Rural resource navigator helps connect people to services

The system can be hard and complicated, and our human services partners do their very best to help those who cross their paths navigate it. And yet, members of the community learn time and again that the system can break down.

We have a new person in Lamoille County that can help. Her name is Jessica Marcotte, and she is a mobile rural resource navigator. She’ll be traveling around Lamoille County, meeting with people in our communities.

Marcotte explained that she “helps Lamoille County residents respond positively to, and hopefully get on top of, issues that are negatively impacting their lives by helping them find available resources and information.”

She’s also a certified health assister and can help with using Vermont Health Connect.

Any resident of Lamoille County can meet with Marcotte.

“Anyone who needs help with or is confused about how to access local and state services related to health, housing, transportation, food, heating and utilities bills, essential needs like clothing and home goods, employment, education, financial and tax assistance and more,” she said.

To find her, drop in at the following places as she makes her weekly rounds:

• Tuesday, 7-10 a.m.: Breakfast on Us, United Community Church of Morrisville.

• Tuesday 11 a.m.-2 p.m.: Varnum Memorial Library, Jeffersonville.

• Wednesday 10 a.m.-1 p.m.: Lanpher Memorial Library, Hyde Park.

• Thursday 10 a.m.-1 p.m.: Johnson Public Library, Johnson.

• Thursday 2:30-5 p.m.: Eden Central School, Eden.

Meeting with Marcotte is free, and she’s really good at helping people figure out how to get the support they need.

“We have unmet needs,” she said. “We are not aware of or are struggling to take advantage of the resources and services that are open to us. By going out to various sites in the county, I can make it easier for people to connect with these various supports.”

The systems of support should be easier to manage. But, until they are, we have Jessica Marcotte.

Emily Rosenbaum is the initiative director of the Lamoille Working Communities Challenge, a grant out of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston; backbone partner is United Way of Lamoille County. She can be reached at emily@uwlamoille.org (preferred) or 802-888-3252.