About - Vital Communities

About Vital Communities

Our Mission

Vital Communities engages Upper Valley people, organizations, and communities to create equitable solutions to our region’s challenges.

Our staff specializes in convening for change: bringing people together to size up and address our challenges. We have evolved as a hub of initiatives, resources, and working groups in such areas as business vitality, food and farming, energy, transportation, climate change, leadership, housing, and outdoor learning.

Intrinsic to this work is a steadfast commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion so that people of all backgrounds and life experiences are involved at every level; and an ongoing acknowledgment that our office is sited and our work takes place within the sovereign homeland of the Abenaki Nation and People.

Vital Communities is a 5019c)3 nonprofit organization.

Service Area

History

990 & Privacy Policy

Our Service Area

Our 69-municipality service area includes the Upper Valley, which straddles the Connecticut River between New Hampshire and Vermont with the tri-city core of Hanover and Lebanon in New Hampshire, and White River Junction in Vermont. The area also includes other hubs such as the Lake Sunapee region, Greater Randolph, former industrials towns of the Route 11 Corridor to the south, and Northeast Kingdom towns to the north. The municipalities range in population from Lebanon, NH, (pop. 13,623) to Orange, NH (pop. 264). The region is bisected by the Connecticut River and includes the White, Mascoma, Ompompanoosuc, Ottauquechee, Sugar, Mascoma, and Black rivers, and many smaller streams. The three tallest peaks are Mount Moosilauke (4,803′), Smarts Mountain (3,238′), and Mount Cardigan (3,156′). The three largest bodies of water are Lake Sunapee, Mascoma Lake, and Lake Morey.

Acknowledging This Abenaki Homeland

Our History

Vital Communities began in the work of the local League of Women Voters in 1993. Concerned with the number of uncontested elections in the Upper Valley, the League began to convene issue forums in which residents could ask questions about key issues and hear local experts share their perspectives. Much of what we’ve been able to accomplish in the years since we owe to founding figures such as Delia Clark, Betty Porter, and Steve Glazer.

Our History in Brief

Vital Communities Founders — Heroes & Leaders dinner hosted by Vital Communities in Hanover, NH on Thursday, May 30, 2019. Copyright 2019 Rob Strong

How We Protect Your Privacy

Vital Communities is a regional 501(c)3 nonprofit organization based in White River Junction, Vermont, that works to engage citizens, organizations, and communities in creating solutions to our region’s challenges.

Information Privacy Policy – 08/2010 (revised 09/2019)

Vital Communities respects the privacy of its constituents, donors, and those who support its work as volunteers. Our privacy policy is reviewed annually and posted prominently online at our web site.

We collect name, address, phone, and email contact information from people who express interest in our organization, or who attend our events. We use this information to mail correspondence, newsletters, and other informational products, and solicitations. We do not sell, rent, exchange, or share donor names with any firm or nonprofit organization. We honor any constituent’s wish to not receive mail, emails, or phone communications.
Our online forms for donations and registrations collect credit card information for payment via DonorBox, which uses state-of-the-art encryption. Credit card information is not shared with third parties. Donors are advised in printed solicitations that their contributions can be made anonymously.
Personal information about our constituents is rigorously protected using physical, electronic, and procedural protection mechanisms. To review information, and to make corrections, constituents are asked to contact: finance@vitalcommunities.org or 802.291.9100 x104.

990 Form