SOUTHEASTERN VERMONT ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT STRATEGIES FY 2013 WORK PLAN Julia Sorensen, Brattleboro Retreat SeVEDS Board Laura Sibilia, BDCC Project Director SeVEDS Staff

FY 2013 Word Cloud

FY 12 highlighted accomplishments: Organizational Established first Board of Directors Created Bylaws Created an Affiliation Agreement with BDCC to provide staffing for its mission. Created Additional Regional Task Forces: Workforce, Young Professionals, Communications, Innovation Indexing, Post VY and Development Research/Planning Created SeVEDS Strategies and Objectives for improving the Windham Region Economy Operational and Fiscal Sustainability Plan for SeVEDS largely completed. Windham County Post-VY Economic Mitigation and Growth report completed by Post VY task force

Program Development Drafted Sustainable So Vermont Marketing program for inclusion in the Windham/Bennington EDA Disaster Recovery Project Developed.6 Workforce Coordinator position Communication/Outreach Presented data and plans at more then 10 different public meetings/events Multiple meetings with officials from FEMA and United States Department of Commerce – Economic Development Agency Request for Windham Region to be declared Special Economic Development Zone Created and went live with a web site Created Facebook page for SeVEDS: facebook.seveds.com Created successful Windham County Young Professionals Group and held three well attended events in Brattleboro, Stratton and Wilmington Fundraising/Grant applications Received $75,000 planning grant from US Department of Commerce to develop a Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy for Southeastern Vermont. FY 13 highlighted accomplishments continued…

Building off the SeVEDS Goals, Objectives and Strategies Outline - Six specific action items for FY Continue to expand and grow newly formed regional task force efforts a) Workforce b) Windham Region Young Professionals c) Communications d) Innovation Indexing e) Post VY f) Development

2. Complete a Comprehensive Regional Economic Development Strategy (CEDS) for the region a)BDCC, on behalf of SeVEDS, applied for and recently received an EDA technical planning grant to develop a CEDS. b)Through an RFP process, we plan to have our CEDS Developer contracted by December 1, 2012 c)EDA has given us until August 2014 (24 months) to complete our CEDS to be– we are planning to have it completed by June 2013 d)SeVEDS data and research work as well as public input will both feed into this document. Because of the work SeVEDS has already done, the Windham Region is a little further ahead then many areas embarking on a CEDS.

3. Add regional workforce development capacity a)Broaden the scope of its conversations to include more employers and educational institutions b)Active in Governor’s CCV/VTC joint Brattleboro campus proposal discussions and planning c)Hire a.6 coordinator to: a)Work with employers to congregate their training needs b)Both network and provide a gap analysis of existing Windham Region workforce programs c)Work closely with Windham Region CEDS project and WWIB for long and short term planning d)Work to develop a professional retention and recruitment strategy and a Southern Vermont internship program

4. Create a plan for consistently measuring regional growth and identifying metrics to track a)Significant development will occur during the CEDS process b)Metrics should be tied to our goals c)In the future: “Windham Region Innovation Index” 5. Continue to challenge the state to raise the priority level of a statewide economic development plan

6. Develop an action plan to mitigate the effects of a VY closure Windham County Post-­VY Economic Mitigation and Growth Report - March 2012 found that: “A closure of VY without adequate mitigation steps would have a devastating impact on the region surrounding the plant, with the brunt of the impact felt in Brattleboro, Vernon and the rest of Windham County.” Post VY called for the creation of a Special Economic Development Zone. Activities identified as being needed in this zone included: Designated funds for marketing Enhanced access to capital Creation of a property redevelopment function, with access to very patient public capital.

7. Public Outreach and Fundraising Being developed by the SeVEDS Communications Task Force and include both local and regional plans: How do we share information within the region and how do we market ourselves to future employees, employers and visitors. Fundraising In FY 13 we are undertaking a Municipal fundraising effort led by: Challenge grant from Brattleboro Select board We are developing a private fundraising effort for FY 14 that will begin to utilize information gathered during the CEDS process Public outreach plans - SoVermont