Around the Chamber July 2024 by addisoncountychamber

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2024 AWARD CATEGORIES

Business of the Year

Non-Profit of the Year

SAVE THE DATE 2024 Annual Awards, Hall of Fame Induction and Meeting

Thursday Evening October 24th 5:00 - 8:00 PM Dinner, Annual Meeting, Awards, Hall of Fame Induction

The Historic Vergennes Opera House, Vergennes, VT.

Buster Brush Award

Young Professional of the Year

Hall of Fame Inductees

Chamber Members. nominate your fellow members in the following categories. 2024 Awardees will be honored at our Annual Award Dinner in October. Nominations Close August 26th

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Behind the Scenes with Courtney Radford

Each month, "Behind the Scenes" features an interview with a leader in our community designed to provide readers a glimpse into his/her interests and passions inside and outside of the workplace

This month, "Behind the Scenes" sat down with Courtney Radford, Executive Director of the Bristol Core

What is your hometown?

I sometimes refer to myself as a “half and half” because I spent roughly half of my childhood in Southwest Georgia and the other half in the Central Valley of California. For most of early childhood, until kindergarten, I lived in my mom’s hometown Albany, Georgia. We then moved to Merced, California, where my dad is from, for elementary and early middle school before moving back to Albany.

Where did you go to school?

I completed my undergrad degree in Communications/Public Relations at Kennesaw State University, outside of Atlanta, GA. While studying there, I learned about and subsequently joined the Peace Studies minor program. It was there that I started my learning about equitable food systems, international conflict resolution, global religions, and even helped bring an Amnesty International chapter to the school.

Courtney Radford

First ever job?

I was eager to get out of my hometown as quickly as possible, and opted to take a full load of college courses during my senior year of highschool, through the Accel Program. While attending my community college classes, I applied and accepted a job in Student Activities. The job was loads of fun and was my first introduction to event planning and communications work.

Who was your greatest inspiration growing up?

The first person that came to mind was my second/third grade teacher. She was kind and artistic. Perhaps this is just a California thing, but she taught us about meditation, tea time, and learning through nature. I remember being fascinated learning that she didn’t have the same last name as her husband, that being the first time it occurred to me that you could, and maybe should, keep your last name. I learned how to play chess because of her, and probably many life lessons I haven’t even realized to attribute to her.

Who do you most admire?

Behind the Scenes with Courtney Radford

“Most” is a hard word. I admire my husband for his staunch morals and gentle heart. I admire my dad and his ability to be moved by artistic expression and the nature around him. I admire my mom for her dedication to always reaching for new heights and one-upping her own accomplishments. I admire my step dad for the way he champions and lifts up the people around him. And I admire anyone and everyone who manages to live authentically without judgment of others or themselves.

Favorite Vacation Spot?

Costa Rica has become a special place for me and my husband. On one of our visits there, we stayed in Sámara in Guanacaste province. One of my dear friends from growing up attended massage school there a few years prior and a group of 5 of us really felt like locals for a week. I think that was the first vacation I’ve been on where I truly lost track of time. We’d wake up at our leisure, walk down to the beach, pick up a fresh smoothie on the way, and drop into a beach yoga class. We’d wander between rental house, beach, fruit stand, and grocery store on a loop without paying attention to our phones or the outside world.

Favorite type of music?

In classic Gemini fashion, I can’t pick just one! My current rotation includes: Alex G, Chappell Roan, Cocteau Twins, Labi Siffre, Yo La Tengo, and Demot Kennedy.

Favorite movie, TV Show?

I am a big fan of what my husband calls “indie movies that aren’t really about anything” but what I say are “just about the human experience”. Pretty much anything A24 puts out. Other than that, I mainly watch reality TV. I love getting into heated debates about characters on reality tv. It’s not a guilty pleasure, because I’m not embarrassed, I think of reality tv as a great anthropological and sociological study.

Typical work week?

I’ve been in the role of Executive Director for Bristol CORE for 3 months now and my favorite part about the position is that there isn’t a “typical”. From day to day, week to week, and month to month, there’s lots of variety in the types of work that this position handles. I will often have a meeting or two in the morning, most often at our local cafe, Minifactory. After that I might bop around Main Street, checking in with the business owners downtown to see how they’re doing. If it’s Monday, I will stop over at the Bristol Farmers Market. Any other day, I’d probably come home to answer emails or plug away at the never-ending to do list.

BehindtheScenes with CourtneyRadford

What's the greatest career risk you have taken?

The biggest risk I took in my career was applying for and accepting an AmeriCorps position. I was almost 2 years post-college and wasn’t sure how to get the experience I needed to move into a non-profit career. I decided to apply to AmeriCorps programs in 20 different locations across the country and thankfully landed one in Denver. From the time I received the offer, I had 2 weeks to get prepared, find housing, and move from Georgia to Colorado. I had no friends or family in Colorado and took a huge leap of faith knowing that I would only be making $800 a month and that my rent would be $500. I look back at that time and wonder how I did it - I walked everywhere to save gas money and took up free hobbies like hiking. I knew that even though I wasn’t getting paid much, it could lead to great things for me career-wise if I could get in the door and prove my work ethic. That leap of faith helped me land a full time paid position at the end of my year of service!

What's the one thing you would like to see change in your business/industry?

From my experience working in hunger prevention, and then moving into fundraising, I learned a lot about the types of projects and programs that are “easier” to find funding for. Oftentimes, the things that are easy to fund are direct and immediate interventions, such as meals served or events. Further reaching interventions that are less “shiny”, like advocacy, are more difficult to fund, as are the operational activities that are needed to keep an organization functioning, like accounting and professional development. If I could change one thing about the non-profit industry, it would be for donors and funders to understand the importance of funding the parts of our work that don’t have the same external appeal but are critical to maintain a high functioning organization.

Biggest Career Challenge?

The biggest career challenge I’ve faced was due to COVID. In 2020, I was in my 5th year of working for the national food skills education program, Cooking Matters. The program specifically reached parents and caregivers of kids under the age of 5 that were living on a limited budget. We taught nutrition, budgeting, and food prep skills in conjunction with other service agencies. We had to weigh the risks of coordinating in-person programming against the further increased need for food resource management and service programs like SNAP and WIC. I was tasked with quickly updating our website and adding components to host userfriendly educational resources in lieu of inperson programming. It was a challenging time, but it was also encouraging to see certain rigidities of the way we previously coordinated programming go out the window when we really needed to band together to support the community.

CHAMBER BRIEFS

BASIN HARBOR HOSTS JUNE MIXER

Nearly 70 members attended the Chamber’s June Mixer hosted by Basin Harbor.

Drinks, great food and raffle prizes were enjoyed by all!

CHAMBER BRIEFS

2024 COMMUNITY EVENT SPONSORSHIPSle

Thank you to the organizations below that have already secured their sponsor positions for 2024!

Vergennes Day

Vermont Gas Systems

Gaines Insurance

Porter Medical Center

Kennedy Brothers

Grand Senior Living

Bristol Harvest Festival

Mountain Community Health

Vermont Gas Systems

Bristol Financial

Waitsfield Telecom

Porter Medical Center

Middlebury Car Show & Fall

Festival

Stone Motors

IPJ Real Estate

Silver Maple Construction

Vermont Gas Systems

Cambio Roasters

Porter Medical Center

National Bank of Middlebury

Sweet Cecily

Champlain Valley Equipment

Promote your organization and support our community events in 2024! Sponsorships are still available but moving fast. Click on the icon above to learn more!