Thursday, September 19

Housing 101 - An interdisciplinary gathering  

Axinn 229

Several courses will gather together for an introductory discussion about the housing issues that the symposium will address. Representatives from local and statewide organizations advocating for housing reform will share their experiences and insights. If you would like your class to join the workshop, email clifford2024@middlebury.edu for more details.

Thursday, September 19

Keynote Opening Address  

Friday, September 20

Community Engagement Events  

Wilson Hall

Erica Heilman, Rumble Strip Vermont podcast host

As host of the Peabody Award-winning podcast Rumble Strip, Erica Heilman “invites herself into people’s homes to find out what they know, hate, love, what they’re afraid of, and what makes them more like you than you’d realized.” In this keynote address, Erica will discuss why her conversations with Vermonters return again and again to questions about what home is and what community means. Hear what makes a Vermont town a place where people belong rather than a collection of unconnected houses. Consider whether challenges like the housing crisis could weaken some of that feeling of place in Vermont and how that might shape our sense of who we are and where we live. This kick-off event will show why the Clifford Symposium’s themes are central to the “messy, obsessively crafted stories of the everyday” that define Rumble Strip and Erica’s work for Vermont Public.

Charter House Coalition, 27 N. Pleasant St. Middlebury, VT

The Charter House Club (CHC) is hosting a brunch for guests of the Charter House from 10:15am - 12:15pm on Friday September 20th at the Charter House in town. The Charter House is a low-barrier homeless shelter that provides shelter, meals and housing navigation services to individuals who are housing insecure across the state of Vermont. Since the beginning of CHC, it has connected Middlebury college students with members of the Middlebury community.  Keegan Gilsenan, president of Charter House Club reflected, “To share a meal is to share conversation. To share community and love. To share in each other’s accomplishments and hardships. To share the common goal of deepening human connection between our town and college. To share the opportunity to strengthen our Middlebury family over dinner.”

Student volunteers will prepare and share a delicious breakfast with Charter House guests and learn more about the services Charter House provides and the barriers many individuals have to accessing housing. Due to limited space in the kitchen, students need to register for one-hour shifts.

Friday, September 20

Stonecrop Meadows, a 200-unit mixed-income housing project in Middlebury - Presentation by Summit Properties  

Axinn 232

Join us for a presentation and conversation with Zeke Davisson from Summit Properties on Stonecrop Meadows. This event will focus on the mixed-income housing initiative being constructed in Middlebury, Vermont. We will discuss the causes of the challenging economics of home building in Addison County, compare that to the critical need for housing of all types, present the innovative vision for Stonecrop Meadows, including project images and context, and open the floor for a question-and-answer session.

We are excited to discuss this project with you on Friday, September 20th at 10:30 am in Axinn 232.

Friday, September 20

Panel Discussion: Housing Crises in Context: Historical and Contemporary Approaches to Solutions and Activism  

The Orchard-Hillcrest 103

Moderator: Linus Owens, Middlebury College

Dr. Davarian L. Baldwin, the Paul E. Raether Distinguished Professor of American Studies, and Founding Director of the Smart Cities Research Lab at Trinity College 

Dr. S.E. Eisterer, Assistant Professor for Architectural History and Theory at the School of Architecture at Princeton University and a Senior Fellow with the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation at the Munich Documentation Center

Today’s housing crises intersect with many of society’s most challenging problems and makes our contemporary situation feel uniquely difficult to solve. Historically, however, housing crises have been shaped by seemingly intractable challenges like global political conflict, governmental collapse, socio-economic and racial inequality, and environmental disaster. What can we learn from individuals, activist movements, and engaged communities who used housing reform to promote social change under the most daunting of circumstances? In this discussion moderated by Professor Linus Owens, panelists will share recent and historical examples highlighting how efforts to solve housing challenges can become powerful exercises of resilience and resistance, as well as the perils of such work.

Friday, September 20

Panel Discussion - How did we get here, how can we get there? Housing Policy in Middlebury and Beyond  

The Orchard-Hillcrest 103

Moderator: Makenna Janes ‘23, Helen Gurley Brown BOLD Research Fellow at the National Alliance to End Homelessness

Andy Hooper, Middlebury Selectboard  
Jubilee McGill, State Representative, Addison County District 5  
Mike Piecak, Vermont State Treasurer
Elise Shanbacker, Executive Director Addison Housing Works 

Panelists will discuss Vermont’s housing policies, the economic implications of those policies, and their impacts in communities around the state and here in Addison County. The discussion will be moderated by Makenna Janes, Middlebury Class of 2023 and BOLD post-graduate Fellow at the National Alliance to End Homelessness.

Friday, September 20

Narratives Of Home And Housing: A facilitated dinner and discussion  

Kirk Alumni Center

Moderator: James Calvin Davis, George Adams Ellis Professor of Liberal Arts at Middlebury College

Bess O’Brien, Kingdom County Productions Documentary Director, Just Getting By
Kenneth Cadow, author, Vermont Reads book selection 2024 Gather

The stories we tell about places we call home can reveal our most personal values and identities. At the same time, the stories we see and hear about our neighbors’ homes - or their challenges with securing stable housing - require empathy, trust, and a recognition of the moral responsibilities we have as members of a community. This event will feature two Vermont artists who share a talent for weaving together stories of home, housing, and belonging: novelist Kenneth Cadow (author of Gather, the 2024 Vermont Reads book of the year) and documentary filmmaker Bess O’Brien (producer of Just Getting By). Following a discussion moderated by James Calvin Davis, George Adams Ellis Professor of Liberal Arts at Middlebury College, guests - including members of the college community, local residents, and representatives from housing-related organizations throughout Vermont - will engage in guided small group conversations over dinner. Come share your stories of home and discover the role of narratives in building the partnerships that will be required to collectively tackle Vermont’s housing challenges. This event is made possible by Vermont Humanities and is part of the Good Talks series sponsored by the Kathryn Wasserman Davis Collaborative in Conflict Transformation at Middlebury.

This event is not open to the public. 

Champlain Valley Unitarian Universalist Society

Tom Morgan, Community Minister, CVUUS
Jason Duquette-Hoffman, Middlebury College Center for Community Engagement

Community members gather informally to connect, reflect, share,  and plan, and be energized. This event is an opportunity to enjoy good food while expanding our social justice networks and discussing innovative solutions to our community’s growing intersectional challenges of impoverishment, substance dependence, untreated mental illness, and homelessness. Food by Viva El Sabor.  

Saturday, September 21

Brunch for Action  

Saturday, September 21

Film Screening: Just Getting By  

Champlain Valley Unitarian Universalist Society

Bess O’Brien, Kingdom County Productions Documentary Director