 Hi, I'm Max Madalinsky. I'm a project manager with Burlington's Parks, Recreation and Waterfront Department. I'm out here at Champlain Street Park, a project I've been working on for the past several years now, kind of from the original outreach. I've worked on the design myself. This was when we did in-house. And now we're working on implementing some improvements here in the park. Behind me is the original playground that was put in here in this park, back in the mid-90s, I'd like to say. I think that was paid for by the city, using both city funds as well as some grant funds, and was really headed up by an AmeriCorps volunteer who was actually working with our department, City's CEDO, the Community Economic and Development Office, at the time. And here we are now quite a few decades on. That playground is well over... Well, it's due for replacement at this point, as a lot of the other site amenities here in the park are. And we've been working on hearing from our community about what they want to hear and have here in this little park. And we'll be putting in a nice new big playground at the back of the park and really doing our best to make sure that is inclusive to all of our community members. And really doing our best to bring some TLC, some love and some new furnishings and beautification to this little green space here in the middle of Burlington. So my name is Nate Lanterie, and I'm a neighbor of the park, and of the King and Maple neighborhood, and community organizer, and a Parks and Rec Commissioner for the city of Burlington. So, yeah, I'm really excited about being here, and I'm really glad to have so much energy and enthusiasm about the Champlain Street Park. And I'm really energized about seeing how much change there has been in just, you know, two springs since... Well, I guess three springs since I'm really starting this project. First in 2019 with an interruption from the pandemic and then really restarting it in 2020. So in terms of history, that's really when we started at this modern version of the Champlain Street Park where the space was originally given to the city as a park in the 50s. It had been last majorly improved in the 90s, and when the Parks and Rec Department started their master planning project back in 2019, it had been, you know, quite a few years since there had been major reinvestment and the space that started to feel like it. So that was really the impetus behind starting this revitalization, this return to the Champlain Street Park. And the first major part was really, it was a robust community engagement. I know Max, Max Madalinsky, the Parks and Rec planner, who's working on this project. I think talked to almost every neighbor in these abutting units in particular and just to try to figure out what do you want from this park? How could this space serve you best as a community? And through that really made a lot of connections at, you know, some like 75 interviews and found that for the most part what people really wanted were not a whole lot of different things from the space. They wanted it to be maintained as the public green space that it could be, the really only publicly accessible one in this King and Maple neighborhood, which is the most ethnically diverse in the state of Vermont. This is the only public green space accessible for many people. So folks said, yeah, we want that. We also want it to feel safer. We want it to be accessible for kids. And really wanted to just be an open community institution. And so from that process I got involved in the early, I guess that would have been end of winter of 2021. I got involved and really started this to say, okay, Parks and Rec, they have their ability to do some of these capital projects. Is there a way that we can work from the community side of things and bring, you know, from the bottom up bring this kind of positive energy and, you know, even if we can't change the physical environment, perhaps we can start to change people's perception of the safety and the health of the space and then really this larger King and Maple neighborhood. Unfortunately the last few years as, you know, we've seen across the country, there have been a lot of difficult things going on from increases in poverty and associated increases in drug use and things like that and unfortunate violence. And our neighborhood hasn't been spared from that. And I think that a lot of people feel that and know that and what I'm really hoping to show here and I think has already taken place is that this space doesn't need to be a continuation of that and it can actually be a greater symbol of the true strength of this neighborhood of families, of communities, of individuals that just want to live in peace and enjoy this beautiful city and enjoy this beautiful neighborhood. And I think that we're really on the path to doing that and I want to thank everybody who's contributed to it because it has been many hands that have made a light work of this small little park and I'm really thankful that we've done it and that we'll continue to do it and that this can be a example for the rest of the city that, you know, if you see something that is not the way that you want it to be, if you see something that has fallen, be a part of the solution to fixing it, you know, be part of the person that picks up that piece later or, you know, go and with a community group pick up some needles. It's an unfortunate part of our reality but it's part of a safer health for your community. So that's all. I'm really glad that folks have been here and that we've seen this great change so far. So thank you all. Thank you all so much for coming today. My name is Paul Draget. I'm the Executive Director at CVOEO. First of all, I want to thank our team at CVOEO for coming, helping to set up the day. Thank you so much. I want to thank Nate. Where is Nate? Oh, there is Nate. Nate and the neighbors for tending to this wonderful space. I want to thank Max and Sophie and our friends at Brillington Park and Recreation for all the work they've done here for the space. I want to thank the media for showing up and highlighting Earth Day, beautiful space, and of course, fair housing. So thank you. Thank you all for coming. So today is a day to celebrate this small, beautiful space, this piece of land. You can see the place through the lake there. We're here at one of the last, it's not the last green space, one of the most diverse neighborhoods involved. We are also here to celebrate Earth Day and Fair Housing Month. And each of these things are completely connected and inseparable. Because communities aren't one thing or another. They're an ecosystem. And they're not just for people, but they're for all living beings. We did a really good job, in my view, with the pandemic, right? We marched all our resources, all our wisdom into a major public health initiative. But what have we left undone with public health? What continues to linger year after year and decade after decade? That's a question for all of us. When I think of public health, I see lots of green spaces. Where we coexist with other living beings. I see safe, healthy, affordable housing. I see fair housing. And I see an end to racism, an end to gun violence, and an end to homelessness. So I ask you, in doing one thing for public health, ending the pandemic, what have we left undone for the health, for our health, and for the health of our communities? I used to live with my uncle. He was a police officer. And he would say, you reap what you sow. I mostly think that is true. And that we can measure ourselves by our communities. By the quality of our gardens and our green spaces. By the way we tend to our relationships. And by our respect for this earth and other living beings. I think sometimes we forget that communities are not just bricks and asphalt. They're living entities with a heart and a soul. And they exist through connections and relationships. So much so that none of us can truly thrive until we all thrive. I think that's the definition of a community. A place where nobody is left behind. Communities are not just our last refuge. They're our only refuge. So yes, let's reap what we sow. Let's flourish together. I'm so honored to be here today with our team, with our guests, all of you. And thank you for joining us in this community. So now I want to introduce our guests. And first up, we have Nate, who is an amazing person. A former CVOA employee. And Nate, you're on the commission for Burlington Parks and Recreation. Nate is a member of this community. I came by a couple of Saturdays ago and I looked over and Nate was treating the edges over here. So I'm so honored to have Nate here to help keep this region alive. Thank you, Nate. Paul, thank you all for being here. And I'm going to start by, yes, starting with some thank yous. So first I want to definitely shine some light on Max Mandelinsky, the Parks Flanner with Burlington Parks and Rec Department. So he and Parks and Rec Department really started this whole process back in 2019. Recognizing that this park, this tiny pocket park, this only, it's really the only public green space for this king and maple neighborhood. Recognizing that it's a space that with a little bit of love, a little bit of attention, and a little bit of time and money could turn back into the staple, this incredibly important part of the community that it can be. And I think anybody that lives in the neighborhood walks by here, interacts with this park in any way would say that the way it is today is dramatically different and markedly improved from where it was back in 2019. And that's not an accident. It's also not based on any individual's choices or actions. It's the collective choice. While Paul mentioned that I was out edging the gardens, it's just one of many acts that have really contributed to this great change that we've seen. Countless hours over the years, 20, 30, the park goes back to the 50s, so it's been maintained for a long time by the members of this community. Folks like Alana across the way, there's a guy named Tony who's lived in the area for 20 years and he's just moving, you know, Lori Lee Schoenbacker, Eric, the building owner. Little times that they've picked up a piece of trash, edged the gardens, you know, unfortunately picked up a needle, done the things that are going to make this space and this community a healthier and safer place. So I really want to just shine a light on all that work that you all have done, we all have done, and will continue to do and continue to show that this is our community, this is our neighborhood. Let's make it the place we want to be, the safe place it could be, the healthy place it could be, and the place that we really need in this really difficult time. So thank you all. I also want to shine one more light. We're back job by this beautiful mural today. This was made some time ago by the artist Gina Carrera. She unfortunately passed away in 2021 and we had been in talks to kind of continue working on this mural a little bit. It had been a community project at the time and yeah, so just wanted to say that's with her family and, you know, appreciation for the art and the space that she's helped, you know, contribute to over the years. And the last thing, 20 of our Muslim neighbors, brothers, sisters in Mubarak. It's coming up tomorrow. The fast ends and it's fast approaching. So while we can't share a meal together today in the park, I know that there will be chances again to do it. So be on the lookout, host your own, and I'll happily show up and invite you to when we can. So thanks a lot and I don't know who the next person to introduce is. Thanks so much, Nick. The next person. Thank you, Nick. Now we'd like to ask Kim Carson, the director of racial equity and inclusion for the city of Burlington. Come on up, Kim. Thank you. Thank you and sorry for my brief tardiness. You know, one I want to say first, thanks and welcome to the community. I'm, you know, new here. I've been here for about six months and so this is an opportunity for the first time last week and this weekend to actually come outside in Vermont and there was actually people. I was very, very excited. I've been spending my time walking through streets without people. So this was an opportunity for me to see these green spaces and people out and about and what community really, really means here. And so I want to say thank you because I felt really welcome to come to me this weekend as I was going about Church Street and different local areas. The Office of Racial Equity, Inclusion and Belonging is honored to be here, to be invited here to be a part of this conversation. I think oftentimes when we're talking about housing, community and belonging or things of that nature, we don't see the importance of equity and bringing all of the brothers community as a part of that conversation. And so I really am grateful and thankful to be here to be a part of the conversation now and moving forward. Our office is focused on addressing inequities in any form and in any way. And one of the places that we've seen this loud and clear is in housing. And so redlining and other things have threatened and continue to be pervasive in black and brown communities and community of color. And so we always want this to be on the forefront in all of our partnerships and how we work and support all burning Tony is because a community that is inclusive and is has equal opportunities for everyone is always going to be more thriving and welcoming community for all. You know, according to a lot of assessments and housing 2017 to 2020, the monthly income costs exceeds 50% of the monthly income of Burlington residents. I'm a new Burlington resident. I feel that I'm a renter. I'm not an owner right now. I feel what that feels like. I'm actually going through the home ownership process. And to be honest with you, it's not an easy one. So I really share day to day in this moment the feelings of every burning Tony and really using my office to really strive to bring equity in that area. There continues to be a significant disparity in home ownership rates among ethnic racial groups with the largest disparity between whites at 43% and black Americans at 15% in the city of Burlington. That's something my office is going to strive to address. It's not going to come tonight. It's not going to come tomorrow. But what continued support and addressing and attention to this and partnerships that we have in this space right now, I think we can do it in the city of Burlington. Oftentimes that housing version is placed on the most marginalized communities and I want to take a look at that and see how we can create not a city where we live over there, but a city where we're welcome and included and have the opportunity to live anywhere. That's really what inclusion means is to have the opportunity to be and live anywhere you want in the city of Burlington. And that's what my office is committed to doing. And then we want to always be involved in any conversation. And the biggest thing I want to say, not only to this group, to the larger community at large, is we're here to serve. I'm here to serve. And so my office is always open not only to these conversations, but the people of Burlington to tell me your experiences, to tell me how you're living life, how housing and those opportunities are either being a barrier or not to you. We are here. We're open and we're here to serve. Thank you. Thanks so much, Kim. And now Max Medelanski, come on up here. Max has done just a wonderful job at the park. So really appreciate all your help. Thank you so much, Paul. And thanks to everybody for being out here today. Thanks to CBOO for volunteering time and resources to help make our park better. A big thanks to Nate Lantieri for all the work you've done volunteering and organizing people here. Really appreciate it. I'm going to try to be pretty brief here. I'm going to speak a little bit to the work we're doing here with Champlain Tree Park. As Nate noted, we really got kicked off with this back in 2019, starting to do outreach to the community and hearing about what they'd like to see in this park. We kind of kept that going for two or three years here. Heard a lot through community surveys, through events out here in the park with hot chocolate, through organizing workdays and things like that about what people really picture for this sort of sliver of green space that we are trying to preserve and update here in our downtown. And mostly what we've heard is people want to keep it kind of how it is, just a place to relax, a place to enjoy being with your kids, having maybe a bigger playground and really trying to make the space more open and inviting. So through that, we've now permitted our design. We're working on doing some final fundraising, we're applying for some different grants and things like that. What our plan here is to put in a nice big concrete seating area up here at the front, have a new walkway that comes through the park and really expand and put in a big playground at the back of this, much bigger than what we've got here now. We did manage to replace the fence last year and really start to open this space up. And then with our partnership with CBOEL, we're going to be buying some furnishings, picnic tables, new benches, things like that, putting in landscaping to really just continue to make this a nice welcoming space for all the members of our community here in our city's beautiful downtown. So again, thank you all so much for being here and I'll pass it back to Ben. Thank you. And we have Earhard, our outreach representative. Come on up Earhard. Earhard is always so supportive from Senator Sanders' office and we always appreciate him coming out. Thanks, Paul. And thanks for having me here today on behalf of Senator Sanders. A little underdressed, so hopefully my shivering won't preclude me from giving my five pages worth of remarks. So I want to thank you, Paul, and the entire team at CBOEL. I want to thank Nate and Max from Parks and Rec from both the commission and from the department. And also to Kim at the REIB for the work that you're already doing and that we know you will be doing toward the city. Probably didn't for all of our community. Thank you. Thank you all for your work that you do each and every day to connect low income and marginalized communities to the resources that they need to meet their basic needs from housing to food and economic opportunity to access to green space, recreation, and community engagement. And to making Burlington a more welcoming and inclusive place. Senator Sanders understands well the importance of public access to green space, to affordable housing, and a healthy environment for all. As mayor of Burlington, he brought together residents from all over the city to plant trees, simultaneously building community while rebuilding our urban tree canopy here in Burlington. And he worked to transform the post industrial waterfront to the beautiful publicly owned park with a bike path along Champlain that it is today, providing outdoor recreation and healthy exercise for all regardless of income. And in the area of housing he helped create what is now Champlain Housing Trust, which provides affordable rental housing and access to home ownership, as well as preserving Northgate apartments as affordable housing forever, which is one of our most diverse communities in the city. Senator Sanders believes firmly that housing is a human right and that by creating more permanently affordable and accessible rental housing and home ownership for all, including low income working families, seniors, people with disabilities and people of color, we can begin to address the unfair and illegal thanks to the Fair Housing Act, housing discrimination that has been embedded for decades in governmental policies. This includes the redlining that helped create deep disparities in wealth and home ownership to inclusionary zoning that helps perpetuate racial and economic segregation. In Congress, Bernie has long advocated for funding for outdoor recreation, for parks and land conservation. He was a strong supporter of the Great American Outdoors Act, which fully and permanently funds the Land and Water Conservation Fund to make investments in well-maintained parks, hiking trails, and public lands all across our state. On the housing front, he was the original lead sponsor of the National Housing Trust Fund. The first federal housing program devoted to funding housing for the lowest income Americans and has been a strong advocate for all federal housing and community development programs throughout his career. Senator Sanders knows how important these outdoor recreation and affordable housing sources have been across the state, and he will continue to fight for them. However, he also understands how critical local organizations, leaders, and communities, people like all of you who have showed up today for your neighborhood, are to these efforts. Without you doing the work on the ground, your community would not have access to affordable housing and green spaces that are so vital to the health of all Burlingtonians. What you're doing here on this Community Action Day is an example of what community engagement can look like. If we're going to keep neighborhoods strong, we must continue to come together in Burlington across the state and across the country in shared purpose to invest in our community's present and future. Thanks again for your tireless efforts on behalf of this neighborhood and our diverse community. Thank you. And now, James initially couldn't make it, but he did make it, so we have James McNerney from Senator Welch's office. Come on up, James. Hi, good morning, everyone. As Paul said, my name is James McNerney. I'm a constituent services and outreach representative for Senator Welch. Just wanted to say on behalf of the senator, I wanted to thank everyone here for showing up to participate in this event today, and to applaud the effort that's going in to revitalizing this space. I just want to note that green spaces like this is fundamental and critical pieces of our communities and neighborhoods here in Burlington and around the state. The positive outcomes that we see from having spaces like this, from having a place that we can all just come together and gather and interact and play and exercise to the positive mental health outcomes that we see from having access to natural green spaces like this. The impact of those just can't be understated in the importance of revitalizing our communities here. So, again, thanks to everyone and a happy early-earth day as well. Thanks. We have the best delegation. And now we have one of our newest members. We have David Scheer here, State Director for Representative Becca Ballant. David, welcome. Thank you very much, Paul. And thank you all for being here this morning. First and foremost, the Times Moon would really like to thank all the good folks who've been on the ground, literally, working to maintain this park, revitalize it through the last few years. We have a lot of gratitude for that and understand how important that on-the-ground community action from folks like Nate and the other neighbors in the area to Burlington Parks and Rec, those are the folks who are really making things happen here. And we are grateful to you for that work. You know, one of the things that the Compson has heard a lot about as she's traveled around the state and her first months in office is mental health. It's a crisis in many ways around the state and one of the things that studies show very clearly that access to green space is, in fact, really important for mental health. Access to green space has significant effects, positive effects on mental health. So the work you're doing here, among the many other pieces, many other benefits including revitalizing neighborhoods in general, supporting housing, but the work you're doing right here really also is important in that area as well. The Congresswoman just introduced her first bill, which is about mental health. It's been an intense focus for us based on the need that we hear around the state. And so I just wanted to, James mentioned it as well, but just wanted to add that piece to this. There's a lot of benefits to what you're doing. This is important, essential community work. It helps how we all live together and mental health is one of those important pieces. So thank you all very much and thank you Paul. So we're really lucky here at CVOO to have amazing staff. We do a lot of emergency work and we do a lot of really important work that helps move people out of poverty. And I think our fear housing team is just amazing. That work is absolutely critical for all the reasons that Kim cited. We don't have fear housing. We're not anchored to our community. So we have a wonderful associate director, Jess Hyman, and then we have Corinne speaking. So Jess, why don't you come on up. Hi everyone. Thank you so much for being here today in this beautiful space on this spring, finally spring day. I'm Jess Hyman. I'm the associate director of statewide housing advocacy programs at CVOO. And that includes our Vermont tenants program, mobile home program, home family voucher program, and also the fair housing project. And so all the work that HAP housing advocacy programs do are designed to support renters, people living in mobile home communities, people experiencing discrimination and provide education and resources and an ear for folks who are experiencing challenges in their housing. Charlie's telling me to speak louder. So I'm so excited to be here today right smack dab in the middle of Fair Housing Month. So Fair Housing Month celebrates the passage of the Fair Housing Act in 1968, which was a time when essential protections were enshrined into federal law to make sure that everyone could have equitable access to a home free of discrimination and harassment. But Fair Housing Month is more than that. And the Fair Housing Act is more than that. So not just protecting against discrimination and unfair treatment. The Fair Housing Act also requires the government, municipalities, and all of us to take positive actions to correct the historical wrongs, to correct this history of segregation and exclusion that's resulted in so many people being denied the basic fundamental right of a place to call home. And so in addition to all the work that we can do in our organizations, in our government, in our zoning, all the things that can help correct these historical wrongs, things like this are so important. Community spaces like gardens which provide the essential link between home and community and provide a place for people to connect with each other. Create a place to make sure that our communities are inclusive where everyone feels welcome and belongs. And because that's how we create stronger communities by connecting with each other, by talking with people of different backgrounds with different points of view. And so that's one of the main reasons for it about being in this space here today and all the community and connections that are being built through all these partnerships. So Fair Housing Month is also a time for a reminder that we still have a long ways to go even though we have essential protections in both federal and Vermont law that protect against discrimination, harassment and exclusion, it still exists. Every day we get calls into our offices from people who are being treated unfairly and not getting access to the homes that they deserve. So together as a community in spaces like this and others, we can help make a difference. So thank you for being part of that. I'm going to bring Can I introduce Karin? Karin, come on up. So Fair Housing Month has a whole bunch of community-based events that we invite you all to join and I'll turn it over to Karin to get involved in what's coming up. Thanks Jess. Thanks everyone for having me and following a great line of speakers. I'm really excited to talk to you all about all the events that we're doing for Fair Housing Month. Events like this, thinking about how we bring the housing conversation to the community, how we really make that conversation accessible, fun, creative and also get people to the resources that they really need. But first I just wanted to do take one more step further in connecting how this event the garden connects to housing security. So when we talk about housing we're really trying to advocate for housing choice, right? And in a market like we have now I'm sure everyone here knows we have an extreme housing shortage and what that means is that discrimination is happening more. It means that the people who have traditionally had equal access to housing are disproportionately impacted by our housing crisis. And so what we are really advocating for is for that agency and home space. Home is more than the brick and mortar it's more than the affordable housing it's the way people connect to the space it's the way they connect to their neighbors. It's knowing your neighbor it's asking for the sugar when you need it it's returning the mail and having someone to shovel you out when you're trapped inside those snow banks in the winter. And so it's really important for people to be connected and when we don't have housing stability we don't have the ability for people to be civically engaged. They don't have agency in their home they don't have the ability to you know be involved in a garden revitalization. So the more we have this opportunities like this and we talk about how housing is connected the more resilient our communities are going to be. So just to close that loop I know that's what everyone's been saying but I just wanted to really echo and make that connection clear. And then finally I do want to talk to you about all the excellent things happening for Fair Housing Month we are in our final weeks and tomorrow we will be continuing to this conversation at King Street Laundry Mat so that's just down the road that way yeah we'll have in our opening as you can see and the artist and we'll be talking again about the connection to community space we'll also be having a Fair Housing Friday that's a virtual event so anyone can plug in even from your office all of this is on our Fair Housing website which is FairHousingMonthVT.org next week we have a couple of other really great opportunities the Contoy's Auditorium we'll be talking about the Vocabulary of Home that's on Wednesday and then we'll be having a not a documentary screening a screening of the pursuit of happiness and that's going to be a really fun social event a time again to have these conversations together and that will be happening on Saturday the 29th and I think that's all for now I think we've really talked our ears off I'll give it back to Paul thank you all so much for coming Nate wants to make an announcement come on Nate we've got pizza coming we've got food we're going to do some work this is community right here hang out, have a blast, Nate I forgot to make an announcement earlier I got in my emotions and kind of got anxious so kept going but I wanted to just foreground this blue tent right here this is an arts activity that has been a collaboration in between myself and my project partner and also my life partner Maddie Hursom who is a local multimedia artist printmaker glassblower and we've been collaborating with Fair Housing Month and their Heart & Home art project which is a really great project they've been doing for a lot of years where you can get these art kits which I believe we have on hand that people could take home to respond to a few prompts about what does the word home mean to you what are your favorite places in your home or in your community and you know that is central to what we're trying to do here too so starting back last I believe it might have been last Fair Housing Month last April we started this collaboration and so really what we have today is that Maddie's prepared what we've lovingly called I don't know how many numbers there actually are but our symbols of community are our symbols of home and they're just some things that you know we felt particularly connected to we felt like others in this area would be connected to just to kind of give some people a chance to one, learn a little bit about what the printmaking process is like and see how it's actually an accessible way to create pretty cool art that you know she's helped and can kind of guide you along that process but also just for everybody to react in their own way and you know use some of these symbols use writing, use your own drawing to just think about it and reflect on it and share and you know ideally we'll you know be able to make some sort of collaborative piece together I think we're trying to get a bigger table so that we can do that but even regardless Maddie has some nice paper even if you just want to practice one of those Anolium prints you know you can just get that take it home as creamies you know there's good shapes over there so wanted to just plug that and say thank you all and thanks to the folks who can't be here thanks to everybody we will be here again there will be more community to celebrate here summer hasn't even started we can't even see summer at this point so I hope to see you all back here you know a Saturday afternoon or something for lunch and that's all