RUTLAND — The leading business organization in the state’s third-largest city is the latest group in Rutland County to adopt a declaration of inclusion and diversity.
Board members at the Chamber of Economic Development of the Rutland Region voted unanimously last week to approve a resolution that denounces discrimination and bias.
A new diversity, equity and inclusion committee will shepherd the development of a strategic plan that will include implicit bias training, in which all 30 members of the staff and board will take part.
“Our region is a very homogenous group,” said Lyle Jepson, executive director of the Chamber. “We have not experienced many things that others have, and so we need to learn. That’s where we’re starting this process.”
Jepson said he isn’t sure where the process will lead, but it will start with a three-part training from the Williston-based training organization Workplace Matters.
“I think the mantra from our group right now is we don’t know what we don’t know,” he said. “But we’re going to learn.”
Advocates of increased bias training and inclusivity measures in Rutland City — which suffers from a chronically declining population — have two main arguments.
First, most say they feel a moral duty to expunge racism and harassment from the area. People of color have repeatedly pointed to harassment they’ve faced in Rutland and Bennington counties, and some have moved elsewhere.
Second, many say these measures will help Rutland County. Welcoming people with diverse backgrounds could bring in more people and give the city an economic boost. Jepson said, first and foremost, the statement and training are “the right thing to do.” He also sees the economic benefit.
The city, which was home to a number of empty businesses before the pandemic, has seen more shutter in the past year.
Jepson described his vision for the city: More people could live downtown and support local businesses. More restaurants could host expansive, multicultural menus. It could take a decade or more, he said, but the Chamber could contribute in small ways — by looking closely at the target audience of the organization’s newsletter, planning festivals that celebrate various cultures and encouraging art installations that include a diverse range of artists.
“Every one of our employers will say to us, we could grow right now if we had more people and more trained people to come into our business and industry,” he said. “So this is hand in glove.”
Approaching municipalities
Meanwhile, Al Wakefield, who lives in Mendon, and Bob Harnish, who lives in Pittsford, have spearheaded a different effort to encourage municipalities to adopt declarations of inclusion.
Harnish, distressed by George Floyd’s murder, reached out to Wakefield, a longtime friend, and asked for book recommendations that would help him understand systemic racism. After spending several months reading, he saw his cousin, Dave Bennion, who chairs the Franklin Selectboard. The town had just issued an inclusion statement.
Harnish brought the statement to Wakefield, and together they’ve been reaching out to municipalities, presenting information about the declarations, and encouraging towns and cities to adopt them. To date, Brandon, Franklin, Middlebury, Moretown, Pittsfield, Pittsford, Middlebury, Waterbury and the Village of Woodstock have adopted declarations of inclusion. The conversation was listed on the town of Mendon’s Selectboard agenda for Monday night.
In a pitch letter to municipalities, Wakefield and Harnish outline the goals of the statement. They seek to “highlight the fact that we, as Vermonters, are not fully aware of the systemic racism that is present in our majority ‘white’ society.”
They encourage towns to pledge that they’ll prepare youth to “live and prosper in the more diverse society in which we all will soon be living,” and tell “the world at large” that Vermont welcomes anyone. It also recommends that governing bodies pledge to “employ best practices in coaching municipal and state employees, including police, to value and respect all citizens.”
Harnish said the inclusion declarations should be considered a starting point.
“Of course, you’ve got to root out any systemic racism that’s built into our statutes or our town ordinances, and somehow we have to make people feel welcome,” he said. “Prejudice is ingrained in people. It’s hard to get rid of it. That’s not going to happen overnight.”
In Rutland City, Board of Aldermen President Matt Whitcomb applauded the Chamber’s statement and said he could see the board considering a declaration of inclusion.
“It presents this opportunity to say, OK, as a board, what do we do? We’re the policymakers of the municipality. Is there something that we could be behind that serves as a guiding principle for us as we look at all of our decisions going forward?” he said.
Harnish and Wakefield also reached out to the governor and hope a similar declaration can be included in “major addresses by leading state officials, printed materials used to welcome visitors, policy, and operating procedures, external communications, public relations pieces, etc.,” the pitch letter reads.
Gov. Phil Scott seems open to the idea. The governor’s office will soon make a proclamation based on Harnish’s and Wakefield’s ideas, according to Jason Maulucci, Scott’s press secretary.
“Making Vermont a more diverse, inclusive and welcoming state is an important priority for Gov. Scott,” he said. “Our office has been in contact with Mr. Wakefield, and we are already in the process of finalizing a gubernatorial proclamation to reinforce that commitment and priority. We have also connected him with the state’s Office of Racial Equity to explore additional opportunities.”
Wakefield said he hopes that if the governor issues a statement, it would encourage others to pass statements, too.
What does a statement do?
Rutland Area NAACP president Mia Schultz said she’s appreciated seeing the statements file in. She said she’s proud of Harnish and Wakefield’s efforts and that the statements mark a willingness by organizations and municipalities to learn — and to be held accountable.
“Equity statements, in general, are the floor. But they’re movement,” she said. “We can hold these municipalities or organizations, schools, chambers of commerce, to those equity statements.”
Wakefield said he hopes the statement will be included in state and local policy.
“The heads of towns, the mayors, the town managers, they will include this kind of a statement in their operating procedures, their town policies,” he said. “This would cover the police; it would cover health care institutions; it would cover educational institutions; etc. In a perfect world, that’s what it would do.”
Wakefield said it might not be easy at first — particularly in municipalities where racism is a frequent and heated topic of conversation.
“I used to be a flyer,” he said. “Once you get past the turbulence, the sky is clear. It doesn’t stay clear all the time, but it gets clear, then it gets cloudy again, and there’s some turbulence, and then you fight your way through that again. And you’ve got safe passage.”
