This announcement, dated December 1, is still posted on Emerge Vermont’s website. But those “training opportunities” will not happen, at least not in their present format or timetable. Because, per Seven Days, Emerge America just decided to shut down Emerge Vermont in a nationwide move to eliminate state chapters in favor of a regionalized structure.

A few years ago, I wrote a post entitled “It’s Hard to Overestimate the Impact of Emerge Vermont.” Right now, I feel like it’s equally hard to overestimate the impact of Emerge Vermont’s imminent dissolution.

Emerge Vermont has been a highly effective pipeline for Democratic women who want to enter politics. It has trained hundreds of Vermonters, many of whom are now top elected officials — like U.S. Rep. Becca Balint, Attorney General Charity Clark, Secretary of State Sarah Copeland Hanzas, and I don’t know how many state reps, senators, and local officeholders.

Emerge Vermont can be credited for nearly erasing the gender gap in the Legislature. (It would have completely erased it by now except that Republican caucuses are almost entirely male.) Emerge Vermont has also been an invaluable asset for the Vermont Democratic Party, which has benefited from a steady supply of Emerge-trained women ready to run for office. (Vermont Republicans don’t have a counterpart and, as I’ve said before, they would be well advised to get their donors together and create one.)

In short, this is a sad day for gender equality in Vermont, and for Vermont Democrats.

In a December 12 email to program alumnae, Executive Director Elaine Haney blamed the consolidation on “fundraising challenges, which are frankly being experienced by Democratic organizations across the country.” My speculation is that a lot of liberal money is being Hoovered up by cash-hungry candidates, whose efforts have been turbocharged by social media and the ease of sending mass text messages to supporters. Party organizations and related efforts seem to be suffering as a result.

The big change is apparently still a work in progress. As Seven Days’ Hannah Basset reported, “Emerge America has not publicly detailed how the regional model will operate in practice or when programs, including Emerge’s signature training or campaign bootcamp, may be rescheduled.”

Which is not ideal when we’re entering a new election cycle. Prospective candidates may miss out on 2026 as Emerge America does its massive reset.

On the individual level, this will mark a big change for Haney herself. She’s been reassigned as a staffer for the soon-to-be-launched regional branch that will include all of New England as well as New York state. (Might make her planned candidacy for state Senate a lot harder to conduct.)

The new trainings will still be helpful, but I have to think they’ll be more generic. Anything about the unique realitize of Vermont politics is likely to get lost in the shuffle. And the programs are going to be centralized, right? They’ll have to be, if this is going to save money. Which means they will be much less accessible, especially for women who have careers and families to care for.

This pig is being lipsticked as a way “to better position the organization to expand its presence across the country,” as Haney wrote in her email. Well, maybe. But I have no doubt that the new regional Emerge will be much less effective in the work that was so capably done by the Vermont chapter. And that’s a huge loss for Vermont women and Vermont Democrats.