Above: WheelPad’s manufacturing facility renovation and site redevelopment, which will allow for in-state construction of modular accessible home additions, along with worker housing and a workforce training program, has been selected as one of Southern Vermont’s twelve “Vital Projects” for 2024.

From modular accessibility additions to creating a trades training program, there are a lot of community leaders and entrepreneurs who are tackling some of Southern Vermont’s toughest challenges.

Every year, Bennington County Regional Commission (BCRC) and Brattleboro Development Credit Corporation (BDCC) issue a call for local organizations and community leaders to let us know what projects they are working on – and to highlight how those projects align with our region’s development goals. A community review committee reads all project submissions and selects a slate of “Vital Projects” for our region.

This year, the committee reviewed 83 projects from municipalities, businesses, and nonprofit organizations across the two-county region, meeting in Wilmington to complete a final project review and select twelve to designate as Southern Vermont Vital Projects.

The selected Vital Projects include workforce training and infrastructure improvements along with housing and programs to support veterans and BIPOC Vermonters. Read the full list of 12 Vital Projects below!

A New Home for Vermont Paws & Boots

Over the past 18 months, Vermont Paws & Boots has completely renovated a 7,000 square foot structure just outside of Old Bennington, transforming it into a state-of-the-art, best-in-class facility for forming productive and lasting bonds between disabled military veterans/first responders and their service dogs. The facility is one piece of a much larger collection of older structures, and VPB is taking on new redevelopment and renovation challenges to expand its programming and services, including residential and work-based opportunities for clients.

Bellows Falls Intermodal Transportation Center

The 1923 Bellows Falls Union Station, a contributing structure on the national register, and active intercity bus and rail station is dilapidating and no longer part of the business plan for the owner, Vermont Rail System, with no access to grant funding for a multi-million price rehab and preservation project. The Town will purchase the station, remediate the lead, asbestos, & vapor intrusion, repair & restore brick facade, doors and windows. Next phase will renovate all the mechanical, HVAC, plumbing, electrical systems.  VTrans and Amtrak are improving/restoring the intercity passenger rail platform.  Feasibility options include the town master lease to Local Development Corp LLC for tax credits and lease space to passenger travel related businesses like localvore teaching restaurant.

Compost Facility Expansion

Windham Solid Waste Management District is constructing a new enclosed food waste composting facility to serve residents, businesses, and schools. The previous facility exceeded its state permit capacity and therefore a new permit with twice the capacity has been received. Other permits include Brattleboro zoning, Vermont stormwater, and Act 250. The new facility includes a 4,000 sf fabric building on a concrete pad with aeration trenches which will accelerate the composting process, The state-of-the-art facility will include an odor control biofilter and heat recovery from the compost piles. Construction started in October 2024 with the facility operating by December 2024. Total budget is approximately $700,000 and required funds have been obtained without WSWMD incurring long-term debt.

DVFiber High Speed Internet

The Deerfield Valley Communications Union District (DVFiber) is a community-driven, non-corporate fiber optic internet provider serving Southern Vermont. Our mission is to bring reliable, high-speed internet to every corner of our district. In our fifth year of operation, we are implementing American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) grants, totaling $26 million, to construct the initial phases of the high-speed fiber optic network that will ultimately serve 24 towns. We are applying for additional funds through the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) program to support these efforts, with the goal of ensuring equitable access to 21st century technology that supports our region’s continued growth and prosperity.

Expanding Access to Trades Training in Southern Vermont

HatchSpace is a growing community workshop and school in the heart of downtown Brattleboro devoted to advancing the learning, practice, and applications of woodworking skills. HatchSpace is expanding programs to serve as Southern Vermont’s workforce development center for trades training with a focus on careers in the wood product industries, carpentry and related construction sectors. HatchSpace fills the community, cultural, and economic needs stemming from the disappearance of craft education within our schools by delivering innovative, accessible, vocationally relevant, and skills-based training in woodworking for diverse audiences. By growing our workforce development programs and offering access to specialized equipment and tools, we’re poised to have broad economic impact.

Grace Cottage Family Health New Primary Care Clinic Building

Grace Cottage Family Health has outgrown its primary care facility, currently located in two 1840s-era houses that lack efficiency. Patient visits have increased 50% over the last four years and there is a community need for further growth, but the existing clinic space cannot accommodate it. This project improves healthcare access and allows space for several additional well-paying jobs in the future. Grace Cottage’s new clinic building is designed (see gracecottage.org/future), and permitting is nearly complete.

Renovation Project for the Old School Community Center

Renovations (including siding, window replacement, ADA entry ramps, bathrooms, meeting room spaces, roof repair, music space, parking lot paving, etc.) at the Old School Community Center are critical to sustaining essential services that currently benefit residents of all ages across Deerfield Valley and other Southern Vermont towns. The center in Wilmington is a vital hub, housing small businesses, non-profits, childcare services, community events, senior programming, recreational activities, artist lofts, teen programs, and youth sports. By maintaining and improving the facility, we ensure that these crucial services and opportunities for engagement continue to thrive, fostering community well-being and economic growth in the region.

Rockingham Industrial Park Stormwater Planning, Design, and Implementation

The stormwater mitigation Best Management Practices (BMP) 30% design by Watershed Consulting for the Rockingham Industrial Park includes infiltration, bioretention, and stormwater management on Imtec Lane, Spencer, and Industrial Drive, and associated Industrial parcels. These infrastructure improvements support existing business, (Town Plan 2023 Draft, P. 30) create an environment that encourages more jobs and opportunities, (2019 CEDS Objective 2 P. 13) and mitigates severe storm water run-off to stop the erosion at Rockingham’s largest employers. Sonnax, Chroma, Whitney Blake, Silver Forest, and Vermont Homegrown Cannabis, who employ almost 500 people. More than $2 million public and private investment has been made on Chroma and Whitney Blake stormwater mitigation measures since 2021.

Storage and Distribution Infrastructure for a Thriving Regional Food System

Food Connects is building a multi-faceted food storage and distribution facility with the BDCC Business Park in Brattleboro that will serve various needs of the regional food system, including farms, food producers, retail grocers, farm stands, general stores and institutions. As a “food hub” we work with over 150 food producers and distribute to over 250 wholesale customers. When complete, our facility will provide over 10,000 sq ft of food-safe cold, frozen and dry storage and various distribution services. Project outcomes include rural economic development, job creation, food entrepreneurship, marketing of Southern Vermont as a food destination, and increased regional food security.

SUSU commUNITY farm: Deepening & Widening our Impact

SUSU is an Afro-Indigenous farm, committed to centering food and land sovereignty through educational opportunities, land-based relationships, and ancestral healing, in so-called southern Vermont. Our commitment to cultural reclamation is not only an antidote to colonialism and racial capitalism but serves as a path to climate resilience. We embody this work by practicing food + land sovereignty, offering land-based connections, and ancestral healing. As part of our core programming, we offer a weekly no-cost CSA to 55 BIPOC families in Southern Vermont, alongside multigenerational initiatives including workshops and classes through our Trauma Conscious School of Liberation and our Youth2Liberation Pipeline Program.

The Village at Winston Prouty – Phase One

The Winston Prouty Center is embarking on an ambitious, collaborative, and forward-thinking project to build housing on its existing campus in Brattleboro, VT. In addition to housing, the project will continue and expand existing services and amenities on campus including office space, small retail, community services, and recreation opportunities available to the entire Brattleboro community. The purpose of the project is to contribute to creating a robust housing continuum in the community and region by adding up to 300 units of housing. The goal is to create a broadly mixed-income neighborhood since research demonstrates that generates better outcomes for all. Housing is the linchpin needed to unlock the economic promise of the region.

WheelPad L3C

WheelPad L3C manufactures universally designed home attachments, and accessible tiny homes in the most sustainable way possible. www.WheelPad.com  The overall project is to evolve WheelPad into a stable, sustainable, business. WheelPad is in the middle of upgrading a dilapidated site: 211 Route 9 West, Wilmington, VT  05363. The project for Q4 2024 – Q1 2025 is to complete renovations of our manufacturing facility (PETE) enabling three teams of local workers to construct our home models to bring our construction in-house, rather than subbing out to contractors in other states. In 2025 we will begin the significant renovation of an abandoned building to turn it into office and training program space with site-readiness for worker housing.