Becoming What the Next Decade Requires

August 2026

When people ask what Southwestern Vermont needs most over the next ten years, the answers usually come quickly.

More housing.

A larger workforce.

Better childcare.

New businesses.

More investment.

Stronger downtowns.

They're all correct.

But they also miss something important.

These are not separate challenges waiting to be solved independently. They are symptoms of a much larger question:

What kind of region are we becoming?

Economic development has traditionally focused on projects. A new employer. A new housing development. A grant. A revitalized streetscape. Each is important, but none alone determines the trajectory of a community.

Increasingly, success belongs to regions that build ecosystems instead of just projects.

Housing is no longer just about housing. It determines whether employers can hire, whether young families stay, whether schools remain strong, and whether healthcare providers can recruit nurses and physicians.

Leadership is no longer simply about filling CEO positions or board seats. It is about preparing a new generation of people willing to carry institutions forward while learning from those who built them.

Entrepreneurship is no longer just about helping someone start a business. It is about creating an incubator where ideas, capital, mentorship, customers, and talent can find one another.

The same is true for workforce development, childcare, transportation, broadband, and community engagement. None of these exist in isolation. They reinforce, or weaken, one another.

That realization has begun to reshape how we think about economic development at the Chamber and Chamber Foundation.

Rather than asking, "What project should we do next?" we're increasingly asking, "What conditions need to exist so more good things happen?"

Communities rarely become more prosperous because they chase isolated opportunities. They grow because they create environments where businesses choose to invest, entrepreneurs decide to build, families decide to stay, and talented people believe they have a future.

That requires something more than optimism; it requires adaptability.

Across the country, the organizations and communities making the greatest progress are not necessarily those with the largest budgets or fastest growth. They are the ones willing to evolve alongside the people they serve. They understand that the nature of belonging has changed. Leadership has changed. Communication has changed. Expectations have changed. Communities that continue operating as if it were 1995 - or even 2015 - will increasingly struggle to compete.

The encouraging news is that Southwestern Vermont begins this next chapter with remarkable strengths.

We have aligned institutions that are collaborating more closely. Business, education, healthcare, nonprofits, local government, and regional development organizations are increasingly rowing in the same direction. We have catalytic leaders who understand that no single organization - or municipality - can solve today's challenges alone.

Perhaps most importantly, we have momentum.

Over the next four to five years, Southwestern Vermont is positioned to see one of the strongest periods of investment in recent history. Workforce housing developments are moving through planning and construction. Downtown revitalization projects continue to advance. Employers are expanding. Infrastructure investments are strengthening our communities, and regional partnerships are becoming more intentional and strategic.

The future will not reward us simply for preserving what we have; it will reward us for creating the conditions that allow others to build what comes next.

The strongest communities are not those that try to predict the future with perfect accuracy. They are the ones that prepare for it with enough vision, collaboration, and courage that they are ready - whatever it brings.

That is the work before us.

And if we do it well, the next decade won't simply happen to Southwestern Vermont. It will be shaped by it.

Always Onward,

Matt Harrington
CEO of the Southwestern Vermont Chamber Foundation