Vermont Business Magazine Friends of Bernie Sanders, a campaign of Senator Bernie Sanders, is donating $100,000 from mitten merchandise sales to the Champlain Valley Office of Economic Opportunity (CVOEO). Since the onset of the pandemic, CVOEO has seen a significant increase in the need for housing and fuel assistance. The agency has also opened a shelter for those experiencing homelessness at the Holiday Inn and a daytime warming center at the VFW in Burlington, and created a hotline for New Americans seeking assistance and resources that connects them to speakers of their own language, and more.
Executive Director, Paul Dragon says, “These funds from Friends of Bernie will support CVOEO to continue its innovative work addressing both emergent needs during this public health crisis as well as the long-term aspirations of the people and communities we serve. “
Senator Sanders understands the more than 50 year history of community action agencies and their ability to quickly adapt and innovate in times of crisis.
CVOEO is a community action agency that serves more than 23,000 individuals annually, offering programs to individuals and families when hardship strikes (food shelves, fuel and housing assistance), as well as programs that help people to build stronger and more sustainable futures (credit-building, microbusiness development, weatherization, tax preparation assistance, early childhood education).
CVOEO’s mission is to address the fundamental issues of economic, social, and racial justice and to work with people to achieve economic independence. The community members CVOEO serves are single mothers, elderly, veterans, underemployed and unemployed, disabled, and refugees.
Source: Burlington, VT - 2.9.2021. CVOEO www.cvoeo.org