Current News

Vermont Business Magazine Funding is now available for Vermont organizations in the Brattleboro area through the Crosby-Gannett Fund grant program at the Vermont Community Foundation. The purpose of the Crosby-Gannett Fund is to support endeavors that contribute to the betterment and vitality of the Brattleboro area. The Crosby-Gannett Fund evolved its giving strategy last year and will now award a grant to one applicant annually. The grant term will be active for three years, and the grantee will receive $7,500 per year, totaling $22,500 over the three-year period. The goal of this model is to provide reliable capacity-building support to creative ideas and community-based organizations that will enable meaningful improvement in the Brattleboro area.

VermontBiz This month, Gifford Health Care recognized four employees with awards that celebrate and honor not only excellence in clinical care but also compassion. Gifford expanded on and encompassed the principles of the national DAISY nursing award program for its 2024 Employee Recognition Awards. Its Selection Committee received more than 70 nominations from across the organization for four awards: the DAISY Award, recognizing exceptional nurses; two BEE—Be Exceptional Everyday—Awards, one clinical and one non-clinical award; and a HIVE Award (Healthcare providers Impacting the lives of Vulnerable people Every day), awarded to physicians and advanced practice providers.

by Devon Green, VP of Government Relations, VAHHS We have officially achieved policy crossover. All of the policy bills that did not make it out of committee last week will not be moving forward. To see an updated bill tracker, go here. This week is the money week where both the appropriations and tax committees must pass out their bills, including the FY ’25 budget on the House side. Health Care Reform: The Senate Health and Welfare Committee did not advance S.151, the health care reform bill, so it will not move forward this session.

Vermont Business Magazine Just Getting By, a new documentary film by Bess O’Brien that takes an intimate look at the lives of Vermonters struggling with food and housing insecurity, will tour Vermont from March 22-April 12th, sponsored by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Vermont. The screenings will include an audience discussion with the director after the show. The film tells the stories of working families who are struggling with the high cost of living in Vermont, as well as those who are homeless and accessing food shelves and soup kitchens, and people who are living in temporary hotel and motel programs. In addition, Just Getting By zeros in on Native people creating innovative farming practices, and those in our communities who are providing housing, food security and social services to their fellow Vermonters in need.

Vermont Business Magazine VNAHSR provides training for those interested in becoming hospice volunteers. Training will be held on Friday, April 12, 2024 from 8am – 4pm at the Castleton Free Library, located at 638 Main St., Castleton, VT. Training is free and open to individuals 16 years of age and older. Volunteers need to pass a background check. No previous hospice and health care experience is required. Pre-registration is required. At the VNA & Hospice of the Southwest Region (VNAHSR), volunteers play a critical role in enhancing the end-of-life experiences of people facing serious illness and their families. Volunteers represent all life experiences and are drawn to hospice for a variety of reasons, but the defining characteristics that unite them are compassion and the desire to help others. 

Vermont Business Magazine The food system is complicated, and so are humans’ relationships to it. How can people improve on that relationship in ways that are ethical? And, what can be learned from humans’ efforts to improve that relationship so far? Saint Michael’s College will welcome Tyler Doggett, Ph.D., to speak about these issues as part of the annual Donald J. Sutherland Lecture Series on campus on March 19. His talk is titled, “Our Relationship to the Food System: It’s Complicated.” The event will be free and open to the public.  

Vermont Business Magazine Howard Center, in partnership with the South Burlington Rotary Club, invites the public to the 12th Annual Curling Classic fundraiser, on March 16, 2024, from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. The event is organized by the South Burlington Rotary Club and is an ongoing collaboration between Howard Center, Dragonheart Vermont, the Green Mountain Curling Club, the Rutland Rocks Curling Club, and once again, continues its annual tradition of goodhearted competition. The 2024 Curling Classic, held at Cairns Arena, will see participation from over thirty teams, bringing together individuals from various sectors of the community to curl for a cause. Last year's event successfully raised over $40,000 for Howard Center and several other organizations. 

Vermont Business Magazine Community Bank’s Bradford, VT, branch recently presented $15,000 to Little Rivers Health Care. This is the second $15,000 installation donated by Community Bank over the past two years, with the total donation coming to $30,000. These funds will go toward the organization’s Capital Campaign to support the renovation and expansion of the Wells River and Bradford clinics to create space for modern equipment and serve the increasing number and needs of patients.

SBA Vermont Vermont State University business students in collaboration with the Vermont Small Business Development Center (SBDC) are conducting a research study on the implementation of Artificial Intelligence (AI) by Vermont businesses. We would greatly appreciate your valuable insights. As a small business leader, your perspective on AI adoption and its impact on your business is highly valuable to us. Your participation in this survey will not only contribute to the advancement of our research but also provide us insight on how we might serve your needs better. The survey aims to explore various aspects of AI utilization, including current applications of AI in your business processes, challenges and opportunities associated with AI adoption, and expectations of the future value of AI in different business functions. 

Vermont Business Magazine As the Department of Vermont Health Access (DVHA) has previously reported, Change Healthcare, which operates Vermont's Medicaid pharmacy claims system, experienced a significant cyber security issue on February 21, 2024. DVHA would like to thank Vermont Medicaid members for their patience and express appreciation for the work of pharmacies and providers continuing to serve members during this outage. We are pleased to report that starting on March 18, 2024, pharmacy claims will begin processing again. Additionally, the Optum (parent company to Change Healthcare) helpdesk personnel are available to assist pharmacies with claims processing. Effective, March 18, 2024, providers and pharmacies may contact the helpdesk.

Vermont Business Magazine Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) announced on Monday that he secured more than $42.5 million in federal funding on behalf of 36 Vermont projects that address critical needs across the state, including in affordable housing, child care, infrastructure, clean energy and water, and rural development. The funding for Sanders’ Congressionally Directed Spending (CDS) projects was included in the first package of the Fiscal Year 2024 appropriations bills that passed the U.S. Senate on Friday, March 8 and was signed into law by President Biden the following day. The $460 billion package was passed in time to avoid a government shutdown of many key federal agencies.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Department of Public Safety and the State Police Advisory Commission today are releasing the seventh semiannual detailed summary of internal investigations involving members of the Vermont State Police. A report attached below contains synopses of the 15 matters that came before SPAC from Jan. 1, 2023, to June 30, 2023. The summary shows that of the 15 incidents, 11 arose as the result of a concern raised internally by members of the Vermont State Police, while four came to the attention of supervisors following a report from the community. Two incidents involved multiple troopers. Eleven troopers were found to have violated VSP policy. Three troopers were determined to have committed no policy violation. In four other cases, the troopers involved resigned before the internal investigation review process concluded.