As we consider the range of challenges Windham County faces in these next few years, it's essential to have two state senators who will work proactively and collaboratively to support all community members.
I believe that Nader Hashim and Wendy Harrison are a dynamic team who display the energy and creativity needed:
• Nader has extensive experience in criminal justice reform and fair and impartial policing. His impressive experience includes being a Vermont state trooper and a state representative who served on the House Committee on the Judiciary. He currently serves as a vice president of the Windham County NAACP.
• Wendy has decades of experience in municipal management at all levels with large and small communities. Her membership on the state Transportation Board, as well as on our Southeast Vermont Economic Development Strategies board (SeVEDS), on which she served as chair, are strong assets.
I met Wichie Artu at the start of the pandemic. Our initial work researched how COVID-19 impacted our Vermont community members of color in Windham County and statewide. We were at a place of identifying needs but needed to find ways to make an impact. We evolved into a...
Spurred on by the Windham County NAACP and the Community Equity Collaborative of the Brattleboro Area (CEC), a consortium is forming to examine the vital role of data collection in eliminating racial and ethnic disparities in health care. In so doing, we hope to improve the health of our...
For much of the past eight years, well before Ferguson and Baltimore were on all our minds, the leadership of the Brattleboro Police Department (BPD) was considering various approaches to officer education in unbiased policing. New recruits attending the Vermont Police Academy participated in anti-bias policing workshops. In 2014, all BPD officers and dispatchers participated in a training provided by the Vermont Partnership for Fairness and Diversity. This year, under Chief Michael Fitzgerald's leadership, the department is taking the bold...
A disturbing incident that took place at the Hannaford Supermarket in Brattleboro was brought to our attention at our most recent meeting: On Oct. 19, Christopher Bridges, a graduate student at the SIT Graduate Institute at World Learning, was falsely accused of stealing a case of beer by a store employee. Accompanying Mr. Bridges were Nicole Maier and Victoria Castro, both SIT graduate students. Ms. Castro had, in fact, paid for the case of beer Mr. Bridges carried out of...