Events

VCRD's Community Visit program is a three-month series of public meetings that includes:

Community Visit Day - October 7th

On October 7th, Rochester area community members came together to discuss assets, challenges, and ideas for their future in 4 virtual forums on topics chosen in advance by a steering committee of local leaders including Economic Development, Job Creation, & Transportation; Energy Opportunities for Towns, Homes, & Businesses; Housing; and the Land, Resilience, & the Climate Emergency. They were joined by a listening team of federal, state, business, nonprofit and philanthropic leaders. An in-person forum was held on October 12 at Rochester Elementary School's outdoor classroom. See the slides and read forum notes from the session held on October 7th. And watch the YouTube videos below to hear area residents discuss assets, challenges, and opportunities in 3 of the forums.

Community Meeting Day - November 1st

At the meeting on November 1st, over 40 area community members came together to review 26 action ideas that were generated by community members at kick-off forums. (Action ideas for prioritization can be found here: Energy Ideas, Community Ideas). Participants discussed and championed the ideas they feel are important, and then engaged in two rounds of dot voting to select priorities around which to form locally-driven task forces to advance work. On the topic of energy and climate, the group prioritized the following areas of action:

• Establishing publicly available electric vehicle charging

• Working with Capstone to promote the Weatherization Assistance Program

• Evaluating sites for solar projects in the region

• Leading by example through implementation of municipal energy opportunities

These priorities will be carried forward by the pre-existing Valley Energy and Climate Action Committee.

The group also prioritized two additional areas for action and new task force groups are forming to get to work with implementation:

• Addressing Affordable Housing

• Establishing a Food Hub and Facilitating Sharing and Learning Amongst Farmers and Gardeners

Any interested residents from the Quintown Region of Rochester, Hancock, Granville, Stockbridge and Pittsfield are encouraged to join the task forces that will carry forward these priorities.

Resource Meeting and Task Force Launch - December 6th

Community members came back together virtually on December 6th. Each of the three task forces began to build action plans, set the scope of their work, and met with a visiting team of resource providers and experts to identify available resources and funding opportunities.

Read action idea descriptions here.