Community development is a large field that covers economic development as well as those other man-made aspects of communities that need to be in place to have a healthy, functioning community. This usually includes facilities and services such as health care, libraries, schools, social services, cultural institutions, adequate sanitation, housing, and a good civic ethic that promotes growth, cooperation, and inclusion.
TRORC works in community development by helping towns to address these issues in their local plans, writing and administering grants to plan and implement projects and through partnerships with other organizations and agencies. TRORC participates in the Vermont Community Development Association, which is a large group of many interests in community development throughout the state. We also work with our economic development partners — Green Mountain Economic Development Corporation (our regional development corporation), our many Chambers of Commerce, and local development corporations.
A Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS) effort continues. This economic development planning effort enables this area to access public works grants from the Federal Economic Development Administration (EDA).
TRORC works with Vermont business owners, developers, lenders, and other professionals involved in “environmentally-challenged” real estate transactions, called Brownfields. We work to provide these professionals with the resources they need to successfully transact and redevelop Brownfields, with grant funding from the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
TRORC assists member towns in applying to the Vermont Downtown Program for downtown or village designation, which provides technical assistance and training to communities for their downtown revitalization efforts.
Tourists contribute significant amount of income to the state economy. In 2005, visitors made more than 13 million trips to Vermont and spent more than $1.5 billion on goods and services, providing about 12% of all jobs in the state and contributing $196 million in revenues for state government.
For more information on how we can help your community, please contact Peter Gregory at 802-457-3188 or email pgregory@trorc.org.
The main source of grants for communities in this area is the Vermont Community Development Program. Funds can be used to plan and implement projects that help people with low and moderate incomes, including housing, jobs, handicapped-accessibility, and community facilities. For more information go to: