Current News

by tim

Vermont Business Magazine Northeast Kingdom Human Services (NKHS) in Newport has extended the hours of its Front Porch Mental Health Urgent Care (MHUC) program, now open 24 hours a day from Monday through Friday. The program previously operated 16 hours a day. The new extended hours will ensure care is available at any time during the week, allowing individuals in crisis to access timely support when they need it most. 

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Vermont Business Magazine First Children’s Finance VT (FCF) is proud to announce the first recipients of the Vermont Planning Grant Project, an award designed to expand child care capacity across the state. Among the awardees is Craftsbury Saplings, which received a $50,000 grant to plan a new child care facility in Craftsbury, Vermont. These grants are part of a broad effort to strengthen Vermont’s child care infrastructure and increase access to affordable, high-quality early childhood education. Craftsbury Saplings, a non-profit community child care center, serves families in Craftsbury and its surrounding towns. With its current facility at capacity and a lengthy waitlist, the $50,000 grant helps lay the foundation for a new 7,100-square-foot building that will nearly triple current capacity, from 19 children to 54. 

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Vermont Business Magazine BETA Technologies, Inc., an electric aerospace company based in Vermont, has raised $318 million in Series C equity capital. QIA led the raise and several of BETA’s largest investors, including Fidelity Management & Research Company and TPG Rise Climate increased their ownership in BETA. Longtime customer United Therapeutics has also joined this round as an investor. The financing round was priced at an increased valuation relative to prior equity capital raises and was meaningfully oversubscribed. To date, BETA has raised more than $1 billion in equity capital. Over the past eight years, BETA has developed sustainable products that lower the cost of transporting goods and people safely and reliably. This new funding will support the continued production, certification, and commercialization of those solutions, which include BETA’s all-electric fixed-wing and eVTOL aircraft ALIA, advanced high performance electric propulsion systems, as well as its multimodal charging systems and growing infrastructure network. 

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Vermont Business Magazine This week, Vice President Kamala Harris and Administrator Isabel Casillas Guzman, head of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) and the voice for America’s more than 34 million small businesses in President Biden’s Cabinet, announced that the SBA delivered a transformative $56 billion to small businesses and disaster-impacted communities in Fiscal Year 2024 (FY24). The FY24 Capital Impact Report shows that the Agency increased its annual capital portfolio – which includes startup, growth, and recovery capital, as well as surety bonds – by 7% over Fiscal Year 2023 (FY23). Moreover, for the first time since 2008, the SBA made more than 100,000 financings to small businesses, representing a 22% increase over FY23 and a 50% increase over 2020.  

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Vermont Business Magazine On October 17th, MENTOR Vermont welcomed mentoring program coordinators and mentoring advocates from across the state to the 2024 Vermont Mentoring Symposium, which was held at the Waterbury State Office Complex. The theme for the annual 2024 Symposium was “Back to Basics,” with sessions focused on meeting youth where they are, building a mentoring mindset, and developing relationship-centered communities. The annual mentoring conference brought together over 50 youth mentoring program staff and supporters from across the state for a series of networking and professional development sessions focused on working together to create a web of supportive relationships for young people in Vermont, to ensure that they have the support from within their community to grow and thrive.

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Vermont Business Magazine Governor Scott and the Department of Economic Development are announcing the recipients of the first round of Rural Industry Development Program (RIDP) grants. These projects in Brattleboro, Wilmington, Clarendon, and Colchester will share $2.3 million in funding to develop move-in ready sites for new employers and help existing businesses expand. Investing in manufacturing capacity is investing in Vermont. The sector represents 9% of Vermont’s Gross State Product and employs 28,200 Vermonters. This first round of RIDP funding will help retain 235 of those jobs and create 135 more. RIDP provides grant funding to regional and local development corporations located in areas that can accommodate business growth. RIDP grants can be used to purchase, demolish, build, or renovate a property for industrial use.

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Vermont Business Magazine Vermont Secretary of State Sarah Copeland Hanzas reminded members of the public and the media today of how to find results for the November 5 General Election. Unofficial results are reported to the Secretary of State by Vermont city and town clerks after polls close on the evening of Tuesday, November 5, and posted on the Secretary of State’s website: https://electionresults.vermont.gov/. Statewide election results will be unofficial until the Statewide Canvassing Committee meets at the Vermont State House to certify the results on Tuesday November 12.

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Vermont Business Magazine The Lake Champlain Chamber (LCC) will gather the region’s business community in celebration at their 114th Annual Gala on Thursday, April 10 at Hula. Four awards will be presented to businesses, non-profits, and their leaders in recognition of their accomplishments and contributions to the community. Nominations are now open and will be accepted until February 21, 2025. The LCC Business of the Year Award honors a business that has demonstrated growth in its employment, production, and operations and has a substantial history of success. It has a positive social and economic impact on the Lake Champlain region. The recipient must have shown outstanding growth, significant achievements in innovation, and superior community involvement through the commitment of time and resources.  

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by Agriculture Secretary Anson Tebbetts & Natural Resources Secretary Julie Moore We are reaching out to share some additional information regarding likely changes to water quality regulation on farms. As you may have heard, the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has directed Vermont to shift certain permits currently issued to farms by the Agency of Agriculture, Food & Markets (AAFM) to having similar permits issued by the Agency of Natural Resources (ANR). EPA has determined that this change is important to ensuring that Vermont is fulfilling its obligations under the federal Clean Water Act. While this change ultimately will have little impact on the continuity of farm operations, we – AAFM and ANR – would like to provide clarity on how this change came about and how we will ensure farmers are kept in the loop on changes to permits and regulations going forward.

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Vermont Business Magazine Average gasoline prices in Vermont are $3.14/g, down 3 cents per gallon from last week, down 6 cents/g from last month, and down 45 cents/g from a year ago. The lowest price in the state this week is $2.39/g, while the highest is $3.35/g, a difference of 96 cents per gallon. The lowest price in the state this week is $2.39/g, while the highest is $3.35/g, a difference of 96 cents per gallon. Prices in the southern half of the state, especially Windham and Bennington counties, tend to be the lowest. The national average price of gasoline has fallen 2 cents per gallon in the last week, averaging $3.11/g today. The national average is down 8 cents per gallon from a month ago and stands 31 cents per gallon lower than a year ago.

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Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Chamber of Commerce has announced the release of its 2023-2024 Legislative Biennium Report, highlighting the critical role of state-level policymaking in shaping the business landscape and economy of Vermont. The report underscores the essential need for active engagement and advocacy in Montpelier. "It is imperative that a diverse range of perspectives is included in the policymaking process. True innovation and balanced policy outcomes arise from collaboration—a practice central to the work of the Vermont Chamber."

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Vermont Business Magazine Sunset Lake Road runs along the eastern shore of Sunset Lake in Benson, VT. This scenic lake is a draw for recreational users, but the restricted nature of the public road along the lake’s narrow shoreline has resulted in multiple problems including an unstable and eroding shoreline, sediment and nutrient pollution into the lake from the gravel road, and little room for parking. There is a long history of attempts to address these ongoing issues along the Sunset Lake shoreline in a piecemeal fashion, but a more holistic, well planned, and long-term approach is needed to truly remedy these issues.