‘A new narrative’: Summit strategizes for thriving rural Southern Vermont

Photo: Kris Radder, Brattleboro Reformer

WEST DOVER — At the seventh annual Southern Vermont Economic Summit, business and community leaders looked at ways to create a strong future in the region.

“We need a new narrative for rural,” keynote speaker Chris Estes, co-executive director of the Aspen Institute Community Strategies Group, said at the summit Tuesday, held at the Grand Summit Hotel at Mount Snow. “We have to think about everything in this regional ecosystem. So we can have conversations about workforce or outdoor rec, or infrastructure or climate, but we’ve also got to have them together because they can end up pitting themselves against each other or working at cross purposes if we’re not all seeing the interconnectedness, seeing how they overlap and being able to resolve those differences.”

Read the full article in The Brattleboro Reformer

About the Southern Vermont Economy Project (SVEP)

Brattleboro Development Credit Corporation’s Southern Vermont Economy Project provides training and technical assistance to increase local capacity, skills, and resources in order to advance local projects critical to Southern Vermont achieving community, economic, and workforce development goals. SVEP is funded through the USDA Rural Community Development Initiative. For more information please visit: https://brattleborodevelopment.com/svep/