Fall Happenings
Welcome to cooler weather and new fall routines. Things have been busy, despite the legislature being out of session.
Last week I was at the State House to meet the NAACP student chapter from Castleton University who came to speak with a small group of Representatives about their struggles with their university’s administration around diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. Two of the students were Winooski High School graduates and I was so proud to see them again, and hear about how well, and how hard they are fighting for visibility and justice for others at Castleton. Student voice is the future!
If we want to be successful leaders and organizations, it is imperative to listen and implement student voices at all levels. If you are interested in getting in touch with this amazing group at Castleton University please reach out to me.
This week I attended the first meeting of the Vermont Commission on Mental Health and the Courts. I am excited because the Commission reflects a unified commitment to decriminalizing mental illness and helping our neighbors, friends and family members get appropriate care—not merely to cycle in and out of the justice system. People with serious mental illnesses are jailed four to six times more than our general population.
The Commission has representation from each of the three equal branches of government including judges, legislators and executive agencies that assist people with serious mental illness. The Commission’s goal is to advance the pursuit of justice while identifying ways to improve the system for individuals with mental health challenges. The Commission will evaluate solutions and make recommendations for change.
The Commission also reflects an effort of our state leaders to look at successful models from outside Vermont to heal our communities, improve health equity and justice, save taxpayers money and grow ourselves through collaborative partnerships and learning.
This week I also joined another meeting of the Joint Justice Oversight Committee to hear testimony, and to weigh in on allowing an expanded pool of licensed clinical providers to conduct competency evaluations in criminal court proceedings. With our state and national workforce availability crisis, we have a responsibility to alleviate barriers, and in this case court backlogs, whilst also maintaining quality, as well as regulatory and compliance requirements. The Committee will officially submit recommendations in October.
I am thrilled to be supporting our Office of Medicaid Policy at the Agency of Human Services to pursue the flexibility within our Medicaid waiver to pay for medication assisted treatment (MAT) for people in prison, prior to their release. This is not our first attempt to get federal dollars to cover these services, and currently the state is in the planning stages, but their renewed pursuit should be celebrated. The opioid epidemic harms all of us and we need to take up all the tools we can to support those suffering from opioid use disorder. It is critical to leverage the federal funding and innovative pathways that allow us to do so.
Finally, I want to wish Rep. Small and Carsen congratulations on their nuptials! Best wishes for a warm, loving and healthy forever.
Below are a couple of upcoming events.
October 5th, 6pm: Join me for a free Film Screening and Discussion Panel:“Anxiety Nation”, at Main St. Landing in Burlington
Oct 26th, 5-7pm: Join me and VT State Treasurer Mike Pieciak to talk about VT Saves at Winooski High School Auditorium.
VT Saves is a state-run retirement savings program. Employers who do not otherwise offer a qualified retirement savings program will be required to enroll in VT Saves and allow employees to make contributions via automatic payroll deductions.
Why should we learn about VT Saves? In other states, programs like this are helping people who work for small employers that don’t offer retirement plans (which in Vermont are half of our businesses with less than 20 employees). Those are also the lower salary jobs which state data shows are usually held by young people, ethnic minorities and women.