Page 50 - 2021 Annual Reportprint

Umbrella

Since 1976, Umbrella has ensured that communities in Caledonia, Orleans and Essex counties have
access to services that cultivate a Northeast Kingdom where all people thrive free from abuse and
oppression. Umbrella operates 4 multi-faceted, client-centered programs and plays a crucial role in
decreasing the incidence and impact of domestic and sexual violence. Services offered include:
□ Social Change focuses on prevention education and initiatives in schools and in the community that
aim towards preventing gender-based violence, and creating a community where abuse and oppression
are acknowledged and addressed. One of our strategies is to provide pathways for girls to work within
this social change and prevention field through the Youth in Power Program. In FY21 , we provided
1,780 youth with educational workshops throughout our 15 school partners. We provided 197 adults
with educational programs through 18 workshops.
□ Advocacy Program serves survivors of domestic and sexual violence, stalking, teen dating violence,
as well as violence related to gender or sexual orientation - which in total we characterize as gender-
based violence. In our work, the client leads and we support them in any way they need us to including
legal advocacy, housing adyocacy, support with parenting after trauma and more. In FY21 , 451
individuals received direct advocacy, 65 people were housed in our emergency shelters as a result of
fleeing domestic or sexual violence and 25 were housed in our Transitional Housing program.

□ Family Based Services focuses on child-care and strengthening family relationships. Kingdom Child
Care Connection (KCCC) assists families in the St. Johnsbury district to receive subsidized childcare,
appropriate child care referrals and specialized childcare placement support. The Family Room offers
supervised visitation for families throughout the Northeast Kingdom. In FY21 , KCCC served 620
families and the Family Room worked with 44 families, serving 79 children.
□ Economic Empowerment serves women with significant barriers to employment in Orleans
and Northern Essex Counties. Our Cornucopia program, and our social enterprise, Dolcetti each
wrap around women to support them in building job readiness skills while helping them to address
challenges in their lives so they are able to move towards financial self-sufficiency. In FY21 6 of our
graduates received ongoing support and we had 1 new graduate from the program who also gained
employment postgraduation.
In addition, as part of the skill-building program, participants packaged and prepared 35,823 meals for
homebound seniors through Meals on Wheels. Given that some services are provided anonymously,
it is difficult to provide each town with a precise number of people served by Umbrella. However, at
least 6 households in Brighton were served by Umbrella in FY 2021 and the community as a whole
benefited from prevention and outreach programs in schools, as well as training and consultation for
human service and law enforcement professionals.

Community support is critical to sustain our programming and to discover innovative approaches
to the work Umbrella does. We are deeply grateful for Brighton’s support.

50 Town of Brighton, VT