Community Recovery Strategies
Community Recovery Strategies
While the challenges we face are daunting, many communities have begun to identify and implement key strategies that are working to meet immediate needs, support business recovery in the short and long term, and implement strategies to build resilience and ensure economic recovery over time. Here are some stand-out examples of community-based strategies.
If you have an example of a Community Recovery Strategy to share please use this form or email jenna@vtrural.org.
As communities navigate response and recovery efforts, Strong Towns, a national organization rethinking our approach to community development, resilience, and leadership, has developed a guide with tools and strategies for response, recovery, and building strong towns into the future. Find their free “Local Leaders Toolkit” here. For more resources and best practices to support immediate community response, visit the Vermont COVID-19 Community Response Toolkit here.
The Woodstock Area Relief Fund rallied when covid hit to raise over $600,000 to support recovery activity and community needs. Learn more here.
Rutland Recreation, Rutland City Schools, and Castleton University have teamed up to provide a day camp to serve working families. Slots are available first to children of teachers or health care workers, and then open to the general public. This unique partnership will help to fill gaps and support youth during out-of-school time hours. See this WCAX story to learn more.
The Otter Valley Unified School District found a way to repurpose a vacant school building. Local community members partnered with the District to start a childcare center in the Whiting School. This partnership allows families to access child care and prekindergarten in one setting without the need for mid-day transportation.
Communities around the state are identifying ways to bring high speed internet connection to central gathering places and Village Centers to allow residents to connect when they are unable to connect at home. Westford and Greensboro are two communities that have identified ways to quickly fund and set up a WiFi hotspot in their Village Centers. In Greensboro, a local Broadband task force and the local arts organization came together to set up equipment in a church steeple in the Village center. In Greensboro, a local task force partnered with the library and other local organizations to create 3 points of connection around the Village Green. Learn more about the Greensboro project here.
The NEK Collaborative and regional service providers and partners have developed a online tool, NEKStrong, to connect individuals, businesses, and communities to everything they need to thrive in recovery and longterm resilience. The site features resources for businesses, families, and communities and both connects users to technical assistance support and funding opportunities. Check out the website at www.nekstrong.com.
Central Vermont organizations including Capstone Community Action, Downstreet Housing, The Good Samaritan Haven, and others created a cross-sector collaboration of regional human and social service organizations to assist the hospital surge through addressing social determinants of health. The group came together quickly to house and serve homeless Vermonters in Central Vermont with food, medical, and mental health supports. Learn more by watching the video here.
When covid hit Vermont, many organizations around the state stood up unique and unprecedented partnership to spark response and recovery. In Lamoille County, organizations quickly set up a regional command center to a increase coordination of organizations in response to community needs. The Lamoille Area Health and Human Sercies Response Commany Center has been a key center of resources and communication for the region as they work to coordinate housing, food access, and other needs. Learn more here.
Plant for the People is an initiative of the City of Burlington that is encouraging residents to grow and donate surplus harvest to Feeding Chittenden, the local food bank. The City is facilitating the transfer of food and has teamed up with Red Wagon Plants in Hinesburg to offer discounts and donations on seeds and starts. To learn more about the initiative visit their website here.
Shiftmeals is a program, created by a partnership of the Skinny Pancake, Intervale Center, Vermont Community Foundation, and High Meadows Fund. The program provides restaurant-prepared meals to anyone who needs one: laid-off restaurant workers, musicians, artists, gig workers, farmers, anyone affected by the crisis. Meals can be requested and picked up in Burlington, Waitsfield, Montpelier, or Quechee. The program has now expanded to include a new job opportunity for recently unemployed Vermonters. This new initiative called "Grow Team" is hiring more than 30 people to work at farms across Vermont to kick-start a sucessful growing season. Learn more at www.shiftmeals.org.
The Hardwick Area Neighbor to Neighbor (HANN) youth group has been meeting weekly since May to establish the “Monday Movie Night“ at several different locations. Many people in the community lent equipment, shared ideas and became our audience. All the movies we chose are family friendly and in the public domain. Before each film begins we play several videos by kids in the community. Our first movie was “Safety Last” by Harold Lloyd at Atkins field in Hardwick. At our first screening we had people drive-in and watch the movie in their cars. At some of our locations drive-in will not be possible, so we will have people spread blankets six to ten feet apart. Our drive-in movie series continues through August with additional screenings in Craftsbury, Greensboro and East Hardwick. Visit the group's Facebook page here. (Summary written by HANN volunteer Ursa Goldenrose)
The Marlboro Alliance and affiliated Marlboro Community Center are working together to provide wrap-around support for their neighbors. The Community Center is bringing residents together virtually with weekly “coffee hour” zoom calls and offering curbside pickup for local food and farm businesses, providing baked goods and prepared soups and meals, and helping residents connect through free public Wi-Fi from the parking lot. A portion of proceeds from food sales and curbside pickup benefit the Marlboro Community Fund, managed by the Alliance and started in the wake of Hurricane Irene, that offers $200 to households with emergency needs. Learn more here: https://marlborocommunity.center/
The shutting down of public gatherings has deeply impacted the arts and cultural sector. Musicians, museums, movie theaters, and more are struggling while community members yearn for ways to connect and come together while remaining safe and healthy. In the Northeast Kingdom, Catamount Arts and Northern Vermont University are partnering to offer drive-in entertainment through the summer. The drive-in programming will use NVU’s campus radio stations to broadcast movies and concerts to the car radios of those that attend. Find out more about this innovative gathering strategy in this article in the Caledonian Record.
Because so many events have been cancelled throughout the region this summer, the Wallingford Day Committee in Wallingford VT instead kicked off a community art project as a fun and safe way to celebrate together. Residents are invited to pain and decorate pallets for display on Wallingford Day - Saturday July 18 - throughout the town. On the 18th, residents can safely walk around and visit the pallets around town and there will be recognition for the funniest, most colorful, most patriotic, most unusual, and Wallingford Spirit pallets. Learn more here. Photos can be found on the Wallingford Day Facebook page.
The Brattleboro Growing Resilience Campaign is an open “opt-in” campaign that developed to support gardening of flowers, produce, and trees in the town. Groups, organizations, or individuals enlist themselves in the campaign in simple way from donations of or discounts on gardening materials, to sharing resources and information, offering time and skills, or simply planting a garden. The initiative aims to strengthen community resilience and food security, create connection-at-a-distance, and lower barriers preventing residents from growing more of their own food and flowers. Learn more at the campaign website here.
The Wings Community Partnership and the Deerfield Valley Community Partnership have teamed up to create the Hike 100 Community Challenge. This challenge encourages folks of all ages to get outside and participate in a community-building activity virtually. See the Facebook Event page here.
In Burlington, organizational and City leadership came together to declare racism a public health emergency and announce plans for action. Learn more here.
The Downtown Brattleboro Alliance raised $57,000 in 48 hours to support local businesses and families in need with a 48-hour gift card challenge where every online gift card purchased from a downtown Brattleboro business would be matched dollar-for-dollar by local donors. Matching gift cards were distributed via the Retreat Farm’s Pick-Up-A-Pantry Program. See this guide for detailed guidance on how to implement this in your community.
Many States, including Vermont, have built creative strategies to access State or Federal funding to pay restaurants to provide meals to those in need. This strategy helps to leverage outside funding to both meet immediate community needs during the crisis, while also supporting local restaurants and food producers to continue production and retain staff. In California, the State launched “Great Plates Delivered: Home Meals for Seniors.” This program delivers 3 prepared meals daily to seniors enrolled in the program. Restaurants that provide the meals are reimbursed using FEMA funding. Find out more here.
BROC Community Action in Southwestern VT has increased the capability of the Micro Business Development Program to enable low and moderate-income Vermonters to achieve and sustain the dream of entrepreneurship. Counselors help disadvantaged Vermonters realize their entrepreneur capabilities and overcome traditional barriers and help connect to critical resources withing CAP network and partners to address needs such as food, fuel, housing, counseling, financial counseling, etc. BROC is using this program to take proactive steps to ensure the survivability of Micro Businesses during and after the COVID-19 economic recovery by providing a path forward and out of poverty. Learn more at their website here.
Initiated by The Human Connection Project and Brattleboro Housing Opportunities, a coalition of Brattleboro individuals and organizations has developed an intriguing, useful and innovative piece of functional street art - Each “Handy Station” expresses a unique collaboration between a local musician, artist and business, making hand sanitizing fun. The base units were designed by Erin Maile O’Keefe to play 20 seconds of music while a patron properly sanitizes their hands. Musical artist Peter Siegel composed the first jingle to include some friendly public safety reminders in a catchy tune. Artist Maddie Pixley worked with The Void business owner Alli Padaigas to style the station’s backsplash with a mask-wearing gorilla. Her artwork highlights the six points of downtown conduct written up by our Downtown Brattleboro Alliance. The goal of this creative venture is both practical—the need for hand sanitizing and clear reinforcement of public safety expectations—and economical. By employing local artists, Handy Stations will get our creative economy and “Main Street” working together. It works when a business ‘adopts’ one of these custom-designed Handy Stations. Store owners are responsible for placement of the station on the sidewalk during store hours and storing it during off-hours. As functional installation art, the Handy Stations will encourage people to come downtown, shop and maintain safety standards. Learn more here.
Montpelier Alive and the Montpelier Development Corporation have partnered with the Center for Women and Enterprise to hire Jean Kissner as their Montpelier Recovery Navigator to work with local businesses over the next year to help navigate recovery options and adapt to the new business environment. Learn more here.
The United Way of Northwest Vermont's Working Bridges Rapid Response Team is being used as an effective workforce stabilization strategy in this time of crisis. The team of resource coordinators partners with businesses in Franklin, Grand Isle, and Chittenden Counties to help employees navigate community resources and life issues that can get in the way of stable employment, especially during the extra challenges posed by the pandemic disruption. To learn more contact Connie Beal, Working Bridges Initiative Director at connie@unitedwaynwvt.org.
As businesses and restaurants begin to safely and slowly reopen, communities across the globe are considering strategies to allow for retail and food sales while maintaining public health and safety. For example, the City of Tampa, FL built a “Lift up Local” Economic Recovery Plan which will allow businesses to expand their outdoor capacity by temporarily allowing retail sales and dining on sidewalks, parking lots, designated closed roadways, and other private outdoor areas. Additionally, they will be allowing for temporary “parklets” for outdoor dining and sidewalk sales. Find more details here.
The City of Burlington developed a task force focused to initiatives to develop expedited, low-cost strategies for businesses and residents to safely enjoy getting outside this summer. The effort includes three initiatives including: Expanded Street Seats and Sidewalks; Developing Grab and Go Pickup Zones for businesses; and Opening Streets for business operation and pedestrian use. An online portal offers easy ways to access detailed information, permitting materials, and contact information. Learn more here.
The Town of Brattleboro Selectboard has authorized the Town Manager to assign "parklets" to businesses for areas for dining and drinking. Community Block Grant funding was set aside to support efforts to purchase barriers and build up to 12 temporary parklets to allow for the use of outdoor space. Learn more in the WCAX story here.
The City of St. Albans is selling batches of $10 "Downtown Dollars" cards to folks who would like to distribute them. So far, this has mainly been for graduations. The City takes checks made out to the St. Albans Downtown Organization and the money stays in that account until cards are returned to the City by businesses for reimbursement. Businesses treat the cards like cash and the City is subsidizing the printing of the cards and the staff time to administer the program. Learn more here. The City and Downtown Organization have also supported their businesses through collective marketing and encouraging businesses to register on online databases and directories.
Seven Days VT has developed an online Shop Local directory called "The Register" to showcase retail businesses and point consumers to local businesses across the state. The directory allows you to search by region or type of business. Each business sends information and Seven Days helps to develop their listing and "Coronavirus era offerings." Listings are free with payment options to "enhance" the listing. Additionally, Seven Days is available to support businesses looking for help with advertising and developing online presence. See the directory here.
Businesses in Wilmington, VT have rallied together to connect and make plans for the future. Wilmington Works, the Downtown Organization, has built a list of businesses in the Deerfield Valley and reached out to each one individually. Weekly calls gather businesses to check in and plan together for what's next. As things shift and reopen, the group has set up regular business webinars focused on specific sectors including restaurants, lodging, retail, and service industries. Each call features a sector-specific consultant. These calls have proven to be a relatively low cost solution to keeping businesses informed, connected, and united. Find out more about the organization and webinars here.
A team of area web developers and PR professionals established a website to share opportunities to purchase Vermont products online. Consumers can search by business categories or by town or search for what the are looking for. Listings are free for Vermont businesses. Check it out at https://www.lovevermont.org/ .
Montpelier Alive has launched a marketing campaign focused on safety called the "Montpelier Way." The campaign included a pledge from business owners around a commitment to safety. They then marketed businesses based on their commitment to this pledge. Additionally, the organization printed uniform signs for business windows with a uniform format for customers to clearly understand hours and ways to shop. Montpelier Economic Development Corporation raised money to provide 73 grants to Montpelier businesses in addition to state programs.
Wilmington Works has coordinated a program, with support from the Towns of Wilmington and Dover, to support local spending. When a customer spends $25 at a participating local merchant, they can take their receipt to a redemption location and claim a $5 coupon that works like cash all around the Deerfield Valley. Participants can also earn raffle tickets for each $20 spent with a grand prize of $500 to spend locally. Learn more about the program here.
The Island Pond Chamber of Commerce built a Buy Local coupon campaign to encourage locals and visitors to shop, eat, play, and sleep local. A coupon sheet, accessible on the Chamber website, provides discounts for local merchants, restaurants, and lodging establishments. See the coupon sheet at the Chamber website here.