Reimagining a community.
Posted January 19, 2023, by Mindi Wisman
We are highlighting an innovative community building project that Youth Catalytics completed in Addison County, Vermont in 2022. As they wrestled with the impact of the pandemic in their community, leaders from the arts, clean energy sector, town centers, workforce development, affordable housing, family services, mental health care, and food access programs were testing new, resourceful solutions to longstanding problems.
Coordinated by the local United Way (UWAC), Reimagine Addison County led to the series of illuminating video and written interviews linked below. See how one community reimagined its way to sustained, creative collaborative action to meet collective needs and boost the community’s economy, culture, and social safety framework.
Click on the individual headings below to learn more.
The Arts Community
“The greatest thing we’ve seen is the capability to use outdoor spaces and green spaces in our towns, and that will continue. We want to make sure the theater is here when this is all over.”
Lisa Mitchell & Doug Anderson, Middlebury Town Hall Theatre, Kelly Hickey, Vermont Creative Network
“We are finalizing our Climate Action Plan to address the climate crisis while still growing our community, economy, and social institutions. This will have a positive social, economic, and environmental effect on all of us in this community.”
Spencer Putnam, Climate Economy Action Center of Addison County (CEAC)
“We really need an ‘all of the above’ strategy that includes zoning reform that can promote things like tiny homes, it will really be a community effort to see changes like zoning that reflect the way people are living now.”
Elise Shanbacker, Addison County Community Trust
“Feeling empowered and having a voice is important. How can you help families navigate systems unless you can navigate them yourself? With the pandemic, we really lived it. It wasn’t easy, but as a staff and as an organization, we’re moving through it and moving forward.”
Donna Bailey, Addison County Parent Child Center (ACPCC)
“Making sure people know what resources are available to them is important. There are a lot of these programs around Addison County, and connecting these programs to the people that need them is vital.”
Pete Antos-Ketchum, New Community Project
“Our whole world toppled and turned over and we came together and have survived, and I think it’s because of strong relationships. The pandemic has been difficult, but transformative.”
Rachel Lee-Cummings, Counseling Service of Addison County, Inc. (CSAC)
“In this town, this community, this county, we need people to stay and build the capacity and agency, and the power of this community.”
Jennifer Stefani, Community College of Vermont & Natalie Reigle, Vermont Adult Learning
“The proposed closure of the village school was upsetting. The idea that we wouldn’t have our community school led to a greater understanding of what it takes to have a vibrant community.”
Ashley LaFlam, Kate Yarbrough, & Mary Neffinger, Friends of the Union Meeting Hall; Clark Hinsdale, Ferrisburgh Selectboard