Conference on Community Resilience a Success

BURKE, Vt. (July 18, 2023) – The first ever Building Communities that Thrive Through Connection conference, which was held at the Burke Mountain Resort on Thursday, June 22, 2023, was a great success.

In conjunction with Northeastern Vermont Regional Hospital (NVRH) and Umbrella, The Northeast Kingdom Prevention Center of Excellence structured the conference to allow for community members to attend both presentations and interactive exercises. Topics included engaging youth in the community, mattering and social connectedness, human-centered community building, retail cannabis, recognizing and uprooting racist approaches to substance misuse and upstream approaches to supporting mental health.

Keynote speaker Executive Director of the Maine Resilience Network Kini-Ana Tinkham started off the day by addressing the importance of connectedness, mattering and resilience. Tinkham, who works to improve the health and well-being of children, families and communities through policy and advocacy, has worked in public health and healthcare for 36 years as an RN, educator, advocate and leader. She served as chair of a local school board and has received awards as Youth Advocate from the Maine Youth Action Network and has recently been named one of 20 Outstanding Women in Maine for 2022.

The conference, which was free and open to all community members, also focused on social and racial equity.

“We are glad the Peace and Justice Center out of Burlington was able to join us,” NVRH Substance Misuse Prevention Coordinator Carolyn Towne said. “They helped participants better understand how race plays into how individuals are able to get – or not get – help with substance misuse and abuse. In fact, participants learned more about how substance abuse is often ignored and heavily criminalized in the BIPOC community.”

The conference concluded with a focus on how participants could connect with local groups collaborating on prevention efforts.

“It was incredible to see people make new connections with one another and with collaborative efforts happening in the Kingdom,” Umbrella Executive Director Amanda Cochrane said. “We are excited to see where these connections go in the coming months.”