Vermont Business Magazine Following years of planning and development with the Southeastern Vermont region’s business and non-profit community, residents and municipalities, the work of developing the Green Building and Services Economy in the Brattleboro area is under way. The work began with the development of the region’s federally recognized strategic economic development plan (CEDS), and continued through a lengthy funding process with Vermont state and federal partners. On Wednesday, December 9, Southeastern Vermont Economic Development Strategies (SeVEDS) and Brattleboro Development Credit Corporation (BDCC) will convene approximately 50 businesses, organizations, local and state government officials for a series of initial workshops during the official launch of the region’s Green Economy Cluster project.
SeVEDS and BDCC have been reaching out to leaders in construction, design, finance, sustainability, education, policy, real estate, insurance and more from throughout the greater Southern Vermont Region. Participants will focus on refining the vision, goals, brand identity and creating the guiding principles of the cluster. This first in a series of four Milestone meetings will lay the groundwork for the additional research and strategy testing to see if the region can establish a national center for excellence in green building, energy, financing, and systems. The December 9 cluster kick off meeting will be led by consultant Frank Knott of ViTAL Economy, Inc (VE) and local partners Building Green and the Resilient Design Institute. The meeting space is sponsored and provided by Marlboro College Graduate and Professional Studies.
The Green Economy cluster analysis will test three initial hypotheses or strategic directions for the region:
1. Establishing a National Green Building Systems Knowledge Center of Excellence for the sustainable and resilient built environment that attracts talent, businesses, investment and visitors.
2. The region can achieve increased exports, higher wages and new employment by focusing on green building and energy research, product development and manufacturing with a systems rather than a component focus.
3. The green building markets have a barrier in finance, assessment and appraisal services. The GB cluster can develop creative finance solutions designed to accelerate adoption of green building products and services across the US, creating high wage financial services jobs in the region.
The Green Building and Service industry cluster analysis is a 14-month initiative designed to engage and include community, business and nonprofit leaders from the region that are involved or have expertise in green economy. The initiative will consist of multiple milestone events, action teams and sharing of information within four milestone elements.
Milestones include:
#1 Recruitment and development of cluster leadership and foundation research,
#2 conduct primary research, test hypotheses, select niche markets,
#3 finalize niche market research and select 9-12 business case opportunities,
#4 quantify long-term opportunity value with a implementation and sustainability plan.
SeVEDS and BDCC are currently recruiting leadership team members to further develop the vision and scope of the Green Economy cluster opportunities including helping to connect and identify local, national, and international contacts to the cluster. The current Cluster Leadership Team includes members from Brattleboro Savings and Loan, Berkley Veller & Greenwood Country Realtors, Building Green, Keene State College, Marlboro College Graduate and Professional Studies, Stevens & Associates, and Green River.
Project History
In August 2015 SeVEDS and BDCC announced that a high priority set of projects from the 2014 Windham Region Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy S.M.A.R.T. (CEDS) had been fully funded and were ready to be implemented. Funding for the Green Building and Services Cluster Analysis and the Southern Vermont Business Accelerator has been awarded by the US Department of Commerce Economic Development Administration (EDA) and the Vermont Agency of Commerce and Community Development’s Windham County Economic Development Program . The funded project, officially titled, “Accelerating the Green Building Cluster in the Tri-State Region,” will also assess the opportunities for strategic alignment of elements of the Windham Region S.M.A.R.T. CEDS with the Franklin County, MA and Cheshire County, NH CEDS. The Tri-State Region project was proposed as a specific strategy for greater coordination of resources to mitigate the economic impacts of the closure of the Entergy nuclear power plant in Vernon, VT.
ViTAL Economy (VE) previously worked with SeVEDS from 2012-2014 across the 27-town Windham region to develop the asset based S.M.A.R.T. CEDS. They engaged hundreds of community leaders in identifying indigenous regional assets that could be the foundation for growing industries and identifying sectors that could provide high wage job growth opportunities to offset the loss of the 600 high wage jobs that resulting from the closure of the Entergy Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant.
To keep track of the progress or to contact the Green Economy Cluster team, visit the BDCC website http://brattleborodevelopment.com/economic-development/projects/greeneconomy