Ranking Member - VT House Committee on Commerce and Economic Development

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Member - Legislative Rural Caucus

Founder/ President - Bethel Revitalization Initiative & Bethel University

President - Bethel Business Association

President - Bethel Area Rotary Club

Trustee - Grand Lodge of Vermont Freemasons

Bethel Board of Civil Authority

Small Business Owner

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Hi. I’m Kirk White and it has been my honor to represent you for the past six years.
 

Growing up and going to school in Bethel has given me a keen understanding of the challenges facing Vermont’s small rural communities and schools. My father was a carpenter and my mother worked in a local factory. With the tragic death of a child, the loss of our home to fire, critical health challenges, and a tanking economy, my family fell on hard times. At the same time, our town was also falling on hard times. Businesses closed and major parts of downtown Bethel were lost due to fire. I understand what it's like to work hard and do everything right but still be on the edge. But I also understand how much we can accomplish when we come together to think creatively to solve problems.

At the University of Vermont I earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in the double majors of psychology and religion. In the Psychology Department, one of the professors taught classes and ran a residential program on how to teach people to think creatively. I became the student director of this program and spent my senior year coaching students on how to create solutions to seemingly intractable problems, and I’ve carried these lessons with me throughout my life and work.

 

I was raised with a strong sense of civic responsibility and a deep love and appreciation for small Vermont towns, so when I finished college, I moved back to Bethel and got involved. I was quickly appointed to leadership positions in several local and regional initiatives that work to make our communities more resilient. I worked on Main Street at Clifford of Vermont; I also bought and ran the local pizza shop, Mert’s Pizza. I joined the Masons and over time have risen to become a Trustee and leader of the 3,000-member statewide Grand Lodge of Vermont. I am working with their leadership to overcome regional, generational, and financial challenges and reverse decades of decline in membership. I also joined the Bethel Area Rotary Club — serving Bethel, Rochester, Pittsfield, Stockbridge, and Royalton — eventually becoming club president, coordinating the various local and international charitable activities and student exchanges. I joined the Bethel Business Association and, because I am good at working across differences and getting things done, I eventually became president and began such initiatives as the annual Bethel Home and Business Expo. I also founded the Bethel Revitalization Initiative at that time, hoping to attract younger and newer residents to become involved, although truthfully, back then, we didn’t quite expand beyond a handful of dreamers.

After getting married and having a child, I went back to school for a Master’s degree in counseling and a Master’s certificate in Acupuncture and Oriental medicine. I opened a small private practice in 1995 and focused on career, family, and community organizations.

When Tropical Storm Irene hit in 2011, many communities, including Rochester and Stockbridge, really pulled together to address community challenges. Unfortunately, the storm exacerbated fractures in Bethel’s community, and it pulled apart. In an effort to restore Bethel’s community cohesion I worked with other community leaders to resurrect the Bethel Revitalization Initiative. I once again saw the need to come together to creatively solve problems and use lessons I had learned to help bring us together; the results were inspiring. We sought to unify the community by carefully listening to people’s needs and then finding creative solutions to problems that transcended political divides and family feuds. We hosted rotating community potluck discussions and brought community groups together for networking and visioning sessions. Based on those sessions, we began a series of townwide projects, including working with an artist to create and install artwork downtown, re-enlivening parts of our main street with pop-up shops that eventually became permanent businesses, and in 2014 creating Bethel University. Bethel U has run for 11 years so far, offers dozens of classes taught by locals, and drew more than 1,100 in-person  student registrations in a single year from every county in Vermont, every state in New England, plus New York, as well as far-flung places like Canada and Japan with online classes. Bethel University has brought vibrant day and night life, community connection and pride, nationwide media attention, and tourist dollars to Bethel.

 

In 2020 you gave me the honor of serving as your state representative. I now serve as the ranking member on the House Committee on Commerce and Economic Development. In my time there, I have worked hard to increase and improve our available workforce, support and expand career and technology education in our schools, provide resources for the economic development of our Vermont businesses and towns, increase the availability of affordable childcare, and ensure data privacy and consumer protections, all while seeking to improve the efficiency of state government.

While the four towns in our district face their own unique challenges, we also have much in common. I understand how our small rural towns work and the challenges they face, and I can effectively represent their needs in Montpelier. I know how to help them heal, grow, and find their own unique creative solutions to the issues they face.

Every year I spend many hours making myself seen and available in all our towns and listening to all the voices of those who have something they need to say. I have also written numerous short pieces explaining how our state government actually works and how to make it work better for you. I firmly believe that when we work creatively together to find common solutions, our towns can overcome almost any obstacle. I have demonstrated that, with proper leadership, this can happen on both the community and state levels. Now I ask that you allow me to continue this work for our towns for another term.
 

Thank you.