[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 41 (Wednesday, March 20, 2013)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2021-S2022]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
VERMONTERS MAKING A DIFFERENCE
Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I have been privileged to serve Vermonters
for many years as a voice on foreign policy matters, and I am always
reminded that my work is a reflection of the outward looking posture of
the people of my State. Vermonters have a long history of defending
human rights and social justice at home and abroad. The longest
functioning international exchange program is based in Vermont, and
there are over 3,600 nonprofits registered in Vermont that are carrying
out programs to protect the environment, support public health, and
many other activities here and abroad.
These small businesses help bring Vermont values to such far off
places as Vietnam, central Africa, the Middle East, and Central
America. One example of the far-reaching contributions Vermont small
businesses make every day is the BOMA Project. Based in Manchester, VT,
Kathleen Colson started the BOMA Project in the mid-2000s as a way to
help women in Kenya escape extreme poverty. Kathleen's company replaces
loans with grants and creates opportunities for these women to start
small, sustainable income-generating businesses. To date, her company
has launched over 1,100 micro-enterprises across northern Kenya.
Other examples of Vermont organizations doing innovative work to
improve the lives of people overseas are the Institute for Sustainable
Communities, Pure Water for the World, Clear Path International, the
ARAVA Institute for Environmental Studies, and World Learning. And
there are many others.
A February 10, 2013, article by the Associated Press quoted Peace
Corps recruiter Brian Melman as he spoke about the people who work with
these Vermont organizations: ``These are people who are willing to
think big with small resources. They will go out
[[Page S2022]]
of their way to make relationships with anyone that they can and to
make believers out of all they come across because the passion is so
genuine.'' That article, entitled ``Vt. home to many worldwide
development groups,'' is notable because it points out the many ways
our small State has contributed in a big way to those less fortunate
all across the globe. I ask unanimous consent that a copy of the
article be printed in the Record.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in
the Record as follows:
[From the Associated Press, Feb. 10, 2013]
VT. Home to Many Worldwide Development Groups
(By Wilson Ring)
Dorset, VT. (AP).--From a converted garage in Dorset, James
Hathaway helps rid Afghanistan and Vietnam of land mines. A
few miles away in Manchester, Kathleen Colson helps women in
northern Kenya start businesses.
They are just a few of the nonprofit, non-governmental
organizations that call Vermont home while doing work
worldwide in fields as varied as promoting democracy or clean
water. Besides working on development projects in some of the
remotest and neediest parts of the globe, the organizations
are also pumping millions of dollars and hundreds of jobs
into the Vermont economy.
``These are people who are willing to think big with small
resources. They will go out of their way to make
relationships with anyone that they can and to make believers
out of all they come across because the passion is so
genuine,'' said Peace Corps recruiter Brian Melman, who
earned a graduate degree at the University of Vermont in
Burlington and has also lived in Montpelier.
``There are people in Vermont who accomplish amazing things
with just about nothing,'' he said.
While many of the organizations are small, taken as a
whole, Vermont's international nonprofit sector appears to
boost the state's economy.
Though precise figures for international nonprofits are
hard to come by, a 2011 Vermont Community Foundation report
found that 3,626 domestic and international nonprofit
organizations bring $2.5 billion to the state, about 12
percent of the gross state product.
Some groups do local fundraisers. Others attract grant
money from foundations while the larger ones work on
contracts with government agencies.
The Montpelier-based Institute for Sustainable Communities,
formed in 1991, does environmental, health care and other
projects in Serbia, China, India and Bangladesh. It's working
with Burlington's Champlain College to learn more about the
international organizations in Vermont.
``There's a wealth of global experience hidden in our hills
and valleys, and most people don't know it,'' said vice
president Barbara McAndrew. ``Putting together a real picture
of Vermont's international footprint helps us build
connections between people working in the same regions. It
can raise our profile with national and international funders
and it helps us attract and retain talented people.''
Melman said that the same sense of community and the desire
to help that he sees in Peace Corps volunteers is what led
Vermonters to form nonprofits, in many cases based on work
they did while overseas in the Peace Corps or other service.
Vermont, per capita, produces more Peace Corps volunteers
than any other state.
Burlington, he said, ``was just absolutely awash with
nonprofits,'' Melman said. ``We used to joke that there were
more nonprofits than people.''
One of Vermont's first international NGOs was the
Brattleboro-based organization now known as World Learning.
The organization employs 185 people and does work with
education, exchange, and development programs in more than 60
countries. It was founded in 1932.
``Even back then, Vermont was attracting innovative,
different thinking individuals,'' said Simon Norton of World
Learning.
Norton, who lives in Nevada but travels to Vermont
frequently, said there are pockets across the country that
have ``the same vibe'' as Vermont and have many groups
working across the globe. He mentioned the San Francisco
area; parts of Seattle; Flagstaff, Ariz.; Boulder, Colo.; and
Asheville, N.C. In Vermont, it's statewide.
``People choose to either stay or move to Vermont for those
small-town community values,'' he said.
Colson fits the profile. She said she got her first taste
of Africa through a program offered by her college and later
spent 25 years in Africa running safaris. In the mid-2000s
she branched out and started working on a program that helps
women start tiny income-generating businesses in areas where
opportunities are otherwise unavailable. Now her program, the
BOMA Project, has a staff of four.
A native of western New York, she and her husband moved
back to the U.S. to raise their children in a small town
similar to where she grew up.
Colson now spends about three months a year in Kenya where
she travels with an armed bodyguard.
``To be able to be in that place and then come home to
Vermont . . . all of a sudden you are in one of the safest
places on the planet,'' Colson said.
Many of the organizations are in Vermont's larger
communities, but others are on back roads. Hathaway helped
found Clear Path International in the converted garage
outside his Dorset home in 2000, where he still works as its
communications director. The organization's main office has
since moved to Bainbridge Island, Wash.
Rutland-based Pure Water for the World, which helps provide
clean water to communities in Honduras and Haiti, employs
three people in Vermont and about 25 overseas. It has a
budget this year of $1.2 million, much of which comes from
individual donations, said the group's executive director,
Carolyn Crowley Meub.
``I know individuals who have a small NGO they run from
their living room and are doing all kinds of interesting work
from these seemingly small, sleepy towns that are incredibly
connected to the world,'' said Norton.
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