Southeastern Vermont Economic Development Strategies (SeVEDS) support requests will be on the Town Meeting warning in ten Southeastern Vermont towns this Tuesday March 4th. For the third year in a row SeVEDS is asking towns to support the regional effort at a $3 per person calculation.
The aging and declining population in the Windham Region has impacted the size and quality of the overall workforce, regional employers’ ability to grow, and the ability to maintain funding for quality of life priorities for residents. SeVEDS considers reversing this trend to be beyond the capacity of individual towns, and credits its regional board and regional funding with demonstrating that all towns in southeastern Vermont have a stake in growing the regional economy and workforce.
SeVEDS is an affiliate of the Windham Region’s Regional Development Corporation, BDCC. Its regional board of predominately private sector directors hailed from twelve towns in SE Vermont in 2013.
Since its legal formation in 2011, SeVEDS has focused on developing a comprehensive regional plan to reverse the economic decline in Southeastern Vermont while maintain the quality of place. In December of 2013 that plan, a federally recognized Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy, or CEDS, was finished. Also in December of 2013, the State of Vermont and Entergy announced a settlement which includes 10 million dollars in funding for Windham Region Economic Development efforts tied to CEDS projects implementation.
The 2014 municipal support will continue to be leveraged with existing state and BDCC financial support to staff execution of the Windham Region CEDS.
2011 and 2012 funding from the region’s municipalities has allowed SeVEDS to fund a Director of Workforce Development, facilitate the formation of the Windham Higher Education Cooperative, launch a new Internship Program and young professional networking events.
The SeVEDS strategies have also influenced and been influenced by business flood recovery work being done in the region since 2011, most notably in Brattleboro and the Deerfield and West River Valley towns of Wilmington, Halifax, Readsboro, Londonderry, Townshend and Newfane.
More information on SeVEDS can be found at www.seveds.com
Windham Region CEDS http://seveds.com/?p=506
Town meeting day by town list http://seveds.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Town-Participation-List-2014.pdf
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Laura Sibilia
Director Economic Development
Brattleboro Development Credit Corporation
76 Cotton Mill Hill
Brattleboro, VT 05301
www.SeVEDS.com
www.brattleborodevelopment.com
