Planned Obsolescence

Our time has come.

After nearly thirty years of advocacy, ALANA Community Organization will quietly celebrate the closing of operations effective 30 June 2023.

During our early years (1995-2000) ALANA Community Organization served Brattleboro’s residents of color with support groups for women and youth, HIV/AIDS prevention education, summer camps, arts and cultural programs, and as a repository of civil rights complaints. We were often the resource of last resort for many Global Majority households experiencing racial traumain our schools, workplaces, and civil society writ large.  Global Majority is a collective term that refers to people who are Indigenous, Black, Asian, Brown, dual-heritage, and or have been racialized as ‘ethnic minorities’.

As one of the oldest non-profit organizations governed and managed by Vermonters from the Global Majority, our board of directors knew there would come a time when Global Majority residents statewide would grow in numbers large enough to coalesce around their various interests.

In 2001 the board of directors launched a bold new vision to transform the organization from a hyperlocal direct service provider for Global Majority families in Brattleboro to a trusted and respected resource at the intersection of diversity, inclusion and equity and economic development for government, civic, legislative, and business leaders in Northern New England. In 2003 ALANA launched the forty-year Vermont Vision for a Multicultural Future Initiative to institutionalize diversity, inclusion, and equity practices across Vermont. The CRJ Consulting Group, L3C will track the initiative’s impact for the foreseeable future.

In 2004 ALANA rebranded itself and operated under the name Vermont Partnership for Fairness & Diversity. In March 2018 the CRJ Consulting Group, L3C acquired the business-to-business tradenames and clients the consulting group’s founder, Curtiss Reed, Jr., developed for ALANA over his seventeen year tenure as ALANA’s executive director. The consulting group provided major financial and material support to ALANA for its work on the Vermont African American Heritage Trail.

In 1990 Global Majority residents in Brattleboro numbered 282 (or 3.27%); 576 (or 1.39%) for Windham County; and 7,670 (or 1.36%) statewide according to the United States Census Bureau. By the 2000 Census, these numbers for Global Majority residents had grown to 463 (or 3.86%) residents in Brattleboro; 851 (or 1.88%) for Windham County; and 12,748 (or 2.09%) statewide.

By comparison, the latest 2020 Census reveals Global Majority residents in Brattleboro numbered 1,616 (or 13.26%); 4,525 (or 9.86%) for Windham County; and 65,326 (or 10.16%) statewide.

The evolution of social media, and eventually virtual networking, created opportunities for the growing number of geographically dispersed Global Majority Vermonters to find others who shared common interests in areas as diverse as civil rights, education, outdoor recreation, agriculture, economic development, health care, multicultural arts, legislative affairs, history, environmental education, and climate change.

After nearly thirty years of advocacy ALANA Community Organization will celebrate the closing of operations effective 30 June 2023. We thank the countless number of individual and institutional charitable investors who continue to believe in our collective vision of Vermont as the most desirable destination for all. Their support enabled this partial list of our accomplishments:

  • Launched the forty-year Vermont Vision for a Multicultural Future Initiative
  • Advocated for and trained hundreds of Vermont residents on how to defend their civil rights
  • Compelled the Brattleboro Union High School (BUHS) school board to retire its racist mascot, Col. Reb
  • Fervently advocated for passage of Act 91, legislation that gives parents the tools to hold schools accountable for student harassment
  • Advocated for the creation of the first Vermont Department of Health Office of Minority Health
  • Convinced the Vermont Standards Board for Professional Educators to include mandatory standards on diversity for accredited teacher preparation programs (i.e. licensed educators from these programs are prepared to teach increasingly diverse student bodies).
  • Convinced Vermont State Police (VSP) and other law enforcement agencies to collect motor traffic stop data to track progress towards reducing racial disparities
  • Pioneered unconscious bias and fair and impartial policing training for state law enforcement agencies
  • Co-created the Vermont State Police Fair and Impartial Policing Council with Vermont State Police to solicit community input on field operations, training, community engagement, and recruiting
  • Co-created with the Vermont Department of Tourism & Marketing the Vermont African American Heritage Trail as a means to attract Global Majority tourists and consumers to Vermont
  • Negotiated for the availability of information on gubernatorial boards and commissions vacancies and online application found on the governor’s official website
  • Created a consciousness within the business community to work at the intersection of economic development and equity/inclusion

Whereas ALANA did its part of the heavy lifting on social justice issues during those early years, the following organizations have since demonstrated their commitment and abilities to grow and sustain the movement for racial, social, and economic justice in Vermont. Among other organizations, today’s landscape includes

Someone once described ALANA as the Johnny Appleseed of social justice, spreading seeds of inspiration, hope and civic engagement. As many of those seeds have taken root and have begun to bear fruit, our time has come to retire as planned.

On behalf of the Board of Directors,

Curtiss Reed, Jr.