Vermont Humanities

Joseph Gainza

Man giving a talk in a bike shop
Speakers Bureau

Image of Joseph GainzaJoseph grew up in Brooklyn in a working class family. His father worked in a sugar refinery on the Brooklyn docks and was president of his union local. His mother managed the household and later worked in the cafeteria of the school his younger sister attended. Joseph moved to Vermont in 1973.

In addition to teaching grade school in Brooklyn and in Vermont, Joseph has been a community organizer/outreach worker for an anti-poverty agency, served as advocacy director for the rights of people with disabilities, and a program director and instructor of adults at Woodbury College. He has a BA in American History and a MA in Systematic Theology.

From 1995 to 2009 Joseph was the VT Program Coordinator of the American Friends Service Committee, where, in addition to his job responsibilities he was a shop steward for his union local Unite-Here 1066. He founded Vermont Action for Peace and continues to organize against war and for economic and social justice.

Joseph immensely enjoys reading: politics, history, current events, theology, environmental science and cosmology. He loves to hike and work in the woods.

With his wife Sarah Norton he co-manages a small homestead with a large garden in Marshfield, Vermont where they keep goats and from which they sell organic, free range chicken eggs to the local food coop where for six years Joseph was a member of the board of directors.

While he has retired from his job, he has not retired from his work.

Contact Information

  • Phone: (802) 454-8550

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Talks by Joseph Gainza

Vermont Humanities*** April 30, 2019