Jess Hyman is Fair Housing Project Manager and Associate Director of Statewide Housing Advocacy Programs at the Champlain Valley Office of Economic Opportunity (CVOEO), where she works with renters, counsels people experiencing illegal housing discrimination, and oversees housing education programming.
Jess is passionate about supporting healthy, engaged, and informed communities and her background in housing and food justice, journalism, and community development informs that work. Originally from the Eastern Townships region of Quebec, she is deeply connected to the Old North End of Burlington where she has lived for more than two decades.
In Ken Cadow’s Gather, Ian loses his home through no fault of his own, illustrating how Vermont’s housing landscape can be unfair and exclusive. Kahlia Livingston and Jess Hyman of the Champlain Valley Office of Economic Opportunity discuss the roots of Vermont’s lack of affordable housing and describe potential approaches to reduce housing discrimination.
Our seasonal “Words in the Woods” program allows Vermonters and visitors to enjoy our state’s natural beauty while listening to and reading literature in the outdoors.
Humanities Camps are filled with reading and writing projects, field trips, and outdoor activities.
We won a 2020 Schwartz Prize for best public humanities programming in the U.S. for Vermont Reads 2019: “March: Book One.”
We supported the Chandler Center for the Arts’ Global Connections Youth Outreach program, which highlights artists from around the world.
Our free public events help bring the power of the humanities to communities across Vermont.
