Grant Round 2: 2025

Round 2 of the Leahy Institute Partnership and Capacity grants has awarded nearly $2.4 million to 16 projects. The performance period of these grants is January - December 2025.

Attracting and Training a Climate Workforce for Vermont’s Future

Body

A partnership to help create the workforce needed to meet the demands - and seize the opportunities - of Vermont’s future climate economy.

Learn more...

Community-Based Organization to Foster Rural Immigration

Body

This partnership is working to establish a community-based organization to support new American community that is resettling in the region.

Learn more...

Developing a Strong Workforce for Vermont's Critical Water Resources Industry

Body

A project to attract young workers to rewarding careers in the drinking water and wastewater industry, where their skills can be foundational to Vermont’s future economic development and environmental resilience.

Learn more...

Enriching Vermont’s Cultural and Economic Landscape by Supporting Food Entrepreneurs from the African Diaspora

Body

Clemmons Family Farm and its UVM partners are developing an institute to support the creative efforts of African diaspora culinary entrepreneurs. The initiative promises to help spark new Vermont businesses that will contribute to Vermont’s rich food tourism heritage.

Learn more...

Every Day Counts: Reducing Absenteeism in Vermont’s Schools

Body

This project unites UVM researchers with educators and health practitioners to research and support methods that bolster school attendance and wellbeing among Vermont's youth.

Learn more...

Examining the Possible Use of Rural Libraries as Telehealth Hubs

Body

People in Vermont’s rural communities don’t always have adequate access to basic healthcare services. UVM experts and their community partners are exploring if it would be possible to meet this need with telehealth services delivered through local libraries.

Learn more...

Farmer-Led Research for Crop Productivity, Soil Health and Water Quality

Body

UVM researchers have partnered with farmers' watershed organizations to transform research into actions that can simultaneously boost farm production and environmental health.  

Learn more...

A Maple Syrup Quality Testing Lab

Body

The UVM Extension Maple Program is working with industry partners to establish a lab to standardize the testing and grading of pure maple syrup. This resource would benefit Vermont's individual maple producers and the industry as a whole.

Learn more...

A Medicine to Help Dairy Farms

Body

NEK Biosciences is developing CorioGraft wound healing gel to more effectively heal wounds from which dairy cows often suffer; wounds that can be dangerous for cows and very costly for farmers. This grant is supporting NEK Bioscience's partnerships with several UVM departments to further develop the scientific and business foundations for CorioGraft. 

Learn more...

More Effective Asthma Care for Vermont Children

Body

A collaboration to improve access to essential healthcare for children with asthma in rural Vermont schools. This partnership includes UVM faculty and students, community partners, primary and specialty care clinicians, and parents to of children with asthma.

Learn more...

A Proactive Treatment for Opioid Use Disorder in the Field

Body

A pilot program that equips first-responders to administer buprenorphine to people suffering from an opioid overdose.  This practice has the potential to reduce recurring overdoses, and put patients on a faster path to addiction recovery. 

Learn more...

Preparing Vermont’s Grid for Increased Electricity Use

Body

Research support the increased grid demands from an electrified economy, while also allowing Vermont's electric utilities, and their customers, to potentially save millions of dollars.

Learn more...

Removing microplastics and other toxins from Vermont’s drinking water supply

Body

UVM researchers and their partners at Applied Research Associates are working to develop microbots that could be used to remove microplastics and other contaminants from our ecosystems.

Learn more...

A Statewide Weather Monitoring Network to Increase Community Resilience to Extreme Weather

Body

UVM researchers and their state partners are working to establish a more complete network of weather monitoring stations that could help communities better prepare for extreme weather events.

Learn more...

 

 

Supply Network Analysis to Accelerate Vermont’s Food Hub Development and Collaboration

Body

UVM researchers and their partners are using spatial analysis tools and stakeholder engagement to better understand how food from Vermont farms is grown, processed, delivered and marketed. The goal is to help improve the entire supply chain and build a more resilient food system in Vermont.

Learn more...

Vermont Evaluation of Rural Technical Assistance (VERTA)

Body

This initiative partners UVM, state agencies, and Technical Assistance service providers to create actionable recommendations for an integrated approach to delivering rural technical assistance to Vermont’s towns. 

Learn more...