Vermont Needs a Resettlement Floor
“What is Vermont doing? We’re continuing to do what we do, which is really announcing to the country and to the world that we are a welcoming place… and we will remain hopeful that things turn around and that we eventually can get back to doing significant refugee resettlement in this state, because we’re really good at it, and the refugees have had a lot of success here.”
Tracy Dolan, Director of Vermont’s State Refugee Office, in response to the Trump Administration’s January resettlement pause
For decades, Vermont invested in a resettlement program that became a national model—proving that refugee integration could succeed not just in major metropolitan areas, but also in small towns and rural communities.
The state’s approach braided five local resettlement offices, robust local partnerships, bipartisan political support, and innovative programs tailored to rural realities.
With the 2021 opening of ECDC’s Multicultural Community Center in Brattleboro, Vermont became home to one of the only rural resettlement programs in the United States. Resettlement was so successful for rural communities and refugees that ECDC opened another office in the rural town of Bennington just two years later.
While most resettlement agencies operate in major metropolitan areas—New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Houston—ECDC Brattleboro resettles in an area with a combined population of fewer than 30,000 residents. Fewer than 10,000 people live in Bennington.
Vermont’s other resettlement agencies also resettle in small suburban towns. USCRI Vermont has welcomed refugees for over 40 years in Colchester (with a population of roughly 18,000) and Rutland (with a population of approximately 15,500).
Similarly, with a base in the small town of Manchester Center (with a population of almost 1,800) Grace Initiative Global offers comprehensive refugee integration services—alongside satellite projects across the Green Mountain State.
Colchester, Bennington, Brattleboro, Rutland, Manchester Center—these aren’t cities with extensive immigrant services infrastructure, multilingual school systems already in place, or diverse labor markets with established immigrant employment pipelines.
They’re quintessential small-town America. Refugee resettlement works there, too. Or, worked there.
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