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2015CEDSRegionalUpdate

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2015CEDSRegionalUpdate

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SeVEDS Board Meeting Minutes for April 16, 2015 Meeting | 2:00-4:00pm

In Attendance:  Martin Langeveld, Bill Colvin, Peter Yost, Jill James, Meg Streeter, Susan McMahon, Drew Richards, Adam Grinold, Patrick Moreland, Lisa Sullivan, Bob Stevens, Dutch Walsh

Regrets:  Laura Sibilia (on the House Floor), Ann Andreasatos, Jeremy Haskins, Konstantin Von Krusenstern, Cynthia Stoddard

The Usual Business

• Welcome and Gathering

Alex Beck, new Young Professionals Coordinator was introduced to the Board and spoke about

• Approve Minutes

Page 2, additional partner to be added to the minutes from March meeting for the CEDF project.

Motion by Meg, Second by Lisa.  Approved.

• Review and Approve Financials (Jill James)

Motion by Lisa, Second by Peter  (Jodi and Jill will ensure that the financial print outs are a bit more efficiently laid out for minimal paper usage!)

• Fundraising/Grant/Budget discussions
  • EDA – Waiting and seeing, could hear in the next two weeks – we’re hopeful!
  • WCEDP update (Adam)

Susan and Adam were met in Montpelier with Pat and Dutch via phone.  They thought there would be a funded position included.  The timeline for revisions to their proposal was too quick.  The State opened this meeting saying that the funding was out and the reboot was going to be a very similar program.  There will be grants for nonprofits, defining what the project priorities are with much more specific guidelines.  The final decision on who gets funded still lays with the Governor with BDCC/SeVEDS and WRC involved as partners in the vetting process.

• CEDF (Peter)

Launched the Windham Wood Heat initiative with a press event on 4/15/15 at Academy School.  The whole school was outside with the governor for the announcement since Academy School is the first project to move forward with the replacement wood pellet fired heating system.  Peter thanked Jodi for standing in for Adam to present the BDCC/SeVEDS comments on the announcement.  $75,000 will go to the project for Academy School.  Schools have a very narrow timeline for the projects given how long summer vacations are.

Building Green, Northern Forest Center & SEON will serve as the executive team for the projects coming in.  Andy Perchlik from CEDF will come in to help with any conflicts or challenges. SEON’s capacity will be greatly increased from being a “vapor” organization into a working organization with administrative capacity.

• Towns (Adam)

There is a meeting set for Brattleboro to consider funding for SeVEDS at the $3 per citizen rate.  Adam will know more by the next board meeting.

• State Funding (Workforce Development) –

The $25,000 from the state should be coming in after a few more minor edits happen to the mid-year report.

CEDS and FY ‘15 Board Priority Area Updates

• General CEDS –
  • Planning for full CEDS meeting at May meeting
    • Invites out by April 24
• CEDS Objective 1: Act Regionally
  • Board 2015 Priority: Communications Plan
    • Seeking assistance from an intern to help with writing & comm plan
    • Applying for a USDA RBEG grant to boost communication for group; should help us with planning whether or not we get the grant
    • Communication plan in draft form; Laura, Adam and Jodi to look at in more depth before bringing to board
• CEDS Objective 2: Create an entrepreneurial environment and culture to enhance existing business and grow new business.
  • Board 2015 Priority: SoVT Business Accelerator
    • Jodi working on asset map
• CEDS Objective 3: Improve wage parity with the surrounding laborshed
  • Board 2015 Priority: Green Building
    • Tracking idea pitched at Lt. Governor session on Housing First
    • Green building team met Wednesday at BDCC to talk about projects  and direction (Jodi and Peter)

The Green Building CEDS Committee spoke about the merit of producing a product line to help address the homelessness issue with some form of high performance manufactured tiny house.  Peter mentioned that there is an opportunity for us to be the makerspace for testing/prototyping the type housing that would be the best kind of product.  The funding for these ongoing Housing First projects is a challenge with all of the continued services needed to support these communities.  Susan is bringing Rosanne Haggerty with Community Solutions to speak to innovative ideas for addressing homelessness to come to the region.

When the cluster analysis happens, will Housing First be something that fits into the priorities?  Drew sits on the Windham/Windsor Housing Trust which is exploring micro-apartments and other options.  Susan mentioned that there was a State housing needs assessment done which is very comprehensive.

• Health Care Cluster met with CCV to talk about training workers; excited to keep meeting with each other on a quarterly basis
• Tech Cluster folks have been meeting with workforce development and guidance counselors
• CEDS Objective 4: increase the size and quality of the workforce
  • Board 2015 Priority: Workforce Development and Internship Program
    • Jan has placed more interns in the last quarter than in all of last year
    • WHEC is really excited to keep building on this program, and to move to exploring the full potential of cross registration
    • Website has been completed w/ a intern (show and tell)
    • Workforce development updates (Dutch)

Meeting happened on Tuesday, April 14th.  Will have SEVCA come and present about the population of the workforce that we have not traditionally worked with.  The committee is currently reevaluating their goals and mission.  Looking also at where resources should be spent, on the school programming and on the relationship with employers.  They are looking at possible staff capacity on coordinating programming between all the schools and the employers.  Also pursuing creation of videos for businesses who are willing to do this to help promote the career pathways offered at their businesses.  These would be created by and for students.

• CEDS Objective 5: Retain and attract younger talent through engagement linkages, lifestyle amenities, and meaningful career opportunities
  • Board 2015 Priority: SoVT Recruiting
    • New YP Coordinator Alex Beck

• Scheduling April event at Hermit Thrush
• Working on grant with Jodi for YP
• CEDS Objective 6: Develop immediate, VY-specific workforce and site impact mitigation strategies prior to its 2014 closure.
  • Laura did a site visit in her legislative capacity

*CEDS Committee will be invited to come to the May Board meeting to approve the CEDS update and workplan.  

Substantive Discussions

• Branding exercise (Adam)

If you were to think of SeVEDS as a Vehicle and as an Animal, which ones would it be and why?

If you were to think of BDCC as a Vehicle and as an Animal, which ones would it be and why?

The idea is to create some clarity between the two boards about what each does and how they interact, what is different, what they collaborate on, etc.

• Work plan priorities for next year (Ariel)
  • Small group to help Laura

Rather than form a subcommittee, the board took on the task of reviewing and making suggestions during the final portion of the meeting.

Workforce development as a priority.  All of the sectors have the same concerns about the workforce.  Problems attracting the engineers, spouses can’t find a job, or single engineers can’t find a good social scene.  Software developers.  Immigration strategy.  How do we attract the intellectual capital that will fill the positions we need to grow our businesses, particularly in Tech Manufacturing.

The other positions hard to find are salespeople.  Skilled salespeople for larger sales force positions.

3:  Private fundraising campaign needs to happen.  Dutch offered to bring someone in from Keene State to assist with developing and framing. Create a private collaboration to work on this, financial institutions, companies, etc.

2.  Technical working group.  It was a good meeting, and then it got dropped.  Institute an actual working culture, but there needs to be a reason to come together.   It is also a really challenging task that should have some specific actions.  Grammatically, it doesn’t really flow or guide actions clearly.

Do we get derailed too much by emergent items?  Also, how realistic is this plan given how many items we were not able to even start accomplishing?  Seems we need to be more pragmatic in our workplan creation.

6.  Dutch would like to assist with creating the group to be the Tech. Manufacturing cluster group. Also Bob is willing to assist.

10.  Is completed and now we need to move on with the actions resulting from the information.

There should be a summary of what did get accomplished.  The Workforce items should be collapsed into fewer items.  It looks like there are really only 6-8 Activities rather than 19.

Did 12 happen?  That is a BiTown initiative.  We should keep it as something we are looking at.

Communications Plan

Southern Vermont Business Accelerator

What is left to do in 3 months?  And what gets rolled into 2016?

Susan, Dutch, Peter, Bob all want to get to the Tri County meeting.  Jodi will ensure they are on the RSVP list.

There is also a Welcome Home Laura! Dinner at the Marina on Thursday, May 14th from 5pm-7pm.  All are welcome!  Jodi will send out Google Event Invitation.

The next Board Meeting is Thursday, May 21st.

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SeVEDS Agenda for March19th Meeting | 2:00-4:00pm

In Attendance:  Adam Grinold, Jill James, Dutch Walsh, Lisa Sullivan, Jodi Clark, Meg Streeter, Peter Yost, Martin Langeveld, Jeremy Haskins, Bob Stevens

Bobbi Kilburn (later in the meeting)

Regrets:  Ariel Brooks, Drew Richards, Anne Andreosatos, Cynthia Stoddard, Konstantin von Krusenstiern, Patrick Moreland, Laura Sibilia (was on the VT House floor)

The Usual Business (30 min)

• Welcome and Gathering:

Jill James served as meeting chair  in place of Ariel.

• Approve Minutes:

Meg moved to approve the minutes.  Dutch seconded.  Approved unanimously.

• Review and Approve Financials

Reviewing both January and February simultaneously.  Funding from the State, including funding which has been promised for this year, is currently at risk.  The legislature is currently reviewing all funding commitments, including funds which have already been promised to us.

Lisa moved to approve both sets of financials.  Meg seconded.  Approved unanimously.

• Fundraising/Grant/Budget discussions – Executive Session

Executive session occurred.  Executive session concluded at 2:15pm

-Adam Introduced Bobbi Kilburn, BDCC CDBG/Grants Manager to the Board.  Bobbi sat in on the rest of the meeting to become more acclimated with SeVEDS scope of work

• EDA – (Adam & Laura)

The application was submitted.  The tri-county partnership with Franklin and Cheshire County newly included with this application warranted an increase of our ask to over $500,000.  We engaged the assistance of an outside grant-writer, Jennifer Stromsten from Franklin County,  in order to accomplish the writing under such a tight deadline (March 12).  Given the guidance we were given from Senator Leahy’s office, we pushed forward with engaging the tri-county partnership for this grant.   By engaging the RDCs from all three regions, our grant proposal would further launch forward the partnership work which has begun around the VY closure and the impacts to our shared laborshed region.

• WCEDP update (Adam)

Adam has done a lot of work bridging some of the tension between Brattleboro and BDCC around this funding.  (Windham County Economic Development Program WCEDP)

• CEDF (Peter)

Clean energy development fund.  There was a meeting this morning to go through details of the project.  The final details are down to the Governor’s office deciding how to handle the announcement.  The press release event for the official announcement will likely occur in the next two weeks.  1.6 million dollar contract to provide assistance to towns and schools to move to biomass or pellet boiler systems.  There had not been guidance on how this money should be allocated within the scope of the work.  Towns had wanted the money directly.  However, the State felt that states did not have enough capacity or knowledge to implement the work well.  Thus, the creation of the program and the RFP.  This partnership includes SEON, Building Green, Windham Regional Commission, Ironwood Brand, Jeff Forward, Forward Thinking and

Charlie Niebling, Innovative Natural Resource Solutions  Amended 5/20/15

.  The SEON communication with Northern Forest and Laura was essential to making this happen.  The project is in fact a go minus the final word from the Governor’s office.  This work aligns very well with the Green Building cluster analysis and development.  SEON will go from being an unfunded, mission driven association to being a funded entity co-managing a large state project.

Because some of the types of companies that will be needed do not exist, there will be an urgent need to encourage new business efforts in the wood chip/pellet production industry.  This backs up our work with the Accelerator and further strengthens the case for having a Green Building cohort be the first cohort that runs through an Accelerator program.

In our efforts in collaborating with Windham Regional to support SEON, we also strengthened our relationship with them

• Towns

Putney:  Full Funding as requested $8,106

Grafton:  Did not fund  (our representative was ill and could not go to present)

Londonderry:  Did not fund  (our own oversight in coverage for presenting, Adam and Laura will be visiting their Selectboard meeting in May after the Legislative session)

Rockingham:  Full Funding as requested  $15,856

Dover:  Full Funding at requested $3,372

Wilmington:  Full Funding as requested $5,628

Total Approved Funding in Town Meetings for FY16:  $32,962

• State Funding

CEDS and FY ‘15 Board Priority Area Updates (35  min)  :

This section was skipped, as per Jill’s recommendation

• General CEDS –

• Planning for full CEDS meeting in May

• CEDS Objective 1: Act Regionally

• Board 2015 Priority: Communications Plan

• CEDS Objective 2: Create an entrepreneurial environment and culture to enhance existing business and grow new business.

• Board 2015 Priority: SoVT Business Accelerator

• CEDS Objective 3: Improve wage parity with the surrounding laborshed

• Board 2015 Priority: Green Building

• CEDS Objective 4: increase the size and quality of the workforce

• Board 2015 Priority: Workforce Development and Internship Program
  • Slew of data collected from middle and high schools

• CEDS Objective 5: Retain and attract younger talent through engagement linkages, lifestyle amenities, and meaningful career opportunities

• Board 2015 Priority: SoVT Recruiting and Marketing

• CEDS Objective 6: Develop immediate, VY-specific workforce and site impact mitigation strategies prior to its 2014 closure.

Substantive Discussion Moving to Action Steps (40 min)

• Budget and fundraising build out for major projects for the next three years

Discussion about project funding vs. organization funding.  Lisa would like for us to look at our operational budget as well as the project budgets.  Private fundraising is easier for specific projects rather than for the overhead of SeVEDS.  Town funding currently would be supporting the workforce work.  However, we need more stakeholders who are more deeply invested in SeVEDS.

The WHEC is something that we can offer for an investment opportunity.  Keene State College is an organization to consider approaching for collaboration.  What do we have to sell?  What is the service we offer to businesses which they might invest in?  There is a need to have a robust partnership with a college in order to support our efforts with the Accelerator.  The WHEC will be reassessing their charge with the Presidents meeting on April 8th.  Showing the value of the internship program for their enrollment, and having them understand their role for economic development and workforce development.  Transportation is a huge barrier which impacts many aspects of workforce/economic development.  The transportation issue is definitely something we should be engaging in further conversation with community partners.

Time was given to explore the model of 1Berkshire.  It is a model for an innovative collaboration between tourism, business development and arts sector.  Businesses were led by Berkshire Bank which said they would like to fund these organizations on a multiyear basis.  These entities need to move together and look for efficiencies in how they operate as well as mutually reinforcing activities in economic development.  Berkshire Bank donated a building for them to all move into (co-working space).  The funding came together from all the major employers, including major arts entities such as the Clark, MassMoCa, manufacturers, etc.

If there is leadership in the business community to form a consortium to fund projects on a multiyear projects such as SeVEDS, is there a way we could create a form funding entity/partnership that commits to funding economic development in our region?  Is this something we want to explore?  Who would we we explore this with?

Perhaps start with talking with the local banks.  The banks are fearful of the current economic climate and the economic sustainability of the region.  There has not yet been a conversation with all of these entities with the economic development leadership.  If the banks sit and commit to this conversation, they can then engage their clients in the conversation, who are large corporation.  Southern VT Marketing project could be the common denominator/linking topic for them all.  We might want to consult with a fundraising expert to help us think about raising the money for the Southern VT Marketing staff person.

Is there a way to have the businesses buy into services?  Can we charge fee for service for them to have them better understand what their dollars will pay for?  Internships, workforce development, etc.

Dutch would be happy to meet with Ken Noble, the Director of Fundraising at Keene State who might be a good resource for thinking about the fundraising topic.  Dutch will do this before the next board meeting.

Other Business / Announcements (15)

Bob Stevens:  Went to a dinner at Redevelop Springfield, MA.  At the forum, he met the leader of their business mentoring/accelerator program.  Valley Venture Mentors  http://www.valleyventurementors.org/  Martin and Jodi have also been looking at this group as a model for our Accelerator.  There is a strong desire to look more closely at them, take a field trip down/invite them up to learn and network with them.  (another Accelerator that Jodi & Martin have been looking at is AlphaLoft based in Manchester, NH  http://alphaloft.org/)

Martin:  There are 65 participants in the Business Plan competition.  There is a strong need for business mentors.  If anyone would be willing to serve, please contact Martin.  They are currently in their phase one, business model description.  They now need to test their ideas and talk to others about it.  By April 30th is the due date for this process to be complete.  The finalists will present their final presentations to the panel and the Governor on June 24th.

Adam:  There will be a motorcycle “Road Pitch” happening again in the summer through Fresh Tracks Capital, Cairn Cross is the founder.  BDCC will partner with the Stroll on the application.  The location could be River Garden.

Adam moved to adjourn at 3:40pm.  Meg seconded.

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Southeastern Vermont Economic Development Strategies to Host Regional CEDS Update Meetings

Southeastern Vermont Economic Development Strategies (SeVEDS) will host four regional meetings to update members of the community about the progress toward implementing the Windham Region’s federally recognized Comprehensive Economic Development Strategies (CEDS).  Anyone from any part of the Windham region is welcome to attend any of the sessions regardless of their town of residence.  Each of the meetings will be 90 minutes long and include a short presentation with an overview of project work from 2014-2015 and a longer question and answer period. The first meeting will be in Londonderry on Tuesday, May 26th at 4pm in the Town Office Meeting Room 100 Old School Street in South Londonderry.  The second meeting will be in Wilmington on Wednesday, May 27th at 8am in the Town Hall Meeting Room.  On Thursday, May 28th, we will have a meeting in Brattleboro at 8am at the Brattleboro Retreat Education Conference Room and in Bellows Falls at the Town Hall Lower Theater at 4pm.  Please RSVP to Jodi Clark, SeVEDS Project Manager at jclark@brattleborodevelopment.com or call 802-257-7731

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For more information contact Jan Coplan Internship Coordinator at jcoplan@brattleborodevelopment.com

www.sixcolleges.com

The Six College Collaborative Launches Website

The Windham Region- The Six College Collaborative formerly known as The Windham Higher Education Cooperative recently launched their very own website www.sixcolleges.com featuring local paid internship opportunities for college students, information about cross registration amongst the six participating colleges as well as community offerings at the various college campuses. The collaborative includes Community College of Vermont, SIT Graduate Institute, Vermont Technical College, Landmark College, Marlboro College and Union Institute and University.  The six colleges’ website was built by a Vermont Technical College intern, Emily Purcell, under the direction and supervision of Jason Coplan owner of DC WebPro. The website provides a centralized location and database for the collaborative to promote and provide detailed information about all that they do as a “communiversity”. Created with the perspective of a current college student the site is user friendly and easily navigated. It features links to each of the six institutions, social media links, a list of community events at each of the participating campuses as well as enrichment opportunities for staff and faculty.

The SeVEDS/BDCC Collaborative Internship program has a strong presence on the site listing on average 25-30 postings for students looking for work experience in the Windham Region as well as instructions for area businesses seeking to hire college interns. The internship program is funded by a grant from the Vermont Department of Labor and contributions from the participating colleges. Participating students not only earn college credit but are paid while doing so. Since its creating in February 2014 the program has enabled 19 college students to find internships, five of the 19 students have been offered long term employment, earning competitive salaries.  The program is open to any college student in the country as long as they intern for a Windham Region business. Currently there are paid opportunities in a variety of sectors including: Agriculture, Healthcare, Nonprofit, Hospitality, Manufacturing, Marketing, Media, Social Services and STEM. The salaries range from minimum wage to $25/hr. With some participating businesses that calculates to over 2,000 dollars in a semester with a few businesses it calculates to over 8,000.

The Collaborative is excited about this website launch as it will enable its efforts to work as a community of higher education, and the traction of its programs to reach beyond the Windham Region, generating stronger participation from other colleges, students and Vermont businesses.

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Gov. Shumlin Announces $1.9 Million in Clean Energy Investments in Windham County

BRATTLEBORO – Gov. Peter Shumlin today announced two new clean energy investments in Windham County totaling $1.9 million. The funds are made available through a 2013 agreement with Entergy and will help increase efficiency, save Windham County schools, municipalities, and homeowners on heating bills, and spur economic activity and job growth.

Through the Public Service Department’s Clean Energy Development Fund, $1.6 million has been awarded to the Brattleboro based Sustainable Energy Outreach Network (SEON). SEON will be working with Building Green, the Windham Regional Commission, the Northern Forest Center, and other businesses and organizations to offer “Windham Wood Heat,” a program to provide for the installation of wood pellet/chip heating systems for schools and municipal buildings in Windham County. The Governor made today’s announcement at the Academy School in Brattleboro, which will work with the Windham Wood Heat Program to switch to a new wood pellet boiler system that will reduce their fossil fuel use and save money for the school.

SEON was selected through a competitive bid process to lead the project, and among the goals set out by the Clean Energy Development Fund are maximizing the number of wood heating systems installed, and leveraging the program’s activity with complementary energy efficiency measures to increase energy savings.

“Today we are advancing the effort to move to clean, local and affordable energy in Vermont by investing in renewable biomass heating for Windham County schools and public buildings,” said Gov. Shumlin. “Not only are these investments good for the environment, but they will save money for taxpayers on heating costs at our schools and municipal buildings.”

“Windham County has the potential to become an extraordinary regional hub of advanced wood heating technology, professional development, and fuel supply and delivery,” said SEON Executive Director Guy Paine. “Our project team will be assisting with energy efficiency and fuel switching, developing greater mechanical capacity in high-efficiency wood-based heating, and contributing to the overall transformation of this region’s economy.”

Also through the Clean Energy Development Fund, $300,000 will be made available in Windham County to support solar loans for residential projects. Working with VSECU’s Brattleboro Branch, the funds will help reduce interest rates for borrowers seeking to finance solar projects for their homes. The program is income-sensitive, and will provide greater support for borrowers with incomes under 120 percent of Windham median income.

“We are making smart use of clean energy funds by buying down interest rates for Windham County residents who want to put solar panels on their roof or in their yard, making solar even more affordable and accessible,” Shumlin added.

“VSECU is pleased to accept the award of the Windham County Solar Finance Program grant, which we will use to enhance our existing VGreen loan program and bring even greater savings on solar PV or solar hot water installations to residents of Windham County,” said Lori Fielder, VSECU VGreen Program Director. “Loans will feature an interest rate buy-down which will be variable based on household income, to all eligible applicants. VSECU welcomes this opportunity to work with the CEDF, Department of Public Service, local solar installers and community solar providers to offer easy, affordable solar financing to Vermonters in Windham County. Anyone who lives or works in Vermont can become a member of VSECU, and the Brattleboro branch services our Windham County members.”

April 15, 2015

Statement from BDCC Executive Director Adam Grinold on the WIndham Wood Heat CEDF award

On behalf of the Brattleboro Development Credit Corporation and Southeastern Vermont Economic Development Strategies, I want to both congratulate and thank SEON for their efforts to take on the Windham Wood Heat project.  SEON has served as a key partner in our efforts to implement economic development activities across the Windham Region.  Early in our region’s work crafting our federally recognized Comprehensive Economic Development Strategies (CEDS), and planning for the eventual loss of jobs at Vermont Yankee, the Green Building, services and Energy sector was identified as an industry sector which held unique potential for growing new business opportunities and higher wage jobs. SEON has already cultivated strong leadership, dedication to innovation and learning, and a cohesive professional community of practitioners.  The Windham Wood Heating Program and Partnership affirms SEON’s leadership of the Green Building/Energy sector. We are thrilled with both the immediate and long term economic and environmental benefits this project holds for our region and look forward to continuing to partner on growing collaborations with SEON’s dynamic team.

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SeVEDS Agenda for February 19th Meeting | 2:00-4:00pm @ BDCC

In Attendance:  Adam Grinold, Ariel Brooks, Ann Andreasantos, Meg Streeter, Drew Richards, Bob Stevens, Konstantin VonKrusenstern, Peter Yost, Cynthia Stoddard, Dutch Walsh, Susan McMahon, Martin Langeveld, Laura Sibilia (via conference call), Jodi Clark  Regrets:  Lisa Sullivan, Patrick Moreland, Jeremy Haskins

The Usual Business (30 min)

• Welcome and Gathering

Introductions for Meg Streeter, who is attending her first meeting.

• Approve Minutes

Moved and approved.

• Review and Approve Financials

Postponed until Jill able to join next month.

• Fundraising/Grant/Budget discussions
  • EDA – (Adam & Laura)

EDA came in with recommendation to increase the ask.  We were waiting for and received the funding from the State.  Patrick Leahy’s office got new language in for regions that have economic development initiatives where a nuclear power plant has been closed.  We were strongly encouraged to take advantage of this language.  What was originally $70,000 is now being recommended to be $250,000.  We have $170,000 from the State.  We are aiming for a close to 50/50 match.  We must have language from EDA which commits to the funding in order to receive the funds from the State.

Question: If there was a group who could raise $50,000, could we include them in?  Yes, but we have a significant time constraint for a March 12th deadline.  We want to be moving in May rather than waiting until August to implement the programming in support of the Green Building Cluster and Accelerator.

Question:  Is this one time funding or ongoing?  Answer:  We could do a bigger project if we had more time.  EDA would like a tri-region project. The Tri-Region is just getting going.  In order to ask for more money, we will need to do more tri-region work.  The grant is the Economic Adjustment.  It does not have money in the fund right now, but they are reviewing applications and giving out non-committal award letters, contingent on the EDA funding.

Question:  Tourism?   Answer:  It was in the first application, and was dropped out of the State application.  Laura is looking for another way to do this project.  (“I am going to get that project done.”)

• WCEDP update (Adam)

Proposal for the new process from BDCC has been presented to the Governor and Pat Moulton.  We are hopeful that since this is a regional partnership proposal it will move forward.  There has been some town leadership conflict about our proposal.  However, we are still hopeful it will move forward.  We should hear within a week or so.  This has been a highly collaborative effort

Laura has submitted a bill in the event of the loss of a major employer, and the community has a CEDS in place, that the state will give deference to the regional entity who has created and been working on the regional CEDS.  Blasan closed in Bennington, a loss of 60 jobs.

Question:  What about a company that is purchased by an out of state company?  Would this bill cover that eventuality?

Answer:  Yes.

• CEDF (Peter)

There were two proposals that were considered to be responsive, including the SEON proposal.  A recommendation has been made.  SEON has been asked to follow up on their proposal with an interview and further information. The other proposal had no local involvement whereas ours had robust local partnerships and involvement.

• Towns – Town Meeting Day Assignments (Laura & Ariel)

Dutch is willing to go to Putney in addition to Bellows Falls.

One meeting has requested handouts for meetings.  Jodi will make a one-pager with the top 10 questions a community member might have about what SeVEDS has been doing that benefits them.

In Executive session, there was discussion of funding sources for SeVEDS.  What sources are secure, what do we still need to gather?  This will be the substantive discussion for the March Meeting.

CEDS and FY ‘15 Board Priority Area Updates (35  min)

• General CEDS –

• Action steps for inviting CEDS committee to Board Meeting for May

Talk about rallying the CEDS committee for the May meeting in the March Meeting.

• Status of “family tree”?

There is a draft one from Drew.  Jodi will print for the Board for March meeting for discussion whether this tree matches the actual functionality.

• CEDS Objective 1: Act Regionally

• Board 2015 Priority: Communications Plan
  • Jodi update

Working on a full Communications strategies assessment and report to present to the board in March.  Jodi will present a comparative/competitive analysis of similar organizations as well as vital projects use of social media channels.  Jodi is also working on goals for the current channels. Jodi requests that board members who are on Facebook and Twitter in particular please go to the SeVEDS and BDCC pages/channels and “like” them as well as sharing content they find interesting or important.  Jodi also seeks feedback on which conversations SeVEDS should be participating in or even driving in order to garner more community-wide engagement and awareness of their work.

Included in the plan will also be in person meetings on CEDS implementation and information awareness sharing, and where to pitch stories of our work (newspapers, online, blogs, forums, radio, etc.)

• Tri-state CEDS Alignment

• CEDS Objective 2: Create an entrepreneurial environment and culture to enhance existing business and grow new business.

• Board 2015 Priority: SoVT Business Accelerator
  • Martin and Jodi report

Been doing research on best practices for Accelerators.  There are two models, those with or without co-working spaces.  We are focusing our efforts on creating the virtual services rather than the physical space.  Jodi has contacted the Global Accelerator Network and spoke with them about the model they support among their members:

1. Short-Term

3-6 month long program

1. Mentorship-Driven

40-80 mentors

1. Small class size

max of 10-20 companies going through a program at a time

1. Accelerator funding

Each program has set aside funding & resources for multiple sessions

1. Terms are favorable to entrepreneurs
   1. Companies are not charged to join the acclerator program
   2. A small equity stake (usually 6-8% in the U.S. and 8-10% non-U.S.)
   3. Space, internet and desk/chair provided to the entrepreneurs
2. Strong management teams

(who are usually entrepreneurs themselves)

1. Have run at least 1 successful program.

• Steering committee composition

An initial outreach has been sent to a broad sector group of regional leaders, business owners spanning different sectors.  There has already been interest from several of those contacted initially.  Jodi is continuing to make further outreach efforts and following up with those who received the email.  Jodi will send the board the list of the initial outreach and will take suggestions for additional individuals to be contacted for serving either on the Steering Committee for the Accelerator and/or eventually as a mentor.

• Targeting

• CEDS Objective 3: Improve wage parity with the surrounding laborshed

• Board 2015 Priority: Green Building
  • Jodi /Guy meetings update

Jodi has been regularly meeting with Guy Payne and Michael Bosworth to keep up to date on projects and events and assist with any cluster assessments or needs beyond what has already been happening.  One area Jodi is working on is a Social Media Needs Assessment.  The survey is developed and needs to go out to a targeted group of SEON members to determine what role Social Media will have in their marketing/growing target markets, collaboration/networking to colleagues, advancing any thought leadership in Green Building/Energy nationally or globally.

• CEDS Objective 4: increase the size and quality of the workforce

• Board 2015 Priority: Workforce Development and Internship Program
  • WF Committee charge and leadership  (Dutch)

Talking about reducing that committee into a Steering committee to work specifically on CEDS objectives.  We spent time working with a small group of manufacturers doing a presentation from Whalen Engineering from Charlestown, NH.  Out of this has been an interest and momentum to see what the next steps are in potentially implementing the curriculum developed by Whalen and Charlestown.  There are a lot of trainings and education going on already that we were not already aware of.  What are we trying to do and make happen?  The conversations with the manufacturers are focusing on what do you need and how can we assist you in your efforts?  We want to bring all of the workforce training professionals together in order to have a much better sense of the landscape and have a sense of where the gaps may be.  We do have representation on the Healthcare committee.  The connections with trainers in the area, particularly the one on one conversations with manufacturers have been very productive.  We are building good relationships.  Adam attended the Vermont Climate Conference where workforce was a topic.  The same challenges we face are present in other areas.  The panel was mostly Burlington based tech representatives.  They mostly speak of how to keep college graduates in Vermont to then stay to work for them rather than growing the talent from our own community.  Who is going to be responsible for bridging the gap between the middle and high school students who are not hooked in to a career center or pathway?

Video project emerging to produce a video to feature the students who are currently working in Chroma and others.  (Another part of our communications strategy.)

Dutch’s leadership has really galvanized the direction forward motion of the committee’s work.

• WHEC

• Testimony

Jan Coplan delivered compelling testimony to the House Commerce & Economic Development Committee about the Internship Program.  The testimony was very well received and conveyed the early successes of the program, including students who have been permanently employed at their internship sites post graduation.

• Website

Jodi is now supervising the intern for this project.  An RFP went out to gather proposals from local web developers to act as the mentor to our intern to develop this website.  Proposals will be submitted to the WHEC for final approval by early next week.

• McClure Grant

We are not going for this grant since it requires a 501c3 status.

• CEDS Objective 5: Retain and attract younger talent through engagement linkages, lifestyle amenities, and meaningful career opportunities

• Board 2015 Priority: SoVT Recruiting and Marketing

Nothing to report specifically here.  Bill Colvin went to testify in Montpelier.

• CEDS Objective 6: Develop immediate, VY-specific workforce and site impact mitigation strategies prior to its 2014 closure.

Substantive Discussion Moving to Action Steps (40 min)

• CEDS Check In — Looks at the CEDS, where are we:
  • succeeding
  • failing
  • in need of more information

Board thoughts upon review of the CEDS:

Is there a visual way to track where we are at with our strategy implementation?  Good start last summer on pulling together the technical work group.  There will be a reconvening of this group in March.

There are some redundant listings/objectives.

It is really ambitious.  Some of the VY strategies are not going to be possible to really do.  Our hope had been to do more for the employees losing their jobs, but some of those employees have left the area already.  We are feeling like we are really out of touch on this particular part of the CEDS.

It feels like the quality of place items are not necessarily as critical right now for immediate action.  There are other more critical items which still need to be prioritized.  We are making some real headway with the collaboration between the colleges.  It does need to be revitalized.

Redevelopment projects is a huge issue here because we are running out of a particular kind of space for say any incubators.  The brownfield properties contribute to a feeling of “nothing happening” or not succeeding.

Workforce development has been a bright spot in the work.  However, if there isn’t any funding for it to continue, we need to address the gap in funding.

We have not really engaged in assisting the Windham Regional Commission’s efforts in regulartory and non-regulatory decommissioning activities.

We are making progress, but there some aspects that are not quite happening like the Young Professionals work.  The VY pieces are lacking due to a lack of information about what is exactly going on with the closure process.  We don’t have a direct link to VY.  We have a potential resource in the people who could stay if there are opportunities for them.

We need to look at the fundraising and the VY outreach strategies and put those up to the top of our list.  We don’t know enough about the VY workers to be strategic in helping them, such as in seeing where there are individuals with cross-over skills that could move into the Green Building Cluster.

We should acknowledge that we were really ambitious in our scope and we should note that we really can’t achieve all of these things.  We should prioritize which items are the most critical rather than working on everything.

Need to be careful about not crossing our own wires with some of the asks we are doing about the marketing campaign.  The 1.2.B $250,000 would come from the same businesses as the $5,000 a year contribution

Other Business / Announcements (15)

• NACo Membership Information (Dutch)

There are currently no Vermont members as we do not have County government structures.  NACo has services and people to assist with economic development networking.  The cost is $500.

Jodi will collect any other ideas on national organizations we should become members of to grow our resource and networking reach nationally.

• Board member bios

Only need one more and we will have a complete set.

Lt. Gov. Phil Scott has been convening Economic Development Pitch events around the state.  We (SeVEDS/BDCC)  are hosting one on March 9th.  15 Pitches max on Economic Development ideas to benefit our region and the state, not solely focused on individual businesses.  Emphasis on pitching actionable ideas, not simply airing grievances.  Location is likely in Vernon.  Jodi will send out event information as soon as it is confirmed.  (Confirmed date is Monday,  March 9th 4pm-6pm at Vernon Elementary School.  All are encouraged to put forward a pitch for the event or at least attend!)

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For Immediate Release

Date:  2/12/15

Contact:  Jodi Clark, Project Manager

Southeastern Vermont Economic Development Strategies

jclark@brattleborodevelopment.com

802-257-7731 ext. 217

Request for Proposals for Project Design and Intern Mentoring

The Windham Higher Education Cooperative(WHEC), which includes Community College of Vermont (Brattleboro),  Landmark College, Marlboro College, SIT Graduate Institute, Vermont Technical College, and Union Institute and University, is seeking proposals for their Consortium’s Website Design.  The Brattleboro Development Credit Corporation, on behalf of Southeastern Vermont Economic Development Strategies has been supporting the the WHEC’s ongoing collaborative efforts, including the college internship program.  BDCC recently received an extension on their Vermont Department of Labor grant in support of this work. The full project includes design of the WHEC website as well as mentoring a college intern in the completion of this work. The project work must be completed by March 27th, 2015.   The deadline for submissions is Friday, February 20th by 9am. Applications should include description of deliverables including timeline for completion, budget, and learning plan for the intern to engage in deliverable creation.  Also include a CV and/or link to portfolio of work, including experience working with students, interns, or staff supervision.   Full RFP can be found here:  WHEC RFP
Please submit materials or inquiries to SeVEDS Project Manager, Jodi Clark via email: jclark@brattleborodevelopment.com

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