Diving into the Local Economy with the Vermont Futures Project

Over the past few months, I’ve had the privilege of working with the Vermont Futures Project on their Vermont Economy Talks campaign. The Vermont Economy Talks is an economic knowledge campaign aimed at humanizing and simplifying complex economic concepts so more Vermonters can be empowered to engage in the local economy.

During the summer of 2021, my Communications Community of Practice interns and I planned, researched, and produced the Vermont Economy Talks interview series. These conversations with local business leaders were eye-opening and thought-provoking for me and my students alike. We hosted key leaders from Vermont business sectors like healthcare and manufacturing, and also tech leaders on the cutting edge of our state’s entrepreneurial future.

It’s been inspiring to hear these conversations week after week and to help translate high-level economic concepts to a wider audience. In these post-COVID times, it’s more important than ever to look to the future and ask tough questions. How will small businesses be able to recover from the pandemic? How can we ensure housing for all workers in Vermont? Are we ready for the accelerating impacts of climate change?

It’s also been empowering for me having moved back to Vermont recently to be able to dive into the forces shaping the local economy. In the two years I was living back home in DC, the economic landscape of Vermont has changed so much from pandemic migration to the housing & employment crises that go hand in hand. Working with the Vermont Futures Project on the Vermont Economy Talks has helped me stay current on the forces shaping the state’s future as they’ll impact both my professional and personal lives.

We’ll be hosting more Vermont Economy Talks this fall and will also be sharing more economic knowledge content in between interviews across Vermont Futures Project social media channels. Read more about the Vermont Economy Talks campaign and get involved here: https://bit.ly/2ZlxFNz

Read about the fabulous Communications Community of Practice interns who made the Vermont Economy Talks interview series a success here: https://bit.ly/3DnUYoP