Vermont Business Magazine One year after devastating flooding to much of Vermont, another storm event has caused significant damage across the state and some in Johnson. With this stark reminder of repeated flooding events as the backdrop, plans are moving ahead for a long term flood recovery convening in Johnson that will gather input on the future, as well as hold space for community members to reflect on their current and past experiences with flood response and recovery.
On Monday, July 22nd, the Vermont Council on Rural Development (VCRD) in partnership with local volunteers invite all members of the Johnson community, including those displaced from the July 2023 flooding and impacted in the 2024 flooding, to come together for community forums and a free community dinner. In addition, this event will provide the opportunity to be an active participant in assessing the current status of community resilience and sharing flood recovery ideas for the future of Johnson.
The goal of these forums is to bring together all Johnson residents, organizations, business owners and partners in an open, inclusive dialogue to build connections, develop a self assessment of resiliency, and identify actions for flood recovery and future efforts. This event is the first step of the Re-Imagine Johnson process — a three-part series of facilitated discussions coordinated by the Vermont Council on Rural Development (VCRD) to brainstorm ideas for the future, identify top priorities for Johnson, and connect to key resources to take action.
The first event on July 22nd will begin with a community conversation on challenges, assets, visions for the future and ideas for action. Then we will break for a community dinner followed by an interactive process that invites participants to identify the community status in terms of basic needs & services; physical infrastructure; environment & natural systems; community connections & capacity.
The event will be held at the Johnson Elementary School gymnasium, 57 College Hill Rd. Schedule for the evening:
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4:30-6:00 pm – Community Resilience Conversation and Ideas for Action
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6:00-7:00 pm – Free community dinner catered by Two Sons with live music by the Ukeladies Duo and an open mic
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7:00-8:00 pm – Basic Needs & Services
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7:00-8:00 pm – Community Connections & Capacity
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8:00-9:00 pm – Environment & Natural Systems
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8:00-9:00 pm – Physical Infrastructure
Can’t join in person? Watch the 4:30 pm Community Discussion via live-stream and/or join a separate Zoom forum at 7-8 pm. Find the link to join at bit.ly/re-imagine-johnson.
The Vermont Council on Rural Development, a neutral facilitator invited by the Johnson selectboard, will facilitate the process to hear your ideas, decide on priorities, and then help connect to resources to move them forward. VCRD is a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to the advancement of Vermont communities. In the past 20 years, VCRD has worked with over 85 communities across the state to bring residents together through its facilitated and structured process to share ideas and move toward common solutions.
Community members can also share their ideas through an online survey. More details on the event and the survey can be found at bit.ly/Re-Imagine-Johnson. Childcare will be provided during the community conversation and forums. Anyone needing help with transportation to the event should contact Laura at VCRD at (802) 234-1646.
Steps two and three of the three-step process will take place on September 10th and October 9th when community members will come back together to review the Community Resilience Assessment outcomes, champion action ideas, set priorities, and begin to take action on the top priorities or initiatives. A team of technical and financial resource providers will join the community in the final step to help support the work to create action plans to move the priorities forward.
For more information, visit bit.ly/Re-Imagine-Johnson, or contact Laura Cavin Bailey at VCRD at 802-223-1646 or [email protected].
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 import. The organization has facilitated over 85 Community Visit processes, resulting in hundreds of locally defined projects including new childcare centers, wastewater infrastructure, downtown redevelopments, and much more.
Source: 7.16.2024. Vermont Council on Rural Development
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