Vermont is a place full of beauty and charm, but also realities of life, hard work and poverty. It suffers from all the ills that other places do, but there's a working knowledge of those hardships, in many cases.

Vermonters seem to have a common awareness of being in this particular place. They seem to have agreed to be identified with this place, and there is often a high sense of volunteerism, or participation.

Global and national trends; global warming, peak oil, international relations and war. Local trends;maintaining infrastructure, supporting the poor, maintaining a balance for working class and costs of services.

locally owned businesses with community service education that is complementary w/locally owned and creative economic strategies energy efficiency and environ. benign economic development development and fostering of local agriculture

These priorities should be echoed and agreed upon by different elements of our business, government, non-profit and philanthropic communities