Community Development Grant Workshop

The Vermont Community Development Program (VCDP) will be hosting an application workshop on Wednesday, September 14, 2011 at Capitol Plaza, 100 State Street, Montpelier, Vermont in the Montpelier Room. Registration and refreshments will begin at 8:30AM with the program starting at 9AM.


You can now register online for the event at https://secure.vermont.gov/ACCD/eventreg/event.php?eid=25
. The workshop registration fee is $30.

NOTE: Please be sure to tell us what type of application you will be applying for when registering. Indicate the application type in the “comments” field of your registration.

Application Types

• Accessibility Modification Grant
• Implementation Grant
• Planning Grant
• Scattered Site - Implementation Grant
• General Information
• Unknown

 Please complete the pre-application form and submit it to your CD Specialist prior to the application workshop. We ask that attendees to the workshop come prepared to talk about their project. Feel free to bring photographs or drawings or any related documents that will help us to better understand your project.

Should you have any questions, please contact me.

Cindy Blondin, Grants Specialist
Vermont Community Development Program
Department of Economic, Housing and Community Development
National Life Drive, 6th Floor
1 National Life Drive
Montpelier VT 05620-0501
Phone: 802-828-5219
Fax: 802-828-3258

Visit our website at www.dhca.state.vt.us/vcdp

Housing Challenges Survey

The Agency of Commerce and Community Development is requesting the assistance of regional planning commissions in getting this information out to employers and encouraging them to respond to the survey regarding housing issues related to doing business in Vermont. If you know of business people who would be interested in participating in the survey, please forward this email to them. The link for the survey can be found below. Thanks for your assistance, as always! Laurie Emery, Central VT Regional Planning Commission



"Greetings,


In collaboration with our department, the Vermont Association of Realtors and the Lake Champlain Regional Chamber of Commerce, VHFA has developed a survey designed to help us better understand the housing challenges faced by employers and their employees. The survey has been sent to local chambers of commerce as well as human resources professionals throughout the state. We are hoping, of course, for a high response rate. I am writing to ask that you reach out to any employers in your area (businesses, nonprofits, academic institutions) that you know may have an interest in the issue and encourage them to complete the survey. It will be completely confidential and results only analyzed in aggregate. Employers who choose to provide their contact information will be entered into a drawing for a $50 gift certificate to a store or restaurant of their choice. The link to complete the survey is:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/MLB5RCF

FEMA flood declaration -- Washington and Orange Counties

Attention Local Officials:  The FEMA form that needs to be completed and provided to VEM for the new declaration just announced today regarding Washington and Orange Counties for the May flood damages is available by contacting CVRPC.  cvrpc@cvregion.com will get you to Laurie Emery and the form can be emailed back to you. The town clerks of the municipalities in Washington and Orange have already been provided with the form.   If  town officials need assistance with the form, or anything else related to emergency management, please contact CVRPC’s emergency management planner, Paul Luciano, at 802/881-1654 or via email at pluciano@ccrpcvt.org  . CVRPC staff is also available to assist or answer questions at cvrpc@cvregion.com  or our individual email addresses.


The FEMA form can be faxed to the VT Agency of Transportation at 802/828-2848 or FEMA JFO at 802/951-2646. If these numbers change for any reason, we will let you know, but at the moment they are the numbers we’ve been provided. You can also contact Ross Nagy at VT Emergency Management to verify where the forms should go. Ross can be reached via email at rnagy@dps.state.vt.us. Let us know how we can assist!

Grant Resources for VT Municipalities

The Vermont Dept. of Buildings and Services has just announced the availability of the 2011-12 Recreational Facilities Grants Program. Click on the link below for the criteria and application details. Application deadline is September 2, 2011.


• Building Community Grants Programs Summary

• Recreation Facilities Grant

• Human Services and Education Competitive Grant Program

These forms are also available on the BGS Forms and Publications webpage, http://bgs.vermont.gov/formsandpublications. The application process for these grants is intended to be uncomplicated and quite simple.

2010 Census Fact Finder and how to get the data you want!

CVRPC has scheduled a webinar on tips and tricks to using factfinder2.gov for gathering 2010 Census data by town and by dataset. As I discovered at a meeting last night, it is not easy. So, we encourage you to join us on Thursday, July 28 at 2 p.m. at CVRPC’s offices to view this webinar and learn the tricks we need to get our data! We believe that once the webinar has been viewed, that it will be available at the website of the Council for Community and Economic Research for additional viewing, but we will have to confirm this information. We are also hoping that we will be able to acquire a DVD of the webinar that we could then share with town officials who want to view the presentation or who would like staff to present the information to a larger group in their locale.


There is no need to register for this July 28 at 2 p.m. webinar at CVRPC’s office, but in order to ensure that we have enough chairs, it would be handy if you let us know you plan on attending. Thanks.


Webinar Presentation on
Tips and Tricks for Using the New American FactFinder
To get 2010 Census data

July 28, 2011
2:00-3:30 PM EDT

Are you frustrated by the Census Bureau's new American FactFinder? Can't find the data you want? This webinar will provide a how-to demonstration to get the tips and tricks you'll need to successfully use the new American FactFinder. The webinar will also cover when the Census Bureau plans to move other data sets, such as the American Community Survey, to the new FactFinder.

Presenter:

Nancy Gemignani
Research Specialist, California State Census Data Center
State of California Department of Finance, Demographic Research Unit

FEMA Flood Estimator Workshops

FEMA will be hosting a series of one-day Substantial Damage Estimator software workshops at the Joint Field Office in Burlington. The software is a tool designed to assist communities in determining whether or not structures have been Substantially Damaged and whether structures need to be brought into compliance with local/NFIP minimum standards.


Workshops are scheduled to be held August 2, 3, and 4 (Depending on the level of interest). Please send me an email indicating your interest, which date you prefer, and whether a late/day-evening workshop is preferable. If interest exceeds classroom space, priority will be given to local officials in the communities that experienced the most extensive damage to residential/commercial structures.

A more formal invite/schedule will be sent, but we are trying to gage interest from local officials at this point,

Best Regards,


Rob Evans, CFM
Floodplain Management Grp Supv.
FEMA-1995-DR-VT/Mitigation
128 Lakeside Avenue
Burlington, VT 05401
571.449.1641 (mobile)
robert.evans1@dhs.gov

VT Law School Presentations - Farm bill and Agriculture Law - Free

Summer Agricultural Events at VLS


Tues July 26 – Sustainable Agricultural Law Careers

Oakes 007
4:15-5:45PM

Moderator: William Eubanks II ’08, Meyer Glitzenstein & Crystal

Panelists: Annette Higby, National Sustainable Agricultural Coalition;

Kenneth Miller, Law for Food LLP;

Jim Libby, VT Housing and Conservation Board

Panelists will describe what they do that relates to sustainable agriculture, their career path, fun stories of the kinds of projects they take on, and general advice for anyone aspiring to follow a similar path.

Thur August 4 – Unlocking the Farm Bill

Oakes 007
4:15-5:45PM

Moderator: Mary Jane Angelo, University of FL Levin College of Law

Panelists: Marne Coit, Greenfield Research and Consulting LLC;

Tom Berry, Senator Leahy’s Office

Highlights of what's good, bad, and possible with the Farm Bill, past and future.

~Both Events Are Free & Open to the Public~

For more information about these events, please contact:

Peg Elmer, pelmer@vermontlaw.edu, 802-831-1405