Creating ladders of support: Why you should vote today if your are a citizen of New Hampshire
Jan 27th, 2004 by jimmoore
I should probably start by just saying who I am.
My name is Laurie Hammond. I own a small business in Colchester, VT.
It’s a retail store selling figure skating and dance wear.
Last Thursday I traveled to New Hampshire to attend Howard Dean
rallies in Lebanon and Claremont. I was especially moved when he spoke
about the woman with bone cancer he met eight years ago in Brandon, VT.
He helped enable the surgery she needed to survive her disease.
I, too, met Howard Dean eight years ago in Brandon. We were at the
Fourth of July parade. What he didn’t know was I was a victim of
domestic abuse. In 1996, when I finally found the courage to change the
lives of myself and my three daughters, I did not expect what happened
next.
At a time when my self-esteem was at an all-time low, and I was numb
to emotion, I was enveloped by Vermont agencies that joined to form a
step-ladder I could climb.
The first step on the ladder was the Vermont state police. Under the
Dean administration, the Vermont state police had been carefully
trained in the area of domestic abuse.
The state police had been trained to take you seriously, to educate
you. They give you information on what the possibilities are to get
away from the situation.
Then, after I followed through and pressed charges, I got a letter
in the mail that I totally didn’t expect. The Vermont Center for Crime
Victim Services — an agency I had no idea even existed — not only
apologized to me because I had been abused in the state of Vermont, but
gave my three daughters and me a ten thousand dollar grant for
counseling.
It not only what we needed most — counseling on how to climb
ourselves out of an abusive situation — and we’re still using that
grant today.
A few months later, I turned to the Vermont Department of Social
Welfare for assistance. They put me into the Reach Up Program, a
career-oriented agency. I said I wanted to start my own business.
My Reach Up counselor suggested the micro business entrepreneurial
training program, which I believe is federally and state funded.
(George Bush is trying to cut funds to this program.) It cost six or
seven hundred dollars that I didn’t have, but the Vermont Department of
Employment and Training gave me a full grant to take the course. You’re
forced to research your market, your demographic, everything you need
to know to really form a stable business plan with financial
projections, everything you need to start and maintain a successful
business. And that’s what I ended up doing.
I had to start over with nothing — I had this aging Buick Park
Avenue, and that’s all I had for collateral. I was turned to Vermont
Job Start, which became a program in 1993 as mandated in Governor
Howard Dean’s Economic Progress Act.
Where I am today: I’m running a successful retail and manufacturing
business. I have two full-time employees beside myself who are making a
livable wage. I also have two part-time people working for me. I am
contributing to supporting my family — I have a husband who has a job
as well. I’m on the Vermont Job Start board. I am an active Victim’s
Advocate. I’ve lobbied in Washington, DC for trying to help funding for
all these programs that I benefited from. I also volunteer in the
Burlington office for the Dean for America campaign, and I’ll do
anything I can to see him elected!
– Laurie Hammond
Posted by Guest Writer at 06:50 PM
Monday January 26, 2004