Following the Vermont Economic Conference the Chamber has released excellent data concerning the Vermont Futures Project and they have shared their presentations from the day of the event. Please see below for more information…
The Vermont Chamber is excited to continue this tradition started by Art Woolf and Dick Heaps 25 years ago. Below are the three presentations from the event.
- Gus Faucher Presentation “National Economic Outlook”
- Art Woolf Presentation “What’s Up and What’s Down in Vermont’s Economy”
- Vermont Futures Project Presentation “Securing our Economic Future”
The Vermont Futures Project is focused on creating a long-term vision to secure our economic future and the roadmap to reach that future. We have enough data to show the trend lines that are critical now, will be an emergency in 10 years. That data shows a declining population, an aging workforce, low unemployment, employers struggling to find employees and limited housing options. The Vermont Chamber’s lobbying team works within the two-year legislative cycle of our Legislature as do most policymakers and elected officials. There are very few looking at the longer term. That is why the Vermont Chamber created a separate Foundation to work on the Vermont Futures Project with a goal of providing our leaders, decision makers, influencers and voters with the hard data needed to guide our state toward a successful economic future.
- Phase 1:Launched at the Conference on January 8th, the Vermont Economic Dashboard gathers economic data in one place to understand how Vermont is performing in six key categories. You can review the complete data at VtFuturesProject.org. The goal of Phase 1 is to analyze how Vermont is doing today in each category.
- Phase 2: Over the next several months, the Vermont Futures Project will continue to gather input from a variety of stakeholders to determine where we want to be as a state in the future 10 years from now. That assessment will be launched in the late summer 2016, providing a vision and direction for Vermont.
- Phase 3: Once we have the picture of where we are today (Phase 1) and the vision of where we want to go (Phase 2), the Vermont Futures Project will begin to make recommendations on how to get there over the course of time. We expect to unveil the first set of recommendations at the Economic Conference next year in January.
Once the data, the vision and the recommendations are established, the next step is action and this will set the Vermont Futures Project effort apart from all other attempts to map a course of action. The Vermont Chamber Foundation is committed to this effort for the long-term but we cannot do it alone. We need you to be a part of this effort. How? We need your input, data, and thought leadership. We need you to spread the word about this work so that more people are aware of it and believe in securing a robust economic future for Vermont, providing a strong voice for the Vermont economy.
Working toward economic growth is at the center of the Vermont Chamber’s mission and the Vermont Futures Project will help provide data, research, direction and recommendations to achieve this mission. If you are interested in knowing more or would like the Vermont Futures Project team to present Phase 1 to your network, email info@VtFuturesProject.org.