have well trained and qualified people who are doing these deliveries to look out for seniors who are at risk of being abused or neglected Or have other problems like their heat stops working And it's important that the seniors have people That they can trust, you know, especially when you're paying someone helping someone pay their bills They need to know that the person that shows up is not in it for themselves or a friendly volunteer who might take advantage of them And so, um, you know, I use my own vehicle my own personal time To attend the training and to drive this person around and when we do meals on wheels So I think there's that coordination of volunteer services Is really money well spent it's an investment that you know, all the volunteers are donating their own personal time vehicles But um, there's a great return on it and it provides a great amount of comfort and Serves a great need for elders in the community Thanks Followed by Aaron us Thank you for providing the opportunity to speak tonight. My name is Emma bower. I'm originally from strafford I currently live in burlington. I'm a uvm student and I also work as vermont feeds advocacy intern this legislative session I'm here to speak to the importance of farm to school programs in our state Specifically the farm to school network school of reaching $500,000 in annual funding for the farm to school and early childhood Program today. I'm advocating that you help us get closer to that $500,000 goal And at the very least, please ensure that funding for farm to school does not decrease from last year's appropriation of $241,000 I personally support this request because I was lucky enough to grow up in vermont with access to farm to school programs In agricultural education throughout my childhood my out-of-state friends think it's like crazy when I talk about gardening class When I was a kid, but that was the time when I got to engage in the outdoors and learn about how to grow food Which I think is really integral to a vermont childhood and passing along our state's culture to the next generation I also know that this early exposure to farm to school programs and education is one of the reasons why today i'm pursuing a career in agricultural policy to assist the farmers in environment that are the backbone of our state I'm also here today because my personal experience is only one testament to the importance of farm to school in vermont Which is critical to ensuring a healthy future for the state By supporting farm to school we create more business for local farmers that are stewards to the environment We know that every dollar invested in farm to school returns a dollar and 60 cents to vermont's economy by keeping food purchasing dollars Local this is an investment We must be making now to the urgent due to the urgency of the climate crisis and the economic uncertainty facing many in the state Including farmers The other investment we must be making is in young children The benefits of farm to school to growing children range from introducing them to local food systems To teaching them healthy habits that reduce our current rates of childhood obesity and carry on through life It also has huge benefits for boosting academic performance And we have seen a dramatic contribution to our communities from farm to school and early childhood programs already So please help us preserve our current funding base and if possible help us reach out to you By expanding our funding further. Thank you Town meeting so I didn't really know what to expect But thank you everybody that's shared all of your stories and it's been a really nice way Just to learn more about the community and all the amazing things are already out there And are hopefully going to continue for the state of vermont I'm here because I have attended services at cvoeo I'm in my 10th year of business this year. I work in the wedding industry as a floral designer When I first moved to the state of vermont, I had a degree in art. I had no business experience But thanks to going to cvoeo I've been able to really just make a life for myself here in vermont I talked to so many people who get married here who are From out of state, but they absolutely love the state and so many people say They wish that they could live here, but there's just not the right market for the job that they work on and so forth but for me by Creating my own business. I have been able to lay down roots here Through cvoeo. I was able to really just get a hold of how to build my business successfully I was able to buy a house two years ago and start really laying down roots in the state of vermont Triple my sales hire employees All of all the good things support other local businesses through my business And support the wedding industry, which I know is a big industry for the state of vermont for Generating revenue So yeah, that's that's pretty much just what I wanted to share. I also was awarded the Young entrepreneur of the year award through sba this year and hopefully In the coming year. I'll also be doing some collaborative work with the new american farmers program. So thank you Is there anyone else who's here who did not sign up who would like to Thank you for hanging in right to the end. It's great My name is susan d's and i'm here To speak to to age well. I'm a volunteer with age well and thank you for hearing all of this testimony today I just want to say that I was Recently retired and anxious to do some volunteer work with I worked in the medical field Before retirement and I was anxious to work with people and helping them When their way through the medical system and I finally hooked up with age well And I am astounded at The number of seniors living independently In difficult very difficult situations Without family without support other than what they might connect up with through Fortuitous means I would say if they if they are able to connect up with age well And I have many clients who Who don't have anyone I am their only contact perhaps for a week at a time. They may not see anyone else And I I take them to their appointments. I go in with them if they need assistance in navigating their appointment itself and I just can't imagine what life would be like for these people Without that service and um, so anyway, I don't I want to keep anybody any longer But I it's such a hugely valuable service that age well provides to these people And um, I recently connected up with a woman who who wasn't aware of age well and was missing appointments and was in Appreciating pain because she had no way to get to appointments and um, so I'm now her Number one contact and she's getting where she needs to go when she needs to go But there's a lot of seniors out there. It's just amazing to me how much senior housing there is with Individuals living alone without support. So thank you For doing our best we will I reiterate what I said at the beginning this Does truly really make a difference that you came out and Shared with us what you wanted to share to find us come and see us