Strengthening Economic Sectors Through Systems-Level Change
Very few sectors or aspects of society have been spared the transformational restructuring underway in today’s economy. Policy responses that are trying to wait out these waves of change, or are doubling down on existing programs because they worked in the past, are doomed to leave our regions less in control of their future prosperity.
A different approach is underway in the state of Vermont – one that takes a proactive, relationship-based, system-level change approach to create jobs, address market barriers, and expand opportunity in our rural communities. The progress so far in two specific economic sectors is effectively redefining interactions throughout value and supply chains, rewriting rules for industry culture and regional collaboration, and delivering meaningful results for the state’s businesses, communities and residents. The approaches underway in Vermont have applicability and replicability throughout rural America.