The Vermont Council on Rural Development (VCRD) announced the recipient of the Vermont Community Leadership Award at its 2024 Vermont Community Leadership Summit on August 6 at the Vermont State University Randolph Campus where over 450 attendees gathered for the day-long event.

The Vermont Community Leadership Award is presented each year to celebrate Vermonters who exemplify “dedication, integrity and honorable service to community and to rural Vermont,” and who have had a “transformational” effect on their communities. VCRD presents the award to highlight the work of community heroes who epitomize the best spirit of local community service, who volunteer their time, and who have made their community better.

This year, the Vermont Community Leadership Award is being presented to Charlie Hancock of Montgomery, Vermont.

Charlie epitomizes the best of service to community. His contribution of time, energy and skill, and his unwavering commitment to Montgomery and to Vermont has been extraordinary. While on the Selectboard in Montgomery, he helped lead the community through several critical community development initiatives including a major village streetscape improvement project and municipal wastewater system, a project prioritized in Montgomery’s 2018 Community Visit process. Charlie shows up for his community and Vermont in so many ways. He has been chair of the Montgomery Selectboard since 2016, is vice-chair of the Vermont Land Trust Board of Trustees, sits on the Vermont League of Cities and Towns Board of Directors, and is vice-chair of the State of Vermont’s Working Lands Enterprise Board. Charlie also served as the chair of the Future of Vermont Action Team, a group convened by VCRD to advance the elements of the Vermont Proposition. All that while working as a full-time forester, currently serving as the Franklin and Grand Isle County Forester with the Vermont Department of Forest, Parks, and Recreation.

VCRD’s Board and Staff enthusiastically thank Charlie for his tremendous community leadership and celebrate all of the skills, talents, and dedication he brings to Montgomery and to his work and volunteerism across Vermont.

Past Recipients of the Vermont Community Leadership Award:

  • 2023 – Vermont Declaration of Inclusion team: Norm Cohen, Bob Harnish, Barbara Noyes Pulling, and Al Wakefield
  • 2022 – Pam Parsons, Richford
  • 2020 – Mike Strait, Island Pond and Des Hertz, Burke Hollow
  • 2019 – Emily McClure, Craftsbury
  • 2018 – Shannon Barsotti, Pownal
  • 2015 – St. Albans Community Leadership: Liz Gamache, Dominic Cloud, Emerson and Suzanne Lynn, Warren Hamm
  • 2013 – Orly Munzing, Strolling of the Heifers, Brattleboro
  • 2012 – Tara Kelley/Mark Foley/Paul Gallo/Mike Smith, Rutland Creative Economy
  • 2010 – Marcia and Al Perry, Richford
  • 2009 – The Center for an Agricultural Economy, Hardwick
  • 2008 – Robert McBride, Richard Ewald, Bellows Falls
  • 2007 – Monica Greene, Alburgh
  • 2006 – Edgar May, Springfield

Past Recipients of the Lifetime Achievement Award:

  • 2022 – Brenda Torpy & Sarah Carpenter
  • 2019 – Gus Seelig
  • 2018 – Molly and Hank Lambert
  • 2017 – Paul Bruhn
  • 2016 – Rick Davis
  • 2015 – John Ewing