“The test of our progress is not whether we add more
to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether
we provide enough for those who have too little.”
– Franklin Delano Roosevelt 1937
SEVCA was
founded on the belief that poverty need not be a permanent
condition, that:
• people can be empowered to rise out of poverty, and
• the strength of our communities is measured by the quality of
life of everyone within them.
Guided by those values, SEVCA has served low-income people in
this area for the past 43 years. During that time, the problems
facing that population have been diverse, complex, and
constantly changing; consequently, the agency has had to develop
a broad and multi-faceted approach that reflected the breadth
and depth of the problems and enabled SEVCA to be flexible
enough to adapt to changing needs and conditions.
The result is a wide array of programs and initiatives
addressing the comparably wide range of poverty-related needs,
in the areas of crisis intervention, affordable housing /
homelessness prevention, home energy costs, business startup and
support, education and skills training, early childhood
development, family support, parenting, food and nutrition,
affordable clothing / household needs, income budgeting /
savings, information & referral, and service coordination.
SEVCA’s major programs are:
Family and Community Services
– provides crisis resolution services for housing, fuel,
clothing and food; housing stabilization, Food Stamp outreach
and nutrition education; budget counseling; information &
referral; and case management services.
Head Start – provides a
full spectrum of comprehensive early child development and
family support services for pre-school children and their
families, with the goal of enhancing the social competence,
school readiness, and later academic success of disadvantaged
low-income children.
Micro-Business / Asset Development
– provides training and technical assistance for start-up,
retention and expansion of small businesses for low-to-moderate
income entrepreneurs; business counseling and mentoring to
foster economic self-sufficiency through self-employment;
Individual Development Accounts, providing matched asset
building accounts enabling low-income individuals to achieve
financial goals such as homeownership, education, and business
start-up and expansion; and Tax Preparation Assistance, helping
low-to-moderate income residents obtain income tax refunds and
Earned Income Tax Credits.
“Good Buy” Thrift Stores –
provide clothing, furniture, and household goods at affordable
prices or at no cost through the use of vouchers for those who
are unable to pay, as referred by SEVCA’s Family Services
Program and other programs and agencies.
Weatherization – provides
home energy audits, heating system repairs and replacements, and
a full spectrum of energy conservation improvements at no cost
to low-to-moderate income households, and at a reasonable price
to higher-income households on a fee-for-service basis.
Inspired
by the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial in Washington D.C.,
SEVCA commissioned mural painter Kim Ray of Londonderry, Vermont
to create a version of “The Depression Breadline” at its main
office in Westminster, Vermont. The mural is dedicated to all
those who suffer from financial crisis and to all the
compassionate and generous people who share their abundance to
help provide for those who have too little. In light of today’s
economic crisis, many elements of which have been compared to
the Great Depression, this visual expression of empathy for
people experiencing the extreme hardships of poverty could not
be more timely and appropriate.
SEVCA's “The Depression Breadline” Mural
"I
see one-third of a nation ill-housed, ill-clad,
ill-nourished. It is not in despair that I paint you that
picture. I paint it for you in hope - because the nation,
seeing and understanding the injustice in it, proposed to paint it
out. We are determined to make every American citizen the
subject of his country's interest and concern: and we will
never regard any faithful, law-abiding group within our borders as
superfluous."