The future of the Northeast Kingdom is in our hands

wHO WE ARE

NEKO is a multi-issue, member led, coalition of individuals, families, faith and community-based organizations that come together to organize and advocate for justice for the people and the places of Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom. We do this by embracing the concepts and practices of community organizing and centering the voices of NEK residents often ignored in decisions about their communities.

wHAT WE DO

IDENTIFY AND NOURISH LOCAL LEADERSHIP

Neighbors helping neighbors.

Solidarity not charity.

We’re in this together.

only get what we’re organized to take

Growing up in the Kingdom shaped my way of being in community. Being able to channel that ethic into organizing myself, my family, and my neighbors into improving our basic quality of life and access to human rights is amazing. It creates connection, power, and voice beyond partisan politics. We only get what we’re organized to take.

Jean Marie Pearce

power in the grassroots

I organize because I get frustrated with all the things I can see that are not working for people. There is power in the grassroots to make the changes that we need. I organize because I’ve seen the power of new leadership who have a stake in the game and the joy of being part of new communities of folks with a variety of experiences.

Bethany Dunbar

we are stronger together

I organize because I am being strangled in systems of oppression and drowned in injustice. I see value in people working together to address the issues they face. Join me because we are stronger together and the only way for us to actually improve our lives is to come together and say that this is not okay and do something about it.

Shaun Campbell

give voice to my experiences

I organize because most of my life has been a struggle. Being a single parent, I have gone through a lot with my daughter, her father, community resources, the schools – and I had no support. I remember feeling frustrated, lonely, disappointed, confused. I always felt afraid to express what I was really feeling and going through. Through organizing I can give voice to my experiences and be there for other people who are going through them so they know they are not alone.

Heather Legacy

feels good to connect with people

Dignity, connection, participation, inclusion, and care for the natural world are values I hold. In organizing I get to actualize those values with people. What brings people back to NEKO is the connection. Especially now, it feels good to connect with people and with what is going on in their life.

Penny Thomas

not alone

I organize because poverty sucks. And when I was a young single mother on welfare, a million voices conspired to convince in a million different ways that I was broken. That I was the problem. And I started to believe them. Luckily, I had people in my life who told me a different story. And they gave me the knowledge and the strength to recognize the systems of injustice that I faced and to refuse to be defined by them. I organize so that other people struggling know that they are not the problem and that they are not alone.

Martha Braithwaite