Over 300 Southern Vermont community and business leaders, representing 160 different organizations from across the state and region, joined hosts Brattleboro Development Credit Corporation (BDCC) and Bennington County Regional Commission (BCRC) at Mount Snow in Dover, VT, on May 20 for the 8th annual Southern VT Economy Summit.
Materials from the event, including press coverage, session recordings, slide presentations, and photos, can now be found at www.sovermontzone.com/summit.
The theme of this year’s Summit, “Adapt and Thrive” was centered around the findings of the 2024 SoVermont Zone Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS), which stresses the need for our region to foster a shared culture of adaptation in the face of rapid economic, technological, and environmental change.
54 expert speakers and presenters bore this theme out across the day, starting with Keynote speaker Josh Wright of Lightcast, a global leader in labor market analytics. Wright, who is the Head of Growth for the Public Sector at Lightcast, began by presenting findings from the recent report, “The Rising Storm: Building A Future-Ready Workforce to Withstand the Looming Labor Shortage.” The presentation helped situate Vermont’s ongoing experience of demographic and workforce trends in a national context and provided insight into trends and solutions that will help us adapt ahead of the next bands of this demographic ‘perfect storm.’ Following the keynote address, attendees heard from local experts in the healthcare, construction and education sectors, who spoke about how their industries are already making key adaptations to the current workforce realities.
Following the plenary sessions, 16 breakouts took up all aspects of the Southern Vermont Economy. A popular session, titled “Your Local Economy: What is it? Do You Shape it, or Does it Shape You?” and led by BDCC Executive Director Adam Grinold, took a wide-angle view of our economy. Presenters State Treasurer Mike Pieciak, VT Futures Project Executive Director Kevin Chu, VT Center for Emerging Technologies President Dave Bradbury, and UVM Economist Emeritus Arthur Woolf led an engaging discussion about the drivers of the regional economy and levers for change.
Feedback from attendees stressed the value of an event that brings people together across sectors to take a deep dive into supporting a thriving economy in Southern Vermont. When asked, “What is your biggest takeaway from this year’s SoVT Economy Summit?” responses included: “Be strategic, patient, and invite everyone to the table,” and “I’ve been glad to see the intersection of so many sectors together.”
BDCC and BCRC host the Summit on behalf of the Southern Vermont Economic Development Zone. The Summit is part of the Southern Vermont Economy Project, which helps build capacity, expertise and resources in the Zone, with support from the USDA Rural Community Development Initiative.
The Summit is made possible in part by this year’s Summit Sponsor Brattleboro Savings and Loan, keynote sponsor MSK Engineers and session and special event sponsors Vermont State University, the Vermont Agency of Commerce and Community Development, M&T Bank, the UVM/Leahy Institute for Rural Partnerships, VELCO, Weston and Sampson Engineers, Community College of Vermont, Vermont Community Foundation, The Richards Group, Vermont Economic Development Authority, Efficiency Vermont, the Vermont Community Loan Fund, Stevens and Associates/M&S Development, the Better Business Bureau of New England, and Merritt and Merritt Law. Find a full list of sponsors at the Summit website, www.sovermontzone.com/summit.
