Takeaways from Tallahassee — Happy trails
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Fitting tribute
It has been 16 months since Rep. Kristin Jacobs succumbed to cancer.
Since then, the Legislature has honored her memory by renaming the Southeast Coral Reef Ecosystem Conservation Area to the Kristin Jacobs Coral Reef Ecosystem Conservation Area.
The Florida State Parks Foundation also designated one of her favorite trails — a six-mile stretch in Lake Kissimmee State Park — as the Kristin Jacobs Trail.
And in her final days, she witnessed her colleagues pass the “Kristin Jacobs Ocean Conservation Act” to ban the import and export of shark fins in Florida. The Governor signed it into law a few months later.
There’s one more thing that could bear her name: a serenity garden at Women in Distress domestic violence shelter.
It doesn’t require any action from the Legislature or the Governor, or any state board. All it will take is people coming together to raise $6,000.
It might not seem like a big deal compared to a reef system that stretches from St. Lucie to Biscayne. But if she were around, she’d probably disagree.
While Jacobs was best known as a Broward County Commissioner, a lawmaker, and a warrior on environmental issues, she traveled a long and difficult road to get there.
Jacobs married shortly after graduating from high school and frequently moved as her husband changed jobs. The husband physically assaulted her on multiple occasions, and it took her years to get out from under the shadow of abuse.
When one of those jobs took the family to Florida, she made her break, going to Women in Distress, a domestic violence shelter.
They took her and her children in and offered them shelter, safety, and a chance at a new beginning.
She took that chance and, in a few short years, went from neighborhood mom on a mission to a county commissioner, county Mayor, chair of a Presidential Task Force on Climate Preparedness and Resilience, and then to the state House.
It’s an incredible story — and one that the next woman who walks through the doors of that Lighthouse Point shelter should hear. And what better way to share it than with a garden full of lush butterfly bushes, running water and natural splendor.
Women in Distress is accepting donations, which are fully tax-deductible, for the memorial garden online. There you can also find information on how to donate by mail or by phone.
Coming up, the usual assortment of tidbits, leftovers and not-ready-for-prime-time moments by Peter Schorsch, Drew Wilson, Renzo Downey, Jason Delgado, Haley Brown and the staff of Florida Politics.
Take 5
The “Takeaway 5” — the Top 5 stories from the week that was:
School boards could start losing pay over masks — School board members in Alachua and Broward counties have until Sunday to drop mandatory face masks policies for students or begin facing financial consequences for flouting the state’s ban on mask mandates in public schools. Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran announced that after the State Board of Education ruled, those districts broke the law. Corcoran plans to withhold state funding to target school district administrators’ paychecks despite President Joe Biden saying the federal government will intervene. At least one member of the Board of Education also suggested suspending noncompliant board members. Hillsborough, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties’ school districts have also adopted mask requirements that break the mask mandate ban.
DeSantis highlights monoclonal sites amid criticism — The Governor has continued his public awareness campaign for Regeneron’s monoclonal antibody cocktail as the state approaches 21 treatment sites. Yet Gov. Ron DeSantis says he is battling disinformation from critics and the “corporate press.” The governor says that the treatment is free despite reports otherwise, and his office has downplayed one DeSantis donor’s ties to Regeneron. That donor has little to gain from the Governor promoting drugs that have already been purchased, but that hasn’t stopped critics from highlighting the connection. And there was more trouble still after a picture of one woman lying on the floor while awaiting treatment circulated on social media. The Governor’s Office says she’s recovering now.
Masks in schools case set for trial — Parents’ lawsuit over DeSantis’ school mask mandate ban is set for trial Monday. A decision is expected Thursday. By then, all public schools will be open, leading Leon County Circuit Judge John Cooper to expedite the trial. On Thursday, he kept the door open to the trial. The parents argue DeSantis “wrongfully assumes that state authorities can better determine the local health risks and educational needs of students and teachers.” But the Governor stands by his assertion that a parent’s right to opt their children from mask mandates falls within the Parents’ Bill of Rights he signed into law earlier this year.
Albritton to lead Senate GOP in 2024-26 — After an intense, behind-the-scenes battle with Sen. Manny Díaz Jr., Sen. Ben Albritton has secured the votes necessary to take over the Senate President’s gavel from Sen. Kathleen Passidomo after her term for 2022-24. That’s assuming Republicans hold the Senate till Albritton’s 2024-26 term. “We share a vision for the future of Florida, and we’ll work together in the years ahead to advance policies that are in the best interest of the state of Florida,” Albritton said, speaking of Díaz. The conciliatory conclusion comes after the leadership race had become increasingly public as both men competed to win from candidates likely to join them in the Senate next year.
Bahamas says cruisers must be vaxxed — Bahamian Prime Minister Hubert Minnis signed an executive order Thursday banning cruise ships that can’t prove their passengers have been vaccinated from disembarking. That runs contrary to DeSantis’ executive order banning businesses, including cruise lines, from demanding “vaccine passports” from passengers. The Bahamas’ order applies even to “private” islands in the country, including those leased, developed, and operated as resorts by cruise line companies, such as Disney Cruise Line’s Castaway Cay, Carnival Cruise Line’s Half Moon Cay, and Royal Caribbean International’s Coco Cay. Norwegian Cruise Line sued Florida in federal court over the vaccine passports ban and was granted a preliminary injunction last week. That case is still in court.
Water wall
This week, the South Florida Water Management District broke ground in the Las Palmas Community for an underground seepage designed to mitigate flooding in the 8.5 square mile area.
The seepage, an underground wall, will limit the flow of underground water, leading to aboveground flooding.
“When I took office, I made Everglades restoration and protection of Florida’s water resources a top priority,” DeSantis said. “My administration has provided record investments and expedited key projects to restore the Everglades and send more water south.”
According to the Governor’s Office, the wall will span 2 miles long, 63 feet deep, and is 26 inches thick.
The wall will work in concert with other Everglades restoration projects, all directing the water further south.
“As a native of Miami, I understand the importance of moving projects forward that benefit the Everglades and Florida Bay,” said Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nuñez.
Construction of the seepage is expected to be complete in April 2022.
South Florida Water Management District Governing Board Member “Alligator Ron” Bergeron explained that the key to restoring the Everglades is indeed moving water south.
“This underground wall on the eastern edge of Everglades National Park supports our Everglades restoration goals, mitigates flooding in nearby communities, and allows us to better utilize our infrastructure for the benefit of people and the environment,” Bergeron said.
Hula Bowl
Florida and the University of Central Florida will host next year’s Hula Bowl, DeSantis announced Friday.
The Hula Bowl, which started in 1946, is a postseason “All-Star” bowl game, featuring standout NCAA football players from all divisions and international athletes.
The game, set for Jan. 15, 2022, will be played at UCF’s Bounce House Stadium and be the state’s ninth NCAA bowl game for the upcoming football season.
“On behalf of our entire state, I’m proud to welcome the Hula Bowl to Florida,” DeSantis said. “Our state continues to attract premier athletic events, which is great news for our economy, Florida families, and the fans who come here from all over the world for world-class experiences.”
Florida’s bowl games attract hundreds of thousands of attendees each year, with roughly half being from out of state, generating an economic footprint of more than $380 million and thousands of local jobs. Fans attending the Hula Bowl or watching from around the country will have the opportunity to experience and see all that Florida has to offer.
Hula Bowl Executive Vice President Jennifer Logan said she was excited to bring the game to Florida.
“The state of Florida has been amazing in welcoming our game to the Sunshine State and Gov. DeSantis made it clear to us that the state of Florida is indeed open for business,” she said. “The Governor’s support for Floridians is clear. His team has been so supportive and has connected us with Enterprise Florida, the Florida Sports Foundation, and the Greater Orlando Sports Commission to guide us through establishing a game that brings revenue to the community.”
Half-staff
DeSantis has ordered flags at half-staff in honor of Officer Jason Raynor, who died Tuesday after being shot in the head earlier this year.
Raynor was shot while on patrol on June 23; he died 55 days later with his family at his side. He had served in Port Orange and Daytona Beach since 2016.
From sunrise to sunset Monday, the United States and Florida flags will fly at half-staff at the Daytona Beach Police Department, the Daytona Beach City Hall and the Volusia County Courthouse.
“The outpouring of love and support that all of you have shown to our police department and to Officer Raynor’s family since he was severely injured has been nothing short of amazing,” Daytona Beach Police Chief Jakari Young said. “In His infinite wisdom, God decided that it was time for this courageous young man to guard the gates of Heaven, even though that wasn’t the outcome that we all hoped for.”
In 2018, he was honored for his heroism in response to a call in 2018 when a woman was threatening to jump off a bridge. Raynor, alongside two other officers, helped talk her down.
The Governor’s Office says Raynor will be remembered for his selfless courage to protect the lives of others at the cost of his own.
Haiti scams
Attorney General Ashley Moody is warning Floridians to beware of scams preying on the ongoing situation in Haiti.
A 7.2-magnitude earthquake struck Haiti on Aug. 14, killing more than 1,900 people and impacting the lives of more than 1.2 million residents of Haiti.
Moody warned scammers could take advantage of Floridians wishing to provide financial support to the recovery effort. International tragedies, she warned, often attract scammers.
“It is harrowing to hear the news reports of the devastation that our neighbors in Haiti are currently enduring,” Moody said. “With the aftermath of Tropical Storm Grace wreaking havoc on Haitians, some efforts to recover from the earthquake are being stalled. I encourage generous Floridians to help provide support, but watch out for fake charities trying to exploit the tragedy to steal money.”
Moody provided several tips to Floridians, helping them ensure their donations go toward a reputable organization.
She encouraged Floridians to research how a charity uses funds.
Moody also suggested that donors be wary of crowdfunding campaigns created by unknown individuals.
“Do not provide banking or other personal information to unsolicited callers or in emails on behalf of a charity,” Moody added.
Floridians can report charity scams online.
Charity cheats
This week, three nonprofit charities received nearly $500,000 million after a court ruled against an unlawful fundraising robocall scheme, Moody announced.
The scheme, orchestrated by Associated Community Services, conned Americans out of $110 million.
“This deceptive charity fundraising scheme ripped off generous Floridians and donors nationwide,” Moody said. “As Florida’s Attorney General, I am committed to holding accountable those who target and exploit the kindness of others for their own financial gain. It is my pleasure to redirect these funds to legitimate charities that work to provide resources to those in need.”
Moody directed the recovered $495,000 toward three charities: the American Cancer Society, Semper Fi America’s Fund, and the Tunnel to Towers Foundation.
The recovered money, Moody said, will be used to support cancer treatment and military service members, first responders and their families.
Moody encouraged Floridians to take several steps before donating to a charity.
Among them, she encouraged Floridians to research how the charity uses funds and avoid unsolicited calls for donation.
She also suggested contacting the Better Business Bureau’s Wise Giving Alliance.
The Alliance can help consumers learn of past complaints made against a charity.
To watch a video of Moody’s initial announcement, click on the image below:
Fire drills
The Florida Forest Service will provide firefighter training to the Montana National Guard throughout August, Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried announced.
The training comes as wildfires rage in Montana, overwhelming the state’s emergency resources.
The 2021 fire season in Montana is among the hottest and driest on record.
“I am incredibly proud of Florida’s well-trained and experienced wildland firefighters,” Fried said. “Their willingness to serve and meet current demands is a testament to the Florida Forest Service’s commitment to helping fight the devastating wildfires out West.”
The training, which will prepare more than 500 National Guard members, will provide service members with a basic knowledge of wildland firefighting.
“Having personnel from the Florida Forest Service come to Montana to help us train our National Guard to be fire line ready proves wildland firefighting is just one big community,” said Montana State Forester Sonya Germann.
“We are so thankful for the assistance from our partners in Florida, and the surge capacity provided from their training will be indispensable in our efforts during the rest of the fire season.”
Since June, the Florida Forest Service has deployed 268 wildland firefighters to aid suppression efforts in Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, and elsewhere.
Assessing damage
Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis was on the scene in Tallahassee this week following an apartment fire near Florida A&M University.
As CFO, Patornis doubles as the State Fire Marshal. The CFO’s Bureau of Fire, Arson & Explosives Investigations, in coordination with the Tallahassee Fire Department, investigated the cause of the fire this week.
“Thank you to the dedicated firefighters with the Tallahassee Fire Department for their quick response following the apartment fire that happened early this morning near the FAMU campus,” Patronis said. “Their quick action, as well the response from the Tallahassee Police Department, no doubt saved lives.”
The Bureau of Fire, Arson & Explosives Investigations is a law enforcement branch of the Division of Investigative and Forensic Services. Its personnel’s core missions include detection, investigation, apprehension and prosecution of offenders of arson and explosive-related crimes.
The Bureau also enhances investigations and prosecutions and deters arson and explosive-related crimes through education and training.
“These dedicated men and women put themselves in harm’s way to keep our communities safe every day, and I can’t thank them enough for their service,” Patronis said. “Please pray for the families who have been injured or displaced.”
Instagram of the week
The week in appointments
Florida Elections Commission — DeSantis announced Nicholas Primrose, Marva Preston and former Lt. Gov. Carlos Lopez-Cantera to the FEC, designating Primrose as chair. Primrose, of Fleming Island, is the chief of regulatory compliance for the Jacksonville Port Authority. Previously, he was a deputy general counsel in the Governor’s office and General Counsel to FDEM. Primrose earned a bachelor’s in political science from Lake Forest College, a master’s in public administration from DePaul University, and his law degree from Barry University. Preston, of Crawfordville, is a retired Miami Police Department detective. She also served as an investigator in the Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Unit and is the current director of Grace Embraced Outreach Ministry. She earned her law enforcement degree from Miami Dade College and a bachelor’s degree in public administration from Florida International University. Lopez-Cantera, of Miami, is president of Pan-American Consulting and a former Lt. Governor of Florida, and a former Majority Leader in the Florida House. Lopez-Cantera earned his bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Miami.
Florida Communities Trust Governing Board — The Governor named former Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Noah Valenstein to the Florida Communities Trust Governing Board. Valenstein, of Tallahassee, is also the founder of Brightwater Strategies and a senior adviser at the American Flood Coalition. He earned a bachelor’s in environmental policy from UF and a law degree from FSU.
School Board of Alachua County — The Governor appointed Mildred Russell to SBAC. Russell, of Gainesville, founded Miracle Life Ministries with her husband in 1990. They started churches in Athens, Georgia and Oxford, England and have ministered across the world. She volunteered on Front Porch Florida and was a tutor at Duval Early Learning Academy. Russell attended Western Kentucky University.
Commission on Mental Health and Substance Abuse — DeSantis appointed Jay Reeve, Clara Reynolds, Kelly Gray-Eurom, Bill Prummell, Mark Mahon and Larry Rein to the Commission on Mental Health and Substance Abuse. Reeve, of Tallahassee, is president and CEO of The Apalachee Center. Previously, he was a senior psychologist at Bradley Hospital in Providence, Rhode Island. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Tufts University, master’s degree from Harvard University and doctorate from Adelphi University. Reynolds, of Tampa, is president and CEO of the Crisis Center of Tampa Bay. She earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology and master’s degree in social work from Florida State University and an MBA from the University of Tampa. Gray-Eurom, of Jacksonville, is an emergency medicine physician at UF Health Jacksonville. She earned her M.D. from the University of Vermont. Prummell is the Sheriff of Charlotte County and a 29-year veteran of law enforcement. he earned his bachelor’s in criminology from St. Leo University, MBA from IMPAC University, and master’s in criminal justice from American Public University. He will serve as the commission’s chair. Mahon is the Chief Judge of Florida’s 4th Judicial Circuit and oversees the court’s Mental Health Offender Program. Mahon earned his bachelor’s and law degrees from FSU. Rein, of Fort Lauderdale, is CEO of ChildNet. He is also vice-chair of the Florida Coalition for Children Foundation. He earned his bachelor’s degree in psychology from Columbia University and a master’s degree in school psychology from St. John’s University.
Havana Main Street
Secretary of State Laurel Lee has announced Havana Main Street as the Florida Main Street Program for August.
“Havana Main Street has developed their former retail corridor into a vibrant and dynamic arts district,” Lee said. “Local artists, business owners, and unique restaurants provide opportunities for residents and visitors to dine, shop, and enjoy downtown Havana. Through preservation and economic development, our Main Streets rebuild and re-imagine their historic downtowns.”
Florida Main Street is part of the Department of State’s Division of Historical Resources. The program revitalizes historic downtowns and encourages economic development through historic preservation.
Havana Main Street has reported more than $919,000 in public and private reinvestment. They welcome two net new businesses and six net new full-time and part-time jobs within the district. Additionally, the organization has reported more than 4,058 volunteer hours.
Havana Main Street was designated as a Florida Main Street community in 2017. Havana Main Street has added new vitality to their district by affiliating with Artists Helping Artists, sponsoring public art, scheduling monthly community bike rides, and organizing a weekly farmers market.
They also host various events throughout the year, including the Havana PumpkinFest, Havana WinterFest, Painting in Shade Plein Air, and the Havana Quilt Show. Currently, Havana Main Street is overseeing the restoration of the Old Havana State Bank building, which, when completed, will serve as the Main Street office, visitors center, and additional rental space for downtown vendors.
Early grade success
House Speaker Chris Sprowls has appointed Rep. Erin Grall to the Council for Early Grade Success.
Grall, a Vero Beach Republican, helped create the council this year by sponsoring House Bill 419. The measure strives to improve early learning provider quality and better prepare children for kindergarten.
“Rep. Erin Grall has demonstrated her tireless commitment to increasing the quality of our state’s early learning programs,” Sprowls said. “Her passionate desire for our children to learn and her continued leadership in this area will ensure the future of our state is bright for generations to come.”
The Council for Early Grade Success oversees statewide literacy and math progress monitoring for students in Voluntary Pre-Kindergarten (VPK) through third grade. They will provide recommendations to the Department of Education based on the Next Generation Sunshine State Standards and VPK standards beginning in the 2022-23 school year.
Grall thanked Sprowls for appointing her to the council.
“The Council will support the state in data-driven analysis, making sure the large investments made in early learning through third grade result in all of Florida’s children having an opportunity to be successful in school and in life,” she said.
The bill also created the Division of Early Learning within the Department of Education with oversight responsibility for the VPK and School Readiness programs.
Stolen Innocence
Two Tallahassee men have been sentenced to jail after pleading guilty to federal charges relating to child pornography and prostitution.
Shuntae Kirksey, 26, was sentenced to 210 months in prison for producing child pornography. Destin Banks, 32, was sentenced to 130 months in prison for coercing or enticing a minor to engage in prostitution.
According to Acting United States Attorney for the Northern District of Florida Jason Coody, both pleaded guilty this spring, but their sentencing didn’t happen until Monday.
“These sentences further affirm our commitment to the protection of our most vulnerable,” Coody said. “Through concerted efforts like Operation Stolen Innocence, we will continue to work tirelessly with our law enforcement partners to investigate and prosecute those who prey upon our children.”
When they leave prison, Kirksey and Banks will have 10 years of supervised release, be required to register as sex offenders and be subject to all sex offender conditions.
Operation Stolen Innocence is a multi-agency coordinated effort between the United States Marshals Service, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the Leon County Sheriff’s Office, and the State Attorney’s Office of the Second Judicial Circuit to combat human trafficking in the Tallahassee area. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Tallahassee Police Department joined forces on the investigation.
“We are pleased to see two more offenders, who posed a significant threat to this community, taken off our streets,” TPD Chief Lawrence Revell said. “Operation Stolen Innocence has produced a continuous flow of arrests on those individuals that prey on our children.”
Turtle power
If you’re headed to the beach this weekend, watch your step.
This week, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission reminded Floridians that it’s still nesting season for sea turtles, and many of the eggs laid earlier this year are starting to hatch.
Ensuring baby sea turtles make it to the ocean is no harder than social distancing. Don’t touch or otherwise interfere with them; just stand back and give them space. Nature will take care of the rest.
FWC also implores beachgoers to clean up after themselves. Beach furniture, canopies, boats, and toys left behind on the sand can become obstacles that block nesting and hatchling turtles. Fill in any holes dug in the sand, too, as they can trap turtles.
And while it may be tempting to whip out your smartphone and snap a photo or video of their march into the ocean, sea turtles are sensitive to light, and if a flash goes off, it could disorient them and cause them to crawl away from the ocean.
“Interfering with a sea turtle hatchling’s trek to the ocean can have fatal consequences,” said FWC sea turtle biologist Dr. Robbin Trindell.
“It’s very important to leave them undisturbed. By keeping beaches dark, beachfront buildings dark, and giving sea turtles space, we can make sure that our children and grandchildren can also enjoy watching them make this amazing journey.”
Record highs
When fall classes begin Monday, a record 7,200 freshmen will be attending FSU.
New FSU President Richard McCullough, who has been on the job for a week, said he was excited to welcome the new crop of students to campus.
“I’m thrilled to start my tenure at the beginning of a new academic year and to welcome a very impressive freshman class,” McCullough said. “This is not only the biggest freshman class but one of the brightest, and I can’t wait to see the contributions these students will make to our university community.”
Indeed, the largest class in FSU history is also one of its most academically accomplished. More than 66,000 first-year students applied for admission to FSU for the summer and fall 2021 semesters. Some key stats on those accepted:
— The average high school GPA was 4.3, and they scored 1310 on the SAT or 29 on the ACT.
— The cohort includes students from 66 Florida counties and all 50 states plus D.C. Students also hail from 49 countries.
— Women make up 60% of the new freshman class.
— The top five majors selected are biological science, business, engineering, psychology, and exploratory/undecided.
Also, for the second year in a row, FSU received more than 14,000 graduate school applications for the fall term — an 83% increase in applications since fall 2017. This year’s graduate student cohort is expected to be FSU’s largest, exceeding last year’s record enrollment of nearly 9,700 graduate students.
To boldly go …
Florida A&M University recently received a grant from NASA to recruit more Black students into aerospace engineering.
According to the grant proposal, FAMU’s $1.2 million grant will be used to establish a multi-institution coalition to recruit underrepresented minorities for a program that will give hands-on experience to students in NASA-relevant fields.
The grant coalition includes the University of Central Florida, Florida State University, the Air Force Research Laboratory and four NASA centers.
“This award will enable us to train a new generation of underrepresented students in the fast-growing and very Florida-relevant field of aerospace engineering,” said Carl Moore, Ph.D., an associate professor in the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering, a co-principal investigator of the project.
Despite the aerospace and defense industry being among the top career choices for engineering students, Black engineers are significantly underrepresented in the field. According to data from the National Science Foundation, Black students earn about 3% of Bachelor of Science degrees and 1% of advanced degrees in either aerospace or mechanical engineering.
“The proposed (The Broadening Participation of Next Generation Aerospace Engineers) program focuses on diversity inclusion, engaging students through streamlined recruitment, project-based learning, traineeship, and workforce development program on aerospace-focused topics,” Co-Principal Investigator professor Chiang Shih said.
“We will build a long-term partnership with all stakeholders to create a culture of inclusion resulting in our students being successfully mentored, trained, and developed into the next generation of aerospace engineers.”
Back the pink
The Tallahassee Police Department and uniform maker Galls have partnered to release the first-ever TPD pink patch in advance of Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. The annual international health campaign was created to spread awareness and encourage steps toward preventing the disease.
“I have seen firsthand the impact breast cancer can have on a patient and their family,” TPD Chief Lawrence Revell said. “It is my honor to be part of the unveiling of the first pink patch for the Tallahassee Police Department in support of such an important cause.”
TPD is selling the patches to the public for $10 apiece and hopes to raise $50,000 for the American Cancer Society.
Those looking to snag a patch can drop by TPD Headquarters at 234 East Seventh Avenue. Out-of-towners can send a self-addressed, stamped envelope with a $10 money order to Lt. Calvin Bedenbaugh at the headquarters address.
TPD officers can purchase two patches and have them sewn onto the sleeve of their uniform for free by Galls to show their support for the initiative.
“Our Mission Statement at Galls is that we’re ‘PROUD to SERVE’ those who serve,” Galls CEO Mike Fadden said. “As a result, we’re delighted to partner with the Tallahassee Police Department on this great cause that affects so many in this community.”
TPD says it has more plans in store for Breast Cancer Awareness Month that it will announce via its Facebook and Twitter accounts over the coming weeks.
Capitol Directions
News from the world of education - August 20, 2021
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Information on admissions, courses, partnerships and more
Admissions open at SIPM
Suguna Institute of Poultry Management has opened admissions for B. Sc. Poultry Science, Diploma in Commercial Broiler and Production Management or Diploma in Broiler Breeder Management; Diploma in Poultry Health. Opportunities include a job in the field of Poultry Housing, Poultry Nutrition and Feed Milling Technology Breeder Management, Poultry Health and Diagnostic Labs, Broiler Management, Meat Processing, Poultry marketing, Hatchery management and Entrepreneurship. For details, email admissions@sugunainstitute.com or info@sugunainstitute.com
All-India Mock NEET
Aakash Educational Services Limited (AESL), along with BYJU’S, has announced an All-India NEET Mock Test 2021 to be conducted online on August 22, August 29 and September 5. Registrations are open and free of cost. Participating students will get an All-India Rank to benchmark their performances against aspirants across the country. After the results are announced, an advanced analytical report will be provided to help aspirants identify their weak areas. Students will also get access to an in-depth video solution of the test papers to help them understand the concepts and theories. Register at https://aakashdigital.com/mock/neet-test
Programme on Essay Writing and Interviews
Xtraview will host its flagship programme on Essay Writing and Interviews for high school students on August 28 and 29 and September 4 and 5, in collaboration with The Big Red group. The four-day intensive workshop will offer insights into crucial aspects of college applications, including the essay, resume and interview. With an amalgamation of lectures, interactive sessions and activities, students will learn concise writing, communication and expression. Visit https://xtraview.in/
RVU’s School of Liberal Arts and Sciences hosts Teen Indie Film Awards
The School of Liberal Arts and Sciences, RV University Bengaluru, has announced the Teen Indie Film Awards (TIFA). The competition is open for entries and participation from high school students from classes IX to XII (age group 14 to 18 years). Interested participants may submit short films (3-7 minutes) in five thematic categories: Nature and Environment, Local History and Legends, My Hero (from family, teachers, or community), Being a Teen or Abstract Art. The short films need not be story driven only, as the competition is looking for entries both in fiction and emerging genres of non-fiction like interview-driven narratives, a visual collage, experimental shorts, and documentary formats. Participants can work in a team or individually. The last date for submission is September 30. The longlist will be announced on October 15 and nominations on 1st November 1. The award ceremony and screening of the films will be held on November 14. For details,visit rvu.edu.in
NCPEDP-Mphasis Universal Design Awards
Since 2010, the NCPEDP-Mphasis Universal Design Awards have been awarding individuals and corporations who are enabling persons with disabilities to live more independently. Applications are invited across subjects like accessibility in Built Environment, Transport, ICT, Aids and Appliances, Advocacy, and Public Policy and Services across four categories Person with Disabilities; Working professionals; Organisations/Companies; and NCPEDP-Mphasis Javed Abidi Public Policy Award. Last date is August 21. For details visit https://bit.ly/3m8w1HX
Stella Maris College celebrates Independence Day and 75th birthday
Along with celebrating India’s independence Stella Maris College, Chennai, also celebrated its 75th birthday. As a part of the jubilee festivities, August 15 also marked the beginning of year-long events and activities. Brig. (Dr.) G. Himashree, Brigadier Medical,Head Quarter Dakshin Bharat Area hoisted the national flag and spoke about the importance of commitment towards national integration and community development. She also highlighted the need for becoming proficiently competent, working hard in academics and becoming responsible citizens who touch more lives. Dr. Sr. Rosy Joseph fmm, Principal, Stella Maris College, also spoke on the occasion.
Neev Academy launches teacher training institute
Neev Academy announced the launch of The Neev Teacher Training Institute (NTTI) in Bengaluru. NTTI intends to meet the needs of teachers across the socio-economic strata from rural learning centres and government schools to elite urban schools. The programmes will be launched in a phased manner, with short-term,skill-focused and intense longer courses. NTTI is open to both aspiring and experienced teachers. The programmes will begin from January 2022 and be conducted both on campus and virtually. For more details, visit https://bit.ly/2W292np
ABEA opens admission for teacher training course
Aditya Birla Education Academy has opened admissions for its new batch of ‘Advanced Certificate Course in Developing Teaching Competencies’ (ACCDTC). This virtual certificate course aims to bridge the gap between theoretical knowledge and real-world classroom applications. The four-month course will begin on August 21. The course has been specially designed to help students in their final year of B.Ed./M.Ed./D.Ed./ECCEd be skilled and confident educators and for in-service teachers to gain critical self-reflection tools. Visit https://bit.ly/3ghvcc5
Whiz League raises $300K seed fund
Ed-Tech start-up Whiz League, led by Natasha Jain and Sonia Agarwal Bajaj in partnership with Guru Randhawa has raised a $300K (₹2.2 crores) seed fund. Whiz League offers celebrity driven, pre-recorded certificate courses and skill development courses for adults and children and allows learners to potentially collaborate with these celebrities and experts in the form of 1-1 mentorship, internships, fast-tracked auditions, access to funding etc. via their Whiz Launchpad. Whiz League also offers celebrity junior modules for the 6-17 age group so that they can get early exposure to introductory industry specific skill sets.
Research for air sanitisation
Magneto CleanTech has joined a group of top educational institutions as the sole industry partner for an upcoming research project on developing a revolutionary air sanitisation system aimed at preventing the spread of coronavirus and TB bacterium. The collaboration includes IIT-Madras, Vellore Institute of Technology, and Queen Mary University of London. The Royal Academy Engineering (RAENG), the U.K., will be the chief sponsor/fund provider for this project. It is expected that this project, when successfully implemented, will benefit nearly 10 crore people in the Indian subcontinent.
Sunstone Eduversity concludes Edufest 2021
Sunstone Eduversity successfully concluded Edufest 2021, its virtual career counselling event for MBA/PGDM, BBA and MCA aspirants. The tw-day event had over 15,000 registrations from students across the country. With over 100 career counsellors, 25 influencers and motivational speakers, and three corporate leaders, Sunstone Eduversity witnessed 325 enrollments across its MBA/PGDM and BBA programs. The B-school also distributed the scholarships worth over ₹65 lakhs during the two days.
Prodigy Finance collaborates with 12 American universities
Prodigy Finance has entered into a collaboration with 12 universities in the U.S. — Bentley University, Hult International Business School, University of North Dakota, University of Southern Mississippi, Mayo Graduate School, Miami Herbert Business School, North Carolina State University, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, Jackson State University, Morgan State University, South Dakota State University, University of Memphis, University of Tennessee Health Science Center-Memphis, and Oregon Health and Science University. This will allow students to choose from a much wider list of Business, Science, and Engineering colleges and acquire the necessary skills to scale their future towards the path of success. With this, Prodigy Finance now works with over 800 colleges providing 1000 postgraduate programmes to its students.
Eupheus Learning to partner with Global Education Solutions
Eupheus Learning is partnering with Global Education Solutions (GES) for its proprietary platform, MyKensho, which provides life skills and career development tools for the overall development of students, aligned with the NEP 2020’s vision. MyKensho is a discovery platform which enables students to become more self-aware and make informed decisions on study and career choices with instructor-led intervention. The mentors will be certified by GES. This partnership will strengthen the Eupheus offering within schools and bridge the gap between in-classroom and at-home learning solutions. Since the schools will have to draw out content, capability, tools, and resources to offer an overall development of students, Eupheus Learning will enable this through MyKensho and the deep expertise of the GES team.
JKBS holds orientation for its PGDM batch
JK Business School (JKBS) recently conducted Adhwan, an orientation programme for its latest batch of PGDM students. This annual event takes place after a 100-day on-boarding programme ‘Buniyaad’, to strengthen the basics of management and bridge gaps by bringing together students from diverse backgrounds together. The chief guest for Adhwan was Vishal Sehgal, MD, Nischay EduCorp . The PGDM Batch of 2021-23 has a mix of graduates from various streams like engineering, commerce, humanities, science, and management.
Eruditus gets $650 million funding
Eruditus announced a $650 million funding round through a mix of primary and secondary funding, which values the company at $3.2 billion. Accel and SoftBank Vision Fund 2 join Emeritus’ returning investors, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Leeds Illuminate and Prosus, and existing investors, Sequoia Capital India and Bertelsmann. Proceeds from the round will be used to develop new courses in conjunction with university partners, create new products and industry verticals, expand the company’s business serving governments and enterprises, double-down on new geographical markets, and fund acquisitions.
#YoungWarriorNXT programme launched
On International Youth Day 2021, the Ministry of Youth Affairs (MoYAS), UN offices (UNICEF, UNFPA, UNDP, UNV, UN Women, UN AIDS, UNHCR, WHO, and ILO) and YuWaah (Generation Unlimited in India) introduced the second phase of the #YoungWarrior movement called #YoungWarriorNXT. The theme is “Celebrating Youth Innovation and Resilience”. #YoungWarriorNXT has been envisioned to serve as an emergency response to the learning and skilling crisis compounded by COVID-19 and the subsequent lockdowns and aims to equip the young people of India between the ages of 14 and 24 with key life and employability skills to enable them to pursue successful lives and careers. The programme will also include initiatives that address mental health and emotional wellbeing. To be a part of #YoungWarriorNXT, participants can register by sending YWNXT to +919650414141 on WhatsApp or sending YWNXT on the U-Report India Facebook Page. For more details: www.yuwaah.org/youngwarrior
Support for Bal Gurukul from Blackstone
Shruti Agrawal and Sambhav Jain, 25-year-old associates in Blackstone’s Private Equity team in India, have won $100,000 for the Indian Development Foundation (IDF) in the Blackstone Gives Back Challenge, a firmwide charity competition. The $100,000 won by the India team’s two junior employees will support Bal Gurukul, IDF’s flagship project that provides supplementary after school education programs to children most in need. Launched in 2005, Bal Gurukuls have supported millions of children access quality education and 247 are currently in operation nationwide. The $100,000 (₹75 lakh) grant will help expand Bal Gurukuls in the states of Orissa, Bihar, Gujarat and in North East India and support the education of more than 10,000 underprivileged children.
Podar International School expands
Podar International School has opened six news schools across Maharashtra, Goa, Bihar, Punjab and Madhya Pradesh in 2021-22. Inspite of the COVID-19 pandemic and physical schools having moved to online platforms, Podar International School has not only increased itsgeographical footprint but has also shown exceptional results in the recently concluded Class X CBSE and ICSE board exams of 2021. For the academic year 2021-22, Podar Education Network has set up Podar International School in Sangamner and Ballarpur in Maharashtra, Panelim in Goa, Muzaffarpur in Bihar, Jalandhar in Punjab and Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh, which will offer CBSE curriculum from Nursery to Class 5.
XLRI celebrates National Librarians Day
XLRI-Xavier School of Management, Jamshedpur, recently celebrated the ‘National Librarians’ Day’ at the Sir Jehangir Ghandy Library in remembrance of the 129th birth anniversary of Dr. S.R. Ranganathan, the father of Indian Library Science. At a formal function Prof. A.K Pani, Dean-Academics; Fr. Paul Fernandes SJ, Director; Prof. M. Srimannarayana, Associate Dean, Corporate Programme and VIL; Prof. J; Ajith Kumar, Associate Dean-FPM and Research; Prof. Santanu Gupta, the faculty and staff members of XLRI and the library staff members were present.
GLIM Chennai collaborates with University of Chicago
Great Lakes Institute of Management, Chennai, announced a partnership with The University of Chicago Booth School of Business to provide custom executive education programmes that offer leadership, strategy, management, and finance frameworks to take participants and their organisations to the next level. The partnership will design and deliver “Project Ascent,” a high-impact next-generation custom-blended leadership programme for senior leaders of L&T and is scheduled to commence in October 2021. The programme serves to support the initiatives in developing a ‘future ready’ pipeline of senior leaders who will play an important role in the organization’s future growth.
IMS Noida holds virtual art competition
The Fine Arts Hussain Club, IMS Noida, organized a virtual art competition named “Kala Kaushal” on the theme of Independence Day. The chief guest was Priyanka Das, who holds a Master’s degree in Madhubani painting. Dr. Kulneet Suri, Senior Director IMS Noid, and club head Shikha Srivastava were also present. Students showcased their ideas of patriotism, culture, the freedom struggle, India’s geographical beauty, monuments, festivals through their artwork. A slogan writing competition was also conducted.
SRM-AP celebrates Independence Day
SRM University-AP organised a ‘Fit India Freedom Run’ on August 13, 2021, to commemorate the 75th anniversary of Indian independence. Vice-Chancellor Professor V.S. Rao inaugurated the ceremony. A large number of students, professors and employees participated. Dr Vinayak Kalluri, Registrar-in-charge; Sivakumar Raghavan, Director-Human Resources; Revathi Balakrishnan, Assistant Director-Student Affairs, Wg. Commander Venkatachalam, Director-Campus Life Maintenance, Suma N., Chief Finance and Accounts Officer and others were present. The university also celebrated Independence Day on August 15 with a flag hoisting and a message from the Vice Chancellor. There were cultural performances by the students and the national anthem was sung.
Bloggers Alliance launches Student Wing
On its second anniversary, Bloggers Alliance launched a “Student Wing” to help youngsters learn and nurture skills. The wing will engage with the student community across management and mass communication institutes across India and carry out following activities: Live projects on digital and social media, digital branding, influencer marketing and allied areas; Paid Internships in business storytelling, digital storytelling, social media marketing and allied areas; Campus ambassador programme; and Engage with student influencers. Bloggers Alliance has launched online certificate courses in blogging and storytelling. The Story Talks video series on business storytelling is aimed at teaching storytelling skills to every blogger and influencer. For details, visit bloggersalliance.org or contact +91-9810337995 (via WhatsApp).
Chitkara University collaborates with University of Windsor, Canada
Chitkara University announced a new international collaboration with University of Windsor to support transnational education and student mobility. The agreement was signed by Dr. Robert Gordon, President and Vice-Chancellor University of Windsor, and Dr. Madhu Chitkara Pro Chancellor of Chitkara University at a virtual event. The event was attended by senior leadership of both universities, including representation from the Canadian Consulate. Under the new academic mentorship agreement, Chitkara faculty teaching in the programme will be mentored by Odette faculty, providing feedback, support, sharing their knowledge, skills, and experience while fostering a connection to students in India who will transition to UWindsor after completing the first two years at Chitkara. This programme allows students to specialise in areas of high market demand, including in Accounting, Human Resources, Finance, Supply Chain and Business Analytics, Marketing, and Strategy and Entrepreneurship, while saving international tuition fees for students studying in India. Students will earn a UWindsor Bachelor of Commerce (Honours) at the end of their studies in Canada and are eligible to apply for three-year post-study work permits. For more information, please visit: www.chitkara.edu.in/global
Digitising education
The AISECT Group of Universities has taken a big step in digitising education through the Learning Management System that facilitates education digitally and the faculty-student relationship. The Learning Management System of the AISECT Group of Universities has registered 11,000 students with more than 500 faculty members and more than 6500 classes conducted till May. Universities have facilitated the availability of educational content 24x7 for the students and at their convenience. It provides the students with live sessions, which are recorded for later use. Each student has profile to avail numerous facilities like pre-recorded lectures, direct interaction with the faculty and other digitised projects. Additionally, students can also track their progress by themselves on their profiles.
Leap to expand team
Overseas ed-tech platform Leap is planning to add 500 employees by the end of 2021, as it embarks on the next phase of growth. The company intends to expand its team in multiple domains including community development, study abroad counselling, product, sales, engineering, business development, and will open employment avenues for both freshers as well as experienced professionals. A key hiring focus is the expansion of Leap’s engineering and product teams as the company scales its digital-first and data-led study abroad solution. Additionally, Leap will also look to onboard study abroad experts onto its platform to give international aspirants personalized guidance.
Think Change Forum releases recommendations
Independent think tank Think Change Forum released a set of recommendations on “How to Make the Indian Education System Future Proof”. To supplement its research and analysis, it hosted a panel discussion on the topic brought together experts such as Gowri Ishwaran, Padma Shri awardee and Founder Principal, Sanskriti School; Maj. Harsh Kumar, Secretary, NCERT; Col. Gopal Karunakaran, CEO Shiv Nadar School; Prof. Ajay Rana, Dean, Director and Professor, Amity University; Prof. Rajib Dasgupta, Professor and Chairperson, Centre of Social Medicine and Community Health, JNU; and Prof Binod Khadria, Chair Professor of Contemporary Indian Studies at School of Management and Labor Relations at Rutgers, New Jersey, the U.S. The panellists were unanimous in their view that the pandemic has shaken up the system and that, while it has thrown up new challenges, it has also presented an unprecedented opportunity for educators and policy makers to take a quantum leap in making Indian education system progressive and future proof at a mass scale. A recorded version of the panel discussion can be accessed at the Forum’s YouTube channel.
Marwadi University inaugurates moot court hall
The Faculty of Law of the Rajkot-based Marwadi University (MU) inaugurated a newly-constructed state-of-the-art moot court hall in its premises recently. The moot court hall includes HD teleconferencing facilities and interiors that match the best of Indian courtrooms, to help students gain edge in the legal ecosystem. The Faculty of Law, MU, currently offers B.Com. LL.B (Hons), B.A. LL.B.(Hons), LLM and PhD courses and specialisation in criminal, commercial, constitutional and IP laws; electives in emerging areas in law like food, entertainment, air and space, energy; and eight compulsory internships from the first year itself. MU also recently held its first pan-India virtual moot court competition featuring 42 teams.
BIHER signs agreement with BWH
Bharath Institute of Higher Education and Research (BIHER) has successfully signed a “Mutual Understanding and Confidential Disclosure Agreement” (CCDA) with The Brigham and Women’s Hospital, (BWH), an affiliate of Harvard Medical School, to set up a world-class cutting edge diagnostic research centre. This paves the way for a formal engagement towards the joint development of a state-of-art research facility in medical, point of care, mobile-based diagnostics.
IIT-Delhi launches UJF lab
IIT-Delhi recently launched the Universal Justice Foundation (UJF) lab facility on Artificial Intelligence for the judiciary. This was inaugurated by Justice S. Ravindra Bhat. This is the second time that the institute has undertaken an initiative for the legal domain with the first being the establishment of a Centre of Excellence for Law and Technology. Technology has already made its way into the courts and significantly improved data management and replaced the otherwise time-consuming paper process.
BSACIST inaugurates Dassault Systemes Centre of Excellence
The Dassault Systemes Centre of Excellence (COE) has been inaugurated at the at the School of Mechanical Sciences in the BS Abdur Rahman Crescent Institute of Science and Technology (BSACIST) campus. This COE is established based on the Dassault Systèmes Academy Member Programme initiative and BSACIST will be the Academic Certification Centre of DASSAULT SYSTEMES. The programme will offer job-oriented skill-based value-added programmes for the undergraduate and postgraduate students of Mechanical, Automobile, Aerospace and Polymer Engineering streams. BSACIST has also signed an MoU with EDS Technologies Pvt. Ltd., Bangalore to train the trainees.
India Skills Competition
The India Skills Competition will be conducted in Delhi this year with participants from over 20 states. Tentatively scheduled to be held in October, the victorious team will represent India in Shanghai in the Olympics of Skills in 2022, according to the Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi. The team will be trained by Delhi Skill and Entrepreneurship University (DSEU). The competition has so far received more than 5000 registrations and selection will be based on a two-tier process.
Curtiss Reed, Jr: You can’t dig a new well by digging an old well deeper
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Photo: Curtiss Reed, Jr, executive director of the Vermont Partnership for Fairness and Diversity. Photo: Randolph T. Holhut
The Vermont Partnership for Fairness and Diversity
by Joyce Marcel, Vermont Business Magazine
Curtiss Reed, Jr has been quietly shaping Vermont while it has been quietly shaping him.
The virtues of Vermont, its beauty, its outdoor life, its openness, its sense of community and its access to public officials have helped him address some of the things that are less beautiful, like Vermont’s record on racial issues.
Over the past 20 years, Reed has evolved from outsider activist to insider change-maker.
Reed, 67, a longtime civil rights leader, has served as the executive director of the Vermont Partnership for Fairness and Diversity since 2001; he is also the CEO of the CRJ Consulting Group. He became a groundbreaker when he started doing diversity training at the request of the Vermont State Police.
He even nudged Ben & Jerry’s into creating its first flavor recognizing a current person of color — former football quarterback and social justice warrior Colin Kaepernick — with a frozen dessert named “Changed the Whirled.”
Since then he’s worked with many police departments and city governments. He created the Vermont African-American Trail. He helped co-found The Commons, Brattleboro’s weekly newspaper.
He is building a deep website that tells the stories of the many people of color who live and work in Vermont today, so potential BIPOC visitors to Vermont will know there are people here who look like them.
In May of this year, Reed’s work was rewarded with an honorary doctorate from Middlebury College.
The college called Reed “a champion of equity and inclusion” who “has dedicated his career to service, advocacy and fighting for the rights of all Vermonters.”
“You have provided the opportunity for hundreds of individuals and institutions throughout the state, and the region, to make Vermont a more desirable destination for all,” Laurie Patton, Middlebury’s president, said while making the presentation. “Curtiss, your work on behalf of all Vermonters has made this state a more inclusive, and therefore a much better, place for us all to live, work, and recreate.”
According to the US Census, only 1.4 percent of Vermonters identify as Black or African-American, while 2 percent identify as Hispanic or Latino, and 92.6 percent identify as white alone. Reed’s vision for making the state more welcoming to diversity is necessarily long-ranging.
“Suppress your socialization around instant gratification,” he says, smiling, but it’s only partly a joke. He sees the future and he’s trying to direct the best of it to the state he loves and calls home.
“We just began our 40-year initiative, Vermont Vision for a Multicultural Future,” Reed said. “We set the bar at making Vermont the epicenter of inclusive thought and practice in the United States. As the number of white heterosexual males with family incomes above $125,000 shrink, you need to replace that population — replace those consumers — with someone else. And those ‘someone else’s don’t know that Vermont exists. So we need a campaign that is really focused on how to bring more folks of color, more consumers of color, to Vermont. Brattleboro is doing that. I wish more towns around the state would also take that up, and more chambers of commerce.”
Reed’s portfolio of clients currently includes such high-profile organizations as Green Mountain Power, Vermont Public Radio, the Vermont State Police and The Alchemist Brewery in Stowe.
“The work is bottom-line driven,” Reed said.
The end result will be to increase the economic underpinnings of the state while adding diversity, inclusiveness and equity.
Jen Kimmich, co-founder and CEO of The Alchemist, met Reed while both were serving on the board of the Vermont Council on Rural Development.
“Curtiss is a leading expert in the field of diversity,” Kimmich said. “So when we were developing our action plan to address racism and issues around inclusivity, we knew Curtiss was the person we wanted to work with. Once we started working with Curtiss, we began thinking more broadly. We want to be impactful not only in our work but in the community.”
Reed helped The Alchemist focus on education in the local school system, making Vermonters more welcoming to people of color, and expanding its outreach and market to new groups of customers.
“I worked directly with Curtiss,” Kimmich said. “He took the action plan that we had written and he helped us write it to be more impactful. Curtiss did and continues to guide us. We host a lot of special events like concerts. A lot of times we tend to limit ourselves to our own networks, but there is still untapped talent out there. Now when we provide sponsorship, we work with organizers to make sure they’re being inclusive. We need to think of being inclusive all the time.”
Reed has encouraged Kimmich to strengthen her brand within the national multicultural marketplace.
“We’ve done that by reaching out to Black- and Brown-owned breweries, LGBTQ breweries, and just expanding our network, partnering with other breweries,” Kimmich said. “Curtiss has encouraged us to use the arts and celebration as a vehicle to bring people together and create a much more diverse and inclusive community. Music, art installations, sponsoring Juneteenth events, highlighting Black and Brown artists — we have a national platform, and what a great tool that is.”
Reed encourages his clients to take “subversive action,” Kimmich said.
“He talks about providing exposure without making bold statements,” Kimmich said. “If we can bring Black and Brown musicians and professionals into schools, it provides exposure to kids. Kids get used to seeing different people. That’s really important. That’s what Curtiss would call subversive action. You provide this exposure and you keep doing it and you keep doing it.”
As Reed likes to point out, Black people have been in Vermont since before Vermont was Vermont, only most Vermonters don’t know about it.
The Green Mountain Boys were multi-racial. There were communities of color in Woodstock and Hinesburg as well as in other places around the state well before Independence. African-Americans fought in the Civil War.
Buffalo Soldiers — African-American soldiers formed into cavalry and infantry units after the Civil War — were posted at Fort Ethan Allen. There were African-American poets in Guilford and family farmers of color in Townshend, and Black people who settled in many other Vermont communities.
“Over the centuries, Black Vermonters have had a profound impact on agriculture, owned businesses, held public office, fought alongside fellow citizens in major wars, and worked to make Vermont and the nation a better place,” says the Vermont African-American Heritage Trail website (www.vermontvacation.com/plan-your-visit/trip-ideas/african-american-heritage-trail(link is external)).
The Vermont African-American Heritage Trail has 13 stops, including the Rokeby Museum in Ferrisburgh where visitors can learn about the Underground Railway, and Hildene, the Lincoln family estate in Manchester, which serves as a museum for the famed Pullman trains. It also features 16 historical markers.
Reed created the trail after a ruckus he raised about a political campaign garnered him some unexpected support.
In 2010, Lieutenant Governor Brian Dubie ran for governor with the slogan “Pure Vermont.” Reed saw it as a double entendre.
While the Dubie campaign insisted that the slogan referred to the purity of Vermont’s agricultural products, Reed thought it also had echoes of Vermont’s shameful Eugenics movement and the rise of the Ku Klux Klan in Vermont in the early decades of the last century. He called the Dubie campaign out in a blistering op-ed piece that ran statewide.
“And the slogan is a bitter reminder of the bigotry and racial segregation experienced by Blacks under slavery and Jim Crow,” he wrote. “The precipitous drop of Vermont’s Black population in the early 20th century was no doubt partially due to the Klan’s efforts to keep Vermont pure… The ‘Pure Vermont’ brand is pure invalidation of the fastest growing segment of our population. And the brand’s handlers have been dishing out a healthy dose of avoidant behavior or, optimistically, benign neglect. The inherent challenges and opportunities of a more multicultural Vermont should not be ignored or buried in the polite discourse of denial.”
The piece eventually cost him his high-level position as the chairman of the Vermont Advisory Panel of the US Commission on Civil Rights, but it gained him an important ally.
Running against Dubie was Peter Shumlin.
“Shumlin called me and asked me, ‘How can I not appear so tone deaf?’” Reed said. “I said, ‘Well, here are three or four things that you could do. First among them was the creation of the African-American Heritage Trail. He liked the idea. He saw dollar signs in it. A couple of days right after he was elected, I met with his senior leadership team. When I was done, all I could see were dollar signs in their eyes, too. ‘We never thought about this before. Black people are outdoor enthusiasts? And we don’t know this? And we can actually market to them?’ And I said, ‘Yes, but you need a hook.’ And that hook was the African-American Heritage trip. That is something you could promote.”
Statewide, most of these notable sites already existed. The trail collected these sites together and branded them to “draw the attention of consumers of color who were outside of Vermont’s borders,” as the website says.
After that first meeting with Shumlin’s team, Reed began to notice the inclusion of people of color in Vermont Lifemagazine stories.
“Even some of the advertisers in Vermont Life magazine began to show more multicultural folks in their advertisements,” Reed said. “Which sent a huge signal to the marketplace that ‘Oh, people like me, who look like me, are in Vermont Life magazine? So why not? Why not Vermont?’”
The Vermont Partnership is a small organization, with only three or four permanent employees and yearly revenues of about $175,000.
“We’re independent consultants,” Reed said. “And depending on what the job is, and what the area of expertise is, we can bring in more people. For example, VPR wanted us to overhaul their HR department, so we brought in someone with HR expertise. Or someone else wants to explore having white affinity groups — groups of white people talking about being white and how that affects their decision making. So different subjects have different skill sets.”
Reed was born in St Louis during the early Jim Crow days and grew up in a segregated part of the city. Still, he managed to attend a prestigious private high school where he was routinely attacked with racial slurs. He stuck it out for four years because he valued the education he was getting.
After taking his BA from Washington University and doing some work in Washington, DC, he joined the Peace Corps in 1983 and served as a volunteer in Tunisia.
He stayed in Africa after his Peace Corps stint ended, working for the National Cooperative Business Association training cooperative management trainers in French-speaking and Portuguese-speaking Africa. He also spent four years doing the same kind of work with Africare.
All told, he worked in Africa for 18 years, mainly building cooperatives.
“Cooperatives are a stealth way of introducing democracy to the developing world,” Reed said. “One person, one vote. Accountability. Service to your members. All the things co-ops stand for are really mini-democracies.”
Reed discovered Vermont when he came to ski in December of 1978; he liked it and relocated to Brattleboro in the spring of 1979. When he returned from Africa in April of 2001, he settled permanently in Brattleboro with no idea of what he was going to do next.
Eventually, he took a job as the head of a community organizing group called ALANA (African, Latinx, Asian and Native American). He revised it and renamed it the Vermont Partnership for Fairness and Diversity.
One of his first statewide initiatives centered around racial profiling and came at the invitation of Colonel James Baker, then head of the Vermont State Police and now interim commissioner of corrections for the State of Vermont.
“It was 2006, and Curtiss had been quoted several times in the local newspaper concerning the state police’s involvement in racial profiling in traffic stops,” Baker said. “I didn’t know him, but I made the decision to drive down to Brattleboro unannounced and ask to see him. In full uniform. The receptionist was a little taken aback. She said he was busy. I said I’d wait. And that’s how I met Curtiss Reed. At the time, he chaired the US Civil Rights Commission for the State of Vermont. As we were getting to know each other, he asked me if I would testify at a hearing he was holding on the issue of racial profiling. And I did, and from there Curtiss and I evolved a very deep friendship.”
Reed educated Baker about bias and equity.
Photo: Curtiss Reed, Jr, executive director of the Vermont Partnership for Fairness and Diversity. Photo: Randolph T. Holhu
“It changed my whole outlook on the issue,” Baker said. “He educated me on what it’s like to be a person of color in one of the whitest states. He started doing consulting for us. Eventually I moved to head the police academy, and then I became police chief of Rutland. I brought him with me, and I introduced him to many, many people who had challenges.”
One of the most important things Baker said he learned from Reed was that many people are uneducated about “the hidden truth” of racism.
“When it comes to bias, gender and ethnicity, there’s not a lot of people who are outright racists,” Baker said. “There are a lot of folks who are uneducated about the issues. Curtiss taught me how to step outside myself and think about how the issues of equity affect the justice system and law enforcement. He taught me that I need to put myself in the position of people who have lived experiences unlike mine. I think Curtiss was one of the early voices willing to have the courage to stand up and sound the alarm about the hidden truth — that there is, in fact, an unlevel playing field, especially in the justice system. And it’s not just about race, it’s about poverty and sexual preference, too.”
Reed’s strong suit is his ability to collaborate, Baker said.
“I think his recent recognition from Middlebury speaks volumes about his ability to bring people together,” Baker said. “Race is not an easy topic to talk about. People are either on the left or the right, and Curtiss has the ability to bring people together in the middle and have a conversation that will make a difference.”
Aly Richards is the CEO of Lets Grow Kids, a Burlington nonprofit working for affordable, high quality childcare. She too met Reed while they were both on the board of the Vermont Council on Rural Development. She said her organization relies on him to create “a truly equitable high quality childcare that is as inclusive as possible,” one that breaks inequities instead of perpetuating them.
“At the end of the day, is there a diverse workforce taking care of the kids?” Richards said. “Is the curriculum culturally responsive? Beyond that, are we giving every child the best possible start? This is when kids are forming their opinions of the world. Curtiss is specifically helping us think about the importance of child care for historically marginalized populations. It’s a new language we’re all learning together — understanding the nuances. Actually, we all have biases we don’t recognize. Do you socialize with people who don’t look like you, for example?”
Reed is an “incredible guide,” Richards said.
“He has really helped me understand how I can facilitate a social change movement in Vermont – in this case, child care – that truly interacts with all Vermonters,” she said. “Not just middle class white Vermonters, but everyone. He breaks it down. He supports you in learning and in getting it right. He’s been doing this work for a very long time, and he’s become an institution. He’s seen a lot of changes in the discussion and perspective over time.”
Christopher Louras, the former mayor of Rutland, reached out to Reed when Rutland’s police and community were “in complete turmoil,” he said.
“I met him through Jim Baker,” Louras said. “There was bias within the community and within the city as an organization. Because Jim Baker was an early adopter, he brought Curtiss in to help move the ball regarding racial disparity issues and bias and inclusion training in the Rutland City Police Dept. I, as mayor, was personally and professionally so impressed with Curtiss’s professionalism, his subject matter, and his demeanor, I used him to further our own City of Rutland organization – to provide the same level of services to the rest of City Hall.”
Reed and his staff met with department heads and began bias and inclusion training.
“He impressed upon us the state of demographics in Rutland,” Louras said. “He helped us recognize that reaching out to the communities of color in a positive way would be the moral reason, but it would also give us economic development and future planning.”
When Louras began to prepare Rutland for refugee resettlement, he again reached out to Reed.
“During the early days of our refugee resettlement program, there were several issues where I needed to pick his brain, to help us as we tried to educate the Rutland community to the benefits of refugee resettlement. He was an invaluable asset during that period.”
Refugee resettlement failed in Rutland at that time, and Louras was voted out of office mainly on that issue.
“But it would have been much worse if I didn’t have Curtiss as a resource,” Louras said.
Louras described Reed as soft-spoken.
“It’s that, and his ability to read a room, and read individuals within that room, which made him so effective at his job,” Louras said. “And that’s rooted in integrity and empathy. He’s able to recognize not only how people are thinking and reacting but why they are thinking and reacting, and he helps people self-reflect — providing they’re willing to and able to. And if some individuals are incapable of self-reflection, Curtiss is able to use them as training aides for the people who are capable.”
Reed is deeply connected to Vermont’s African-American community. When Xusana Davis, for example, came to Vermont to become the state’s first executive director of racial equality, the welcoming/networking party was held at Reed’s apartment. And James Alvin “Al” Wakefield, the retired founder of Wakefield Global, an international executive search company, said Reed was the first person he called for advice recently while writing a Declaration of Inclusion for the State of Vermont.
The declaration has already been adopted by some 16 municipalities and is expected to be passed into law by many others; Governor Phil Scott has signed on to the idea, Wakefield said.
“I think Curtiss has been instrumental in bringing about change for social justice for all races, ethnicities and genders in the State of Vermont over the past 20 years,” Wakefield said. “I think he’s been a guiding light. Without his vision and leadership, the changes we’ve seen might not have been done. Curtiss is a bright guy, he’s a leader, he’s a visionary, he’s a good, sensible down to earth person who is easy to talk to and easy to work with. He knows everybody, is highly respected, and I know I can get rational and commonsensical advice from him.”
Early Influences
St Louis was a segregated city when Reed was born.
“North St Louis was all black,” he said. “South St Louis was German, Italian, Polish, English, Irish. In the middle there’s something called the Central Corridor, and on the western side of that was Washington University, where I graduated, and then on the eastern side was St Louis University. So it was this area of free thought, with all the galleries, hippies, jazz clubs and Beatniks contained to that area. We lived in North St. Louis. From my age, you can tell that I was born during the first era of Jim Crow. And St. Louis was not exempt from the racial terror and the tension of the time.”
Reed’s father worked for the Department of Defense as an accountant. His mother was a secretary.
“My parents were really protective,” Reed said.
Because the family lived in North St Louis, all of Reed’s elementary school teachers were Black. The policemen were Black. The shop owners were Black.
“It was a community of professionals,” Reed said. “My doctor was Black. There were judges who were Black. There were lawyers and attorneys. There were physicians. The OB/GYN who delivered me — Dr Hill — was a Black woman. There were store owners, there were folks that owned car dealerships. And so our parents sort of tried to protect us from moving into South St Louis, or even into the central corridor.”
Reed has one younger brother whom he describes as a “Type T.”
“Type Ts are thrill seekers,” Reed said. “He was the first Black man to run marathons on all seven continents and in all 50 states. He’s run over 130 marathons. So he is a seminal figure in the distance running world. He was a co-founder of the National Black Marathoners Association. He is a motivational speaker. We’re very close.”
Reed’s parents divorced when he was young. He has a half-sister, now a podiatrist, from his father’s second marriage.
While his parents were still together, the family lived in the large Darst-Webbe public housing project.
“Its claim to fame is that the Spinks brothers grew up there as well,” Reed said. “I might reasonably say that I probably knew them when they still had teeth.”
The projects had very little grass or trees to break up the concrete of what Reed called “our 12-story prison.”
“And then one day our parents, for reasons totally unknown, put me and my brother on a school bus,” Reed said. “And we left St Louis with a bunch of other city kids to a place called Camp Wyman. And I fell in love with the natural world. Trees, the constellations, bugs, skunks, snakes, squirrels — OK, there were squirrels in the city — but all manner of nature, I fell in love with it.”
He met his first important mentor there.
“In the pantheon of Black men who shaped my early life, most were either uptight, really conservative, or academic,” Reed said. “But I met this guy named Shivers who just blew the stereotypes out of the box. He taught me to swim. And despite Jim Crow, I gleaned from him that a black swimmer was not an oxymoron. He gave me permission to be my full self and to receive whatever nature had to offer. He encouraged me to go to a leadership training program in a place called Sherwood Forest Camp in Troy, Missouri. And it wasn’t until I completed the training program that I realized that Shivers was actually the nom de guerre for Rodney Scott Hudson. Like for about a decade, I didn’t even know this guy’s name.”
Hudson is a well-known actor and teacher.
“In a funny sort of way, I eventually moved to Vermont, I think, in part inspired by Shivers,” Reed said. “At the time, he was working on his Master’s in Theater Arts at the University of South Dakota. And so, if a black man like Shivers can live in a state as white as South Dakota, why can’t I eventually claim Vermont as my home?”
Reed believes he got his sense of adventure from his mother.
“My mother was very meticulous, a great record keeper,” he said. “She could type 120 words a minute. I once gave her a paper of mine to type, and after she finished and gave it back to me she enrolled me in a typing class. But the thing that’s probably the greatest impression on me is her sense of adventure.”
He illustrated that comment with a story. It seems that Interstate 70 crossed St Louis, and whenever his mother drove that way, he and his brother saw a sign that said Kansas City 252 miles. And every day, he and his brother would say, “Hey, let’s go to Kansas City.” And every day, his mother ignored them.
“Then one day, we said, ‘Why don’t we just go to Kansas City’ and she passed the regular exit,” he said. “And she kept going and going. We were out of St Louis. We were in the cornfields. And she didn’t say a word. At one point we stopped for gas, and my brother and I thought maybe we should exit the car, find a policeman and say that our mother’s gone totally, totally mad. But we were too scared to do that. So we kept driving, driving, driving, and then we came to another large urban area. And she drove around, drove around, drove around. And then she stopped at this one house and pulled into the driveway. She gets out of the car and pops open the trunk. And some friends of ours who live in Kansas City, who always stopped at our house on their way to Chicago, came out and greeted us. And in the trunk our bags were already packed. It totally blew me away. It’s more about the adventure than about the destination.”
His father didn’t lack for a sense of adventure either, but it manifested itself differently. Once or twice a month, he would take the family out to the airport to watch the planes arrive and depart.
“We’d sit there and have a Coca-Cola and watch the planes come and go,” Reed said. “In a subliminal way I think he was imprinting the fact that one day we’d be on planes. So, travel and adventure had this imprint on me at a very early age. Being in the natural world had an imprint on me at a very early age. And in fact, I knew I wanted to live in a place like Vermont before I knew it even existed.”
Another event also influenced him: hearing a speaker at an early morning prayer breakfast.
“This one Sunday, there was a speaker who opened his mouth and I had never ever heard anyone speak English like he spoke it,” Reed said. “He was speaking the King’s English. He was from Ghana or Nigeria, one of the missionaries from one of the countries where we had missionaries. Now, I’m living in North St Louis. And all of a sudden, this guy was talking and it was like, ‘Wow! There are Black people living in other places in the world!’ And that piqued my interest about overseas. At the time, I don’t think either my mother or father knew what they were imprinting. They had no idea that 60 years later, I would look back on my life and see those as touchpoints for how I got to where I am today.”
Work And Education
Reed started working at an early age. His first job was sweeping alleys at the age of 13, “and you know, now I’m really handy with a broom,” he said. By 16, he was flipping ribs at a barbecue place called Roscoe’s.
“Roscoe was a rather tall, imposing Black man who, on every employee’s very first day, would say, ‘I hired you to do an excellent job. Nothing less. Don’t expect any kudos or any positive feedback from me for doing an excellent job, because that’s what I pay you to do. Now, if you do something exceptional, then you might get a peep out of me,’” Reed said. “I learned what excellent service was, and about going beyond one’s expectations for service and cleanliness. He’d come in and inspect the restaurant before we left, and if he found a little smidgen of crud in the corner of a case or cooler, you’d have to get everything out and do it all over again.”
All these things — Shivers, airplanes, adventure, typing, meticulous preparation — prepared Reed for the most potentially devastating part of his childhood: his education at an elite private independent school in St Louis, the St Louis Country Day School for Boys. It was a school for the city’s wealthy upper classes, and needless to say, these kids were primarily white.
“They took the best and brightest,” Reed said. “Kids were invited to apply. I took the exam and made the grade. They admitted me on a full ride. It was hell. I was called the N-word almost every day. I think the instructive experience here is that racism transcends economic status. Because these were the folks that had, arguably, lots and lots and lots of money. But they held really racist attitudes. And their kids didn’t want me there, which is probably a reflection of their parents. I was the only Black kid in all my classes for four years.”
Reed had the option of leaving and going to a public school; he made the choice to stay.
“It was an opportunity that I was not going to let go,” Reed said. “I reaped the benefits of it. Both of our state senators were graduates of the school. Our secretary of the treasury was a graduate of the school. We were always taught to go to the source. For information, don’t go to the Encyclopedia, but you pick up the phone, and you ask for the president of the company. Say ‘I’m Curtiss Reed of the Country Day School. And can you help me with X, Y, or Z.’ Not that I did that, but I learned to always go to the top. And there was a perseverance, a tenacity.”
Every senior had to give a final speech to the entire student body.
“My advisor thought that I was going to speak on the intersection of Baroque music and Gothic architecture,” Reed said. “I had another speech prepared, and it was titled, ‘Thank You For Being Racist, Country Day.’ And with parents in the room, and all the classes, I went through the litany of injustices and racial abuse that I had suffered over the course of four years. When I finished, only the Black students clapped. Then, for my graduation, the guy who was supposed to walk down the aisle with me refused to do so. So I walked alone. And he was fined for breaking protocol, but he said he wasn’t going to walk next to ’that person.’ I said, ‘Fine.’ I graduated smack dab in the middle of the class. And as a parting gesture, in the yearbook I quoted Fred Hampton, that ‘you can kill a revolutionary but you can’t kill revolution.’ So that was my early life.”
After School
Reed took his BA from Washington University in sociology and graduated with a fellowship at the Coro Foundation, which is designed to “develops emerging leaders to work and lead across different sectors by equipping them with knowledge, skills, and networks to accelerate positive change,” according to their web site.
But first his sense of adventure kicked in; he decided to take a solo bicycle trip from St Louis to Alaska, or at least to far-away Vancouver. That’s a long haul, and a lot of it is uphill.
“I was young and invincible,” Reed said. “But after a few months, I realized I hadn’t seen another Black person. So I get to Yellowstone. And I ask at the front gate, ‘Are there any black people here?’ I was starved to have a conversation with another Black man or woman. And the woman sheepishly said, ‘Yes, my boss’s Black.’ I said, ‘Take me to your leader.’”
Anthony Brown was the park historian for Yellowstone; he gave Reed an exceptional tour of the park.
“I saw stuff that normal tourists will never get a chance to see,” Reed said. “And then it just also happened that one of the staffers for US Senator Alan Simpson of Wyoming was camping on vacation with his family at Yellowstone. His name was Carroll Wood, and he was also Black. My time in the park was spent with his family and his kids and they were just totally fascinated that I was biking across the US. Later, when the kids had grown up, his wife said I had had a big impact on those kids.”
Wood introduced Reed to Ira Hutchinson, the deputy director of the National Park Service, who was also Black. For him, Reed developed what might have been the first PR campaign to attract ethnic minorities to national parks and forests. By this time he was also “honing my political chops” as a Fellow at the Coro Foundation in St Louis, but was on assignment to the National Park Service in Washington, DC. And then his life changed.
“I got a call from a buddy of mine in Newfane,” Reed said. “He said, ‘Hey, why don’t you come up to Vermont? Let’s go skiing.’ I’d never been in Vermont before. I couldn’t say where it was on a map. This was during the nor’easter of ‘78. I took the Vermonter and got off, trudged up the hill through the snow, got to Dunkin’ Donuts and sat there for the next 36 hours until my friend got plowed out and he could come and get me. But then I had three glorious weeks skiing, eating, and drinking in the picture postcard perfect that was Vermont.”
Reed fell in love with Vermont and a few months later relocated to Brattleboro. He had no idea of what he would do to earn a living there. First he worked the night shift at the Brattleboro Retreat, and then he got a job with what was then called The Experiment in International Living. (Now called World Learning.) He helped manage in-bound and out-bound students and host families for the organization’s Study Abroad Program.
After four years of managing international travel for others, Reed had the travel bug; he joined the Peace Corps.
Africa
Reed was first stationed in Tunisia.
“From Tunisia, I went to France,” he said. “I went to Aix aux Provence to study French. After the Peace Corps I worked for the National Cooperative Business Association, as it’s known in the US Overseas, it’s the Cooperative League of the USA because it’s a nice acronym, CLUSA. And I worked for Africare for a while.”
Reed trained cooperative advisors in how to train cooperative managers.
“I would teach and advise a group of advisors in French or Portuguese,” he said. “They would, in turn, go to villages and start cooperatives or bolster or improve the management of cooperatives. In the vernacular, we were ‘contract scum.’ We worked the federal contracts. This would be a contract with World Bank or the World Food Organization or US AID. Then I moved up the ranks to being country director, or delegate. I had long-term residencies in Niger, Mali, Burundi and Guinea Bissau. I also worked in Rwanda. I worked in Senegal and Gambia. All of this work was to set up cooperatives or evaluate cooperatives.”
While Reed worked, he also traveled and collected African art. He and his second wife, Cathryn, who is white, share a stunning historic apartment, called “the penthouse,” in the renovated 1871 Brooks House on Main Street in Brattleboro.
It is centered around an iron circular staircase that leads to the building’s Mansard roof. (There’s a room up there where Rudyard Kipling and his cronies once played cards. Legend has it that the card players kept one of the stairs squeaky so they could tell if the sheriff was coming.)
The apartment is filled with hand-carved tribal masks from the Ivory Coast, Tanzania, and Burkina Faso. A large red-figured Berber rug from North African — his Zoom background during the recent pandemic — fills the wall of one room. Beautiful masks, drums, and other musical instruments, including a collection of blacksmith-forged bells, are scattered about the rooms. Both the couch and the bed are covered in a dynamic yellow-and-black printed bògòlanfini fabric — the whole is made up of small strips hand-sewn together. There is a collection of interesting snuffboxes and another of handmade silver napkin rings.
The strongest pieces in his collection are carved wooden granary doors. These fascinating carvings, intended to protect the harvest, show in detail African village life — hunters, farmers, blacksmiths, healers, herders, women pounding grain and fertility images as well as crocodiles, cattle and horses. On one, some people are definitely making love. The largest door covers an entire wall and weighs over 300 pounds. It took three men to get it into the apartment.
In Africa, Reed introduced the novel idea of using host nationals instead of hiring expats to execute nonprofit contracts.
“We were spending all this taxpayer money on expatriate costs, expatriate housing, swimming pools and six weeks of vacation in a foreign country, when that money could be better used by host country nationals if they had won the contract,” Reed said. “We should be preparing host country nationals to compete with international development firms for international contracts.”
This idea is still percolating in Africa.
“It’s still evolving,” Reed said. “Well, in some countries it’s devolving, because of civil war in places like Niger and Mali. But there’s absolutely no reason why an organization of host country nationals can’t do this work, particularly given that we paid for their education — we pay for host country nationals to come to the United States to get their masters and PhDs, and we then return them to their home countries. Why not put that brain power to use in a competitive environment? It was difficult, but nonetheless, folks saw what the vision was and that the component pieces were there. They just needed to be stitched together in a way that would make them highly competitive on the international marketplace. So I had my overseas career.”
Reed met his first wife, Winnifred, in Niger while she was working for Africare. They married in Guinea Bussau; they have three children who are now grown and living on the West Coast.
A Changing Vermont
“While I was away, I paid my taxes in Vermont,” Reed said. “I voted absentee ballot. I got the Brattleboro Reformerthree or four weeks late. So Brattleboro is very much my residence. I came back in 2001. And at that point, Brattleboro had remained the same in many ways but had also changed. I had this chasm of knowledge about current events in the States. Like I totally missed ‘Deep Space Nine’ and ‘Star Trek’ and ‘Friends.’ But there were a lot more folks of color here — so many that so I didn’t know all their names. When I was here before, there were only five or six of us in Windham County. And that’s when I began to work for ALANA.”
ALANA in Brattleboro was doing community organizing. At the time, it was the only branch of the organization not attached to a college or university. Reed proposed an overhaul.
“I wrote a strategic plan, and the board said, ‘Oh, we love this!’” Reed said. “Basically, it was that the organization needed to transition from doing direct services to policy work. It needed to be driven by data. And we needed to move from being a hyperlocal organization to being a statewide organization. I’m coming back from Africa, where the infrastructure is crap. We’ve got good roads here. We have telephone service, internet service. So there’s actually no reason why this cannot be a statewide, if not, Northern New England initiative. I said to the board, ‘If you really like this and you want me to do it, you need to raise $100,000.’ And a couple of weeks later, they came back and said, ‘We have $100,000. Are you ready to start now?’ And I said, ‘Okay, let’s do it.’”
The board changed the organization’s name to the Vermont Partnership for Fairness and Diversity and appointed Reed as its executive director.
In starting this work, Reed took his inspiration from a conversation he had had with a well digger at an oasis in Nigeria. The man told Reed, “You can’t dig a new well by digging an old well deeper.”
“When I came back, I realized what was happening in Vermont was the notion of change based on social and or moral values,” Reed said. “Discussions around race and diversity and inclusion and equity were all driven by, ‘Let’s do the right thing.’ That was digging the old well deeper. Because I spent all this time working in the business community overseas, I thought we should be looking at these issues from an economic vantage point. The new well is making the argument for Vermont, writ large, that if it wants to enjoy the benefits of a changing demographics, then it needs to change its business practices. Then visitors and consumers of color can come to Vermont and have an experience that exceeds their expectations.”
While he was beginning to dig this subtle new well, Reed took part in two loud and public changes in Brattleboro.
First, in 2005, when a popular editor was fired from a Brattleboro Reformer, then being gutted by an out-of-state owner, he, along with 11 other activists, helped found a local left-wing weekly, The Commons, as a nonprofit that can never be bought or sold.
“We talked for two years weekly before the first issue hit the stands,” Reed said. “We wanted a news outlet founded just for Windham County.”
Fifteen years later The Commons, now a popular, magazine-style, non-political weekly community newspaper, is still going strong.
His second — and much more controversial — effort was to try and change Brattleboro Union High School’s sports mascot, which was a southern colonel who looked a lot like the chicken-frying Colonel Sanders.
“The BUHS student group Students for Peace asked me to get involved,” Reed said. “I was happy to do so, so that my children would not have to play sports under a racist mascot.”
Reed was well ahead of his time, because the fight over racist mascots continues to this day. But in this case, he won a partial victory. The school board decided to retire the Colonel Reb mascot, but the sports teams are still called the Colonels.
The Bennington Problem
By now, pretty much everyone in the country knows about Bennington and Kiah Morris.
Morris served in the state Legislature as a Representative from 2014-2016 and from 2016-2018. She was the first African-American and person of color elected from Bennington County and the second African-American woman to be elected to the Legislature in Vermont history. During her third campaign, she and her family were so targeted and tormented by Bennington racists that she left her campaign and, eventually, the town.
Morris claimed the police did nothing to protect her and her family. A later study showed that the Bennington Police, a small rural department, had done everything it legally could, and the Vermont attorney general backed up that report. But the connection between racism and the town of Bennington remained ineradicable.
Don Campbell was the former chair of the Bennington Select board and had a front-row seat to the outrage.
“We’re all still reeling from that,” Campbell said. “A relatively small number of people made Kiah Morris’s life really miserable. We felt we did everything we could to help, but there weren’t enough tools in the toolbox, including the attorney general’s toolbox. We elected her over and over again. The idea that Bennington’s reputation would be sullied by a small number of heinous actors is despicable.”
The community brought in Reed as a consultant.
“The community has a forward-facing response to racism in America,” Campbell said. “When we were challenged by the attorney general to do an evaluation of our policing policies, we had two choices. We could investigate the response to the Kiah Morris complaint, which was not going to lead to transformative change, or we could do a community process that involved more time and thought. Col. Baker suggested we talk to Curtiss Reed, and we ended up with something much more transformative.”
Reed’s response was to listen and reflect intently.
“He was adamant that a single investigation into a single incident wouldn’t do much,” Campbell said. “Curtiss challenged us to go deeper. He described his experiences in other communities and with the state police and other fraught police situations. He described a process of building blocks. He said we needed to start with a strong foundation and build up to a point where there is trust in the process and the ability to see meaningful police reform and community participation and oversight. If we had gone straight to a community oversight board, we wouldn’t have been ready for it, and it would have inspired backlash and derision. Instead, we took the time to do the foundational work.”
Reed put out an RFP with the International Association of Chiefs of Police, looking for someone to do a meaningful evaluation of the local police system. From multiple proposals, Campbell said, Reed helped them choose the most expensive one.
“That report came back and said, in essence, that there was opportunity to update police policy and do things that would prevent future problems,” Campbell said. “That the police force was basically doing a good job, but there were areas of improvement. Curtiss designed a process and implemented it to increase channels of communication, be clear about the town vision, and do the foundational work of police policy reform with the idea we might then be in a position to face the final recommendation, which was consideration of some kind of community policing oversight entity. And he’s still in it with Bennington.
He’s in it for the long haul. That’s the thing about Curtiss, he sticks with a project.”
Reed was the perfect consultant for Bennington, Campbell said.
“He was remarkably able to engage with all parties — and some of those parties would be the police themselves, town government, the community, people of color, nonprofits,” Campbell said. “He is able to walk in all worlds. His insights get serious consideration by everybody he speaks to. Instead of being a domineering leader, he empowers the group by directing its evolution, not its outcome. So he helps communities learn what they need to know about themselves. He doesn’t sugarcoat anything. If something is bad behavior, he identifies it as bad behavior. But he’s worked on a process for addressing it rather than just calling it out. He’s quiet, thoughtful, principled, communicative, busy, and dedicated to community growth. He brings out the best in people.”
Every community with a police force could benefit from the process that Bennington went through, Campbell said.
“It was a process of self examination on policy and procedure,” Campbell said. “It’s one that most communities can’t or won’t make time for, but they really should. This is more about policing than race relations. It’s about what the community expects from the police. We need to be very clear about our policies and procedures so we have data and accountability regarding our police process. This has been all about process. He could have come in and told us what the answer was, but it’s all about process with Curtiss. I wish we could replicate Curtiss. There are not enough Curtisses. But there is racism in Bennington and in Vermont. We have bigger work to do as a society on racism.”
Reed’s work with Bennington is still continuing.
Diversity And Tourism
Racial profiling — often described as being pulled over by the police for “driving while black” — has always been a divisive issue.
“Rather than say to law enforcement that racial profiling is a problem, I said, ‘Prove to me that you’re not racially profiling. Where’s the data?’” Reed said. “Well, they didn’t have any data.”
To spur data collection, Reed’s organization distributed a survey to voters on a Brattleboro Representative Town Meeting Day.
“When we tallied up the results, they said that 81 percent of Brattleboro residents thought the Brattleboro police department was doing an excellent job,” Reed said. “All right. Then we went back to see who voted. And less than 1% of the folks who voted were Black. So I took the same survey and added one question to it, which was, ‘Is racial profiling an issue?’ All the other questions were the same. It turned out that 81% of 95 black households in Brattleboro rated the police as poor, and over 80% said that racial profiling was a major issue. One day after the survey was published, all of law enforcement was up in arms.”
That was when Baker came down to Reed’s office to talk.
“He sat in our waiting room for about 45 minutes or an hour until I was free,” Reed said. “Then he came in and he said, ‘I believe your survey. What can we do to make this better? What can state police do to regain the trust of community members of color?’ And I had a couple of ideas. That’s when we began the substantive work.”
Baker was especially taken by one idea that Reed introduced.
“We had to understand that the only public official any visitor will encounter in the State of Vermont is someone in law enforcement,” Reed said. “So why have this protocol of asking someone, ‘Do you know why I pulled you over?’ It sets up a narcissistic relationship to begin with. Doesn’t matter if you’re Black, white or orange, you are in this anxiety-producing encounter.”
Reed suggested that when the state police pull over a motorist, they identify themselves.
“They should say, ‘I’m Trooper So-and-So, and I pulled you over because you were speeding,’” Reed said. “And the only question to ask is, ‘Is there a reason for that?’ You’re not robbing a person of their own personal dignity that way. They may find out that the reason they were speeding is because the water broke for the woman in the passenger seat and you’re trying to make it to the hospital. Or you may find out that the family cat of 30 years died, and you really weren’t paying attention to the lanes. And that it sends a message of public safety first, not enforcement.”
The motorist might not like getting a ticket, but at least they understand why it is happening.
“When visitors come in, they are more apt to be stopped by the state police than the sheriff’s office or a local police department,” Reed said. “But unfortunately, sheriffs’ departments and local PDs don’t practice the same protocol as the police. So what are all the different ways that the police could change in terms of its training, in terms of its protocols, in terms of community engagement? What can they change that makes them a better law enforcement agency?”
Reed told a story that illustrates a possible positive result of this training.
“There’s a gentleman who flies into Burlington, a Black guy, and he gets his rental car,” Reed said. “He gets a phone call while he’s in the car. He decides to pull over because he sees the sign about not using handheld devices while driving. Two minutes later, he sees the blue lights flashing in his rearview mirror. A state trooper gets out, walks to his car and says, ‘Is everything okay?’ The guy’s kind of dumbstruck. He says, ‘Yes. Just pulled off the road because I need to respond to this phone call with a text.’ The trooper turns around, gets into the cruiser and leaves. The guy gets to his destination in Montpelier and cannot stop talking about how he had an encounter with law enforcement that did not assume he was a criminal to start.”
Reed heard the story from a former executive director of the Vermont League of Cities and Towns.
“It turns out the guy in the car was the national director for the National League of Cities,” Reed said. “What do you guess? The national convention the year after that was held in Vermont. To what extent was there a causal relationship between meeting a trooper that didn’t assume he was a criminal and bringing the convention to Burlington, we may never know. He may have already picked Vermont. We’re unsure about that. But he was certainly much more enthusiastic about Vermont after his encounter with the state trooper. That should be multiplying itself hundreds of times on a daily basis in the state, because you never know. You never know if the person that you’re following in a local establishment might not be the next job creator.”
The Vermont African-American Heritage Trail helps with that, too.
“When we unveiled the marker commemorating the Buffalo Soldiers posted at Fort Ethan Allen, we invited Buffalo Soldier Trooper motorcycle clubs throughout New England to come,” he said. “You have something like 2,000 Black motorcycle clubs in the United States. There are about 200 that carry the name Buffalo Soldier and Trooper. They are the elite of the elite motorcycle clubs in Black motorcycle club culture. They’re the philanthropists. They ride these humongous Harley’s and BMWs. So, if you’ve got a marker about to be unveiled commemorating Buffalo Soldiers, why not invite the Buffalo Soldier motorcycle clubs to Vermont?”
Reed invited the clubs from New England, and three or four showed up.
“Many of them had never been to Vermont before, even though they were from Massachusetts, Connecticut, or other parts of New England,” he said. “They came and had a wonderful time. And about two months ago, I got an email from one of the clubs that said, ‘Hey, we’re ready to come back to Vermont. Can you suggest times or locations?’”
Then Reed told a different kind of story, one that happened a decade ago in Bellows Falls. It concerned a barber named Mike.
“A black doctor, a retired career military guy, wanted a buzzcut,” Reed remembered. “And Mike, who was sitting at the front door playing checkers or something, turned him down. The guy walked in and asked if the barber was in, and he said ‘No.’ Then the guy came back and found Mike cutting someone’s hair. The guy wrote a scathing letter to the editor. He was a doctor. He was looking to move his practice, maybe to Bellows Falls, or at least to Vermont. And he just wanted a buzzcut. But now he’s not bringing his practice to Vermont. He won’t buy the nice home. He won’t hire the folks he needs to run his office. He won’t increase the work being sent to local labs. And all that because of someone who’s a knucklehead.”
This particular story made the national press. Mike the Barber said he refused to serve the guy because he didn’t know how to cut Black hair.
“But the guy’s military,” Reed said. “There’s only one way to cut a buzzcut. So opportunity can present itself right in front of you. But if you don’t have a keen eye for it, you’re going to lose the opportunity.”
He gave another example of bad business practice taken from his rambles around the state.
“I’ve been to country stores that had signs that said, ‘Parents keep your children quiet or we will sell them into slavery,’” Reed said. “I have to go to the store owner and say, ‘As a Black man, I find this really offensive. My ancestors were slaves, and this really repels me — and other people.’ The most recent sighting was in Chester, at one of the antique stores. They said, ‘We didn’t mean for it to be offensive, and we’ll take it down.’ But think of the number of other folks who passed that sign and didn’t say anything? And it left a sour taste in their mouth. Racism is bad for business, and if you’re alienating customers, you’re affecting growth. Why is it taking so long for businesses to make that connection?”
Answering his own question, Reed said that part of the problem is that the people running these businesses may be denying the history of America, or are denying that racism exists. Take the symbolism of the Confederate flag.
“Four or five years ago, a young 12-year-old wrote a letter to the Addison Independent,” Reed said. “His beef was the fact that some knucklehead along Route 7 was flying the Confederate flag. And he thought it painted the town in a really negative way. ‘Was there anything that anyone could do to remove the flag?’ he wanted to know. Because those are not his values. I went to the Chamber of Commerce and said, ‘Would you write a letter supporting the kid’s position that it’s bad for business? That it will repel people from our town?’ And keep in mind, there are two sites on the African-American Heritage Trail in Middlebury.”
The Chamber responded that it was a First Amendment issue and their hands were tied.
“Think about it,” Reed said. “A busload of folks from South Carolina are visiting Vermont. They want to visit the Vermont Folklife Center and see and hear the archives. They see the Confederate flag. They’re gonna take their iPhones out, they’re going to click, click, click, they’re gonna post on social media, ‘If I knew the Confederate flag was in Vermont, I would have stayed in South Carolina.’ I ended up writing a letter in support of the kid. But the spinelessness of the business community — not to say that is bad for business — is really appalling to me. What we want from our businesses, what we want from our chambers of commerce, is to hone in on the potential market of Black and Brown consumers, Asian consumers, who don’t even know that Vermont exists. They should be proactive about going out and bringing them in. And at the same time make sure that their businesses are not run by knuckleheads. Amen.”
The Future
In the 20 years that Reed has been working in Vermont, he has seen a lot of changes. More people of color live in the state. More police departments have been educated about racism and diversity. More businesses are educating their staff and changing their practices. The State of Vermont now has an executive director of racial diversity.
“The landscape has changed considerably since we started,” Reed said. “When I came back in 2001, there were only two organizations that were managed or governed by folks of color. Now there are about 65 around the state, doing all kinds of things. There were five Juneteenth celebrations happening this year, which is a record number. There is a Professionals of Color network in Burlington. There is Allied Vermont up in the Northeast Kingdom. You have two NAACP chapters in the state. So there’s a lot of people living and doing things to improve their communities. It feels liberating to me.”
By liberating, Reed means that he can focus on economics and the business community and leave social justice issues to others.
“There are others working from the social and moral vantage points,” he said. “And that’s fine. I appreciate the space that they occupy. But the space that I occupy, and that that CRJ and Vermont Partnership occupy — our portfolio of initiatives — focuses on expanding Vermont’s economic pie, bringing in more people of color, and making sure those visitors have an experience that might exceed their expectations.”
Racial profiling on the highways still exists, of course.
“But the trend line has been moving in the right direction for a decade,” he said. “It’s not where we want it to be, but it is moving in that direction.”
Reed has not stopped working for equity in Vermont.
“Retirement?” he said. “What’s that?”
But he can look back with some satisfaction at his 20 years of fighting racism in Vermont, and he was deeply moved when Middlebury offered him a doctorate this year.
“I’m humbled by the fact that persons unknown to me have been following my work all these years and find it worthy of recognition,” he said.
Joyce Marcel is a journalist in southern Vermont. In 2017 she was named the best business magazine profile writer in the country by the Alliance of Area Business Publications. She is married to Randy Holhut, the news editor/acting operations manager of The Commons, a weekly newspaper in Brattleboro.