2025 Legislator Toolkit Webinar Series

Our popular professional development series is back for the 5th year, and this time we’re taking a deep dive into Vermont’s challenging healthcare situation, plus providing some essential training for alums looking to strengthen their negotiation skills.

Like last year, the Legislator Toolkit Series is OPEN TO ALL ALUMS! New this year, it’s FREE!

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Session 1: Thursday, November 6th at 6 PM

Vermont’s Healthcare Landscape: Navigating Rough Waters Ahead

Join Senator Ginny Lyons, chair of the Senate Healthcare Committee, and alum Rep. Alyssa Black, chair of the House Healthcare Committee as they discuss the current state of healthcare in Vermont, from rising premium rates, big change at UVM Medical Center, long waits for patient care, to insurance company solvency. Members of the Green Mountain Care Board have also been invited to participate in this panel discussion—stay tuned for updates to the program.

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Session 2: Tuesday, November 11th, 6 PM

Session 3: Thursday, November 13th, 6 PM

Collaborative Negotiation for Women in Public Office, Parts 1 & 2

Do you find yourself struggling to come to agreements with fellow elected representatives? Are you getting stuck arguing over the details instead of making real progress? Do you want to develop more skill and confidence as a negotiator? This course will help you assess your strengths and weaknesses as a negotiator, learn a systematic approach for preparing for a negotiation, and build skills for managing emotions and dealing with difficult tactics in a negotiation context. We’ll explore how to uncover shared interests and build shared values with your counterparts. The course is structured around short interactive lectures interspersed with peer to peer learning, contextual examples, real practice, and feedback.

This is a 2-part program; participants are strongly encouraged to attend both sessions.

About our facilitators:

Kelsa Summer Roidt is a Senior Facilitator, Trainer, and Coach as well as our COO at Habitus. Kelsa’s main roles include managing our internal systems including supporting our self management structure. She focuses on long term strategic planning as well as day to day operations. Kelsa also leads our impact strategy and measurement – managing our B Corp Impact Assessment and philanthropic relationships.

In her facilitation work, Kelsa focuses on multi-party decision making processes, especially in the sustainability and mission driven business space. Recent clients include the MIT Office of Sustainability, Darn Tough Vermont, Seventh Generation, and the B Corp Climate Collective. As a trainer, Kelsa specializes in teaching teams to design and run effective meetings – focusing on inclusivity and equitable processes.

Before joining the Habitus team, Kelsa worked as a sustainability consultant for small businesses. She specializes in the B Corp Impact Assessment – helping companies navigate the assessment, certify as B Corps, and use their B Corp certification as a framework for success across the triple bottom line. Kelsa also has a background in higher ed, having served as the assistant director at Marlboro College Graduate and Professional Studies and faculty in their MBA program. Kelsa holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Economics and Politics and an MBA in Managing for Sustainability. She is fluent in German.

Narissa Turner is a facilitator and trainer at Habitus. Her main roles include designing and leading trainings, workshops, and facilitations.

Narissa is a trained mediator, and she brings her background in environmental advocacy and strategic planning to her work at Habitus. She has developed multiple statewide coordinated campaigns to advance clean energy, and has expertise in climate and environmental justice policy; creating and implementing specialized policy campaign plans; facilitating large multi-stakeholder discussions; issue briefings; press conferences; opinion-editorials; special events; and public education and outreach events.

Narissa holds a B.S. in Natural Resources and Recreational Tourism from the University of Georgia, and an M.A. in Climate and Society from Columbia University. She was proud to be an inaugural fellow of the Habitus and CBI Fellowship in Negotiation, Mediation, and Conflict Resolution.

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