What DREAM Bennington Shows Us About Community
- Ray Posner
- 3 days ago
- 3 min read
Bennington is a town in southwestern Vermont, home to a population of about 15,000 people. With a close knit community of full-time residents and a college that is actively involved in the town, this is a place where everyone is connected. At Bennington's DREAM sites, this connection is apparent to Lindsay Heller, the local Regional Youth Service Manager.
It All Comes Back to Bennington
Before she came to DREAM, and before she even began her career, Lindsay grew up half an hour away from Bennington, in Cambridge, New York. Because Bennington was the closest town that was big enough to have a grocery store, Lindsay says, "I spent my childhood kind of coming over and visiting, pretty much every weekend." Her familiarity with Bennington has brought her full circle from childhood to her current position at DREAM. Now, instead of going to Bennington with her parents for grocery shopping and outings, Lindsay connects with the community through Bennington's youth and families, schools, businesses, and other DREAM partners. "It's really one large community, and there's a lot of everybody knows everybody, and very few degrees of separation."
Small Town Connections
With such tight knit relationships throughout Bennington, DREAM impacts more than just the youth and families that are enrolled in our youth enrichment programs. Lindsay says that they're able to spread their reach from family to family, throughout the community.
"We don't say that a kid can't come and hang out if maybe a cousin is part of DREAM and the cousin's visiting.... Chances are, that cousin is from somewhere else in Bennington, so we really kind of connect with everybody as much as we possibly can."
A small town like Bennington has the benefit of a well connected community, but can also face unique challenges because of its size. Since 2020, the changing landscape of higher education has seen the shutdown of several local universities. Currently, Bennington College is the only local university, and it provides all of the mentors for this region. However, even with a small student body, Lindsay says that "the percentage of mentors we get out of [Bennington College] is really quite impressive." In order to grow, Lindsay is looking at universities further afield, and thinking of new ways to increase the region's impact. She mentions the possibility to "blend Guided Mentoring with Village Mentoring at some point, and maybe bring in some high school students that are really passionate about mentoring."
Even with the challenges that DREAM Bennington faces, there are still so many passionate people supporting the program. There’s the Bennington school district, the IDEALS program, the local college, and the Bennington Housing Authority, to name a few. Lindsay hopes to continue strengthening the relationships she has with the region’s partners.
Being Part of the DREAM
DREAM’s impact isn’t made in a vacuum, and it’s in places like Bennington that you can see how much community matters, and how connected every person is to DREAM’s mission. Lindsay sees that every day with youth, mentors, partners, and everyone else in town. With all of the support that DREAM Bennington receives from the community, Lindsay says, “I just can’t even wrap my brain around how amazing it is to have that.” Those connections continue to strengthen DREAM Bennington and remind us that through our communities, we all have the power to make an impact.
Be One More Connection
Interested in becoming part of the DREAM Bennington community? Connect with us to learn about volunteering, partnering, and other ways to get involved.