Top Topics
  Canceled due to weather: Forum on Utilities - Water (scheduled for Mon Feb 23, 2009)
  Contact Dave Snedeker at NVDA or the office of Carol Moore at Lyndon State College for more information on the Collaborative.
  See Events Page for schedule of board meetings and quarterly membership meetings.

  The USDA Rural Development Summer 2006 Newsletter is out. Click on the link to view it.

  The Collaborative has prepared its 2005 Annual Report. You can also find the 2004 Report and the USDA Rural Development's regional director review of the 2004 report on the Events page.   

The Northeast Kingdom Collaborative was formed in 1996 to find ways to collaborate on community and economic development issues in Caledonia, Essex and Orleans Counties, Vermont. Fifty years ago U.S. Senator George D. Aiken, in remarks praising its beauty, described the three counties in Vermont's northeast corner as the Northeast Kingdom.

The Collaborative is comprised of members dedicated to improving economic and community well being in the Northeast Kingdom. Organizations involved include economic development agencies, businesses, educational institutions, social service agencies, non profit organizations, health care and others. The individuals most involved tend to be involved for reasons beyond just their organizational ties. Its efforts are organized by a committee structure covering areas of identified need. Active committees have a dedicated convener and facilitator. Some needed committees have yet to be officially formed, in particular, one focused on youth (no "champion" has volunteered to take this on).

The Collaborative helped establish the Northeast Kingdom as a REAP Zone (Rural Economic Area Partnership) - one of 5 (2 in New York, 2 in N. Dakota) in the USA. This designation is administered by the USDA (Dept. of Agriculture), along with similar and more common designations, Empowerment Zone, Enterprise Community (see EC/EZ web site), and Champion Community. To keep the designation for the region, the USDA requires that the region establish, work towards, and meet self-set goals (in the strategic and work plans), as measured by self-set benchmarks tracked by USDA. Since its inception, the region has received over $46 million in USDA grants and loans alone. Much of this would never have happened without the REAP designation. This region's designation has been extended to last until September, 2010.

The Northeast Kingdom Collaborative is a not-for-profit organization and an equal opportunity provider.