BRATTLEBORO-With a new executive director at the helm and a recently relocated office, the United Way of Windham County is embarking on what administrators describes as a period of listening, learning, and renewal - with community connection at the heart of its refreshed mission.
Rebecca Baruzzi, who stepped into the executive director role Jan. 5, came to the organization from Green Mountain United Way in Central Vermont, where she was director of community impact.
She has spent her first months meeting partners across the county, attending community tables, and asking a simple but pointed question: "Where can we be useful?"
The answer, she says, is emerging clearly.
"Connection as a basic need is very important," Baruzzi says. "It factors into mental health, democracy, and how we show up for each other - and those are things we're really struggling with right now."
A 'white-glove' approach to volunteering
One of the organization's flagship initiatives under the new direction is a revamped Volunteer Connect program, which aims to move away from the impersonal, web-based matching model that has been common in the sector.
Instead, United Way staff members will work one-on-one with prospective volunteers - at farmers markets, Gallery Walk nights, and other community events - to understand their interests, skills, and passions before personally connecting them with a nonprofit partner. The tagline: "No pressure, just connection."
"It's not a transaction," Baruzzi explains. "It's really with the purpose of connecting people to meaningful work."
She described conversations that might lead a writer with a marketing background toward helping a local nonprofit shape its messaging, or a parent looking to give back toward engagement opportunities within their child's school.
Partners in the program include school districts, Turning Point of Windham County, the Ethiopian Community Development Council (ECDC), and a number of other local nonprofits.
Tackling a kids' safety net
A striking observation early in Baruzzi's tenure came at a Situation Table meeting, where she witnessed close coordination between service providers and law enforcement. It was, she says ,an encouraging model - but it raised a harder question.
"We really have some robust safety net systems for adults," she says. "But what do we have in place for kids? How do we make sure that the kids who are struggling right now are not the adults we're later trying to catch in this safety net?"
She is now working to convene a cross-organizational "kids' table" - bringing together partners from across the county to map existing resources, identify gaps, and build what's missing.
Central to that effort is the issue of chronic absenteeism in local schools. Before the pandemic, roughly 6% of students in the district were chronically absent. That figure has since climbed to approximately 30% - a number that mirrors the Vermont state average and reflects a national trend.
Colleen Savage, who joined the United Way staff on April 7 as manager of marketing and community engagement - and who serves on the Windham Southeast School District board - underscores the breadth of the problem.
"It's not just our school district - it's the state," she says. "Thirty percent."
Baruzzi connects the issue directly to the organization's broader mission around belonging.
"One of the easiest ways to make people belong is to help figure out how to get kids in schools so they can get the services and resources they need to be seen," Baruzzi says.
Kids in Coats evolves
The well-known Kids in Coats program, which began when United Way took over the Reformer Christmas Stocking in 2015, is also being reimagined.
The Brattleboro Reformer's all-volunteer initiative, which purchased children's winter clothing for Windham County families in need for more than 70 years, was continued on a smaller scale by United Way. Now, Kids in Coats is expanding its mission and taking on a new name, Kids in School.
United Way is transitioning the program toward flexible spending that gives school social workers, nurses, and teachers the ability to address whatever a child actually needs, whether that's dental care, hygiene items, or boots.
"They're not restricted to coats," Baruzzi says, adding that fundraising for this expanded model will be a priority in the coming year.
A new home at Winston Prouty
The organization recently relocated from its former space in the Vermont Building on Putney Road to Winston Prouty, a nonprofit hub where United Way joins a community of like-minded organizations under one roof.
"So we can be with our people," Baruzzi says with a smile.
The move also came with lower rent and included utilities - a practical benefit for a lean operation. The current staff of three shares a single office space.
The United Way has been present in Windham County since 1958, when it operated as a community chest focused on direct service to individuals. Over the decades, its model shifted toward grant-making for specific causes and around 2013 a community health assessment identified dental access as a critical gap - leading to the creation of a local dental center.
Today, the organization sees itself returning to its community-building roots with connection as its central purpose.
Funding comes from a mix of workplace campaigns - a hallmark of the United Way model worldwide - as well as local support from institutions such as Savings Bank of Walpole and anticipated public health grants to support belonging-focused initiatives.
"There's been a United Way in Windham County since 1958," says Baruzzi. "And now we're back to [asking], 'What's important now?' And it's community connection."
This News item by Virginia Ray was written for The Commons.