Current News

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Changemakers Table is a cohort of young Vermonters seeking to drive positive change in Vermont and its communities through relationship building and collective action. The program is a collaboration between Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility (VBSR) and the Vermont Community Foundation (VCF) and has connected and empowered six cohorts of changemakers from across Vermont since its inception in 2016. The 2022-2023 Changemakers Table program will convene a group of 20 changemakers under the age of 35 with diverse backgrounds, occupations, and experience for a 7-month series of in-person and virtual gatherings to discuss challenges and opportunities facing Vermont communities and how to utilize levers of change within their spheres of influence.

by Michael Del Trecco, Interim President and Chief Executive Officer You've probably noticed a disturbing trend. Our hospital emergency departments (EDs) are stretched to their limits. This reality is not limited to any one hospital and sadly, this is anything but new. Since last year, hospitals have struggled to care for more and sicker patients and they have been doing so during an ongoing pandemic, while managing staffing shortages, and with fewer resources. To say this trend is unsustainable is a massive understatement.

Vermont Agency of Agriculture Food & Markets Are you a primary producer of farm or forest products looking for funds to support market development, research and design, infrastructure improvements, energy projects, or workforce training and development? Applications for the Working Lands Enterprise Initiative Primary Producer Impact Grant, funded by the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), will be available soon! The request for applications will be released on October 28th, and the application portal will be open from November 9 - December 16. The application is a two-stage process, and applicants who advance to the second round will be notified in early February 2023. The estimated project start date is early summer 2023.

by C.B. Hall, Vermont Business Magazine Three-plus months since Amtrak and the Vermont Agency of Transportation extended the northward reach of the Ethan Allen Express by 68 miles, from Rutland to Burlington, patronage on the train is exceeding expectations. The addition of the new mileage to the existing 200-mile New York City-to-Rutland route – roughly a 33% increase – brought with it a ridership boost of 51% in August, the new service's first full month, relative to ridership in August of 2019, the last pre-pandemic year. VTrans and Amtrak had projected that the extension would add 2000 to 2500 riders per month to the patronage, according to Dan Delabruere, director of the agency's Rail and Aviation Bureau.

Vermont Business Magazine A national cancer research event called Convergence will bring experts from around the country and the world to the University of Vermont October 24-27 to discuss interdisciplinary techniques to advance cancer treatment. The experts, along with UVM Cancer Center faculty, will present information about their cutting-edge cancer research. As part of the UVM activities, 100 students from five local high schools will attend a half-day “Careers in Cancer” event on October 24. Students will receive career advice from experts and observe faculty and students working in several of the university’s cancer research labs. The UVM event will consist of 24 lecture-discussions over four days attended by faculty, graduate students and postdoctoral trainees at the university.

Vermont Business Magazine On a hillside in Chittenden, Vermont, a 104 year-old family-farm surrounded by a forest of maples has earned the second annual ‘Fantastic Farmer’ title and a significant award of $5000 from the A.Pizzagalli Family Farm Fund at the Vermont Community Foundation. Jenna Baird of Baird Farm Maple was chosen to receive this special award for her commitment to sustainable agriculture, land-use diversity, and environmental stewardship. Jenna, her partner Jacob Powsner, and extended family also raise Christmas trees and cut flowers, as well as hosting a local beef cattle operation.

Vermont Business Magazine In recognition of National Veterans Small Business Week, please join the Center for Women & Enterprise and the Small Business Administration for a small business workshop for Veterans at 11 a.m. Nov. 3 at the Langevin House, 593 Furnace Street, in Randolph, Vt. A panel discussion will feature Vermont veteran-owned business owners sharing their entrepreneurial journey, challenges and successes, and what resources they used to start and grow their businesses.

by Bill Schubart Two weeks ago I wrote about extending gubernatorial and legislative terms from two-year to four-year terms. Since then, good friend and revered former State Archivist Gregory Sanford sent me a history of efforts to amend the Vermont Constitution that addressed the number of times such an effort has been tried and failed. Today’s screed addresses our stingy legislative compensation and support system. The Vermont legislature is a part-time (of which there are 14 nationally) legislature as opposed to a hybrid (26) or full-time legislature (10).

Vermont Business Magazine On November 3, the public is invited to participate in the first of a four-part series examining how racial inequities impact access to housing in Vermont. The initiative has been coordinated by the Vermont Housing & Conservation Board, working in partnership with Abundant Sun, Champlain Housing Trust, Downstreet Housing & Community Development, RuralEdge, Windham & Windsor Housing Trust, NeighborWorks of Western Vermont, NeighborWorks America, and Vermont Housing Finance Agency, with additional support from the Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston. The public speaker series has been developed by Abundant Sun, together with the Vermont Racial Justice Housing Jam, a committee of community members with lived experience and representatives from nonprofit housing organizations.

Vermont Business Magazine The Brattleboro Museum & Art Center (BMAC) invites creators of all ages to design and build original LEGO sculptures and display them at the 15th Annual LEGO Contest & Exhibit, taking place November 10 through 13, with an Awards Ceremony on November 9 at 5:30 p.m. This popular annual event is sponsored by G.S. Precision, Brattleboro Subaru, and Don Robinson Builder.

Vermont Business Magazine A ledger documenting the everyday activities of a Black woman living in a segregated neighborhood of Shreveport, Louisiana, after World War II is driving the research of the woman’s granddaughter – a fellow at Saint Michael’s College – by providing historical insight into the labor opportunities and practices available to Black workers at the time. Jolivette Anderson-Douoning, the Edmundite African American Fellow in the Saint Michael’s History Department and a PhD Candidate in the Purdue University American Studies Program, has used the ledger kept by her grandmother to inform part of her dissertation research. The North Louisiana native and former Jackson, Mississippi performance artist will present a public lecture titled “The Hands that Picked the Cotton: A Black Woman’s Labor as Acts of Liberation in Segregated Shreveport” about her dissertation chapter, “The Work (Labor) House,” during a free event on campus and via Zoom on October 25.