Vermont Council on Rural Development

e-Vermont

The Vermont Community Broadband Project

• See the Map showing e-Vermont communities selected for work in 2010 (Round 1).
• Read the Press Release announcing the first 12 e-Vermont communities.
• Read the Press Release launching the Round 1 community application process.
• Listen to an Audio Recording that describes how the school technology part of the project fits into the overall e-Vermont initiative.
• Read recent press articles about e-Vermont and other VCRD initiatives.
• e-Vermont Partnership - brief description of roles of the program partners
  

e-Vermont: The Vermont Community Broadband Project is a new initiative to help rural Vermont towns take full advantage of the Internet to advance a wide variety of local needs including economic development, school innovation, job creation, downtown marketing, community engagement, and e-commerce. Two dozen communities statewide will be selected to work with the new e-Vermont Partnership (see list of Partners below who will be providing services to towns) in a comprehensive effort combining online services, training, access, awareness, and planning. In addition, best practices in the uses of digital tools will be shared through symposia and conferences statewide. 

By reaching the bedrocks of Vermont communities—schools, businesses, municipal government, libraries, health and social services groups—the e-Vermont Project will promote new collaborative efforts for identifying and implementing previously untapped resources and help our towns fully realize the potential of the digital age.

e-Vermont Goals

The goals of the e-Vermont Project are to:

• Increase civic involvement and build community
• Advance local government communications, efficiency and transparency
• Promote local business innovation and prosperity
• Improve health and wellness
• Advance 21st Century learning in and out of school
• Support local use of the Internet in myriad ways to advance communications, education and community projects.

The e-Vermont Partnership

The “e-Vermont Partnership” will be led by the Vermont Council on Rural Development. Partners include:

• Digital Wish
• Front Porch Forum
• The Snelling Center for Government
• Vermont Council on Rural Development
  
• Vermont Department of Libraries
• Vermont Department of Public Service
• Vermont Small Business Development Center
• Vermont State Colleges

The e-Vermont Partnership, with a focus on the grassroots needs of each community, will provide technical assistance, equipment and facilitation, and in some cases limited funding to the selected communities. Local task forces will lead the way in developing specific plans for their community. Potential actions supported by e-Vermont include:

• e-government – training and consultation on podcasting, on-line meetings, community scheduling, website development
• Computer equipment and enhancement of e-services in libraries
• Specialized classes ranging from basic computer literacy to advanced applications to meet the range of community and business needs
• Building community calendars, business directories, buy-local maps, arts and crafts tours, sports schedules, ride shares, and a variety of new locally-driven digital applications
• Expanding on-line computer health information and opportunities
• Expanding the use of web-based tools to facilitate community engagement and advance locally-designed initiatives
• Providing direct business consultation services to improve business efficiency and expand web-based marketing, commerce and profitability
• Building on-line networks that link neighbors to each other and to local services
• Delivering new netbook computers to the families of middle school children who receive school lunch assistance
• Involving youth in leadership to build community connection and expand the use of web-based tools for a variety of community and business uses
• Providing teacher training and curriculum development assistance to spur Internet usage in and out of school
• Providing new computer based services to connect seniors with their families

Selection Process

The first application deadline was April 30, 2010 and the first 12 towns were selected by the e-Vermont Partnership in May. The deadline for e-Vermont's second round of applications will be announced later this year.

Feel free to contact Margaret Gibson McCoy at VCRD at 802-223-6091 or by email at info@vtrural.org if you have questions. Also, here is a link to the Grant Application as Funded -- the timeline starting on page 29 lays out the process we are planning in selected communities.

e-Vermont is supported by a $2.5 million stimulus grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce. Without the additional support from these Vermont philanthropists and corporate associates (bringing the total value of dollars supporting the project to $3.7 million) this project wouldn't have been funded:

• Comcast
• Dell
• Evslin Family Foundation
• Jan and David Blittersdorf Foundation
• Microsoft
• UVM’s Center for Rural Studies
• Vermont Rural Partnership
• Vermont Community Foundation