Publication: BDCC Celebrates 70 Years Serving The Windham County Community
This year, Brattleboro Development Credit Corporation celebrates 70 years of building jobs in Windham County.
To celebrate, BDCC updated a historic publication that marked a previous milestone: a 50th anniversary newspaper published in 2004 to celebrate half a century of accomplishments. The 70th anniversary retrospective adds the legacy of more recent staff, board members, and partners to that of our predecessors.
The 70th anniversary publication highlights the achievements that shaped BDCC into the “cornerstone of support and development” that is it today, working to “foster connections that have empowered countless individuals and organizations to drive economic growth in our region.” BDCC was formed to keep the Alan S. Browne printing company in Brattleboro. The founders were local business and town leaders who championed the cause in order to keep jobs and business from leaving the region. They issued a bond that helped Browne build a brand new Book Press on Putney Road. Corky Elwell, Brattleboro’s Town Manager from 1960-89, said of the Cotton Mill, “It really kept the lifeblood going because it was continuing to provide employment to folks. It retained the tax base. The building could have become useless,” he continues. “The good thing about BDCC taking over buildings in the area is that it keeps it on the tax rolls and keeps people employed.”
Since then, BDCC has worked on dozens of construction and infrastructure projects, and expanded to working in all of Southern Vermont. BDCC works on initiatives that take years and critical partnerships, like making broadband widely available to rural residents, or partnering with the Ethiopian Community Development Council to resettle refugees in Southern Vermont. BDCC’s work has evolved towards programming, like working with high school students throughout Windham to make sure they graduate with a plan.
However, staying true to our roots BDCC has continued with commercial real estate, the newest property project being the acquisition and redeployment of the Vermont Bread Building. Our core mission is to “invest in the drivers of the regional economy so that people, businesses, and communities in Southern Vermont can thrive”. BDCC will continue to work towards our vision of ensuring that “people who love Southern Vermont have an opportunity to thrive here.”
Thank you for being a part of this journey and “join us as we honor the past and look forward to the future though the stories, reflections, and experiences of our staff, Board of Directors, and Executive Committee.”
About BDCC
The Brattleboro Development Credit Corporation (BDCC) is a private, nonprofit economic development organization with the mission of investing in the drivers of the regional economy so that people, businesses, and communities in Southern Vermont can thrive. BDCC serves as the State of Vermont’s certified Regional Development Corporation (RDC) for the greater Windham County area (including Windham County and the towns of Readsboro, Searsburg, Winhall and Weston). BDCC is one of 12 RDCs throughout Vermont. BDCC activity is 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/
Southeastern Vermont Economic Development Strategies (SeVEDS) is an affiliate of BDCC that grew from a 2008 grassroots effort, initiated by BDCC, to understand and create long term strategies needed 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 received federal approval for the Windham Region’s federally recognized S.M.A.R.T. Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS). SeVEDS partnered with Bennington’s Regional Economic Development Group in 2018 to develop the 2019 Southern Vermont Zone CEDS. For more information visit: www.seveds.com
