MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) - Fourteen Vermont organizations will share more than $4.4 million in federal grants to promote economic development across the state, Vermont’s congressional delegation announced this week.
The money from the Northern Border Regional Commission will be used to build fiber optic broadband networks, boost Vermont’s outdoor recreation and forest economies and support arts and cultural organizations, officials said.
Among the grants are: $475,000 to the Randolph Area Community Development Corporation for roads, utilities, water/sewer, sidewalks, and lighting; $105,000 to the East Calais Community Trust to reopen the community’s shuttered general store; and more than $439,000 to the town of Fletcher to build a fiber-to-the-home telecom network to residences and businesses that do not have broadband access.
“These federal investments in Vermont will bring concrete benefits to Vermonters’ lives,” said U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt. “These projects will mean that more Vermonters will have access to broadband internet and to healthy and local food, and our towns and villages will be able to build out infrastructure that improves their vibrancy.”
The commission was formed in the 2008 Farm Bill as a state-federal partnership to help economically depressed areas and encourage job creation in northern Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and New York. The commission’s territory has been expanded to make all Vermont communities eligible for grants, according to Leahy’s office.
“The NBRC funding will be especially important this year, as communities respond to, and work to recover from, the impacts of this once-in-a-century pandemic,” said Republican Gov. Phil Scott.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.