The Vermont Racial Justice Alliance Announces the Richard Kemp Center

PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release: October 28, 2021

Media Contact:

Miha Longmore
[email protected]

Vermont Racial Justice Alliance (VRJA) announces plans to launch the Richard Kemp Center in Burlington, Vermont.

Burlington, VT – Today the Vermont Racial Justice Alliance (VRJA) announced plans to launch the Richard Kemp Center in Burlington, Vermont. The Burlington Community Center will honor the legacy of a Black community social justice hero; create a new era of intentional Black-led community engagement and support in Burlington and across Vermont; and, pay a promise forward into the hope in the lives of the Black and Brown youth in Vermont. Located central to those it serves, the Richard Kemp Center will serve as a bastion of hope, purpose and vision for the Black community into the future.

Through a community partnership the Richard Kemp Center, will focus on wellness, youth, cultural empowerment and economic development and will contain a Community Center, Youth Activity Center and Art and Science Centers of Excellence. Programming offered at the Richard Kemp Center will include and will not be limited to Wellness Support, Adult Basic Education, Basic Computer Skills Training, People and Workforce Development, Financial, Home and Land Ownership Education, Entrepreneurial Cultivation Programs, Technical Assistance, Grant Assistance and Youth Programming (including mentoring, STEM Development, Arts and Sports). Isaac Owusu, VRJA Community Engagement and Support Director says that “this programming is intended to enable us to serve our own people where current systems continue to fail them both economically and culturally.”

Phase one of the plan includes coordinating community partner and stakeholder outreach and fundraising for community engagement, initial stage of up-fitting, staffing, equipment, programming and overhead. “This is about Investing in systems that address Black and Brown folks’ wellness; supporting our youth; enabling our economic advancement and ensuring our cultural empowerment moving us towards greater racial and social equity in wealth distribution, health and prosperity” says Rev Mark Hughes, VRJA Executive Director. More on the Richard Kemp Center can be found here.

Donations can be made here:

Make checks payable to the Richard Kemp Center 70 S. Winooski Ave Unit 240Burlington, VT 05401
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About the Vermont Racial Justice Alliance: 

The mission of the Vermont Racial Justice Alliance is to secure sustainable power, ensure agency and provide security for American Descendants of Slavery (ADOS), while embracing their history and preserving their culture.