Current News

by Dan Smith, President and CEO, Vermont Community Foundation Wednesday, November 9, is “the day after” for all of us. I won’t hazard a guess about the landscape we will see that morning, nor do I subscribe to the oft-repeated refrain that “this election is the most consequential”—even though there may be good, objective evidence that it is. Every election is consequential because a functioning democracy requires care, attention, and restraint to sustain it. Turning every election into the “most important” may be effective for fundraising and turnout but it also accelerates the disaffection and disengagement among those who lose. When political loss feels eviscerating there is no incentive for concession or compromise. This is not to say the stakes aren’t high—they are—but as the stakes have risen and been amplified, our ability to remember that there is a “we,” beyond an “us versus them,” has been pushed further out of reach. The one guess I’d hazard is that few of us will wake up on November 9 more confident about the stability of our democracy than we were a decade ago. So, what can we do about it?

Vermont Business Magazine The US Department of Agriculture's Vermont Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) is accepting applications from landowners interested in restoring, enhancing, and protecting wetlands with financial and technical assistance through the Wetlands Reserve Easement component of the Agricultural Conservation Easement Program (ACEP-WRE). While applications for ACEP-WRE are taken on a continuous basis, the deadline to be considered for Fiscal Year 2023 funding is February 10, 2023.

Vermont Business Magazine Way back in 2014, a handful of staff and board members at the Vermont Electric Co-op launched the VEC Community Fund. The idea was to create a way for VEC members, if they so desired, to support non-profit organizations in the VEC region. In early 2015 with $646 in hand, the fund made its first two awards: one to Capstone Community Action and another to the Johnson Historical Society. Today, more than 2,600 VEC members support the fund, raising over $30,000 a year for grants. More than 80 different non-profits in the VEC area have received grants.

Vermont Business Magazine With branches across Vermont, Bar Harbor Bank & Trust employees recently presented more than $13,000 in donations collected in Q3 2022 through the Bank’s employee-driven charitable giving program, Casual for A Cause, to six Northern New England nonprofit organizations. The recipients of the donations are: Boys & Girls Club of Souhegan Valley (New Hampshire); Family Violence Project (Maine); NeighborWorks of Western Vermont (Vermont); Partners for Peace (Maine); Regional Medical Center at Lubec (Maine); and Women for Healthy Rural Living (Maine).

by Jill Olson, Executive Director of VNAs of Vermont Last week, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services released the final home health Medicare payment rule for calendar year 2023. The news is alarming. The rule temporarily blunts the immediate impact of the original proposal for a “permanent adjustment” (cut) but leaves it intact. A plan to claw back payments dating back to January 1, 2020 (a “temporary adjustment”) is still being considered. Put another way, at a time when home health and hospice agencies are responding to double digit inflation for wages, benefits and transportation, CMS is proposing to cut rates and keep Medicare spending on home health services nearly flat.

Vermont Business Magazine For the next two months, Gifford will remain a distribution site for Upper Valley Everyone Eats. The meals can be picked up between 5 – 5:30 pm at Gifford’s south parking lot, by the Gifford Green, on the fourth Tuesday of the month: November 22 and December 27. The frozen meals, provided by Global Village Foods, are available by reservation.

Vermont Business Magazine Type 2 diabetes is a serious disease that causes painful and debilitating complications like nerve damage, kidney disease, heart failure, and eye problems, to name a few. Learning more about diabetes and how to make important changes can help prevent these serious problems. The Diabetes Education department at Southwestern Vermont Medical Center and the Vermont Blueprint for Health have teamed up to provide a Diabetes Self-Management Workshop starting at 4 p.m. on Thursday, December 1, 2022, virtually via Zoom. The workshop offered to small groups by a specially trained leader. It is for people with type 2 diabetes. Classes meet once a week for 6 weeks. Each session is 2 ½ hours long. Through the workshop, participants will get the support they need to manage diabetes.

Vermont Business Magazine Cabot Creamery Cooperative and King Arthur Baking Company will host a mindfulness event on Friday November 11, at Harwood Union High School in Moretown, Vermont, to share their “Let Good Thoughts Rise” program with educators and eventually their students. Teachers will be led through a hands-on baking demonstration that shows how baking with a small group of students can be a great way to relax and improve focus. Cabot Creamery Cooperative and The Bake for Good Program at King Arthur Baking Company joined forces last March to create the “Let Good Thoughts Rise” program — an educational initiative that teaches kids how mindfulness can help them feel focused and relaxed as they move through the world.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Community Development Association (VCDA) announces its 2022 Fall Conference - The Changing Landscape of Infrastructure: New Challenges and Solutions. The annual event will take place at the Chandler Center for the Arts on Tuesday, December 6. A community’s infrastructure is the framework that supports and sustains the environment, sparks economic growth, and improves quality of life. Whether it be transportation, sewage and water, electric charging stations, recreation, or broadband – infrastructure is the foundation on which we organize our communities.

by Bill Schubart The Vermont healthcare system, infrastructure, and vision are broken, and Vermonters of all economic strata are the losers. The soul of the system is fine if you can afford it or access it when you need it. That is, the quality of care provided by medical staff from nurses to nurse-practitioners to physicians’ assistants to doctors is generally good. But a major legal tenet of healthcare is “standard of care,” which is early diagnosis and treatment. If a Vermonter can’t afford or get timely access to care, the existence of a healthcare system is meaningless to them. I have several male friends who, between their entry into the system seeking help and an eventual diagnosis of late-stage prostate cancer, waited from eight to 13 months because appointments were so hard to come by. What if any is the healthcare system’s liability?

Vermont Business Magazine Sugarbush Resort is coming off a summer and fall capital improvement initiative that saw over $10 million invested back into the mountain, one of the largest capital dollar influxes in recent history. Over half of those dollars were invested in snowmaking, including over 9 miles of new snowmaking pipe, where four separate projects look to significantly improve operations and the guest experience. The first project fixated on the beginner experience and overhauled snowmaking pipe and guns on Easy Rider and Pushover at Lincoln Peak. These improvements will allow for more efficient and faster snowmaking, thanks in large part to the installation of new KLIK hydrants. The second project was focused on the upper portion of Mt. Ellen, replacing pipe on terrain throughout the Summit area.