Chittenden County, Vermont Burlington Mayor's Press Conference, 3 May 2023

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From YouTube: Burlington Mayor's Press Conference: Recognize Non-profit Awardees of $1 Million in ARPA Grants

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From the Mayor's Office:

Today, Mayor Weinberger recognizes the awardees of the City’s $1 million in targeted ARPA grants to Burlington non-profit organizations serving residents and industries who were hardest hit by the COVID pandemic and are sustaining the long-term repercussions. Burlington’s Office of Business & Workforce Development administered this grant program, and awardees were chosen by a review committee focused on selecting organizations strongly serving Burlington, minority community members, and whose mission and work impacts communities, households, individuals, and industries most impacted by the pandemic.

Joining Mayor Weinberger are members of the Burlington non-profit organizations awarded grants: AALV, BCA Foundation, Burlington Children’s Space, Community Health Centers, CVOEO, Feeding Chittenden, Habitat for Humanity, HANDS, Heineberg Senior Center, Joint Urban Ministry, King Street Center, Mercy Connections, New Moon, ONE Arts, Inc, Peaopl’s Kitchen, Pine Forest Children’s Center, Pride Center, Somali Bantu Community, The Family Room, The Turning Point, Vermonters for Criminal Justice Reform, Vermont Adult Learning, VT New American Council, and VT Racial Justice Alliance.

5/3/2023

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A

Hi everyone good afternoon, thank you so much for being here. My name is Cara elnessrawi. You've probably all received many emails from me, but don't know me personally, I'm the Director of Business and Workforce Development um and in addition to that, I have been helping. um The city manage our arpa funds. The 27 million dollars of American Rescue plan act. Funds um through our budgetary process, as you know, is uh in the June month, June and July.

A

um We passed that we would um have a million dollars go to support our non-profit, Community who's. Doing a lot of the hard work in this city and um you all applied. The program was five times over subscribed. It was very hard to make choices.

A

I want to thank the support I received from director Pine and the cedo office on this, as well as there's some people standing in the back and members who were on as well as counselor Carpenter, who are on our Review Committee, and we met many times, and it was a lot of hard decisions to make so, but I'm really happy to be here and celebrate all the work that you guys do and that you guys were able to receive your grants.

A

I know um I said this to a few people who walked in early I love to structure these grants and and help get them out the door and then comes the paperwork piece. So I know we still have some outstanding pieces of paperwork with all of you and we're getting those checks out the door as soon as we can. But thank you so much for being here and I'd like to introduce our mayor.

B

So good afternoon, everyone I'm really glad we were able to have an event together, like this and and kind of note, this pretty significant milestone in for the community for building back from the the pandemic. I want to thank Cara, as well as the committee that helped make these decisions for including counselor Carpenter. For for your work on this, you know the city, the city is really seeing our role as the biggest city in the state.

B

um As uh this, you know, centralized effort, we've seen Burlington's role as being one of really trying to help lead, not just not just this community but the whole reason, and really in some ways the state out of this incredibly traumatic, challenging period of time. That was the pandemic in the in the year afterward, and a principle that we have had both for the way we responded to the virus from very early on to the way that we are trying to lead.

B

This recovery is that it need that that we need to be focused as a city on our response on on on the recovery being Equitable, and uh you know that's something that uh didn't happen everywhere uh during during the pandemic. There was great disparities in the public health response and we saw tremendous disparities in different communities having different Health outcomes.

B

We we also know that on early relief efforts, the money that the federal government was sending out, uh which which shared in it did not get it out in an equal way and we've really been determined as a city to try to work against that and make sure that the the efforts that we were leading were Equitable and I do see this program as being one of the main efforts working with all of you as being one of the main ways that we are are doing that at this point in the recovery, um the people you know in the room include Child Care, youth service and Elder.

B

Care organizations includes organizations committed to providing food security and supporting the basic needs of people throughout the community. There are Arts and Cultural groups. Here there are Health Care Providers here, housing and homeless service providers are here. Our focus on homelessness has been really the most significant way. We have used the uh the arpa dollars the federal dollars and we've been doing that with the city's own efforts with the building of the Elmwood Avenue Shelter, but it's also reflected in some of the awards that have been done through this program.

B

There are organizations here who expand our sense of belonging and safety for lgbtq, bypoc and immigrant neighborhood Neighbors, and there are Partners here in the room who are real leaders in our Collective fight against the opioid crisis, which is a public health challenge that predated the pandemic and has worsened dramatically since since 2020, and continues to be a source of tremendous heartbreak.

B

The work that you um all do in our community support people, families and industries, most impacted by the pandemic, is critical. Our hope is that, with these federal dollars, that work can be Advanced and expanded in a way that relieves the lingering challenges of the pandemic and accelerates a just recovery for Burlington and Vermont. You know we know we haven't been able to provide all the resources you need to meet that challenge, but we hope, uh with these grants, it's a meaningful step forward.

B

So that's really it we wanted to have this moment to say thank you for your leadership, for your commitment to the city, for your commitment of Vermont and for your collaborative Innovative and caring spirit Spirit in the face of the challenges we've been through and everything that's still ahead and um we hope you'll hang out for a few minutes, enjoy some coffee and desserts. If you haven't yet and uh maybe meet some new colleagues, so thank you all for being here.

C

Hi I'm Tom, Dalton and.

D

I'm Jess, Kirby and.

C

We're from vermonters for Criminal Justice Reform and last year we opened a specialized re-entry and Recovery Center for justice involved. People living with substance use disorder in downtown Burlington and Jess. Do you want to talk a little bit about the services we have there.

D

Sure we offer re-entry entry recently, leaving incarceration. We have recovery, supports and peer supports case management. We have a contingency Management program, so a lot of just Direct Services for justice involved people and we are currently working with over 120 people.

E

Why are you here today.

F

Why are you here today? You.

C

Know more about that, so the City of Burlington has been our our biggest supporter in getting this re-entering Recovery Center up and running both financially, but also just in terms of um you know, helping us get the resources from a variety of different Grant funders and um mayor Weinberger in particular, has been a real Champion for us and today we're here for a reception for arpa Grant recipients uh for for non-profit organizations, and we were lucky enough to be a recipient of one of those grants.

D

uh We're really excited to be here today and really grateful for the support that the City of Burlington has given us. um We have seen a rise in overdose deaths in Burlington and in China County and in Vermont, and one of our main goals is to help reduce overdose deaths of Justice involved people and reduce overdose deaths in our community, and this.

D

This These funds have really allowed us to kind of expand services in Burlington, expand access to Innovative, Services, really expand access to Direct Services for people that are very high risk for overdose, and the funds that we've received have really helped us to be able to make our. You know this program a reality and to be able to help some of the most vulnerable people in our community. So we're really grateful and happy to be here. I'm.

G

Kim Anderson I'm, the director of development for the community health centers, and today we are really lucky to be accepting a grant award to help fund a nurse position within our homeless, Health Care Program.

G

The nurse in this program uh goes to many different Outreach areas throughout the city to help with wound care and to help with vaccination to help be that bridge to many other different social services. That probably got a lot of good grant money today, as well, so I think trying to help improve the health with all of all within our community is that's our mission and it's really nice to have the city, support that and and increase our partnership in this sort of way.

H

Hi I'm Dave Mullen with Green Mountain Habitat for Humanity, and we are very pleased to be here today as part of this award. Green Mountain habitat is going to be able to build more affordable housing, more home ownership in the City of Burlington. We are extremely grateful for this opportunity to put this money to work when perpetually, affordable housing, I'm.

F

Sarah Carpenter City councilor from the new North End of Burlington and I'm here with my colleague, Andrea veets who's executive director of the heinenberg senior center, who just received award and Andrea, can tell you about the center any award.

I

Thank you, Sarah. The senior center serves over 500 people a year, both from the new North End of Burlington, but also from all around Chittenden County, and with the arpa funding that we were awarded from the city. We are developing a free lunch project, so we will be offering free meals to seniors three to four days a week and up to 30 people a day and we're so appreciative to the city.

I

This money also has allowed us to reach out and get funding from some other grantors as well, which has really allowed us to move forward with this project. Thank you.

F

Thank you and just to put in the plug. The center has lots of other activities, other food activities and social activities and health activities so come.

I

On by yeah absolutely um bone, Builders yoga line dancing, Bingo, Bridge, Mahjong, there's a peer support group, all kinds of things happening and we've been doing lots of special events. Lately you can check out our home page for a list of those events. Hi.

J

I'm representing feeding Chittenden, we received funding through the arpa grant that will go towards creating a safe and welcoming space at the food shelf in Burlington's, Old, North End and the community resource center that accompanies our food shelf. So, together we will support folks in need with food community and opportunity. Brian.

K

Pine a work at ceto is the director and I served on the committee that reviewed the proposals that came in. We obviously had five times the dollars requested that we had available a lot of important work happening across the community to ensure that the recovery from the pandemic is both just and Equitable, and organizations that were supported were put together.

K

The strongest proposals like they would have the best chances of succeeding and having an impact on folks who are hit hard by the pandemic and I'm optimistic that these resources will make a difference in our community and I just want to also encourage the organizations that submitted proposals, but didn't get chosen to keep up their grid work, and hopefully it will be opportunities for them in the future. My.

L

Name is Becca McHale I'm, the executive director of One Arts Inc.

E

And I'm Margaret Coleman I'm the board president of One Arts and.

L

We provide arts-based child care, we have three locations and we received a ten thousand dollar Grant from the city that we're using to help cover co-pays for our families, who struggle to pay for tuition for their child care and we've also we're also using it for uh supplies for lunch to provide lunches. We make lunch for all of our children and as well as other supplies like sun, hats or sunscreen, anything that our families can't provide themselves. We're we're using this grant money to support them.

E

So we're really grateful to the City of Burlington for this extra assistance and just giving us a little bit of support for this Early Learning Center and helping making make it a little more possible for access to child care. The funding.

M

That we just received from the city is really vital for this particular program. It's going to help us get food to some of the Immigrant and bipod communities of seniors in the city. The programs through hands, and the name of this particular program is called diverse, pantry and that's going to get food to seniors in the Immigrant and bipod communities and it's been absolutely vital funding for us to be able to move forward so we're. We really appreciate this funding.