Current News

Vermont Business Magazine VSECU, a member-owned cooperative and not for profit credit union for everybody who lives or works in Vermont, is donating $23,000 to Vermont charities through its member-directed, charitable giving program, We Care 2. More than 4,600 VSECU members allocated the earmarked funds by casting votes for one of five charitable organizations that impact issues of food, shelter, heat, environment, or financial education for Vermonters.

“At VSECU, we believe in using our strength as a cooperative to leverage change on a number of levels: financial, environmental, and social. When we take care of our neighbors, it improves the quality of life for all Vermonters,” said Simeon Chapin, director of social and community development at VSECU. “The We Care 2 program empowers all of our members to make a positive impact on our communities by directly supporting the organizations they value, and helping them continue the work they do.”

Vermont Business Magazine Attorney General TJ Donovan announced today that his Office will be undertaking a statewide listening tour to engage older Vermonters about their most pressing concerns. Currently, over one-third of Vermonters are 55 and older. Many older Vermonters are thriving. Others suffer from financial insecurity, isolation, lack of access to needed care and services, and memory loss, among other challenges. Some suffer from neglect, exploitation, and abuse.

To better understand and respond to the most urgent concerns of older Vermonters, General Donovan has asked representatives from his Human Service, Public Protection, and Criminal Divisions to visit each of Vermont’s fourteen counties this April and May to explore the same two questions:

Vermont Business Magazine Champlain College Online, a leader in career-focused adult higher education, today announced that it will reduce its online undergraduate tuition by 50 percent to $318 per credit, effective Fall 2018. The not-for-profit college's decision to reduce tuition was driven in part by data from a survey it commissioned in November 2017. The Champlain survey found that a significant majority-60 percent-of U.S. adults ages 23 to 55 without a bachelor's degree have considered returning to school, but costs and student debt remain their biggest deterrents.

Vermont Business Magazine Dartmouth-Hitchcock hopes to improve the quality of care for people living with multiple sclerosis (MS), an incurable and debilitating disease of the central nervous system, through a three-year, national multicenter study of 5,000 people with MS. “MS is a progressive, disabling, costly and incurable disease that can cause a variety of physical and emotional challenges, including fatigue, pain and depression,” says Brant Oliver, PhD, MPH, APRN-BC, the principal investigator of the new Multiple Sclerosis Continuous Quality Improvement (MSCQI) Collaborative. “We are attempting an innovative approach using quality improvement methods to optimize evidence-based care for people with MS at system and population levels.”

Vermont Business Magazine The New Hampshire and Vermont Region of the American Red Cross and Co-operative Insurance Companies are once again honoring heroes in Vermont by celebrating “everyday people” and the heroic things they do in our community. The Everyday Heroes Awards are celebrated all over the country at which the American Red Cross honors people who personify our mission of service and help in local communities. Along with our title sponsor Co-operative Insurance Companies, the American Red Cross will honor local heroes at the 2018 Everyday Heroes Awards on April 11, 2018.

Everyday heroes are all around us – the good Samaritan who intervenes when someone is in an accident, or the watchful neighbor seeing a need in a community. These awards shine light on selflessness of heart and heroism of character.

An event like this couldn’t happen without the help and support of our sponsors:

Title Sponsor:

Vermont Business Magazine For the seventh consecutive year, Mt. Ascutney Hospital and Health Center (MAHHC) has received an Excellence in Worksite Wellness award from the Governor's Council of Physical Fitness & Sports and the Vermont Department of Health. The Governor's Council is a physical activity promotion and advocacy group comprised of approximately 20 volunteers, appointed by the Governor and representing a broad spectrum of Vermonters. This award recognizes MAHHC’s success in creating a workplace that promotes the health and wellness of its employees.

Vermont Business Magazine Citizens Bank Foundation provided Lund with a grant of $5,000 through the Colleague Funded Grant program. Funding for the grant came from donations to the foundation made by Citizens employees during its annual payroll giving campaign as well as $200,000 in personal donations pledged by the bank’s senior leadership team at the end of 2016.

Lund will use the grant to support initiatives integrated into programming that address fighting hunger; one of Citizen’s Bank priority funding areas.

Vermont Business Magazine Today, Mayor Miro Weinberger, Community and Economic Development Office (CEDO) Assistant Director Gillian Nanton, and Director of ReSOURCE YouthBuild Andrew Jope announced two initiatives to support Burlington’s workforce and businesses during the CityPlace Burlington (formerly Burlington Town Center) and other upcoming construction projects.

Vermont Business Magazine Small businesses leaders will be on hand at the State House on Wednesday to raise awareness about issues that support the small businesses and are vital to Vermont’s economy. Representatives from Main Street Alliance of Vermont, Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility and members from both organizations will be available to chat during a coffee bar meet and greet in the State House cafeteria in the morning.

Led by Rep. Bill Botzow, chair of the House Committee on Commerce and Economic Development and Sen. Michael Siroktin, chair of the the Senate Committee on Economic Development, Housing and General Affairs, the House and the Senate will take up resolutions in the afternoon that affirm the important role that small businesses plays in Vermont communities and the economy.

WHO: Small business leaders, Main Street Alliance of Vermont and Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility.

Vermont Business Magazine A state-by-state analysis released by a national advocacy organization for Tuesday's Equal Pay Day reveals that a woman employed full time, year-round in Vermont is typically paid just 86 cents for every dollar paid to a man – a yearly pay difference of $6,718. That means Vermont women lose a combined total of more than $1 billion every year to the gender wage gap. If it were closed, on average, a woman working full time in Vermont would be able to afford 50 more weeks of food for her family, more than nine additional months of mortgage and utilities payments, nearly one additional semester of tuition and fees for a four-year public university, nearly one year of tuition and fees for a two-year community college, more than seven additional months of rent or more than eight additional months of child care each year.

by Bob Bick, Howard Center CEO Beginning last summer Vermonters seeking medication assisted treatment for opiate use could access treatment almost immediately. While there may still be a delay in first appointment scheduling, what had been long waiting lists at the treatment centers known as hubs were all but eliminated. Around the same time, Vermont instituted new policies that limit opiate prescribing and encourage doctors and their patients to explore alternative pain management solutions. The result has been a dramatic reduction in the number of prescriptions written for opiates in Vermont.

In spite of these achievements, the number of deaths attributed to opiates in Vermont once again increased in 2017, albeit at a slower rate than in previous years.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont Mutual Insurance Group was recently awarded the 2018 Governor’s Excellence in Worksite Wellness Award by the Governor’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports. Each year the Governor’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports awards Vermont employers who promote a work environment that encourages and enables employees to improve their overall health. This is the eleventh year Vermont Mutual has been recognized by the state for its efforts in worksite wellness.

Worksite wellness brings numerous benefits for employees, as well as employers, including:

• Improved employee health and well-being

• Improved employee job satisfaction and retention

• Lower healthcare cost increases associated with lower employee health risks and improved health status

• Ability to affect workers’ compensation related expenses through integration of safety and health promotion