vital communities spring 2016 newsletter
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SPRING 2016
Explore the UPPER
VALLEY
PARTNER SPOTLIGHT
Mascoma Savings Bank
Make That a Green Mortgage,
Please
SPRING 2016 CONTENTS
Working together, we make the Upper Valley region a great place to live, work, and play.
VitalCommunities.org
195 North Main Street White River Junction, VT 05001
Phone: 802.291.9100 Email: [email protected] Staff: [email protected]
StaffTom Roberts, Executive Director, x101Aaron Brown, Transportation, x111Sara Cottingham, Valley Quest, x107 Bethany Fleishman, Transportation, x113Emily Gardner, Events, Corporate Relations, Local First Alliance, x115Stacey Glazer, Leadership Upper Valley, Web Media, x102Ron Hiser, Finance, x104Nancy LaRowe, Valley Food & Farm, x106 Carole Petrillo, Bookkeeping, x103 Allison Rogers Furbish, Communications and Database, x114Beth Roy, Valley Food & Farm, x105 Sarah Simonds, Energy, x109Becka Warren, Valley Food & Farm, x112
Printing: Compliments of Dartmouth Printing Company of Hanover, New Hampshire. Printed on Forest Stewardship Council certified paper.
Design: Nomad Communications of White River Junction, Vermont.
Photography: Staff unless indicated otherwise.
• Molly Drummond - cover - back cover
• Vivian Evans, flickr.com/photos/vivevans - page 7 (girl)
Cover Photo: Graham and Molly Thompson enjoy buying their own produce at the Hartland Farmers’ Market. Get your family out to explore this summer with our Valley Farm Fresh Passport and Valley Quest. See pages 6–9 for details.
STAY CONNECTED WITH VITAL COMMUNITIES
Sign up to receive our e-newsletters VitalCommunities.org/Newsletter
Like us on Facebook Facebook.com/VitalCommunities
Follow us on Instagram Instagram.com/ValleyFarmFresh
Letter from the Executive Directorpage 1
Upcoming Eventspage 13
Short Takespages 2–4
Keeping Vital Communities Vitalpage 5
Make That a Green Mortgage, Pleasepage 12
Mascoma Savings Bank: A Champion of Vital Communities
pages 10–11
Explore the Upper Valley- 10 Reasons to Quest this Summer
- Fun in the Kitchen with King Arthur Flour Volunteers
- Live Valley Farm Fresh
pages 6–9
Dear Friends,
We are grateful to our community of supporters who have helped make our annual fundraising campaign so successful. More than 575 donors have made gifts to ensure that Vital Communities continues to bring people together to make positive change on issues that matter in the Upper Valley. Many of these gifts have been doubled or even tripled thanks to matching challenges from a loyal anonymous donor and The Jack and Dorothy Byrne Foundation.
If you haven’t made your gift yet, there’s still time! Our anonymous donor will match any new or increased gift through June 30. You can use the enclosed envelope or give online at VitalCommunities.org/Donate.
This spring and summer, I hope you’ll find new ways to engage with our work at Vital Communities to make the Upper Valley a better place to live, work, and play every day. Explore the region with Valley Quest (see page 6), get to know our local farms and foods with our family-friendly Valley Farm Fresh Passport (see page 9), or apply for the Leadership Upper Valley Class of 2017 to build your skills and network as a community leader (see page 4). Read on and visit VitalCommunities.org for even more ideas.
Be well,
Tom Roberts, Executive Director [email protected] 802.291.9100 x101
Thank You for Your Continued Support
P.S. We’re delighted with the progress on our new strategic plan. Check out the story on page 5 to learn more about the process, the plan, and our next steps.
Spring 2016 1
BUILD YOUR SKILLS ON TWO WHEELS!
Are you interested in getting more people in your community to bike? Want to improve your own biking skills this spring? Vital Communities offers no-cost Everyday Bicycling workshops for groups to help people use bikes for basic trips: running errands, getting to work, and picking up kids from school. You’ll even have the chance to purchase low-cost gear like lights and bells. Get some exercise this spring and contact [email protected] to learn more.
Short TakesShort Takes
SOLARIZE GOES OPEN SOURCE
Vital Communities won’t be hosting any more rounds of Solarize, but we’re still helping other communities copy our success.
We learned a lot working with 24 Upper Valley towns over the past two years to help more than 370 homes go solar. All we learned is now available in our online Solarize Toolkit, including data, checklists, timelines, how-to videos, templates, examples, and more. We even compiled an outreach library capturing the dozens of creative tactics used by Solarize volunteer teams to spread the word.
A handful of communities are already using the toolkit, including one group in Bethlehem, N.H., that launched a campaign in January. Several more plan to start Solarize campaigns in the next year. Here in the Upper Valley, some Solarize teams are kicking off their own second rounds, including the Solarize Cornish-Plainfield team and our friends at Sustainable Woodstock.
Explore the Solarize Toolkit online at VitalCommunities.org/SolarizeToolkit.
PLANNED GIVING MADE SIMPLE
Vital Communities brings people together to make positive change around issues that matter in the Upper Valley—and to you.
We’re able to do this because of our generous donors. Did you know you can join our Legacy Circle with a planned gift to Vital Communities through your life insurance or retirement plan? Simply name Vital Communities as a beneficiary of all or part of your policy and you’re done!
If you need help making your planned gift, contact
LEG
ACY
C
IRCLE
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Short TakesShort Takes
Thanks to Our Volunteers
of the Year!
In December, we presented two Volunteer of the Year awards to
Steve Campbell and John Erickson for their work to support the
community email discussion lists (“listservs”) that Vital Communities
hosts in more than 20 towns.
As members of the advisory board overseeing the discussion lists,
Steve and John have dedicated countless hours to training new list
administrators, advising on technical issues, moderating lists, and more.
“Steve and John understand the technical side and provide critical
support for the advisory board and me,” said Web Manager Stacey
Glazer. “Anytime I have a challenge or an idea, I always run it by
them and get great feedback.”
We are grateful to Steve and John for helping to keep the email discussion
lists a vital part of community life around the Upper Valley.
To learn more about volunteering for your town list or starting one,
email [email protected]
Last year Vital Communities published a study examining an optional $5 vehicle registration fee used by more than a dozen New Hampshire municipalities to build local transportation improvement funds.
The optional fee helps pay for projects from sidewalk construction to public transit. In the Upper Valley, it has helped with bicycle and pedestrian improvements in Hanover, Advance Transit bus service in Lebanon, and basic road maitenance in Clarmont.
The study concludes that many towns are seeing significant benefits from the optional fee and more are interested in adopting the program. Transportation Program Manager Aaron Brown, the study’s author, presented the findings across the state, including to the New Hampshire legislature. Contact [email protected] to learn more.
RECENT STUDY HIGHLIGHTS LOCAL TRANSPORTATION FUNDING
Thanks to more than 575 generous donors, we’ve nearly met our matching challenge goal for our fiscal year ending June 30! Your new or increased contribution today can help us raise
the last $20,000 in matching gifts.
VitalCommunities.org/Donate
HELP US BUILD VITAL COMMUNITIES!
Spring 2016 3
Leadership Upper Valley (LUV) was launched 10 years ago to inspire, educate, and engage leaders across our region. Through the program, more than 200 leaders have developed a deeper understanding of the bi-state Upper Valley and how it functions as a cultural, economic, political, and social ecosystem.
The Valley News’ monthly Enterprise business magazine has shared fascinating stories about how graduates integrate their learning experience into their professional lives and community service. Visit our website to read about how Anibal Sepulveda helped his company, Hypertherm, begin a drug awareness program, how Mollie Naber and others brought the “Little League of Manufacturing” from New Hampshire to Vermont, and more.
If you’re inspired to lead and make a difference, apply by June 1. Learn more at VitalCommunities.org/LeadershipUpperValley.
Short Takes
GET INSPIRED BY LEADERSHIP UPPER VALLEY
In Claremont, students planted a pollinator garden. Some of our littlest learners at a South Royalton preschool enjoyed discovering worms along with the veggies in their new garden, and in Brownsville students learned to make bread from scratch with local ingredients.
These are just a few examples of the projects local schools have launched through our Upper Valley Farm to School Network mini-grants, made possible thanks to the Couch Family Foundation and the National Park Service. We look forward to seeing the many new projects funded this year start to bloom and grow in the coming months.
We’re also focused on farm-to-school professional development, with forums on local food procurement for the cafeteria, teaching standards aligned with
farm-to-school connections, compliance with the federal school meals program, school waste reduction, and composting.
Our new graduate-level course, Integrating Farm to School into the Classroom with Common Core and Next Generation Science Standards, has interactive sessions that include hands-on cooking, networking, sharing promising practices, and small group activities. Together we’re exploring the potential for increased student engagement and achievement through connections with the food system.
All are welcome to the Network! For more information on all of our farm to school activities, visit VitalCommunities.org/UVFTS or email [email protected].
GROW WITH UPPER VALLEY FARM TO SCHOOL
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Keeping Vital Communities
VitalBY SARAH SIMONDS
New board members Peter Thurber and Sally Kraft wasted no time in rolling up their sleeves for Vital Communities this winter. The duo teamed up with staff and the Long Range Planning Committee to update and streamline Vital Communities’
Strategic Plan as “Phase One” of an 18-month project kicked off in December.
Our Strategic Plan
Among updates approved by the Board in February was a new way of looking at Vital Communities’ programs. “All of a sudden it just seemed so obvious—everything we do fits into one or more of those three spheres,” said Stacey Glazer, the staff member who came up with the idea to include social capital, energy, and economy as core programmatic areas within the updated plan.
social capital VITAL
COMMUNITIES PROGRAMS
economy
energy
Pete and Sally are part of Vital Communities’ Long Range Planning Committee, which aims to have a new strategic plan in place by fall 2017.
“Our process is intentionally long and thoughtful,” explained Committee member Dan Weinstein. “Vital Communities has been an integral part of the Upper Valley for almost 20 years. It’s our task to develop a strategic plan that will ensure Vital Communities is vital and relevant for the next 20 years.”
To kick off “Phase Two,” the Committee is looking at the mission impact of current Vital Communities programs using a process outlined in Zimmerman and Bell’s The Sustainability Mindset: Using the Matric Map to make Strategic Decisions.
We'll be reaching out to our stakeholders for input along the way—feel free to contact us with your ideas.
View our “Phase One” revised strategic plan online at VitalCommunities.org/StrategicPlan.
Spring 2016 5
Explore the UPPER VALLEY
Explore the Upper Valley
The Upper Valley never seems more vital than during the summer: Residents and visitors get out to enjoy the many
farmers’ markets, recreation areas, and events where we can be together and celebrate the best of everything the region offers. Need a little inspiration? Let our Valley Farm Fresh Passport and Valley Quests be your guide.
10 Reasons to Quest this Summer
It’s Valley Quest season, and we can’t wait to get out and explore the Upper Valley through these local treasure hunts. Here are some ideas to get you on the way to your next adventure:
1 Bring a friend. Help friends go on their first Quest, and you might inspire a lifelong passion for Questing.
2 Explore a brand new place. Try a Quest you’ve never been on before, or visit a town you’ve never seen.
3 Reach a fitness goal. Wear your pedometer or Fitbit and get your daily exercise while you learn something new about the Upper Valley.
4 Be a photographer. Get out your camera and find joy in the scenery while you search for your treasure box. Don’t forget to share your best shots on our Facebook page!
5 Become a historian. Questing is a great way to learn about the rich history of our region. Get to know the colonial history of your town, or visit the grave of a Civil War soldier.
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Explore the Upper Valley
6 Enjoy the beauty of the Upper Valley. There’s always something new to discover on a Valley Quest. Take in some tranquil forest scenery, enjoy the bustle of our historic downtown areas, or find a new favorite swimming hole.
7 Register for the Super Quest. Super Quest runs from May 1 to November 1. You can earn a special patch and be entered to win great prizes! Visit our website to register and download your clues.
8 Climb a mountain. Need a weekend adventure? Climb Mount Tom, Moose Mountain, or many others. You can find your treasure while you enjoy unbeatable scenic vistas.
9 Get creative. Carve your own stamp to leave a personal imprint when you find a treasure box, or make your own Quest passport book to collect stamps from all your Quests. It’s easy, and you can find detailed instructions on our website.
10 Write your own Quest. Feeling ambitious? Share your love of your own special place and write a Quest. Email it to us and we’ll add it to our online Quest directory!
For more information and to find your next Valley Quest, go to VitalCommunities.org/ValleyQuest
or email [email protected].
“ Thanks for making the Super Quest a challenge! We loved the places you brought us to for this quest . . . A real great experience. ”
—Happy Quester
Spring 2016 7
We are at our Everyday Chef photoshoot with the King Arthur Flour creative team who graciously volunteered to help us with a new project: food photography.
Last summer, we brought to our website hundreds of local food recipes shared by our wonderful partners at Rutland Area Farm and Food Link and we began to create our own.
Our staff is talented in the kitchen, but food photography was new to us. We called Ruth Perkins, creative director at King Arthur Flour, for advice on making an attractive food photo. She took it a step further: “Why don’t we set up a day and shoot the photos for you?”
Yes, please! Ruth and Multimedia Producer Julia Reed have now joined us for two full days of food photography, bringing their props, surfaces, and expertise to help our local food recipes look as beautiful as they are delicious.
King Arthur Flour employees get 40 hours of paid volunteer time every year, and we are all thrilled at this great matchup with Valley Food & Farm’s long-time corporate supporter. “We love a volunteer opportunity that shares our professional skills with the community,” Ruth says.
Fun in the Kitchen with King Arthur Flour Volunteers
BY BECKA WARREN
The kitchen table is laden with boxes of attractive plates, enticing bowls, antique forks, and charming napkins, alongside bags of local veggies, cheese, and herbs
(steak is in the fridge). Julia and Ruth puzzle over the pizza—“The zucchini might be too much color . . .”—while Bethany sautés potatoes and sausage.
Explore the Upper Valley
Julia and Ruth not only have made beautiful photos, but helped us improve our own amateur efforts.
You can see the results in our Quick Kim Chi recipe online at VitalCommunities.org/ValleyFoodFarm/Quick-KimChi.
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Valley Farm Fresh Passport
Explore the flavors of August with our new Kid’s Valley Farm Fresh Passport! From August 15-21, Vermont Open Farm Week invites us all to visit participating farms across Vermont, including in the Upper Valley. Kids can visit a farmers’ market in our region during that week to pick up a Passport, eat the rainbow, and enter to win a prize. Your kids probably already know about “eating the rainbow” from their farm-to-school and health classes. Eating fruits and veggies of many different colors is healthy, and when it happens at a farmers’ market, it’s fresh and fun!
Follow us on Facebook and sign up for our Valley Food & Farm e-newsletter for the
latest details on all the fun ways to get your family out tasting the Valley this summer.
We’re here to connect you with Upper Valley markets, farm stands, fun farm events, and recipes that make enjoying our local foods easy and delicious.
Trek to Taste
Kick off the season with us at Trek to Taste on June 4 at the Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Park in Woodstock. Not only are trails open for hiking, but at Trek to Taste, the trails lead to food! Start your family at the Forest Center to see students sharing their farm to school projects and get inspired with simple, healthy activities you might do at home.
Everyday Chef
Throughout the summer we’ll host cooking events and tastings at farmers’ markets, farm stands, and in community locations. Learn how to use the freshest foods in the Upper Valley. From lesser-known pickles, to simple or unusual cuts of meat, or how to throw a quick meal together with random produce, there’s something for all cooks and eaters this summer. If you can’t make it to an event, you can find easy recipes and preparation techniques at VitalCommunities.org/EverydayChef.
Live Valley Farm Fresh
From ice cream to berries to grilled burgers, summer is the time to savor fresh, local foods with your family. We can’t wait to enjoy the tastes of summer—and the sounds of music at the farmers’ markets,
people laughing, cows mooing, kids running in the strawberry fields, and the sizzle of the grill.
Explore the Upper Valley
Spring 2016 9
Partner Spotlight
“The local farms programs, the transportation work, Leadership Upper Valley, Local First Alliance—they’re all very different but all focused on the well-being of the community and the local economy,” said Samantha Pause, Mascoma Savings Bank senior vice president, marketing, sales, and service.
A Champion of Vital CommunitiesBY ALLISON ROGERS FURBISH
“As a mutual savings bank, we realize if we’re going to be successful we need our community to be vibrant, we need businesses, we need engaged community members, we need the arts, and farms—and we need all of these different entities to be working together. It’s the key to our success. Vital Communities brings all of these things together and has a real impact on the economic engine of the Upper Valley.”
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Our recent strategic planning work underscored for us how much of our work here at Vital Communities is connected to building a strong
local economy—and so did a recent conversation with leaders at Mascoma Savings Bank, one of our strongest corporate partners.
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Partner Spotlight
Mascoma Savings Bank exemplifies the many ways that businesses can connect with and benefit from the work of Vital Communities. The most obvious is through our Local First Alliance, and in addition to being a Champion member, Mascoma Savings Bank’s Terry Martin, vice president, commercial credits special assets manager, helped guide the Alliance as a member of its steering committee for several years.
Mascoma Savings Bank has been involved with Local First since 2011 and is pleased with how the movement has gained strength. “We want people to bank with local banks and shop with local businesses. It keeps money in the community,” Samantha said. “It’s nice that Local First Alliance is a much louder voice now.”
The bank is also a strong advocate—and beneficiary—of Leadership Upper Valley and has sent 11 employees through the program in the past decade.
“We see the benefit of our employees attending Leadership Upper Valley,” Samantha said. “It broadens their knowledge and perceptions of our community as a whole—other industries and sectors and how each impacts the region—and it makes them better employees because they understand the needs of the community.”
Mascoma Savings Bank’s President Steve Christy, who is retiring at the end of this year, serves as a member and host of our Corporate Council, which brings together leaders from the region’s largest employers to explore common challenges and opportunities for the Upper Valley’s employers and workforce. He also served as a past member and chair of Vital Communities’ board.
Mascoma Savings Bank was an early adopter of workplace Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) delivery, starting in 2008 with our Fresh Connection project and expanding to include more branches with our Workplace Markets project in 2015.
“Vital Communities is one of the top organizations we support,” Samantha said. “It just fits with what we do—and we count on all of the things Vital Communities does.”
Spring 2016 11
Green Mortgage, Please
Make That a GREEN MORTGAGE, Please
BY SARAH SIMONDS
Since our official merger with the Sustainable Energy Resource Group (SERG) in January, former SERG Director Bob Walker and I have
been hard at work developing exciting new projects for 2016.
Including one project we didn’t expect.
Last fall, Bob and I attended the Green Real Estate Symposium in Fairlee with more than 200 real estate agents, appraisers, and lenders from across Vermont and New Hampshire. One presentation on “Total Cost of Ownership” really caught our attention.
Imagine if a buyer could fold the cost of energy improvements into a mortgage at the time of sale. Their monthly mortgage payment would go up slightly, but that cost would be more than offset by savings achieved through their energy improvement project.
If it’s that easy to save money on day one, why aren’t more buyers making energy improvements at time of sale?
As it turns out, energy efficiency is a relatively new concept in the world of real estate and mortgage lending. The industry is only just starting to look at energy efficiency as something that might add value to a home or something that a buyer might be interested in improving at time of sale. And while many lenders now offer discounted home equity and personal loans for energy improvements, the idea of wrapping that up in “green mortgage” at time of sale is still very new.
There is at least one green mortgage currently available on the market through the Federal Housing Authority, and other lenders are working on creative alternatives for interested buyers. It seems we are at the cusp of a market transformation, and Vital Communities aims to keep the Upper Valley on the cutting edge.
We are gathering a cohort of Upper Valley real estate agents, lenders, home inspectors, and appraisers. Together we will identify and test creative, immediate solutions for buyers and sellers who care about home energy performance. We’re also working with partners in Vermont and New Hampshire to pilot the Home Energy Score, a low-cost assessment of home energy performance developed by the U.S. Department of Energy.
Email [email protected] to learn more.
Mortgage
Energy Bills
Monthly Costs
Hom
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nerg
y Im
prov
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Net Monthly Savings
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Upcoming Events
For more information, see the calendar at VitalCommunities.org
or sign up for our e-newsletters at VitalCommunities.org/Newsletter.
ANNUAL ENERGY COMMITTEE ROUNDTABLE
whAT: Come network with other Upper Valley energy committees, hear updates on local energy initiatives, and learn how you can form an energy committee in your town! For more information email [email protected].
whEN: Tuesday, May 3, 5–8 pm
whERE: Montshire Museum of Science, Norwich, VT
LEADERSHIP UPPER VALLEY’S HEROES & LEADERS DINNER
whAT: Honoring individuals who have served as outstanding mentors in our Upper Valley community. For more information or to reserve your seat, visit VitalCommunities.org/HereosAndLeaders.
whEN: Thursday, May 19, 5:30–9 pm
whERE: Quechee Club, Quechee, VT
TREK TO TASTE
whAT: A fun day outdoors for the whole family with an ice cream social! Hosted by Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Park, this event features Valley Quest hikes and displays by students participating in Vital Communities’ Upper Valley Farm to School program. For more information email [email protected].
whEN: Saturday, June 4, 10 am–3 pm
whERE: Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller Forest Center, Woodstock, VT
Spring 2016 13
Taste the Valley. Visit a farm. See where your food comes from. Enjoy. Repeat. Eat Valley Farm Fresh.
EnjoyValley Farm Fresh
Local farms, markets, recipes & more—ValleyFarmFresh.org