The NEK Vitality Project will result in economic development throughout Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom (NEK) by providing regional leaders, businesses, nonprofits, municipalities, and economic development organizations with a powerful decision-support tool that improves the effectiveness of economic development investments. The project will develop a system dynamics modeling and simulation tool that enables stakeholders to evaluate how investments in regional priorities influence economic outcomes over time. By helping decision-makers identify the interconnected nature of regional challenges, the project will support more effective allocation of public and private resources. This enhanced planning capacity will support ongoing business and organization development efforts, grant applications, infrastructure planning, and coordinated regional investment strategies.

Abby Long's, NEK Collaborative Executive Director, sharing on impacts to the region and forest economy.

The Northeast Kingdom Collaborative's role, as we hold the agreement with USDA Rural Development for the region's REAP Zone designation (Rural Economic Area Partnership), is to communicate with the federal government and all levels of decision makers what the Northeast Kingdom’s priorities are; our needs, our challenges.

Rural organizations wear many hats and stretch every dollar. Coordinating them is a necessity, not a luxury.

Recent news coverage about the end of pulping operations at Finch Paper has understandably focused on how it is bad for logging contractors, and the forest products  industry. As organizations and associations focused on the future of Vermont forests, we  agree — those impacts are significant. But the story is more than that: This is bad news for  everyone who cares about sustaining Vermont’s forests.  

The Northeast Kingdom Collaborative (NEK Collaborative) Board of Directors is thrilled to announce the appointment of Abby Long as its new Executive Director following a competitive and public search process conducted over the past several months.