The Vermont Council on Rural Development (VCRD) is pleased to announce recipients of the fifth competitive round of the Climate Catalyst Innovation Fund. The funding supports projects that create new approaches to challenging problems by expanding community resilience and reducing energy use. VCRD received over $137,494 in requests and was able to fund 17 projects totaling $60,500 to support local climate solutions in Vermont.

Projects funded this year include town, regional and statewide efforts. Some examples include emergency preparedness kits for older Vermonters, solar powered generators, flood recovery preparation for farmers, accredited solar energy workforce training, a program to promote bicycle commuting, and more.

An interactive map is available showcasing recipients from the five rounds of funding, locations, and project descriptions. Project reports and photos from the previous rounds, including the 24 recipients from 2024, are available on the VCRD website: https://www.vtrural.org/climate-economy/climate-catalysts-innovation-fund/.

“To date, this fund has awarded 109 local innovators with over $345,500 in support of community-led climate and energy projects,” said Laura Cavin Bailey, the Climate Economy Program Director of VCRD. “This continues to show the immense need for small amounts of funding to move ideas into action at the community level.”

The Climate Catalyst Innovation Fund award amounts range from $500 – $4,000, are selected by a panel of partners, and are funded based on projects demonstrating a mix of innovation, equity,  resilience, replicability, collaboration, leverage, and meeting climate and energy goals. VCRD anticipates opening a new round of applications in the fall of 2026. In collaboration with generous funders including Vermont Low Income Trust for Electricity (VLITE), the Vermont Community Foundation, the Sunflower Fund of the VCF, and EastRise Credit Union. VCRD is supporting local innovators in developing solutions that move Vermont closer to its climate and energy goals.

To learn more visit https://www.vtrural.org/climate-economy/climate-catalysts-innovation-fund/ or contact Laura Cavin Bailey at [email protected] or (802) 234-1646.

 

List of 2025 Innovation Fund Recipients

  • Bennington: Bennington County Conservation District will help Bennington County municipalities assess their town’s strengths, vulnerabilities and identify actionable strategies for emergency planning and community preparedness through hands-on workshops, mentorships, and discussions.
  • Caledonia County: Northeastern Vermont Development Association (NVDA) will partner with Lyndon Institute (LI) to expand access to accredited solar workforce training by offering free enrollment for 20 LI students, the majority of whom are income-eligible and first-generation learners. The 40-hour Residential Solar Installation & Design course is approved for Electronic Technicians Association certification preparation.
  • Central Vermont: Central Vermont Council on Aging (CVCOA) will create emergency preparedness packs to use in a climate-related emergency for older adults, many of whom live in flood prone areas and/or continue to live in homes damaged from previous flood events.
  • Chittenden: Friends of the Town Hall will bring intergenerational community groups in the town of Chittenden together to understand the building science behind energy efficiency as they consider the energy needs of their 127-year old Town Hall.
  • Hardwick: The Civic Standard will install a high-efficiency geothermal heat pump system in their new headquarters in partnership with other funders.
  • Hinesburg: Carpenter-Carse Library will install two batteries for back-up power during outages to capture renewable energy generated from the solar array on the library’s roof.
  • Lamoille County/Northeast Kingdom: Salvation Farms will coordinate gleaning, recovery and distribution activities both in preparation for and recovery from flooding and other climate-driven events that build on trusted relationships with farmers, food access sites and volunteers.
  • Montpelier: Montpelier Commission for Recovery and Resilience (MCRR) will provide backbone support for Montpelier Neighborhood Net. MNN are local neighborhood groups of 30-50 households organizing to increase communications, build social connection, and grow emergency preparedness and response in Montpelier. MRCC will also help solidify this model in order to share it with other communities.
  • Northeast Kingdom: Ticket to Ride, a project of Tiny Seed Project, Inc., will create a nine-month program to help participants engage safely and confidently in bicycle commuting and multi-modal transportation (bike to bus).
  • Northeast Kingdom: Town of Greensboro Energy & Climate Action Committee will pilot a “Building Readiness for RBES” campaign to help Northeast Kingdom homeowners, towns, and local contractors understand both the benefits and the practical steps needed to meet Vermont’s Residential Building Energy Standards (RBES).
  • Putney: Putney Public Library will  install a Powerwall battery to provide electricity and internet during outages which would allow emergency communication, charging of phones/laptops/medical devices and the ability to stay open as a library and shelter during an emergency.
  • Rochester: Valley Hub Inc will add solar and storage to the building as part of the existing plan for adaptive reuse of the former Rochester High School building into a multi-use community center.
  • Upper Valley: COVER Home Repair will install solar-powered power stations in two pull-behind job site trailers demonstrating small-scale, portable solar power generation to a socio-economically diverse group of more than 300 people annually.
  • Woodstock: Sustainable Woodstock will hold convenings and updates with residents of Riverside Mobile Home Park as Riverside Emergency Preparedness Alliance (REPA) works to create an emergency flood plan and increase the park’s resiliency to flooding.

Statewide:

  • Community Resilience Organizations (CROs) will create programming to accompany the Resilience Hub Toolkit, a work plan for building people-centered resilience in Vermont amid chronic and acute disaster, and train communities in putting it to work.
  • Vermont Energy Education Program (VEEP) will support youth teams as they plan and implement climate action projects.
  • Vermont Outdoor Business Alliance will support 1-3 outdoor recreation businesses with technical assistance and financial resources to complete climate resiliency projects in outdoor communities.

 

Vermont Council on Rural Development

The Vermont Council on Rural Development (VCRD) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the support of the locally-defined progress of Vermont’s rural communities. VCRD is a dynamic partnership of federal, state, local, nonprofit and private partners. Actively non-partisan with an established reputation for community-based facilitation, VCRD is uniquely positioned to sponsor and coordinate collaborative efforts across governmental and organizational categories concerned with policy questions of rural importance. The organization has successfully completed over 90 community visits, resulting in locally defined projects like new childcare centers, wastewater infrastructure, and downtown redevelopments.