Burlington City Councilor Rachel Siegel, a Progressive Party member and social-change activist, has been named executive director of the Peace and Justice Center.
Although the nonprofit center has been financially troubled in recent years, Siegel said it has regained enough financial security to be able to hire its first paid director in three years.
Siegel’s position will be half-time initially, expanding to 40 hours a week when funding becomes available, she said. That may take “several months,” Siegel added. She starts work on Tuesday, October 1.
Siegel declined to reveal how much she will earn in the post — except to say the center “practices what it preaches,” and she’ll be paid more than the “livable wage” of $13.94 an hour that Burlington sets for its own employees as per city ordinance. The PJC commissioned the study that determined that amount 13 years ago.The executive director job also comes with benefits, Siegel said.
The Burlington mother of two will be leaving her part-time jobs as a children’s dance and gym instructor at the Burlington YMCA and as a social-skills coach for students at the University of Vermont’s College of Medicine. Siegel said she intends to “devote 100 percent effort” to her council post and the PJC job.
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