Nearly 200 Vermonters joined Senator Patrick Leahy and the Vermont Council on Rural Development for an online celebration of local leadership where VCRD announced the launch of the Vermont Community Leadership Network and the publication of the new Community Leadership Guide.
Each year the Vermont Council on Rural Development recognizes leaders who have had a transformative impact on their community with the Vermont Community Leadership Award. This year the award will go to Des Hertz of Burke and Mike Strait of Brighton.
Fourteen Vermont communities will see $4.4 million distributed among them for a range of projects ranging, including the purchase of a closed college building by Rutland City, to the revitalization of an old country store in East Calais.
Jody Fried, head of Catamount Arts in St. Johnsbury, offered that grim assessment during a remote forum Thursday evening that focused on civic and cultural institutions in the Northeast Kingdom.
