For the 16th year in a row, Lenny’s Shoe & Apparel, Darn Tough Vermont, and Smartwool have joined forces to donate more than $21,000 worth of socks and financial support to local agencies serving low-income individuals and families. This long-standing partnership helps ensure that neighbors across the region have access to warm Merino wool socks and vital resources as the colder months approach.
In late 2023, the Town of Highgate asked nonprofit developer Cathedral Square to develop affordable housing for older adults in Highgate as part of the Town’s Village Revitalization project. After years of working together, Cathedral Square and the Town of Highgate have made the difficult decision not to move forward with the proposed 30-unit Highgate Village Housing project, after determining that a public water system to serve the development is not feasible. This unfortunate outcome illustrates the challenges that rural communities in Vermont are facing.
Cathedral Square is grateful to announce a $20,000 gift from the Charlotte Congregational Church to support its Housing Incentive Program (HIP), marking the second year the congregation has stepped forward with support for the program. Since making an initial $25,000 gift in 2025, members of the church have gotten to know HIP participants directly, sending handwritten notes of encouragement, artwork from the congregation's children, and prayers from their youth ministry.
Cathedral Square is proud to share that CEO Kim Fitzgerald has once again been named to Vermont Business Magazine's 91 Influencers list. This year's roster recognizes leaders across business, healthcare, nonprofits, technology, and public service who are shaping Vermont's future. In a profile shared by VermontBiz, Kim reflected on a career spent entirely in affordable housing, including seven years at VHFA followed by 25 years at Cathedral Square. She described representing and supporting low-income, older Vermonters as work she finds deeply meaningful and named being selected as Cathedral Square's CEO after a nationwide search as one of the greatest honors of her career. Congratulations to Kim, and all of this year's honorees!
Cathedral Square, a leading nonprofit committed to addressing the critical need for affordable housing for older adults and people with diverse needs in Vermont, has appointed Kason Hudman, Director of Operations at the Peace & Justice Center, to its Board of Directors. “Our mission depends on staying close to the communities we create, and Kason has spent his career doing exactly that kind of listening and organizing,” said Cathedral Square CEO Kim Fitzgerald. “His perspective on equity and inclusion will strengthen how we serve residents across all of our communities.”
The 2026 legislative session adjourned during the last week of May. It was a mixed session for Cathedral Square's priorities: real momentum in some areas, more limited progress in others. Our top three priorities, SASH, affordable housing, and Medicaid funding for long-term care, all saw some forward movement, though none came away with everything we were asking for. As always, we are grateful to work alongside partner organizations through coalitions such as the Long-Term Care Crisis Coalition, the Housing and Homelessness Alliance of Vermont, and the Vermont Housing and Conservation Coalition. We also thank the Legislature and the Administration for their continued support of our priorities.
Cathedral Square was honored last week at Efficiency Vermont’s Better Building by Design conference?, where Reid Commons in St. Albans took home a Best of the Best Performance Excellence Award for Residential New Construction in the Multifamily Homes category. The annual conference draws design professionals, construction leaders, and climate workforce experts from across the region. Duncan Wisniewski Architecture, ReArch Construction, Engineering Services of Vermont, Green Mountain Enclosure Consulting, and Evernorth Energy Services were partners on the project.
A peer-reviewed study published this month in Health Services Research, one of the nation’s leading health policy journals, has found that Vermont’s Support and Services at Home (SASH®) model is a highly cost-effective health approach to keeping older adults healthy and helping them avoid catastrophic health crises, like strokes and heart failure. Participants gained more than a year of healthy life at a cost well below standard U.S. benchmarks.
Vermont has one of the oldest populations in the nation, a severe housing shortage, and rising healthcare costs. As the legislative session begins, new research offers evidence about an investment that addresses these realities: age-specific, affordable housing with supportive services for adults age 55 and older. A recent study from NORC at the University of Chicago tracked older adults who moved into age-specific housing communities over a two-year period. Rather than experiencing the decline many assume comes with such life transitions, residents showed significant improvements in health, longevity, and quality of life.
After 21 years, HANDS (Helping and Nurturing Diverse Seniors) will wind down operations. Founded in 2004 by Megan Humphrey, HANDS started as a way to provide a healthy meal and friendship on Christmas day for seniors who would have spent the holiday alone. Over the years, HANDS evolved, and since 2011 it has been a non-profit organization with a mission of providing food and resources for people aged 50+ who struggle with food insecurity in Chittenden County, Vermont. "There's something beautifully full circle about HANDS in the Kitchen returning to where it first began at Thayer House," shared Cathedral Square CEO Kim Fitzgerald.
