“It’s about communities helping each other”: Reflections from 2024 Emerging Leader Rachel Worthington

Westminster resident Rachel Worthington, senior program officer of Western Hemisphere Youth Exchange Programs at SIT / World Learning, has been named a 2024 Southern Vermont Emerging Leader, along with 23 other young people from across the Bennington and Windham regions. Individuals were nominated based on their work as community leaders and volunteers, and for their professional accomplishments and commitment to serving the region, and were presented with awards in May at the Southern Vermont Economy Summit in Dover.

Each year since 2018, the Southern Vermont Young Professionals (a program of Brattleboro Development Credit Corporation) and the Shires Young Professionals have sought to highlight and honor young adults in their roles as leaders and change-makers in the Southern Vermont economy and community through the Emerging Leaders awards. Over 100 local leaders have been given an Emerging Leaders award since the beginning of the program, and 35 of those have subsequently been recognized statewide through Vermont Business Magazine’s Rising Stars awards as well.

Read more about the other awardees at www.sovermontzone.com/emerging-leaders. Nominations for the 2025 cohort will open in January.

What Rachel’s nominator had to say: Rachel is a passionate, effective champion of food security and a highly engaged community member. She checks on elderly neighbors, supports friends through crises, and brings inclusivity to her social justice work. Rachel lives in Windham County and currently has several projects of focus in Bennington. At her former position as senior program manager with the Vermont Foodbank, Rachel launched a school pantry program, which aims to serve the whole family through culturally-relevant foods. She also co-led a community governance pilot with the Food Security Innovation Lab, which gives design and decision power to community members for their local Bennington food distribution. As a West River Community Project board member, Rachel also spearheaded the creation of an online contactless local food hub during the pandemic. She is a truly inspirational leader and I have no doubt she’ll keep doing great things.

Rachel’s Reflections

Together we have a much bigger impact
Managing the Vermont Foodbank’s statewide food access programs during the pandemic had a significant impact on how I lead. In order to work sustainably through a long-term food emergency and economic crisis, my team and I had to create a working environment where we could communicate changing priorities, make quick decisions, and pivot and adapt to meet food security needs across the state. During the pandemic, leadership to me meant shared leadership.

Together we had a much bigger impact in promoting positive change to increase food access in communities. As a manager, building shared leadership meant creating inclusive and collaborative spaces that promoted trust, encouraged open dialogue, and lifted people up to be their authentic selves.

It’s about communities helping each other
While the pandemic has revealed cracks in the social fabric of Vermont, mutual aid and food access programs have shown some of the best parts of our collective community. It has also shown what is possible when people and organizations come together to support one another during a very trying time. It is about communities helping each other. It has also shown how resilient Vermont can be. My experience in anti-hunger work has only heightened my awareness that our food system is in crisis and reinforced my commitment to finding solutions for food system sustainability, equity, and resilience.

The community and resilience of Vermont
I have always been drawn to the community and resilience of Vermont. The pandemic, to me, showed the best parts of our collective community. Neighbors and organizations came together to support each other and I feel honored to have been a part of the emergency food response alongside thousands of others across the state. Mutual aid, neighbors helping neighbors, and community organizing are a core part of Vermont life. It is why I moved to Vermont and love working here.

I would like to thank my former supervisor, Emily, for nominating me. She has been an incredible support system for me and a huge advocate for increasing food access across Vermont. I would also like to thank my team and everyone who makes the VeggieVanGo program possible–including our drivers, hundreds of volunteers, and community partners across the state.

About Southern Vermont Young Professionals

The Southern Vermont Young Professionals is a workforce initiative of Southeastern Vermont Economic Development Strategies (SeVEDS) and the Brattleboro Development Credit Corporation (BDCC). Our mission is to attract, retain and support Young Professionals in Southern Vermont by providing engaging opportunities and networking through social and educational events, and volunteer opportunities. The YP initiative is increasingly important to Southern Vermont’s businesses and communities as a strategic approach to growing the size of the region’s workforce and increasing the number of younger households in the region. For more information please visit: https://brattleborodevelopment.com/sovtyps/