REMINDER FROM VERMONT COUNCIL ON RURAL DEVELOPMENT:

Dear Cabot Community Members,

Through the Vermont Council on Rural Development’s (VCRD) Community Visit to Cabot, residents have selected three priorities for action and are forming task force groups to move them forward:

·        Build a Cabot Agricultural Network

·        Improve Community Communications

·        Develop a Community Arts Center

The next step in the process is the “Resource Meeting” set for Tuesday, November 27, from 6:00 to 9:00pm at the Willey Building. The meeting will start with a light dinner for participants prepared by Butters Restaurant; childcare will be available. The Vermont Council of Rural Development will bring a new team of facilitators to help each Task Force build a concrete list of action steps and identify the resources – both human and financial – available to support their efforts. Come and join one of these task forces, share your ideas, and help shape a vibrant future for Cabot. You don’t need to have attended any of the prior meetings to join. Everyone is welcome and encouraged to attend the formation of the task forces at the meeting on November 27th.

Share this information with anyone you think might be interested in joining one (or more) of these task force groups. Here are some ways to help spread the word:

-      print a handful of flyers (attached) and take them with you to your next club meeting or gathering or tack on bulletin boards

-      post the flyer in your business/house of worship/school newsletter

-      post on a local website

-      post on facebook (here’s a link to share: http://vtrural.org/taxonomy/term/202/all)

-      forward on to your list serve of community volunteers or business people in town

-      post on Front Porch Forum – share your thoughts about the process there

-      word of mouth - let people know about the event and about the process!

Cabot has set an ambitious agenda; it can succeed in these goals if residents line up for action.

Hope to see you on November 27!

Paul Costello

Paul Costello, Executive Director

Vermont Council on Rural Development

PO Box 1384

Montpelier VT  05601-1384

(802) 223-5763

pcostello@vtrural.org

Join the Vermont Working Landscape Partnership at www.vtworkinglands.org!

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Here's some background and more detail:

On October 25^th over 50 Cabot residents gathered in a community meeting to consider the ideas that were discussed through the Cabot Community Visit process and to set priorities for action. At the meeting, the Vermont Council on Rural Development (VCRD) presented a list of all the key directions that residents had put on the table at the public forums on September 25^th and school forums on September 21^st. Community members discussed what was most important and most needed and voted on the priorities that they thought the community should line up to accomplish. Now, local Task Force groups are forming to move these issues forward over the course of the next year. The top 3 priorities that residents chose are listed below.

Cabot Community Visit Priorities

Determined by Cabot community members at the VCRD Community Meeting, October 25^th 2012.

Build a Cabot Agricultural Network

Cabot has deep agricultural traditions and assets, but the farm, food, and value-added producers in town do not get together in any systematic way for mutual benefit. Cabot could build an agricultural and food system network that could eventually help aggregate, market, and distribute products, act as a producers circle, address infrastructure opportunities, connect Cabot farmers and producers to the Center for an Agricultural Economy in Hardwick, encourage or incubate new small farm operations and value-added businesses, and work together in other ways to support a strong agricultural future in the town.

Improve Community Communications

Some residents complain about communications gaps and the lack of knowledge about all the good things going on in the community. A Cabot Communications Task Force could advance community communications by linking all local activities into a common calendar with an on-line portal like Front Porch Forum’s calendar widget inserted into the websites of all municipal and community groups. This team could also put all the gathered information into a Cabot bulletin board in the village and share it in the Chronicle.

Develop a Cabot Community Arts Center

Cabot residents celebrate the diversity of arts, crafts and local products in the community. Many believe that a Task Force of Cabot residents could come together and expand the use of local venues or redevelop new space in town as an arts center. A Cabot Arts Center could include an outlet and showplace for local art and products, studio space, and space for youth to gather, and for local music, movies, or theatrical performances to occur.