Southern Vermont Economic Development Zone Entities to Pursue Federal District Designation
For immediate release September 12, 2022
Building off more than a decade’s worth of collaboration, four Southern Vermont Regional entities are pursuing federal designation by the U.S. Department of Commerce Economic Development Administration for Southern Vermont to become an Economic Development District or EDD. An EDD helps lead regionally driven economic development planning processes with the public, private and non-profit sectors to establish a strategic blueprint (CEDS) for regional collaboration.
The Southern Vermont Economic Development Zone, created by the Vermont Legislature in 2015, is made up of the forty-four towns within the boundaries of the Brattleboro Development Credit Corporation, the Windham Regional Commission and the Bennington County Regional Commission. The legislation created a nine-person Southern Vermont Economic Development Zone Committee, which was charged with submitting a report to the Secretary of the Agency of Commerce and Community Development and relevant legislative committees on addressing economic challenges in Southern Vermont. A key finding in the final report was the need to develop a 5-year federally recognized Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS) for the Southern Vermont Zone.
A CEDS is a federally-approved planning and action tool for strengthening a regional economy. It relies on a broad array of public participants to set realistic goals and, later on, to deliver measurable results. The first Southern Vermont CEDS was completed in 2019 and can be viewed at www.sovermontzone.com. The 2030 vision for the Southern Vermont Economic Development Zone is that it be home to a resilient, creative, and inclusive community in which businesses and people thrive and prosper.
There were five priority actions to achieve that vision that were identified through the 2019 public process:
- Increase our Population: Attract more people to live in Southern Vermont, to participate in the community, the workforce, and support the business and civic environment.
- Improve our Physical Infrastructure: Make the critical infrastructure improvements so that Southern Vermont is resident and business ready.
- Enhance our Social Infrastructure: Improve quality of life and stability for residents.
- Expand our Business Infrastructure: Create an environment that will encourage more jobs and opportunities in Southern Vermont.
- Develop our Economic Development Capacity: Enhance the ability for economic development professionals and partners to play a role in implementation.
The work to implement the CEDS is not assigned to any one partner, but is largely driven by the Southern Vermont regional planning and development entities – Brattleboro Development Credit Corporation, Windham Regional Commission, Bennington County Regional Commission and the Southeastern Vermont Economic Development Strategies effort. Annual reports on CEDS implementation can also be found at www.sovermontzone.com. The public processes for developing the 2024 Southern Vermont CEDS will begin over the Summer and Fall of 2023.
The proposed Southern Vermont Economic Development District (EDD) is a multi-jurisdictional non-profit entity, which will be recognized at the local, state and federal levels. The EDD will lead planning and development of the future five-year Southern Vermont Zone Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS) and coordinate funding and implementation for locally based and regionally driven economic development capacity and projects within the Southern Vermont Zone.
In order for an EDD to be established, a region needs to show broad support for the regional economic development planning efforts. The regional entities are reaching out to municipalities, employers and civic organizations this fall seeking support for the EDD designation.
The regional partners are planning to submit the request for designation in December of 2022. Please reach out to Jonathan Cooper at BCRC jcooper@bcrcvt.org or Laura Sibilia at BDCC lsibilia@brattleborodevelopment.com with questions.
