At 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 5, Vermont’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission will introduce itself to the public for the first time since forming. Here’s a link to join.

The three-member commission was appointed by a state panel in March, and recently hired several staff members: an executive director, legal council, researcher, and administrative assistant.

The group was formed because of a state law that passed in 2022. They’re tasked with establishing a public record of discrimination in Vermont “caused or permitted by State laws and policies,” and are responsible for and identifying “potential actions to repair that damage.”

“The first step here is we need to get out into the public, and we need to start engaging people and lay the groundwork so that we can do the fact finding and the truth seeking and story collecting,” said Melody Walker Mackin, one of the commissioners.

The commission is required to submit a report to the state with their findings and recommendations by June of 2026, and an interim report is due in January of 2024.

“I think it’s going to be a wonderful and a hard process, and we’re looking forward to it,” Walker Mackin said.

Lexi Krupp is a corps member with Report for America, a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on under-covered issues and regions.

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