Sessions Announced for the Southern VT Economy Summit May 21, 2024 at Mt. Snow Resort in Dover, VT
photo credit: Kelly Fletcher
Southern Vermont community and business leaders: Plan to join hosts Brattleboro Development Credit Corporation (BDCC) and Bennington County Regional Commission (BCRC) at Mt. Snow in Dover, VT, on May 21 for the 7th annual Southern VT Economy Summit!
The agenda for the event is now live and can be found at www.sovermontzone.com/summit, along with a link to register.
The theme of this year’s Summit, “Meeting the Challenges of Tomorrow,” centers on the idea that identifying and planning for future challenges is critical to our region’s economic success.
Keynote speaker Chris Estes, co-executive director of the Aspen Institute’s Community Strategies Group, opens the event. Estes is a national rural development leader focused on equitable, sustainable, and holistic approaches to strengthening rural communities. He’ll share how thinking about rural economic development is changing at the national level, shaping strategies (and future policy decisions) to better fit the needs of communities.
Following the keynote address, hear from the team leading the ongoing update of our region’s Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS). Learn how the current plan has acted as a blueprint to help our region make progress on key metrics over the past five years, think about the new challenges we face, and hear the ways that you – as an economic stakeholder – can contribute to the update of this important regional plan.
Throughout the day-long event, breakouts will cover topics on a wide variety of subjects. Municipal leaders and planners will want to attend a session on how community planning efforts can help our towns undergo intentional change in the face of the increasing challenges posed by climate events. Business and community leaders can choose from a panel discussion about local efforts to leverage the food system for rural economic development, a workshop on how to define and build on your community’s unique assets, a discussion of how our outdoor recreation sector has used climate adaptation as a means to innovation, and an in-depth conversation about how to engage in more productive community dialogue on tough issues.
The final sessions of the day are set up as roundtables and interactive discussions where attendees can make connections with speakers, funders, and colleagues from across the state and region. We hope you’ll leave the Summit with a plan to put new ideas into action in your community, and a network to help you succeed!
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 M&T Bank, the UVM/Leahy Institute for Rural Partnerships, Vermont Agency of Commerce and Community Development, VELCO, Downs, Rachlin, Martin, The Richards Group, Vermont Economic Development Authority, Efficiency Vermont, Weston and Sampson Engineers, Community College of Vermont and Merritt and Merritt Law. Find a full list of sponsors at the Summit website, www.sovermontzone.com/summit.
