BELLOWS FALLS, Vt. – Are you looking for an opportunity to connect with local legislators, statewide officials, and fellow change makers in your community? Join local and statewide legislators at the Flat Iron Cooperative, 51 The Square, Bellow Falls, Vt., for Candidates at the Coffeehouse. The series will start on Saturday, July 20, at 10:30 a.m., continuing every third Saturday of the month from July-October.
Local legislators in attendance this election season will include Rep. Michelle Bos-Lun, Rep. Leslie Goldman, Sen. Nader Hashim, and Sen. Wendy Harrison. Statewide elected officials will include Vermont Attorney General Charity Clark, Vermont Secretary of State Sarah Copeland Hanzas, and Vermont State Treasurer Mike Pieciak.
The Candidates at the Coffeehouse series is an excellent opportunity for the community to engage with Vermont legislators from both the local and state levels. For the first session on July 20, the statewide candidate will be Attorney General Charity Clark, a native of southern Vermont. Clark says she “has made protecting Vermonters a trademark of her administration, suing Monsanto for PCB contamination and Meta for its harms to young users of social media. She has been a strong advocate for data privacy protections for children. In addition, she has made domestic and sexual violence a focus of her administration.” Rep. Goldman of Rockingham and Sen. Hashim of Dummerston will also be available for the first Candidates event.
Rep. Bos-Lun remarked, “We’re looking forward to connecting with residents of Windham County in the coming months and introducing some candidates running for statewide office.” Goldman added, “I look forward to engaging with constituents and discussing what matters most to them.” As Larisa Demos, the co-owner of the Flat Iron said, “Some of the seven co-op principles focus on: education, democracy, and concern for community. We are excited to host the Candidates at the Coffeehouse series to help educate our community about democracy and encourage engagement with local and state officials in conversation. In 2022, we were awarded ‘Evergreen Status’ from the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) for our participation in civic engagement and their Coops Vote initiative. We look forward to continuing this conversation with the current election year.”
For more information, please contact Rep. Bos-Lun at michelleforvt@gmail.com, or Rep. Goldman at lesliegforwindham3@gmail.com.