Community Conversations

e-Vermont Community Directors at the Vermont Council on Rural Development (VCRD) work with local leaders to both bring e-Vermont partner services to their community and implement new projects designed by that community. In the first round of e-Vermont work (2010-2011) Community Directors helped:

Launch public access wireless Internet zones in Bristol, Poultney, Ludlow, West Rutland, and downtown Newport; launch of new hotspots with computer equipment available in Middlesex.

• Provide equipment to expand online video streaming and assist in developing online videos at community access television stations in Ludlow and Bristol.
• Create a community led e-training center at the Martha Canfield Library in Arlington, VT.
• Publish a digital collection of historical Vermont papers, records, and photographs housed in the Russell Collection in Arlington.
• Develop a local network of organizations with Internet access that can help Bristol area residents navigate new online platforms for receiving state benefits.
• Publish a framework for sharing public documents and procedural information in state permitting processes for Pownal’s Southern Vermont Energy Park.
• Fund start up of the Artists and Entrepreneurs online guide to community resources in Cambridge.
• Broadband subscriptions in households with access to broadband infrastructure have increased an average of 10% in e-Vermont towns in our first year of work.

Stories from e-Vermont communities can be found at the Community Stories page: http://e4vt.org/programs/e-vermont/community-stories