Policy Councils provide forums for in-depth study and concrete policy recommendations around issues of importance to rural Vermont.
Current Policy Efforts Past Policy Initiatives Climate Change Economy Council: 2015-2016 Working Landscape Partnership Council: 2011-2012 Council on the Future of Vermont: 2007-2009 Vermont Rural Energy Council: 2006-2007 Vermont Council on Planning: 2004-2005 Vermont Council on Culture and Innovation: 2003-2004 Vermont Agriculture Viability Council: 2002-2003 Vermont Forest Products Council: 2001-2002 In 2015 VCRD convened the…
Current Policy Efforts Past Policy Initiatives Climate Change Economy Council: 2015-2016 Working Landscape Partnership Council: 2011-2012 Council on the Future of Vermont: 2007-2009 Vermont Rural Energy Council: 2006-2007 Vermont Council on Planning: 2004-2005 Vermont Council on Culture and Innovation: 2003-2004 Vermont Agriculture Viability Council: 2002-2003 Vermont Forest Products Council: 2001-2002 VCRD listens carefully to issues…
Executive Director of Vermont Council on Rural Development, discusses the work of bringing attention to the fundamental needs that communities face and the next phase of the ongoing work of the Council on the Future of Vermont.
Progress for Vermont is the final report and action plan of the Vermont Climate Change Economy Council (VCCEC) which was founded in February 2015 by the Vermont Council on Rural Development. This broad-based nonpartisan group spent a year considering multiple policy options to produce these recommendations. The report proposes a bold new vision and strategy for…
The Summit on Creating Prosperity and Opportunity Confronting Climate Change brought together over 400 innovative business, non‐profit, and community leaders, elected officials, public policy advocates, students, and interested residents to begin to frame policy and investment strategies to advance the development of the Vermont Climate Economy. Over the course of the day, Summit participants developed…
The Vermont Council on Rural Development, which founded and led the Council on the Future of Vermont, followed up on its key findings by building the Vermont Working Landscape Partnership made up of individuals and organizations dedicated to advancing the farm, forest and value-added natural resource economy as a vital foundation for the future of Vermont, and…
How do your thoughts about Vermont’s values, future challenges and priority issues apply to YOUR community? Town Rutland exists. It is the second largest city ("micropolis") in the state. We have the same problems. We face the same issues. Except Rutland is its own sad, abandoned planet; we need change here, as much as it…
What should our priorities be as we work together to prepare Vermont for the future? Town Get the input of every single Vermonter, of every ethnic and social background. Of any job description. Vermont needs to ensure stability in everyone's life. Go to WallMart in downtown Rutland and pluck an unfortunate soul off the sidewalk…
What Common Values do Vermonters Share? Town First of all, everyone I know loves the state. My friends and I love it here and our opinions about the state have intensified positively as we've gotten older. As mentioned before, Rutland is a terrible place for open-minded teenagers such as ourselves. Road trips to Burlington send…
Investing in our Farm and Forest Future is the final report of the Vermont Working Landscape Partnership Council. It offers five recommendations to help reinvigorate the state’s rural economy: Build a major campaign to celebrate the distinctiveness of the working landscape that is Vermont. Target strategic investment through a Vermont Agriculture and Forest Products Development…