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[Rep. Michael Marcotte (Chair)]: Good afternoon, everyone. This is the Vermont House Committee on Congress and Economic Development. It is Wednesday, 02/11/2026 at three in the afternoon. So this last half hour we have before the floor, we have a couple of businesses with us who have won the spirit of ADA award. And before we have a conversation with them, I'll ask Nat Piper from FireAbility to come up and kind of tee it up and refresh the committee's, what ADA and what the award stand for.
[Nat Piper (HireAbility/Vermont Division of Vocational Rehabilitation)]: Thank you. Thank you so much. Wonderful to be here. As I said, I'm Nat Piper. I work for the State of Vermont's Division of Hirability and statute where the Division of Voc Rehab Vermont is disability employment. A couple of things today that we really want to emphasize is that every year we collaborate with the Governor's Committee on the Employment of People with Disabilities, and we ask, I think this is the fifteenth year we've done the Spirit of the ADA Awards. That's to celebrate business customers who really embrace the spirit and embrace with their recruitment, their training, their retention, and their advancement of individuals who are experiencing disability. And I will tell you that today we have two of the awardees, and I would love them to speak to, you know, their inclusive hiring practices and their experience. I'd also like to say that in the years that I've been doing this, which again, I can't believe how time flies, but in the fifteen years that I've been working on these awards as part of my job with the state, When we first started, these awards were relatively small and it was a little bit of a push to get people to work with disability employment. This year, we have 28 awardees, I believe, which is a record for us. And multiple we did six regional ceremonies to celebrate and present the awards. Multiple times we heard over and over from the business customer, I appreciate getting this award. I truly do. But this is actually just what we do. And that is a big change in the climate and the culture over the last fifteen years. We still have a lot of work to do. We're not giving up on it by no means, but I'm really thrilled to be here and thank you for all of your time. And I look forward to hearing from the award winners and myself. So, yeah, thank you. I hope that helps. It does.
[Rep. Michael Marcotte (Chair)]: Thank you. You can stay there
[Nat Piper (HireAbility/Vermont Division of Vocational Rehabilitation)]: if you like. Oh, shoot. I'm good on the sidelines for
[Rep. Abbey Duke (Member, Burlington)]: a minute.
[Nat Piper (HireAbility/Vermont Division of Vocational Rehabilitation)]: See you soon, are we? Alright.
[Rep. Michael Marcotte (Chair)]: Hey, Julia. Good good afternoon. Thank you for joining us. And we also heard that you also won an award from the chamber.
[Julia Birnn Fields (Owner, Birnn Chocolates of Vermont)]: I think Yes. We did. It's been a big year. Thank you. Thank you for this recognition and for the work you all do to advance employment opportunities for Vermonters with disabilities. My name is Julia Byrne Fields. I am the fourth generation owner of Burn Chocolates of Vermont. We are a Vermont based manufacturer in South Burlington. We employ 30 people and ship our truffles to retailers in all 50 states. Diversity, equity, and inclusion are not just initiatives for us. They are foundational to how we've built our company. When my family moved the business to Vermont in the 1990s, we began hiring through the refugee resettlement program. And over the years, intentionally created opportunities for individuals with disabilities as well. We found that when people are given clear expectations and structured training and leadership, They bring extra extraordinary extraordinarily loyalty and pride and a deep sense of ownership to their work. That stability really matters in manufacturing. That's the heart. So manufacturing is hard and it's repetitive and it can sometimes, you know, feel sterile. But that's really the heart and the life of our company are the people and the loyalty. We have people that have worked here for thirty four years. They remember when I had my birthday parties here. And so in a tight labor market, inclusive hiring expands the talent pool. It strengthens retention, and it really helps us build dependable teams and maintain consistency in our operations. For us, it isn't separate from economic development. It's central to it. Vermont businesses are stronger when our workforce reflects our full community. We're proud to be a part of a state that recognizes inclusion as an economic asset, and we're grateful to be the partner a partner to make this work possible.
[Rep. Michael Marcotte (Chair)]: Thank you. Any questions for Julia? Great. Thank you, Julia.
[Julia Birnn Fields (Owner, Birnn Chocolates of Vermont)]: Thank you so much.
[Rep. Abbey Duke (Member, Burlington)]: Congratulations. Yeah. Congratulations. Well well deserved.
[Rep. Anthony “Tony” Micklus (Member)]: And you do have very good chocolate.
[Julia Birnn Fields (Owner, Birnn Chocolates of Vermont)]: Remember Valentine's Day is Saturday. Delish in Montpelier sells our truffle.
[Rep. Michael Marcotte (Chair)]: We were hoping you were gonna join us in person.
[Julia Birnn Fields (Owner, Birnn Chocolates of Vermont)]: I know. I would. I'd be there. My office manager is out, so we're all hands on deck, and I'm creating a new person. But I know. Virtually, go to Delish.
[Rep. Michael Marcotte (Chair)]: Maureen.
[Maureen (Director of Human Resources, EastView at Middlebury)]: Thank you. Welcome.
[Rep. Michael Marcotte (Chair)]: You're muted.
[Rep. Abbey Duke (Member, Burlington)]: Hi.
[Maureen (Director of Human Resources, EastView at Middlebury)]: I'm excited to be here speaking to you all, but even more excited to go look for a burned truffle. So just, I want to offer kudos to the committee for fifteen years ago, deciding to advance the employment of people with disabilities because that was before we were in a tight labor market. Eastview has been working with HireAbility and before that, Weber For about ten years, we've had several more short term interns, particularly in the summer to help us with grounds. And then we have two success stories that are really close to our heart. We have a dishwasher who's been here for over ten years who first came through Weber with a vocational coach. And she started out as a job shadow as a dishwasher. And as I said, she's been here continually for over ten years and is an integral part of our kitchen. Our other more recent success story is an intern that also came with a vocational coach for the summer, and he is now a full fledged employee on his own. Our whole community celebrated our receiving this award a few months ago and both of those folks gave speeches. And Gabe said, I used to talk to my friends who had jobs and think I could never have a job. And now here I'm holding a job on my own and I'm doing better than I ever expected. So, I mean, it's just part of what we do. And especially here in Addison County through the Department of Labor, we are looking to expand the work three sections of the workforce. And one of them is people with disabilities. And when they send somebody here with a job coach to kind of test us out and we get to test them out, that is a win win for everybody and really a valuable service that they're providing to Addison County and Vermont businesses. We really appreciate it.
[Rep. Michael Marcotte (Chair)]: Thank you. Questions for Dorothy?
[Rep. Abbey Duke (Member, Burlington)]: Quick question. Hi, Abbey Duke from Burlington. It sounds like the job coach is a really key component to helping make matches. So I guess I'm just highlighting that. Thank you for your testimony and your work. But I don't if you have anything to add if there are things that would be even more helpful for expanding your workforce.
[Maureen (Director of Human Resources, EastView at Middlebury)]: Well, we are working with Hanford Career Center's adult end on a employability skills course because we would benefit from almost all of our entry level employees having a vocational coach. It's a big bonus when folks with disabilities come with them. So we're kind of trying to do the same thing for all our entry level people because post COVID, we're finding a lack of basic employability skills. So that is one way that we're trying to improve that.
[Rep. Abbey Duke (Member, Burlington)]: That's great. That makes a lot of sense.
[Rep. Michael Marcotte (Chair)]: Thank you. Tony?
[Rep. Anthony “Tony” Micklus (Member)]: I've not heard of you. I'm just wondering if you could share for my benefit, what do you do at Eastview?
[Maureen (Director of Human Resources, EastView at Middlebury)]: I am the director of human resources. Eastview is we're in Middlebury, Vermont. We're a retirement community. We have about 120 residents. More than half of them live here independently. About 40 of our residents are in a care neighborhood, either a memory care neighborhood or something that's more like assisted living. So we have about a 120 employees supporting those 120 residents.
[Rep. Abbey Duke (Member, Burlington)]: Thank you.
[Julia Birnn Fields (Owner, Birnn Chocolates of Vermont)]: Will also echo Go
[Rep. Michael Marcotte (Chair)]: ahead, Julia.
[Julia Birnn Fields (Owner, Birnn Chocolates of Vermont)]: That a coach has been really meaningful and helped with success, and we have an individual now that does have support. They don't really need it, But I think, know, the goal would be to phase out. But it is really has been really imperative for us to get to learn each other and to learn what maybe some hurdles are to have that support. But the goal is to phase out and have them be totally independent. And we're working now with CVU as well. They just came and they want to start kind of a program with their, like, you know, phasing as as people are ending their their high school career, putting them in job placement, and doing that first with a coach. And then, again kind of that phase out goal of having them be independently employed by us. So we're working with them. We just had a meeting and then also starting potential internships too. So the so the the end the students would get as a work kind of class, they would come here instead of school because it's a vocational experience and and trying that program out as well.
[Rep. Michael Marcotte (Chair)]: And that's really good for us to know how they are helpful to you and helpful to your employees as well if they've acclimated and help make the make it a success for for both your employee and for the business.
[Julia Birnn Fields (Owner, Birnn Chocolates of Vermont)]: Right. And especially at a young age too. So it's, you know, at that kind of teenage, like, 18 ish age. I agree with Doreen how, you know, we could use it for for really everyone would be amazing. Just kind of life skills and how to show up and be on time and that things really do matter. Things have definitely shifted in that regard across the board.
[Rep. Michael Marcotte (Chair)]: Yeah. We've that's something we've heard for a number of years. Great. Anything else? Well, great. Thank you both very much. Congratulations again. Thank you for what you do. We certainly appreciate it. And we will hopefully talk to you again. Thank you.
[Julia Birnn Fields (Owner, Birnn Chocolates of Vermont)]: Sounds good. Thank you for all you do.
[Maureen (Director of Human Resources, EastView at Middlebury)]: Congratulations. Thanks for having us.
[Julia Birnn Fields (Owner, Birnn Chocolates of Vermont)]: Bye.
[Rep. Michael Marcotte (Chair)]: Thank you, Matt. Thank you very much. We'll see you on the floor. Yes. Okay. So committee, I think that's a wrap for today. It's on the floor at 03:30. Again, we have resolutions being read, and we will be back here at nine tomorrow morning. We thank you for the live if there are no questions. Okay. Thank you.
[Rep. Abbey Duke (Member, Burlington)]: I had employees over the years with job coaches
[Rep. Michael Marcotte (Chair)]: like