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Elkins and Gravel became co-executive directors in January. Putting the statement into writing, said Elkins, was a way for AWARE to take a concrete step toward committing to diversity.
Hard conversations are part of Ashley Gravel’s job as co-director of AWARE, the Hardwick group helping survivors of domestic and sexual violence. That didn’t make the disapproval of one of her family members any less difficult.
The relative was upset her organization serves transgender people, the 38-year-old said.
“The way that I approached him was nobody deserves violence, everybody deserves love, like it doesn’t matter who identifies as what, or who they love, or what the color of their skin is, or any of it — nobody deserves violence,” said Gravel.
Conversations like that, said Gravel, help define the motives behind two moves she and her co-director, Miranda Elkins, have put into motion since the pair began leading the organization in January. On June 1, AWARE released an updated diversity statement and posted it to its Facebook page. And next month a new hire is set to focus entirely on diversity, equity and social change.
The statement was a page long and positioned the organization as working “toward building a community that fosters equity for all, regardless of race, creed, sexual orientation or any marginalized identity.”
AWARE, like many other social service organizations in recent years, has undergone updates to trainings on inclusivity, diversity and equity, said Elkins. Those trainings are often required because AWARE receives two-thirds of its budget through government grants, she said.
Inclusivity has been a core value of the organization since she began working for them in September of 2021, Elkins said, but she and Gravel wanted to make a clear statement.
Elkins and Gravel became co-executive directors in January. Putting the statement into writing, said Elkins, was a way for AWARE to take a concrete step toward committing to diversity.
“We need to be inclusive and not just say that we’re inclusive — but actually be inclusive,” said Elkins.
That sentiment carried into the creation of a new position at AWARE: the social change advocate.
The advocate is meant “to broaden the reach of awareness, prevention, advocacy and support for all people of all genders, lifestyles, ethnicities, who have experienced domestic or or dating violence and stalking and to pursue social change opportunities to promote a violence-free community,” according to the job description put out by AWARE.
Gravel said the advocate will serve on Hardwick’s Equity Committee and explore getting involved with the Hazen Union School’s gender and sexuality club, better known as HUGS.
The two co-directors said having the role filled will make more time in their schedules for the work they’re best at — working cases. According to the group’s annual report for last year, Gravel and Elkins responded to 1,866 calls, emails, messages and in-person assistance requests and personally worked with nearly 340 individuals affected by domestic or sexual violence.
Gravel said the position has been two years in the making and was previously filled by someone for about four months. The group is looking at grants to help fund the position.
The new hire plans to introduce themselves to the public in the near future, said Elkins and Gravel.
Going forward, Elkins said she hopes the diversity statement sparks dialogue about equity and inclusion in the community and that people know AWARE is “accessible to anybody and everybody.”
“I think bringing it out in the open and talking about it is one of the most important things to do, because especially surrounding what we do, things tend to be more hush-hush,” she said. “But these conversations need to be had.”
Lucia McCallum interns as the Hardwick Gazette’s community resilience reporter with support from the Leahy Institute for Rural Partnerships. She works with editors at Community News Service, a University of Vermont journalism program.
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Categories: Vermonters Making A Difference
i wonder if she feels this way “— nobody deserves violence,” said Gravel” about people who KNEW WITHOUT A DOUBT that vaccines and masks did not work to stop the Covid virus?!?!
i wonder if she feels this way “— nobody deserves violence,” said Gravel” about people who may support one candidate over another?!?!
i wonder if she feels this way “— nobody deserves violence,” said Gravel” about people who KNoW WITHOUT A DOUBT that women are wonen and men are men?!?!
it looks like the people in hardwick will be the victims of another grant sucking program////
The fact of the matter is that while grifters make bank off criminal activity, they devalue and dissociate the victims. The criminal conduct continues with impuntiy. Their main concern seems to be validating and pacifying people suffering mental illness induced by pharmacutical drugs and targetted propaganda. As we see, the results are gruesome manic crimes and death. They may think they are doing something right, but at this juncture, they are way over their heads. They are ignorant to reality and facts of what is unfolding each passing day. They are turning a blind eye to those responsible. Particularly, the wealthy elites perpetrating and funding the heinous crimes against humanity.
June 18, 2024 Washington Utah: “The person suspected in the shooting deaths of two people inside a Washington County home has been taken into custody after a search that lasted several hours. Mia Bailey, 28, who legally had her name and gender changed last year in 5th District Court from Collin Troy Bailey, was arrested for investigation of two counts of aggravated murder, attempted aggravated murder, seven counts of shooting a gun and aggravated burglary.”
June 17, 2024: “The 2023 Nashville Covenant School murders understandably received massive news coverage when they occurred. The fight over obtaining the murderer’s diary also received news attention. But when “nearly four dozen pages” of the murderer’s diary were finally released last week, the mainstream media completely ignored it. It turns out that behind the scenes, the FBI had fought hard against the diary’s release. Some Covenant School parents also opposed releasing the diary because it would force families to re-live the nightmare. The Tennessee Star’s parent company, Star News Digital Media, successfully filed two lawsuits to obtain the diary.But there is a lot of important information in the diary. As is very typical of mass public shooters, the murderer was suicidal: “A terrible feeling to know I am nothing of the gender I was born of. I am the most unhappy boy alive. I wish to be dead.” She was also on the anti-anxiety drug Buspirone, whose potential side effects include “abnormal dreams, outbursts of anger, tremors, and physical weakness.”
June 9, 2024: “Auto parts magnate, 91, arrested over five charges including rape, indecent assault and forcible confinement. The Austrian-Canadian billionaire Frank Stronach has been accused in relation to alleged assaults dating from the 1980s to 2023.
June 19, 2024: “The Ecuadorian man who raped a 13-year-old girl at knifepoint in a Queens park told police after his arrest that he began recording the assault midway through as he became more “comfortable” attacking the victim, according to prosecutors. Christian Inga, 25, was arraigned Wednesday on charges including rape, predatory sexual assault and robbery for the Thursday attack in Flushing’s Kissena Corridor Park. The hearing came after a citywide, five-day manhunt that ended early Tuesday when a group of good Samaritans spotted Inga outside a deli near Waldorn and 108th Sts. in Corona — about 3 miles from the park. The determined locals staked out the deli all day after recognizing Inga in a wanted photo released by police and identifying him as a regular at the shop.”
Awake yet? There are people who are not going to put up with this anymore like the people in Queens. Stop pandering to woke nonsense and stop enabling criminal conduct. Too many are dead, disabled and stalked like prey because of this criminal fraud, conspiracy to commit fraud, and collusion.
More DEI hires that will do nothing at taxpayer expense. This “company” should be disbanded. She me the product we’re paying for.