Wanda Hines is Director of the Social Equity Investment Project, a program created to help the City of Burlington identify and support non-adversarial work to remove systematic barriers and accommodation of differences so that all populations can benefit equally; strengthening all communities.
Wanda believes that cultivating leadership from all ethnically and culturally diverse communities will bring more opportunities to city government, as well as improve quality of life for all Burlington residents. She provides expertize, insight and knowledge about the impact of diversity, participates in workshops and panels, enhances organizational capacity for cultural and linguistic competence, works with representatives from government, non-profits and the school systems to address cultural conflict and diversity in hiring practices.
Currently, Wanda is a board member of the Association of Africans Living in Vermont and steering committee member of Uncommon Alliance, a partnership between ethnically diverse leadership and local law enforcement officials seeking to build and strengthen bridges of trust. And, she serves on the first unprecedented statewide minority leadership organizing team/committee called Making VT Work for Everyone: A Think Tank for Vermont Leaders; June 11th 2010 was the first conference. The statewide conference of exclusively racial, ethnic and national minority leaders focused on the future of Vermont for leaders from Vermont’s emerging ethnic and racial minority populations.
Prior to, for 12 years, Wanda was director of Vermont’s lardest direct service food relief agency, the Chitttenden Emergency Food Shelf. For over 18 years, she has been an inspirational advocate and strategic community organizer for positive social change. Achievement and civic engagement include: Class of 2004 Vermont Leadership Institute, NeighborWorks Dorothy Richardson Honoree New England District award, Women of Color Alliance award, Facilitator Study Circles/ Every Day Democracy, Honorary Committee New England Women Political Summit, Vermont Heroes award, BCLT Community Service Award, YWCA Susan B. Anthony award, Martin Luther King award, St Michael’s College Town Community Leadership award, Speaker of the year United Way, Enterprise Community Steering Committee, VT Network Against Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault award and appointed Vermont Governors Commission on Women.