2024 Climate Catalysts Cohort
Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Council on Rural Development (VCRD) has welcomed fifteen participants to the 2024 Climate Catalysts Leadership Program from a strong pool of applicants. The 2024 participants from across the state will focus their time on the implementation of a local climate or energy project such as bringing community members together to determine the best use for a historic town hall, expanding wetlands for flood mitigation and ecosystem health, improving walking and biking options in a rural town, and more.
The Climate Catalysts Leadership Program allows participants to take their transformative, community-scale climate economy related projects to the next level by developing their concepts into reality while building peer connections, strengthening leadership skills, and receiving project development support.
The fifth class of the Climate Catalysts Leadership Program includes the following individuals and project locations:
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Dustin Bowman, statewide
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Georgina Carley, Brattleboro
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Bill Chidsey, Hardwick
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David Deen, Connecticut River Watershed
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Alec Fannin, Norwich
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Erika Faulkner, Burlington
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Luke Foley, Mad River Valley
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Denise Greene, Hyde Park
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Susannah Howard, North Thetford
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Johna Keefe, Johnson
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Michael Lazorchak, Stowe
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Anni Mackay, Rochester
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Fred Pond, Tunbridge
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Tristan Roberts, Halifax
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Laurie Wilson, Chittenden
Additional participant information and project descriptions can be found at https://www.vtrural.org/wp-
“The Climate Catalyst program continues to adapt to fit the needs that are present in local climate efforts. This year’s cohort will focus on coming together in person to connect across project types, and ignite common threads needed to develop equitable climate actions,” says Laura Cavin Bailey, the Climate Economy Program Manager. “The range of projects speaks to the multi-faceted approach necessary to develop climate economy solutions led by local champions.” With the fifth cohort, there are now 75 Climate Catalysts throughout the state working to progress community led climate economy projects. Find cohort biographies and project descriptions here and an interactive map here.
(Map shows the past five years of Climate Catalysts, Red=2020 cohort, Yellow=2021 cohort, Green=2022 cohort, Blue=2023 cohort, Purple=2024 cohort)
To learn more visit https://www.vtrural.org/
The Climate Catalysts Leadership Program is made possible with support from VLITE and other philanthropic foundations and generous donors of VCRD.
Vermont Council on Rural Development
The Vermont Council on Rural Development (VCRD) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the support of the locally-defined progress of Vermont's rural communities. VCRD is a dynamic partnership of federal, state, local, nonprofit, and private partners. Actively non-partisan with an established reputation for community-based facilitation, VCRD is uniquely positioned to sponsor and coordinate collaborative efforts across governmental and organizational categories concerned with policy questions of rural importance. The organization has successfully completed over 90 community visits, resulting in locally defined projects like new childcare centers, wastewater infrastructure, and downtown redevelopments.
Source: Montpelier, Vt - The Vermont Council on Rural Development
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