Hello, friends and neighbors!

Welcome to the temporary landing page for ErikForEssex.com.

This page is a work in progress, but while I complete the rest of it, I figured I'd at least introduce myself to you and give you some idea of what I stand for.

First, here's a picture of me and my cat:

He's a good cat, that guy. Really sweet.

Anyway...

Short Resume

I'm not a politician, but I am a public servant.

Presently, I work as a Senior Process & Performance Analyst for the Child Development Division of the Department for Children and Families. What that means is that I help with system development and testing and also data analysis for the part of the state government that's responsible for regulating our early childhood education system.

Before that, I was a Program Integrity Investigator for CDD's Child Care Financial Assistance Program, visiting virtually every corner of the state to investigate, prevent, and recover improper payments, fraudulent or otherwise. In this role, I saved Vermont taxpayers hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars.

And before that, I was a paralegal with a small law firm in the Burlington area, assisting elderly and/or disabled Vermonters to access public programs to help them stay in their homes.

I have an Associate's Degree in Liberal Arts from the Community College of Vermont, a Bachelor's of Science Degree in Criminal Justice Administration from Champlain College, and was confirmed as a Certified Public Manager by the University of Vermont. I am also a 2026 graduate of the Vermont Agency of Human Services Leadership Academy.

Values

Public service is in my blood. My parents worked on Capitol Hill when I was born, and some of my earliest memories are of clambering under the desk of Senator Robert Stafford when my dad ran his Vermont office in Winooski.

My family was all about helping others. When I was in kindergarten, I remember my family taking in an unwed teenage mother who had been kicked out of her own home, giving her a safe place to stay while she prepared for the birth of her child. Around that same time, we also helped a family emigrating from the Soviet Union adjust to life in the United States, with my dad serving as translator for the family as they settled in their new home. Those were both formative experiences for me, teaching me the value of kindness and the inherent worthiness of all human beings.

As a child, I regularly participated in the COTS Walk and the CROP Walk, raising funds and marching against homeless and hunger, and I trick-or-treated every year for spare change for UNICEF.

I was there when members of the church I grew up in founded the Good New Garage, and I helped them paint the floor of their first service bay and built shelves for their first parts warehouse.

For my senior project in high school, I organized a clothing drive that sent half a ton of winter clothes to the Pine Ridge and Rosebud reservations in South Dakota -- among the poorest communities in all of North America, let alone the United States.

I continue to volunteer to this day, until recently serving on the Community Advisory Board (CAB) of the Essex Community Justice Center (ECJC) and continuing to serve in a transitional role with the new Chittenden County Community Justice Center, helping form their inaugural CAB. I also participated in the Restorative Justice circles at ECJC for over a decade, helping many of our neighbors understand and atone for their mistakes, for the good of the community, for those they harmed, and for themselves.

I am on the board of People Helping People Global, Inc., a local microlending organization supporting economic development in Central America.

I support the arts by ushering shows at The Flynn and have been helping prepare the new, soon-to-be-opened performance space for Vermont Comedy Arts.

Beliefs

Government exists to serve the people -- all people residing in its borders, regardless of who they are. It is the means by which we do together what we cannot do alone.

All people are entitled, as Thomas Jefferson said, to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. Sometimes they may need a little help to get there, and that's okay: We are defined by what we do for the least of us.

Healthcare is a human right.

Housing, or at least shelter, is a human right.

Sustenance is a human right.

Trans rights are human rights.

Black Lives Matter, which does not mean they're the only lives that matter, or that they matter more than others; simply that they've historically been handed a raw deal and deserve a rebalancing.

Jesus never told anyone to pull themselves up by their bootstraps.

Tom Brady did not deflate those footballs, and even if he did, that didn't affect the outcome of any games.

Priorities

Healthcare for all.

Making Vermont affordable for all.

Preparing for the impacts of extreme weather.

Balancing conservation and innovation.

Exploring alternate revenue streams to ease the property tax burden.