Author: cathy edgerly
Last saved by: Mary McCoy

Stacking Grants for the Meeting House

3.06.23 Selectboard Meeting Agenda
Item 9 New Business D. Discussion: Meg Staloff/ stacking grants/ etc. 

As you have heard from Pete, every grant comes with its own conditions and requirements.  Some grants reimburse only after the project is complete ( Vermont Council of the Arts)  Others handle all expenses as the outside contractors and vendors hold contracts with the administering body, not with us ( MERP funds) but what most successful grant recipients have in common is the ability to state a vision and priorities.  The priorities become like a road map.  Then making decisions about what to do and when becomes clear. 

Right now, we have a project that according to the ARPA survey is near and dear to the townspeople and that is the Meetinghouse.  Pete’s presentation concluded: >>>>. 

Then, there are some other small grants that can be used for planning and public education.   

The first is the mini grant Phase 1 in the MERP funds to do a charette or town gathering to talk about the future of Windham and fold into that our energy/sustainability issues. This grant is about energy resiliency and embraces the meetinghouse plus any other town-owned buildings such as the town offices and town garage.  This application is expected any time now from the state through the WRC.

An idea that has evolved from Mac’s plan to bring all interested parties together at the meetinghouse on April 1^st,  is to continue that work with Meg Staloff. Meg is Southern Vermont Economy Project Manager, Brattleboro Development Credit Corporation
from .  She  shared with us a CAPP( Community Assessment and Project Prioritization ) plan that she did for Wardsboro.  We could use that same planning process and apply it towards just the meetinghouse. Once we did that,  we might find that  there are other monies out there for us.  See the attached Proposal; 3/6/23 Community Assessment and Project Prioritization (CAPP) Proposal for the Town of Windham that we have been talking about with Meg. 

We could also go broader and do a plan more like that of Wardsboro which apply the same process only they would be looking at the whole town.  I believe the town of Athens is currently looking at this.  Meg has shared with Mac and me the resulting Wardsboro plan and I can share it with anyone interested. 

If we had a more defined planning programming of the space we would be able to apply for different pots of money. Library for example.  Events that use would use the sanctuary for arts events is another pot of money.  They all require some kind of plan that says what this building will be used for going forward in the future post COVID

Another option to consider as it relates to the meetinghouse is to create a new work group drawing from both the town committee and the Friends.  Similar to what they have for the Rockingham Meetinghouse,  this town work group would be a certified local government commission under the guidelines of the U.S. Department of the Interior. The goal of the Certified Local Government Program is preservation through partnership. Local, State and Federal governments work together to help communities preserve and increase awareness of their unique cultural heritage. The Historic Preservation Commission’s certification opens doors for our community to receive grant funding and technical assistance from both the Vermont Division of Historic Preservation and the National Park Service…. Just a thought.  Walter Wallace would be happy to come and talk to us should we be interested.  He is the Historic Preservation Coordinator and administers the program, serves as staff for the Rockingham Historic Preservation Commission, and is available to the Town and its residents to provide information and technical services concerning historic preservation resources

OTHER FUDING SOURCES
REDI is a good fit to connect us with a grant writing consultant to apply for complex funding source/s and a consultant who can also provide support with identifying funding opportunities.  This is not intended for long-term project management support which it seems we have now in place with our new grant administrator. 

http://www.windhamregional.org/ REDI funds can also go toward technical assistance like engineering, architectural renderings if that’s a priority and funding is not otherwise available.
Additional resources below.
 
Meeting House Project:
•         RPC – Windham Regional
•         Preservation Trust of VT

•	VHCB Conservation Program – Historic Preservation; Funding

•	Vermont Council for the Arts. https://bgs.vermont.gov/commissioner/building-communities-grants
•         USDA Community Facilities
•         VT Community Development Program
•         VT Dept of Historic Preservation
•         MERP – energy efficiency funds
•         Dept of Libraries funding – 
Repair Fair:
•         ACCD Better Places Program
 
Long Range Planning
•         VT Municipal Planning Grant

1.	https://www.rockinghamvt.org/historic-preservation-commission
If we want to pursue the CAPP at either scale, there is an  intake form linked here and Meg can take it from there.

Quote from Meg about grant stacking:  If you are applying for a Paul Bruhn grant, you won't necessarily need a full schema like you would for a USDA grant CF... in fact you can probably build it into the budget? However, those are very competitive and unlikely to cover the whole project, so 'stacking' will probably be the order of the day”

I have reached out to Katie Buckley at Vermont Cities and Towns to ask for help in figuring out a good 'stack. Theoretically, we can use all those programs together and we could even use the Paul Bruhn grant as a match for USDA as it is not federal funds,