VERMONT
WELCOME WAGON
PROJECT
MEET THE UPPER VALLEY VWWP TEAM
The Upper Valley is a great place to call home. Straddling the Connecticut River and bridging Vermont and New Hampshire, it has amazing opportunities for work, higher education, outdoor recreation, locally grown food, and the arts. While the region centers on a four-town “core” (Hartford and Norwich in Vermont, Lebanon and Hanover in New Hampshire) -- it includes dozens of towns, each with its own charms and characteristics.
The Upper Valley chapter of the Vermont Welcome Wagon Project is coordinated by Vital Communities, and advised by the Green Mountain Economic Development Corporation, the Space on Main, and the Upper Valley Young Professionals
Learn more about hosting here.
Learn about participating as a new or returning Vermonter here.
Leona Bergman-Gaul
Leona grew up in Ohio and moved to Vermont in 2020 to work on organic farming, community outreach, and communications. She is the Events and Communications Coordinator for Vital Communities and on the weekends can be found at farmers markets, farmstands, and hiking close to home.
Meghan Asbury
Meghan is a native Floridian who came to Vermont to work on community engagement and urban planning through SerVermont AmeriCorps. She holds degrees from the University of Florida and the University of Virginia. When she is not hiking in the White Mountains, running around trails in the Upper Valley, and exploring cheese shops and breweries, you may find her at the Green Mountain Economic Development Corporation office. Or, at home in White River Junction annoying her cat, Everett.
Monique Priestley
Monique lives in Bradford, Vermont, and grew up just over the Connecticut River in Piermont, New Hampshire. She founded and is Executive Director of a nonprofit coworking and community gathering space called The Space On Main. She went to grad school at the University of Washington and telecommutes part-time for a small software company based in Seattle. She is very involved in municipal and nonprofit efforts focused on community and economic development. Monique makes as much time as possible for exploring the Upper Valley and beyond on her paddleboard, e-bike, cross country skis, and powsurfing board. She’s a live music lover, technology nerd, and heavily involved with the extensive boardgaming communities of VT and NH.
Rebecca Bailey
Becky joined Vital Communities in 2020 as its Communications Manager after more than decade as publicist for Dartmouth College’s performing arts center. She has lived in a solar-powered home since 1993, and loves music, theater, and going from town to town in the Upper Valley on her e-bike, which enables her to scale the steep, two-mile dirt road to her home! That’s her at left, down and center, with some of her theater peeps in one of her happy places: a dressing room at the Briggs Opera House in White River Junction.