All members of the Northfield community are encouraged to attend the final phase of the Northfield: Our Common Future Community Visit, on Tuesday, May 16 at the Northfield Middle/High School at 6:30pm to set action plans to move their three identified priorities forward. All members of the Northfield community are encouraged to attend.

In April, members of the community came together and identified four priorities to be developed into a volunteer task force. The four task forces will work to:

  • Develop a Community Center
  • Improve Accessibility, Walkability, & Pedestrian Safety
  • Create a Plan for Downtown Development and Housing
  • Build a Norwich/Northfield Partnership Council

After identifying these priorities in April, community members began signing up for task forces to work together to move each item forward. Community members are continuing to sign up for a task force online at bit.ly/FutureNorthfield. Those who haven’t signed up for a task force are encouraged to do so in advance or arrive on May 16 to learn more about the task forces and determine which priority is of most interest to them. You are still welcome to attend the meeting even if you have not signed up for a task force in advance.

At the final phase of the Community Visit process on May 16, the new task forces will meet to frame action plans and work with a resource team of federal, state, business, and nonprofit leaders to identify next steps towards success.

Jenna Koloski, Director of Community Engagement and Policy at the Vermont Council on Rural Development says, “it has been such a pleasure to work with Northfield over the past few months. We have been impressed by the energy and dedication of community members in the process so far and are looking forward to sitting down with these groups of community volutneers to chart a path forward and connect to important resources needed to get started.”

The Vermont Council on Rural Development (VCRD), a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to the advancement of Vermont communities was invited to the community by the Northfield Selectboard. Over the past 20 years, VCRD has worked with 87 communities in Vermont to bring residents together through their facilitated and structured process to share ideas and move towards common solutions.

For more information on Northfield: Our Common Future, visit bit.ly/FutureNorthfield or contact VCRD at 802-223-6091 or [email protected]