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2024 was a year that reaffirmed the importance of our work and its reach. Our organization was formed to assist small Vermont businesses—the backbone of Vermont’s economy. Our focus has always been on supporting Vermont’s food system, forest-based, and climate technology businesses, but our impact goes much further than our state border. We see effects not only in Vermont, but also in the region, and even nationally.

Providing technical assistance to businesses to increase sales isn’t the only goal—it is to help those businesses be able to pay livable wages, increase efficiencies, and promote an economy that centers the wellbeing of people and the environment. Those goals are more important than ever considering the lack of food security, the housing crisis, and the increase in climate change related disasters.

That’s why we are proud to have expanded our capacity to support small businesses by adding two new programs.

The Tools of the Trade program is a new coaching program geared at aiding energy service business owners expand their ability to hire more workers in order to install renewable energy and energy efficient technologies to more homes and businesses across the state, thereby helping Vermont meet its energy and climate plan goals. We also received a contract with the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food & Markets to provide business assistance through their Resilient Food Supply Infrastructure program, which helps small businesses invest in their infrastructure to expand and streamline the middle of the food supply chain.

These and our other services that help businesses, such as the DeltaClimeVT energy business accelerator, Vermont Farm to Plate, and our Forest Products Development Program, all contribute to a Vermont where small businesses are valued, heard, can pay higher wages, and invest in their employees.

I hope our commitment to Vermont’s small businesses shines through our VSJF Impact Report 2024 and inspires you to support our work.

Click to Read the VSJF Impact Report 2024

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