Valley Futures

VFN Monthly Meeting Minutes of 04/09/10

Attendees: Robin Morris, Stan Ward, Joshua Schwartz, Jill Arace, Charlie Hosford, Steve Gladczuk, Tom Barefoot, Laura Brines, Susan Klein, Brenda Johnston, Vickie Walluck, Jessie Karse, Bev Kehoe, Stan Ward, Dennis Derryberry, Peter Forbes and John Donaldson

1) Mad River Valley Potlucks – Jill reported that from 9 to 15 people have been attending.  They may take a rest for the summer.  Next potluck is Sunday, May 2 at the Waitsfield Church.)

2) Valley Walk ‘n Roll Festival – Laura reviewed some of the planned activities for this 3^rd year of the festival to be held 5/15-22.  Various bike rides, walks, Bike or Walk to School / Work Day and others are planned.  An organization meeting is being held Friday, 4/16 at the 3 Mt. Café at 8 am.

3) Mad Bikes of Waitsfield – Laura said a group from Harwood has been working all week to repair and paint bikes.  Next week the group will be making 12 new bike racks.

4) Sugarbush Triathlon – Laura reported that this year the Mad River Path is partnering with Sugarbush and stands to benefit, depending on the profits from the event.  There are over 100 volunteers involved.  Kids (4 to 12) event is on Sat., 4/10 and the adult event is Sun., 4/11.

5) John Abrams’ Building a Local Economy in the MRV Talk – Joshua reported this talk will be held on  4/23 from 6:30-8:30 PM at Yestermorrow.  Abram is the well known author of The Company We Keep. (See http://www.companywekeep.net/ ).

6) VT Festival of the Great Outdoors – Brenda who is the innkeeper at the White House Inn is spearheading this festival that is being held 7/9 – 18.  The idea is to bring visitors to the Valley in the summer to utilize the great outdoors.  27 events are planned so far, with more to be added.  Examples include:  Gap to Gap Hike, guided kayak touring, pro tennis exhibition, star gazing, kids events, etc.  See more information at http://www.vtoutdoorsfest.com/

Sat., 4/10 a fundraiser, the Mad Hatter Party, is being held at the Gatehouse Lodge.  Raffle tickets for a cruise for 2 to Bermuda are also being sold.

7) Next Stage Steering Team Update – Susan reported on the progress of this group which is working to make recommendations on the next steps in the evolution of the VFN.  The objective of the group is to determine the resources, direction, structure and leadership for the VFN going forward. The group’s recommended mission statement is “Valley Futures Network is a network connecting individuals and organizations working towards a healthy and sustainable Mad River Valley community.”  The group is planning to finish its work in April and will present final recommendations in May or June.

e-Vermont Community Broadband Project – Joshua reported on this new initiative to help rural Vermont towns use the internet more effectively to advance a wide variety of local needs including downtown marketing, community engagement, economic development, school innovation, job creation, health and social services, and e-commerce.  Grant money is available for up to 24 communities across the state.  One example of what could be done would be to implement a Front Porch Forum in the Valley.  (See http://www.frontporchforum.com/ for more information).  Various ideas were discussed at the meeting.  This is broader in scope than the mission of the VFN or MRVPD and so people interesting in organizing a plan and an application will be needed to move this forward.   Contact Joshua at 496-7173 or mrvpd@madriver.com.

9) Energy update – Dennis said Localvolt members had been busy working on Vt. Yankee initiatives and information sharing and helping on grant applications for Valley municipal projects.  8 projects were successful grant recipients.  Next Localvolt meeting is Monday, 4/12 at the General Wait House at 6 pm.  Agenda items include Community Wind / Solar, Biomass Feasibility study grant application and phone follow-up on last year’s successful VCEM Project.

10) VT. Festival of the Arts – Bev distributed postcards and event registration materials for the festival being held from 8/1 – 9/5.  Their website http://www.vermontartfest.com/ will be updated shortly.

Next meeting is Friday 5/14 at the Green Cup.

Submitted by John Donaldson

Tags: VFN Monthly Minutes by Joshua Schwartz
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VFN Monthly Meeting Minutes of 01/08/10

Attendees: Susan Klein, Rob Williams, Jared Cadwell, Stan Ward, Joshua Schwartz, Dan Holtz, Amy Todisco, David Hartshorn, Gregor Barnum, Peter Forbes, Ginny McGinn, Jen Higgins, David Dion, Tom Barefoot, Susan Johnson, Suzie Snow, Jill Arace, Geri Pocachinni???, Mike Dupee, Carmen Dupee, and John Donaldson

1) Time Bank –    Jen, Suzie and Geri from Rootswork described this project which the Rootswork board has approved as a pilot project. They anticipate that 2010 will be a slow but steady building year to get to a critical mass of participants. The Time Bank is an organized system to exchange services, using “Community Weaver” software provided by timebanks.org.  It will be similar to the Onion River Exchange in Montpelier (see http://www.orexchange.org/).  The Onion River Exchange has grown from 35 members to over 300 in 28 towns.

Jen is pulling a working group together and would like VFN participation to make it a collaborative effort.  Anyone interested in working on this should contact Jen.

2) Music Bank -  Mike Dupee presented this idea for bringing the Valley music community together.  It is still a work in progress.  The effort may kick off with an Open Mike night in February, perhaps to also help kick off the Time Bank.

3) Community Pot Luck -  The first potluck, organized by Jill Arace and Susan Klein will be held at the Waitsfield Church at 6 pm on January 24^th.  Posters made by Dan Holtz were distributed.  There may be music, but this will be done at the end so it doesn’t interfere with the social mixing.  People are encouraged to bring their own “plateware” in addition to a food item to share.  Help is needed to set up at 5:45.

4) Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grants Update – Josh reported that 6 or the 7 local grant applicants made the first cut.  About $ 11 million was requested statewide for the $ 6 million that is available. More comprehensive applications are due February 2 and results will be announced in May.

5)   Update on Local Community Initiatives Class taught at UVM – Chip Sawyer reported that based on the resounding success of the recent class, another class will be given next fall and we should be thinking of projects for the students.  All information and output from the recent class is hosted on the Mad River Valley Planning District website (http://www.mrvpd.org/DocumentsLibrary.php).

6) Announcements –

1. Ad hoc agriculture group – Gregor announced the second meeting of this group will be February 15.  Hardwick representatives will be reporting on what they have done at this meeting.
2. Gross National Happiness International Conference – Tom Barefoot said the conference will take place in Burlington on June 1 – 4.  GNH is based on the premise that the calculation of “wealth” should consider other aspects besides economic development: the preservation of the environment and the quality of life of the people. (See http://gnhusa.org/).  Some background sessions will be held in February and the group is looking for volunteers to help test community measures to indicate progress.
3. Workshop – Susan Klein said Rob Williams is working with the MRV Chamber to lead a workshop on demystifying Facebook, Twitter, Blogger and other social media outlets. He will show how to use these Web 2.0 tools to further business and to work together through social media for general benefit of the MRV business community.  The workshop will be Tuesday, January 12 from 9am-noon at the Big Picture Theater. It is free to chamber members and $10 for all others.
4. New section on Mad River Valley.com website – see http://www.madrivervalley.com/vermont/directory/by_type.asp?catid=108 for a new section on Local Food Producers.
5. Another Karaoke Night -  organized by Dan Holtz will be held January 22 at the Big Picture.  Will Susan Klein give an encore performance of Harper Valley PTA?

Next meeting is Friday 2/12 at the Green Cup.

Submitted by John Donaldson

Tags: Announcements, Energy, Local Currency, VFN Monthly Minutes by Joshua Schwartz
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Held at the Big Picture Theater

Attendees: Dennis Derryberrry, Rob Williams, Jared Cadwell, Ginny McGinn, Tom Barefoot, Joshua Schwartz, Charlie Hosford, Ben Falk, Peter Forbes, Geri, Dan Holtz, Liz Holtz, Mike Dupee, Jill Arace, Gerri Procaccini, Karl Klein, David Dion, Jim Groom, Carol Groom, Susan Johnson

1)     UVM/VFN Final Presentations: Rob Williams announced that final presentations on the Local Community Initiatives class at UVM will be held on 12/2 – 6:30 PM at the Warren School.

2)     Mojo Posse: The newly formed VFN media working group, VFN Mojo Posse, have been filming a variety of MRV events over the past few months. Current members include Rob Williams, Mike Dupee, and Gregor Barnum. Videos are posted on the VFN Youtube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/ValleyFuturesNetwork.

3)     Formation of VFN Executive Committee: The concept of a VFN Executive Committee has been floated around for some time now. Folks interested in volunteering participating on a VFN executive committee to chart VFN’s course in the wake of the December 2 meeting should email Rob at rob.williams@madriver.com.

4)     Gross National Happiness: Tom Barefoot with Universal Micro Systems provided a summary of the Gross National Happiness American Project, which “envisions a sustainable future, based on the use of a comprehensive set of social progress indicators that reflects our American values and truly supports life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” GNH started in Bhutan 30 years ago serving as a manner for accounting broader dimensions of wealth, growth, and success beyond strict GDP metrics. Tom and others with GNH are putting together the Vermont Gross National Happiness Conference: Changing What We Measure from Wealth to Well-Being, scheduled for scheduled for Burlington’s Champlain College on June 1-4, 2010. More info at http://www.gnhusa.org. Tom left early to catch a flight to the 5th International Gross National Happiness Conference in Foz de Igusau, Brazil.

5)     Mad River Food Producers Group: Dan and Liz Holtz of Liz Lovely Cookies in Waitsfield are creating a network of food producers operating in the MRV watershed. The mission of the network is to promote MRV food producers and the MRV as a food destination, share ideas and resources to help all MRV food producers grow their businesses, promote exports of MRV food products to New England and beyond, and provide useful educational opportunities for MRV food producers. Future projects include a map of MRV food producers (akin to the 2009 Localvore map) and increased capacity for food production tourism. Dan and Liz shared their recently compiled organizational survey (link below) and are eager to get going. Please contact Dan at dan@lizlovely.com if you are interested in finding out more information. MRV Food Producers Mission&Survey.pdf

6)     Mad River Valley Community Music Bank: Mike Dupee shared the concept of creating a centrally coordinated music resource that serves, and contributes to the creation of community in the MRV. Goals of Music Bank are to

• create/support a cohesive, supportive, inclusive musical community in the MRV;
• help knit the arts, and music specifically, into the MRV Community;
• support the VFN and the collaborative creation of the future of the MRV;
• create space/energy around using music to help create the future;
• create opportunities for musicians to perform, and
• spread a little joy

Potential manifestations are a database matchmaker service for the MRV musicians community, musical entertainment to support community events, organizations, etc, periodic jams, etc. Next steps consist of soliciting interest and referrals of interest for participation through the VFN and invite interested parties to participate in an initial organizational meeting. Contact Mike at Michael.Dupee@gmcr.com if you’d like to participate in this emerging group. MRV Music Bank Outline.doc

7)     Re-Skilling Initiatives: Ben Falk described a new initiative to develop and present opportunities for the MRV community to share and learn traditional skills. The name “Re-Skilling” has come out of the Transition Town movement and seeks to retain culturally important skills that appear to be disappearing, but may become more important in the face of peak oil, high costs, and other constraints. Yestermorrow, Knoll Farm, Rootswork, Carbon Shredders, and others are currently teaching Re-skiling work. The attempt of this initiative is to provide an umbrella for these efforts and energy to broaden the current portfolio and reach. Potential workshops and themed potlucks can include knot tying, weaving, farming specific crops, etc. It was suggested that the effort was akin to the Foxfire book series and could partner with the VT Folklife Center. The project could tie in with Harwood’s Community Sustainability course. For more information contact Ben at ben@wholesystemsdesign.com.

8)     VFN Monthly Potlucks: Jill Arace shared a new initiative that she is spearheading to build trust and social capital within the community. Monthly potlucks will begin on January 31 at the basement of the Waitsfield Church and will be held on subsequent last Sunday’s of the month between November and May. The events will not be agenda driven, but could host reskilling or music bank projects. Jill will connect with Liz and Dan regarding advertisement. For more information contact Jill at jarace@gmavt.net.

9)    Mad River Transportation/Ride Share: Gerri Procaccini has started a website providing a linkage to and for folks in the Valley. http://www.valleyvoicevermont.com includes a ride board, trading post, events, free stuff, a variety of other connecting content.

Next meeting is Friday 12/11 at the Green Cup.

Submitted by Joshua Schwartz

Tags: VFN Monthly Minutes by Joshua Schwartz
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VFN Monthly Meeting Minutes of 10/9/09

Attendees: Dennis Derryberrry, David Dion, Sue Klein, Rob Williams, Chip Sawyer, Jared Cadwell, Ginny McGinn, Gregor Barnum, Jared Cadwell, Beth Schoellkopf, Dave Johnson, Susan Johnson, Tom Barefoot, Stan Ward, Joshua Schwartz, Charlie Hosford, and John Donaldson

1) First time attendees – Tom Barefoot is with Universal Micro Systems and is also involved with the Gross National Happiness American Project which “envisions a sustainable future, based on the use of a comprehensive set of social progress indicators that reflects our American values and truly supports life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” (see gnhusa.org). Tom will cover the GNH efforts at next month’s meeting. Dave and Susan Johnson have recently moved to Duxbury from Brooklyn and are interested in sustainable energy, local currency initiatives and others.

2) Update on Local Community Initiatives Class taught at UVM – Josh and Chip provided an update on the activities to date (see last month’s minutes for a more detailed overview of the projects). Plans are for the students to participate in the November 1 Retreat and make final presentations of their projects on the evening of either December 2 or 9.

2) Energy Working Group Update – Stan gave a demonstration of the newly launched Energy Wiki (mrvenergy.org). This site created and maintained by the community will be the go-to resource for all things related to energy in the Valley. The goal is to keep this fact based, not opinion based and to keep it up to date. Among the many way cool features is “watchlist” which creates a RSS feed to send updates of any topics desired. All are encouraged to provide feedback and update the site. Several ideas surfaced during the discussion – getting Harwood students involved, using the wiki model for other working group projects or VFN as a whole, and sharing this facility with other communities.

Dennis mentioned the next Energy working group meeting will be November 3 at 6 pm at the Wait House.

3) VFN half day retreat – Ginny described plans for this November 1 afternoon retreat in the basement of the Waitsfield Church. It will start with a bag lunch and end with a potluck meal. It will include the UVM students, VFN “alumni” (i.e. prior retreat participants who should already have received an email invitation) and other active VFN participants and perhaps others. Attendees are encouraged to invite a guest who might be an interested future VFN participant but hasn’t attended any prior events. One of the objectives of the retreat will be to think of how to intentionally engage members of the community who can’t or won’t participate in the more formal VFN retreats, events, etc. Tracy Tsugawa, a facilitator from Vermont, will be helping. The agenda is still being finalized. Ginny would like a couple of volunteers to spend a few hours in the week of 10/26 to be a sounding board for agenda ideas.

4) Local currency working group update – Rob said this initiative will be built around “time banking”, like the Onion River exchange. Jen Higgins and the Rootswork board have tentatively volunteered to spearhead this effort.

5) Media working Group update – Rob and Gregor have formed the “Mojo Posse” (i.e. Mobile Journalism) which is hosting celebratory videos on a Youtube platform (see http://www.youtube.com/user/ValleyFuturesNetwork ). The first meeting of this group is November 6 at 7:45 am at the Big Picture.

6) Possible community potlucks – Sue mentioned the Warren and Waitsfield churches are interested in facilitating an ongoing Community Potluck to be held early evening one Sunday each month, starting after the New Year.

Next meeting is Friday 11/13 at the Green Cup.

Submitted by John Donaldson

Tags: Announcements, VFN Monthly Minutes by Rob Williams
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Attendees: Dennis Derryberrry, David Dion, Sue Klein, Rob Williams, Jose Galarza, Chip Sawyer, Tara Hamilton, Jared Cadwell, Ginny McGinn, Tim Whitford, Kate Stevens, Liza Walker, Jill Arace, Gregor Barnum, and John Donaldson

1) Summary UVM Biomass Project – Tara summarized the current status of this three year project that started in August, 2008. The project is a collaboration between UVM, Vermont Family Forests, Northern Forest Alliance, other groups and the Mad River Valley towns, as well as 5 towns in Addison County, to enhance the sustainability of community-based biomass production and use for local energy.

Her September 2009 Project Update document is attached (“MRV Project Summary 9.09.09.doc”). There is a wealth of information in the written update on the current status, data collected to date, forest biomass production potential, forest harvest summary., household consumption survey summary, and next steps, as well as links to other sources of information.

2) Energy Working Group Update – Dennis and Stan discussed their major push which is to finish establishing an Energy Wiki for the Valley. This will be a Website created and maintained by the community which will be the go to resource for all things related to energy in the Valley. Stan is putting the skeleton site together and it should be “live” soon. He will be looking for feedback and more content in the near future.

This coming Monday at 4:30 the Waitsfield Town Energy Committee will be meeting with Waitsfield officials on Waitsfield specific projects.

3) Update on Local Community Initiatives Class taught at UVM – Chip teaches at UVM in the Community Development and Applied Economics area and also works at the Center for Rural Studies. This service learning class is being held this semester and has 5 grad students and 10 seniors. The class is partnering with VFN and has identified 3 specific projects.

A) Study of the VFN structure – the students will conduct SWOT analyses and
will also research and compare other models. They will then make
organization and structural recommendations.

B) Mad River Path – similar to the one above but will be focused on
membership issues.

C) Energy Committee – Students will locate renewable energy installations in
the Valley, will document them and conduct interviews.

There will be a dessert potluck kick-off meeting for the students and VFN participants from 6:45 to 9 at Knoll Farm, September 16. The students will break into project teams to refine their project goals.

The class will meet as a whole in the Valley two more times – November 1 at an afternoon VFN retreat at the Waitsfield Church and on December 2 or 9 they will be giving their final presentations.

3) VFN half day retreat – Ginny described preliminary plans for this retreat in the afternoon at the Waitsfield Church. It will probably start with a bag lunch and end with a potluck meal. It will include the UVM students, VFN “alumni” (i.e. prior retreat participants) and other active VFN participants and perhaps others. One of the objectives will be to work as a group and then break into smaller groups to think of how to intentionally engage members of the community who can’t or won’t participate in the more formal VFN retreats, events, etc. More information to follow.

4) Key events – Kate reviewed the weeklong 4th Annual Localvore Challenge that beings on September 13 – see www.vermontlocalvore.org. Jose promoted the inaugural Architecture & Design Film Festival, September 24 – 27 being held at the Big Picture which will benefit Yestermorrow – seewww.adfilmfest.com.

Next meeting is Friday 10/9 at the Green Cup.

Submitted by John Donaldson

Tags: VFN Monthly Minutes by Rob Williams
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