Creating Southern Vermont Telecommunication Solutions
2nd Annual Southern Vermont Connectivity organizers to present in Dover November 30th
BRATTLEBORO— The Brattleboro Development Credit Corporation’s Southern Vermont
Economy Project (SVEP) has organized a Southern Vermont Connectivity Summit. This is
the second Connectivity Summit organized for Bennington and Windham County towns by
SVEP. The day-long event has been designed as a follow-up to last year’s summit, based
on feedback from participants and a survey sent to every town earlier this fall.
The Connectivity Summit will take place at the Grand Summit Resort at Mount Snow in
Dover, VT from 9am-3pm. This event is geared towards town managers, town
administrators, select board members and town-organized committees, but the event is also
free and open to interested members of the public. The day’s program is structured to assist
communities or groups of communities in improving their overall connectivity through
planning and collaboration.
The 2018 summit will consist of two tracks. The first track will include general connectivity
information and how towns can begin to get organized around telecommunications
infrastructure in their towns. The second track is for municipalities that already have a town
sanctioned effort. Second track participants will be able to sign up for 30-minute time slots
with Clay Purvis from the VT Department of Public Services, and with other program
representatives and telecommunications service providers including USDA Rural
Development, the Regional Planning Commissions, EC Fiber, FirstNet/AT&T and VELCO.
Agenda
Track 1: The first track will include connectivity information and how towns can get organized around these issues.
- 9:00a to 9:30a- “How to get organized” presentation by Laura Sibilia
(Director of Regional Economic Development Strategies and Programs at
BDCC) including a checklist of action items, understanding what you have
and where you have it, and understanding the options available to your town
- 9:30a to 9:45a- FirstNet Update
- 9:45a to 10:45a- Case studies
- 10:45a to 11:15a- “Survey for Residents” workshop
Track 2: The second track is for towns who have a town sanctioned effort.
- 10:45a to 11:15a- “Survey for Residents” workshop
- 11:15a to 12:00p: Lunch (Please pack a lunch or utilize the cafe at the Grand Summit Resort during this time)
- 12:00p- TBD: 30 minute one on one meetings with:
- Clay Purvis, VT Department of Public Service (technical advice)
- FirstNet and AT&T (update)
- EC Fiber: Carole Monroe (technical advice)
- VELCO: Mike Loucy
- Windham Regional Commission/Bennington County Regional Commission (technical advice)
- USDA Rural Development: Jon-Michael Muise (technical advice)
- Service providers:
■ Michael Birnbaum, Kingdom Fiber and Cloud Alliance (technical advice)
■ Jeff Austin, Consolidated Communication
■ Lisa Thorne, Verizon (invited)
■ Rebecca Duncan, Duncan Cable (invited)
■ Ernest Scialabba, SoVT Cable (invited)
■ VTel (invited)
■ Comcast (invited)
An immediate outcome of this summit will be a ready-to-implement survey that town leaders
can take back to their town and send to residents. The purpose of this survey will be to have
a shared understanding in each town of the residents’ broadband and their needs around
connectivity, allowing towns, groups of towns, regional and state entities, and providers the
ability better respond to critical infrastructure needs. This data will be collected and reported
back at the Southern Vermont Economic Development Summit on May 23rd.
To RSVP to this event, please contact Sarah Lang at slang@brattleborodevelopoment.com
ABOUT the Southern Vermont Economy Project
The Southern Vermont Economy Project (SVEP) is intended to stabilize, improve and
expand the rural economic and workforce development network in Southern Vermont. The
Brattleboro Development Credit Corporation (BDCC) received a USDA RCDI grant to
facilitate this two-year project to connect and expand economic and community
development work in the Southern Vermont Economic Development Zone. This project was
one on only 23 nationally to be awarded.
To grow a more resilient region, leaders in business, workforce & community development,
are convening to advance the economy of Southern Vermont.
Sarah Lang is the SVEP Manager and can be reached at
slang@brattleborodevelopment.com or 802-257-7731 ext. 222
About BDCC and SeVEDS:
The Brattleboro Development Credit Corporation is a private, nonprofit economic development organization that serves as a catalyst for industrial and commercial growth throughout Southeastern Vermont, including Windham County and the towns of Readsboro, Searsburg, and Weston. BDCC serves as the State of Vermont’s certified Regional Development Corporation (RDC) for the greater Windham County area. BDCC is one of 12 RDCs throughout Vermont.
For more information visit: https://brattleborodevelopment.com/
Southeastern Vermont Economic Development Strategies (SeVEDS) is an affiliate of BDCC that grew from a 2008 grassroots effort, initiated by BDCC, to reverse the economic decline of the Windham Region and plan for the economic impacts from the closure of the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant. In 2014, after multiple years of regional input, education and data gathering, SeVEDS submitted the Windham Region’s federally recognized S.M.A.R.T. Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy for federal approval. For more information visit: www.seveds.com
