Power In Numbers: Summit Registration Opens
Registration is now open for the Southern Vermont Economic Summit. This day-long event will be held on Thursday, May 28th at the Grand Summit Resort at Mount Snow in Dover, Vermont. Registration can be found at www.SoVermontZone.com. The theme is “Power in Numbers”.
The 2020 Summit will feature two outstanding keynote speakers. Josh Wright will talk about using economic data to understand and shape our future. Josh leads the economic and workforce development team at Emsi, a leading source of labor market data for communities, colleges, and companies. Emsi’s mission is to use data to inform and connect people, educators, and employers. Josh writes and presents on data best practices and emerging trends in economic development and regional workforce analysis, including recent work on analyzing regional skills clusters to market and match local talent to companies. Josh and his team assess regional talent supply, identify demand gaps, and help people find the right career paths.
Bill Drew, Founder and Chief Storyteller at Vermont’s Kipling Road, will provide the afternoon keynote. Bill believes everyone is a born storyteller, and that storytelling can help every community and organization in Vermont do better. He works with clients who have little or no training in storytelling to create a big library of small stories captures the essence of their unique story: “When we trust an audience to connect the dots, a full and rich picture comes to life.” After the keynote, Bill will provide an intensive afternoon workshop with highlights from the trainings he has delivered to help major organizations within and outside of Vermont increase their impact.
The Summit will also feature eight (8) different workshops geared to community, business and workforce development. The program addresses major economic and demographic concerns. Presenters will share new ideas and initiatives designed help retain and attract young Vermonters, employees and residents. Attendees can learn how to create a business growth strategy, or how to find new investment for community revitalization projects. Participants can work on storytelling for their organization’s growth, and hear real stories from new Vermonters. The day begin with a special connectivity breakfast focused on local broadband, include a celebration of the 2020 Emerging Leaders, and close with a roundup of the 2020 CEDS Projects.
Summit Sponsors are The Bank of Bennington and Brattleboro Savings and Loan. The Brattleboro Development Credit Corporation and Bennington County Regional Commission organize 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.
About the Southern Vermont Economy Summit
The Southern Vermont Economy Summit is an initiative of Brattleboro Development Credit Corporation’s Southern Vermont Economy Project (SVEP) works to stabilize, improve and expand the rural economic and workforce development network in Southern Vermont. Its goal is to increase capacity and collaboration among partnering organizations and communities. SVEP is funded by the USDA Rural Community Development Initiative, as a program of BDCC & SeVEDS. The Summit is an annual event which grew out of the establishment of the Southern Vermont Economic Development Zone, a special region encompassing Windham and Bennington Counties (plus the Town of Weston), authorized by the Vermont Legislature in May 2015. A Study commissioned at that same time called for the creation of a Southern Vermont Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS) which was completed this year and can also be found at SovermontZone.Com. For more information please visit: https://brattleborodevelopment.com/svep/
About the Southern Vermont Economy Project
The 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. In its second round of funding by the USDA Rural Community Development Initiative, SVEP 2.0 partners include; the Towns of Rockingham, Brattleboro and Bennington; the Windham Regional Commission; Southeastern Vermont Economic Development Strategies; Bennington County Regional Commission; Bennington County Industrial Corporation; Readsboro Hometown Redevelopment Inc.; and Bellows Falls Area Development Corporation. For more information please visit: https://brattleborodevelopment.com/svep/
About the Brattleboro Development Credit Corporation
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, Winhall 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. BDCC activities are made possible in part by a grant from the State of Vermont through the Agency of Commerce and Community Development. For more information visit: https://brattleborodevelopment.com/
About Southeastern Vermont Economic Development Strategies
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
About the Bennington County Industrial Corporation
Bennington County Industrial Corporation (BCIC) is a non-profit economic development corporation. It is overseen by a board of business people and professionals from throughout Bennington County, Vermont. Its office is in Downtown Bennington. BCIC’s mission is to promote quality jobs in Bennington County. It provides services and information to businesses, runs an industrial incubator, does development projects, and advocates policies that support its mission. For more information visit: www.bcic.org
About the Bennington County Regional Commission
The Bennington County Regional Commission created the Regional Economic Development Group (RED Group) in early 2017, in response to a directive from the Vermont General Assembly to establish a steering committee “to serve as the foundation for economic development work in the Bennington County region.” The RED Group meets monthly to review and discuss internal and external economic development issues that affect southwestern Vermont, consider the regional implications of local economic development issues, and pursue options for future initiatives across Southern Vermont.
About the Southern Vermont Economic Development Zone
The Southern Vermont Economic Development Zone was established by an act of the 2015 Vermont Legislature. The Zone convened a Committee which called on Bennington County and Windham County to develop a region-wide CEDS. For more information please visit: https://brattleborodevelopment.com/update-southern-vermont-economic-development-zone/
