BURLINGTON, VT – U.S. Senator Peter Welch (D-Vt.), Ranking Member of the Senate Agriculture Subcommittee on Rural Development, Energy, and Credit, announced February 6 that he has secured $58.68 million in federal funds to support 38 Vermont projects, including projects in the Northeast Kingdom, Senator Welch nominated project recipients through the Congressionally Directed Spending (CDS) process.
photo by Jen Olson
These funds will support all Vermont communities, including communities in Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom where $1,400,000 was awarded to Northeastern Vermont Regional Hospital to construct new pharmacies in Caledonia County to address the recent loss of pharmacies in Caledonia towns; a $1,000,000 award to Craftsbury Saplings to expand available childcare slots to meet the needs of the community and add nine new full-time jobs; $100,000 for the Center for Agricultural Economy will support farm-to-school education and local food school nutrition and $2,000,000 for the Vermont Army National Guard will go toward constructing a readiness center in Northeast Vermont.
Just Cut team member Josh Peets processes cabbage at the Center for an Agricultural Economy’s Vermont Food Venture Center in Hardwick.
photo by Kelly Bogel Stokes
“I can say that we are thrilled to receive these funds to help us fulfill our vision of servicing families in our region,” said Craftsbury Saplings Executive Director Melissa Jacobs.
“We are working with community partners to expand our Early Education Programming to serve more children, especially infants and toddlers.”
“Senator Welch and his staff have always been very supportive of local agriculture and our community; we are very thankful for this support,” said the Center for an Agricultural Economy’s (CAE’s) Executive Director Jon Ramsay.
“The award will help fund two of CAE’s programs that work with area schools: Place-Based Education and Just Cut.”
CAE’s Place Based Education Program supports work in all Orleans Southwest Supervisory Union’s (OSSU) schools to increase opportunities for experiential learning focused on local food and agriculture.
CAE’s Place Based Education Coordinator Reeve Basom co-teaches a high school class at Hazen Union School called “Recipe for Human Connection” (RFHC). The class builds community through food and cooking, both within the classroom and through projects that connect to the wider community. Common activities include leading taste tests for local pre-K students, growing and harvesting food in the Hazen greenhouse and hosting the monthly community meal at the United Church in Hardwick.
In this sixth year of RFHC, a new introductory version of the class for middle schoolers has been added. A total of over 60 Hazen students will participate in the classes this school year. Basom said, “We receive feedback from students all the time about how much this class means to them as they learn how to connect with each other through food, and it feels wonderful to get this kind of support through CDS that validates these students’ experiences.”
CAE’s Just Cut program supports local food purchasing at area schools. CAE has operated Just Cut since 2013 and the program operates out of CAE’s Vermont Food Venture Center (VFVC) facility.
It works with around 20 farms annually, contracting with them before the growing season starts. Farmers plan how much they need to grow for Just Cut and know how much income that will bring. Just Cut can then count on receiving a specific amount of vegetables.
CAE’s delivery service, Farm Connex, picks up the produce at the farms and brings it to the VFVC where CAE’s staff prepare it into ready-to-use products like diced potatoes, shredded cabbage or whole peeled carrots.
The finished products are then sold to schools, colleges and hospitals.
Last year CAE staff purchased, processed and distributed 180,000 pounds of local produce through the program. That is enough for 580,000 servings of local produce on plates at those institutions.
Since Just Cut started in 2013, the program has processed over 1.1 million pounds of fresh vegetables.
Area schools benefit as the vegetables are served throughout the local supervisory union.
“Just Cut minimally processed veggies gives the OSSU schools more opportunities to use a variety of local products on our menus as a lot of the labor has already been done for us,” said OSSU Food Service Director Valerie Hussey.
“Time is always an issue in school food service as we are on very strict schedules. In the past we did not serve root veggies as often since they require a lot of time and labor; now our schools have standing monthly orders, which is a win-win for both CAE and the OSSU school food service programs.”
The funding from Sen. Welch will allow CAE to move forward with the purchase of new equipment which will streamline efficiency and allow more varieties of produce to be processed, said CAE.
“As a result the Just Cut program will be able to serve more schools a greater variety of vegetables. Support from the CDS will help CAE continue their critical work that supports food security, place-based education, and fostering connections between youth and the community.” “I fought hard to secure nearly $60 million in federal funding for Vermont through the Congressionally Directed Spending process. I’m proud this money will be invested right back into Vermont communities, including in the NEK. This funding will help build new pharmacies, create jobs and support students, children and families right here in Vermont,” said Senator Welch.
Northeastern Vermont Regional Hospital CEO Shawn Tester was not available to offer details of plans for Caledonia County pharmacies before this edition’s deadline.
View the full list of projects at welch.senate.gov/welch-secures-nearly-60-million-in-federal-funds-for-vermont/
Congressionally Directed Spending (CDS) funding was included in a $1.2 trillion bipartisan funding agreement that included 11 of the 12 annual appropriation bills, including Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration and Related Agencies; Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies; Energy and Water Development; Financial Services and General Government; Interior, Environment and Related Agencies; Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies; Military Construction, Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies; Transportation, Housing and Urban Development and Related Agencies.
