Stream Common Good Panel Feat. VAAP, Ram Hinsdale
Common Good VT: Nonprofit Legislative Day 2025 Recap
“On April 22, 2025, more than 50 nonprofit leaders from across Vermont convened in Montpelier for Nonprofit Legislative Day to engage with policymakers and their peers around key issues impacting their organizations and our communities. In the morning, nonprofits networked over coffee and testified about their vital work. Thank you to the House and Senate Economic Development Committees for hearing from:
Martin Hahn, Common Good Vermont – Watch Testimony
Jill Martin Diaz, Vermont Asylum Assistance Project – Watch Testimony
Phoebe Zorn, Pride Center – Watch Testimony
Renata Aylward, Merck Forest & Farmland Center – Watch Testimony
Dan Barlow, People’s Health and Wellness Clinic – Watch Testimony
“Later, participants heard from a panel featuring Senator Kesha Ram Hinsdale, Jill Martin Diaz of Vermont Asylum Assistance Project and Daniel Barlow of the People’s Health and Wellness Clinic on navigating the impact of federal actions:
“This is a beyond critical time to be filling in the gaps and to be keeping people whole and healthy,” said Senator Kesha Ram Hinsdale on the importance of nonprofits in this moment.
Jill Martin Diaz articulated with regard to attacks on free speech and due process: “No, it’s everyone, these are our rights, and it is really unfair for any of us to ask the people most impacted, most immediately harmed by this administration, to be the ones fighting for the rights for all of us.”
Dan Barlow closed with this powerful message: “We can’t control what happens in Washington, DC right now, but we can control how we see our patients, we can control how we treat each other…we have a garden in front of us we can tend…we’re going to have to work together again – any silos within the nonprofit community they have to fall apart now because we need to stand together to get through this.”
You can watch the full panel discussion on YouTube: Watch here.
