BRATTLEBORO — It's been nearly five years since the collapse of the housing price bubble triggered the worst and longest economic downturn since the 1930s.
Through it all, Vermont has managed to balance the state budget without draconian cuts in public services.
But while the economic picture is improving slightly, critics of the Shumlin administration and the Vermont Legislature say that not enough is being done to ensure that the basic needs of Vermonters are being met.
Among the loudest of those critics is the Vermont Workers' Center, a Burlington-based advocacy group.
The Workers' Center has begun a campaign called Put People First, which calls on Gov. Peter Shumlin and the Legislature to adopt spending and revenue policies that, in their words, “meet every Vermonters' fundamental needs, including health care, housing, food, education, good jobs, and a healthy environment.”
A community meeting to discuss the campaign, and for people to share stories about how the current economic situation is affecting them, will be held on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Monday, Jan. 16, from 6 to 8:30 p.m. at the Agape Church, 30 Canal St.
Ellen Schwartz of Brattleboro, a volunteer with the Workers' Center, had an information table set up on Main Street during Gallery Walk on Friday to promote the campaign and the Jan. 16 meeting.
During the fall, she said volunteers across the state knocked on doors and met with Vermonters to find out their concerns.
She said that doing canvassing in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Irene and during the beginning of the Occupy Wall Street movement made people more willing to talk.
“In general, people are receptive [to the campaign] because we're talking about issues that affect their lives,” Schwartz said. “Occupy just provided some new language to discuss them.”
Schwartz said rising housing costs topped the list of concerns, with dealing with the damage left by Irene close behind.
Also high on the list: health care and the rising costs of food and energy. For younger Vermonters, dealing with student-loan debt was the top issue.
“We just knocked on doors, and people poured their hearts out,” she said.
Schwartz believes that the news media is not really focusing on these issues, which is one reason why the Workers' Center has scheduled these community meetings around the state.
The Center adopted a similar strategy in 2008 during its “Health Care Is A Human Right” campaign. Meetings were held around the state and a grassroots movement for health-care reform grew.
The culmination of this organizing effort came last year, when the Legislature passed an universal health care law.
“Getting people together to talk about the issues is always the first step in any campaign,” Schwartz said.
She said the Jan. 16 meeting will provide an opportunity for participants to talk with one another in small groups about issues that are affecting them and their families.
The meeting will also feature the trailer from an upcoming film, Strength of the Storm, a Workers' Center documentary about how Vermonters living in trailer parks have organized in the face of Irene.
The meeting will culminate in what organizers call a “Take Action Fair.”
Organizations that plan to have tables at the fair include the Vermont Partnership for Fairness and Diversity, the Vermont Center for Independent Living, United Professions of Vermont, Vermont Early Educators United, and the Vermont State Labor Council (AFL-CIO).
More information on the event, and the Vermont Workers' Center, may be found at www.workerscenter.org.