Vermont Community Data Assessment

Vermont’s demographic shift is happening faster than institutions are adapting. Right now, Vermont policymakers, nonprofits, and private businesses are trying to serve a population they cannot fully see or understand. Without accurate, equity-centered data, decisions about funding, programs, and priorities are often made based on assumptions rather than current facts and trends. The result is that too many BIPOC Vermonters - especially those in rural areas - are left out of the story and the solutions. Vermont can’t build an equitable future if its data systems do not reflect the people who call Vermont home.

The Vermont Professionals of Color Network (VT PoC) proposes a foundational data project to address this critical gap, with particular attention to rural BIPOC communities who are often left out of both data collection and policy solutions.

Building on VT PoC's 2022 and 2024 surveys and listening sessions, this project will formalize partnerships with UVM faculty and resources to analyze both BIPOC community-gathered and publicly available data. Key outcomes include a foundational report, an interactive public data portal, and a sustainable data collection and analysis framework. This infrastructure will enable policymakers, nonprofits, and businesses to make evidence-based decisions that reflect Vermont's true demographic reality across Vermont’s rural settings.

This project has the potential to change how Vermont sees itself, and how it is seen by others. For too long, Vermont has been described as an almost exclusively white state. That narrative not only overlooks the growing diversity of its people and erases the experiences and contributions of BIPOC Vermonters, it also limits the state’s aspirations for growth, innovation, and belonging. By telling the story of Vermont both within and beyond our borders through accurate, inclusive data, this project helps us move beyond myths toward policies, growth and prosperity that reflects all Vermonters - not just those that are easy to count.