VT LEG 240097.1
IMPROVING THE ODDS
FOR KIDS
Vermont Child Poverty Council
January 29, 2009
Page i
VT LEG 240097.1
Acknowledgments
The members of the Child Poverty Council acknowledge the Vermont citizens who came to the
public forums to talk about their lives and their own families. It is a very brave act to share experiences
with poverty in this type of public forum, and we thank them for that. We would also like to thank the
providers and other interested parties who came to the forums, especially those who spoke on the panels.
We acknowledge the individuals who helped to organize, arrange, and set up the public forums, in
particular the Office of Economic Opportunity and the directors of the Community Action Programs and
their staffs. We appreciate the hard work with the logistics and finding families to join us.
The Council thanks the former Commissioner of Education, Richard Cate, who was a member
until his resignation. We appreciate especially former Commissioner Cate’s and his staffs’ efforts to
organize and assist at the forums.
Thank you to the school administrators who opened up the schools for the public forums and were
our hosts for these forums.
We especially thank former Agency of Human Services (AHS) Secretary Cynthia LaWare, who
took a particular interest in the Council’s activities and actively participated in our work together. In
addition, AHS Field Director Ames Robb and her staff were of great assistance at the forums.
The Council also thanks Senator Bernie Sanders for attending the Rutland forum and
representatives of Vermont’s Congressional delegation—Senators Leahy and Sanders and Congressman
Welch—for participating in the forums and our meetings.
Thank you also to the many people and advocates who attended our regular meetings in
Montpelier.
The Council gratefully acknowledges the support and contributions of Christine Nelson and Jack
Tweedie from the National Conference of State Legislatures who came to