WEST DOVER, Vt. (WCAX) – The 7th Annual Southern Vermont Economy Summit on Tuesday brought together business leaders, nonprofits, and other organizations to Mount Snow to share and discuss economic development strategies for the region’s rural economy.
Driving to most ski resorts, the signs of economic inequality are often plain to see. From manicured mountain homes in proximity to homes that need a lot of work. Wealth discrepancies, workforce shortages, housing, and child care were all issues addressed at the summit.
“You can’t have a conversation about economic development without child care,” said Ali Richards with Lets Grow Kids, a guest speaker at one of the breakout sessions. She says that when it comes to child care, progress is being made but more needs to be done.
“There is not enough child care. The main payer is the family and they are paying too much. And when we don’t have it, literally, we are keeping people out of the workforce.”
“We are building strategies for the future and that means building connections,” said Meg Staloff with the Brattleboro Development Credit Corp, a sponsor of the summit.
Those strategies include how resorts like Mount Snow are dealing with climate change to stay viable and how the region as a whole creates an economic system so everyone can get ahead. “A fair amount of wealth disparity, particularly in this region where we have a lot of tourism economy, outdoor recreation, ski industries, things like that so a lot of the work we do it to bridge those gaps,” Staloff said.
One of the gaps facing pretty much every community is the lack of affordable housing.
“Our land use and our zoning is where we really need to make sure that we are designing inclusive communities,” said Vermont Housing Commissioner Alex Farrell. He says rural Vermont has its specific challenges. “We don’t always focus on each pocket of Vermont and we know that Vermont as a whole, there is a lot of unique regions.”
But the topics being addressed at this summit translate to cities and towns across the region. “I think we are all talking about an affordable Vermont. What we are saying is it’s not affordable right now, how do we fix that,” Richards said.
People coming together with a shared vision to help solve the problems the region is facing.