Vermont Economic Engines in Action:
How College, Hospital, Corporate and Government Expenditures Can Strengthen Local Businesses, Communities and the Environment
Held Friday, April 12, 2002
Sheraton Hotel Conference Center, Burlington, VT
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Purpose
This Conference provided models and case studies of how Vermont Economic Engines – its educational, health, business and government institutions - can strengthen the Vermont economy and environment through their employment and purchasing policies and practice.
Participants
Participants included:
- Education, Health, Business and Government Employment and Purchasing Personnel
- Workforce, Business, and Sector Development Agencies & Advocates
- Small Businesses Seeking to Partner with Local Institutions
- Others interested in building a Sustainable Vermont Economy.
- Academic professionals in economics and community development.
Topics
The conference’s speakers and workshops focused on how institutions have redirected their employment and purchasing to strengthen local businesses, communities and the environment while meeting their other organizational objectives.
Roundtable discussions offered participants opportunities to further explore topics of interest, network and develop partnering opportunities.
Keynote Address:
The Keynote Speaker for this conference was Michael Shuman, author of Going Local: Creating Self Reliant Communities in a Global Age
For information on a video copy of this address, please contact us at (802) 656-0095, or via e-mail at copc@zoo.uvm.edu
Morning Workshops
1. Institutional Impacts and Economic Self-Reliance: Theory and Practice
2. The Cornerstone Project: Linking Institutional Purchasing and the Vermont Wood Product Sector
3. Livable Wages: Improving Base Wages and Benefits to Meet Local Needs
4. Building Partnerships for Employee & Workforce Development
Afternoon Workshops
5. Reducing the Environmental Impacts of Institutional Expenditures and Operations
6. Linking Local Businesses and Institutional Purchasing
7. Linking Institutional Purchasing and the Vermont Food Sector
8. Livable Jobs: Improving Employment Conditions to Meet Local Needs
Roundtable Discussions
Networking opportunities and participant group discussions on common areas of interest and topics that arose from the workshops. Examples include:
- Partnering for volume purchasing
- Selling to institutions
- Impacts of institutional investments, pension funds and endowments
Closing Remarks
Stacy Mitchell of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, Author- The Hometown Advantage
Co-Sponsors
