REGION – Town Meeting season has wrapped up and communities across Windham County continue to demonstrate strong, collective commitment to regional economic development through municipal investment in the Brattleboro Development Credit Corporation’s (BDCC) Southeastern Vermont Economic Development Strategies (SeVEDS) initiative.
Each year, staff from BDCC attend selectboard meetings and Town Meetings across the region to update selectboards on regional activity and programs that have previously received municipal investment. Staff speak to a funding request of $3 per full-time resident of each town in the Windham region to support regional economic development. This collaborative funding model enables BDCC to provide strategic, coordinated efforts that strengthen the regional economy, support local businesses, and expand workforce opportunities.
Town appropriations directly support key initiatives such as the Pipelines and Pathways program, which provides career education to all five of the regional high schools and some of the elementary and middle schools; regional BizConnect meetings, which help local small businesses connect with resources and support; and the Southern Vermont Economy Project, which provides technical support and training for locally driven projects and organizations.
Funding requests for fiscal year 2027 were approved at March 2026 Town Meetings in the towns of Athens, Brookline, Dover, Dummerston, Halifax, Jamaica, Londonderry, Marlboro, Newfane, Putney, Readsboro, Rockingham, Stratton, Townshend, Vernon, Wardsboro, Weston, Whitingham, and Winhall. The Brattleboro and Wilmington selectboards separately approved funding requests from designated economic development funds.
For a grassroots organization like SeVEDS, the support across the region is critical. Broad municipal funding helps create a regional approach, where programs can help solve economic and community development issues that are beyond the ability of a single municipality to address alone. Partner organization Brattleboro Development Credit Corporation leverages the annual funds raised by SeVEDs many times over by matching municipal support with philanthropic, private, state, and federal dollars, in addition to funding from BDCC revenues.
Thank you to each of the towns that supported SeVEDs this year.
For more information on BDCC and the SeVEDS programs, please visit www.brattleborodevelopment.com.