The Center for Rural Studies (CRS) projects are currently being conducted in the areas of:

• Information for Local Decisions
• Outreach and Education for Vermont's Local Officials
• Social Service and Nonprofit Program Evaluation
• International Development

Indicators for Vermont Communities
A data clearinghouse project, offering access to mulitiudes of Vermont county and municipal-level statistics in an online media of display (tables, maps, and graphs), and downloadable in spreadsheet or GIS databases. (Will Sawyer, Fred Schmidt)

The Vermont State Data Center
The State Data Center (SDC) Program is one of the Census Bureau's longest and most successful partnerships. The SDC program's mission is to provide easy and efficient access to U.S. Census Bureau data and information through a wide network of lead, coordinating and affiliate agencies in each state. The Center for Rural Studies coordinates these activities in Vermont and makes Census data and technical assistance accessible to state, regional, and local governments, and non-governmental data users upon request. (Will Sawyer, Cathleen Gent, Fred Schmidt).

Vermont School Report
CRS hosts this public school data website for the VT Dept. of Education. This popular site has had tens of thousands of visits annually from Vermonters who wish to better understand school performance. (Will Sawyer and Fred Schmidt).

Vermont Housing Data
The largest single source for Vermont-related market rate and affordable housing information. In response to the need identified by policymakers, community leaders, and the public for accurate, timely, and easily obtained data through one central data source, Vermont Housing Data provides updated housing and economic information for towns, counties, and the state as a whole. (From CRS: Cathleen Gent, Will Sawyer, and Fred Schmidt. From the VT Housing Finance Agency: Craig Bailey and Maura Collins)

The Vermonter Poll
An annual public opinion telephone poll of 600 - 700 Vermonters. Each year's poll covers new and continuing topics. Issues covered by the poll recently include attitudes toward community growth and economic development, public education, public health, agriculture and the environment, and the use of computers and the Internet. (Fred Schmidt, Jane Kolodinsky, Michele Cranwell, Thomas DeSisto).

Outreach and Education for Vermont's Local Officials

The Municipal E-Government Outreach Project
The objective of the E-Government Project is to support the use of information technology in town offices for the purpose of conducting municipal business electronically. This support is delivered in the form of training, research for appropriate I.T. solutions, facilitation of discussion for adoption of local I.T. management policies developing conferences and meetings on I.T. topics, and the development of web-based resources. (Will Sawyer, Fred Schmidt, and David Deutl).

The Vermont Planning Information Center
As a member of the Municipal Land Use Education and Training Collaborative, the Center for Rural Studies played a large part in developing this clearinghouse of information for planning commissions, zoning boards, development review boards, zoning administrators, and their staff. (Will Sawyer, Kim Zaletta, and members of the Vermont Land Use Education and Training Collaborative)

Community Planning Tools for Vermont
A multi-faceted effort to coordinate the provision of various planning tools to regional and local planners as well the public. (Will Sawyer, Fred Schmidt, Addison County Regional Planning Commission, and the VT Land Use Education and Training Collaborative).

Municipal Official Education
The Center for Rural Studies has been involved in the education of Vermont's municipal officers through various venues, including the Vermont Planning Information Center, our Municipal E-Government Outreach, and the annual Municipal Officer Management Seminars and Town Officer Education Conferences held by the Vermont Institute for Government and UVM Extension. Past efforts have included the Town Officer Connectivity Project. (Will Sawyer, David Deutl, Fred Schmidt)

Social Service and Nonprofit Program Evaluation

Microbusiness Development
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The Local Agricultural Community Exchange (LACE) project is a private sector community revitalization project, central to the rejuvenation of downtown Barre City, Vermont. LACE opened its doors in June 2007 with a Farm Fresh Market, Café, and an artisan vendor space to provide a direct connection between the community and farmers and artists. Serving the needs of the area’s micro and small businesses, LACE features local produce and products. With the assistance of partner agency Central Vermont Community Action Council (CVCAC), LACE’s facility is being renovated to include a commercial, shared-use kitchen to enable home-based producers to expand their production and increase sales. Training and counseling through CVCAC’s micro business development program will be available to vendors in sales techniques, marketing, pricing, production, business operations, and business plan development as needed, and classes will be available in ServSafe certification to those using the kitchen facility. All of these strategies will result in increased employment through business expansions as well as new business start-ups. The evaluation of this project focuses on process and outcomes measures, to determine best practices, the impact of services, and the development of a replicable model. Evaluation methods include surveys and focus groups with stakeholders. Three year evaluation. (Michele Cranwell Schmidt and Jane Kolodinsky.)

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The Post Start-up Micro Business Training and Technical Assistance project is statewide, carried out by the regional partnerships of Vermont’s Community Action Agencies and their Micro Business Development Programs. This project provides technical assistance and business support to established micro businesses. The evaluation of this project focuses on process and outcomes measures, to determine best practices, the impact of services, and the development of a replicable model. Evaluation methods include surveys and focus groups. Three year evaluation. (Michele Cranwell Schmidt and Jane Kolodinsky.)

The Northeast Center for Food Entrepreneurship (NECFE)
A collaborative effort of the New York State Food Venture Center at Cornell University and The Center for Food Science at the University of Vermont. The mission of the project is to provide comprehensive assistance to beginning and established food entrepreneurs thus promoting sustainable economic development of rural communities. NECFE offers services, outreach and research development opportunities in four critical areas: business and product process development, product safety, process/product technology transfer and product commercialization. Evaluation focuses on process and outcome measures with emphasis on impact of NECFE and how this Center can be a transferable model. Data collection methods include surveys, focus groups with staff and clients, review of organizational documents, and case studies of client experience and success. http://www.nysaes.cornell.edu/necfe/. Three year evaluation. (Michele Cranwell Schmidt and Jane Kolodinsky)

Domestic Violence, Department of Justice
Spectrum: Youth and Family Services, Burlington, Vermont. The Domestic Abuse Education Project (DAEP) is designed to provide participating men with information and skills needed to change abusive and violent behavior and beliefs. The overarching goal of the "Kidsafe" component of this project is to reduce abuse and improve the lives of children and partners by educating men who batter in Northern Vermont (Chittenden County). Evaluation focuses on examining attitudinal changes in participants through the use of a pre and post test and conducting focus groups with partners of participants to determine impact of the program on the lives of family members. Three year evaluation. (Michele Cranwell Schmidt and Fred Schmidt).

Chittenden County Domestic Violence Task Force
Department of Justice. Office of Justice Programs. Spectrum: Youth and Family Services, Burlington, Vermont. The Rural Domestic Violence and Child Victimization Grant of Chittenden County Domestic Violence Task Force focuses on the impact of domestic violence services in Chittenden County, specifically rural areas. Evaluation methods include questionnaires, focus groups with service users and project administrators, and analysis of data collected from organization. Eighteen month evaluation (refunded through March 2009). (Michele Cranwell Schmidt).

Education, Literacy and Economically Disadvantaged Families
Department of Education. The Even Start family literacy program works with low-income families in Southern Vermont (Windsor County) to better prepare low-income children and their parents for success in school, community service, and life. Evaluation examines inputs and outputs of program activities, including adult and early childhood education, parenting education, and parent-child interaction. Evaluators are working with state and local staff to implement indicators of program quality for outcome measurements. Evaluation methods include periodic surveys, focus groups, and data analysis. Eight year evaluation. (Michele Cranwell Schmidt and Fred Schmidt).

The Vermont Millennium Arts Partnership
An internet-based arts education program in Vermont public schools that, through the use of the latest technologies, is working to facilitate student learning through an online exchange among students, teachers, artists, musicians, and other professionals. Evaluation documents project process and outcomes of classroom participation in the online forum and related classroom activities. Evaluation methods include online surveys, workshop evaluation, and focus groups and interviews with project administrators and project participants. http://www.vermontartscouncil.org/vtmap/index.html. Three year evaluation. (Michele Cranwell and Fred Schmidt).

YouthBuild, Burlington
A HUD-funded project, modeled after a very successful national program of the same name and designed to assist at risk youth between the ages of 16 and 24 years. The program provides educational/classroom assistance toward the achievement of GED’s and high school diplomas as well as onsite training in construction. The goal is to provide job skills to the youth who are typically high school dropouts, and then to assist the participants in finding appropriate jobs. The CRS has evaluated this program since it began in 1998 and we utilize a series of focus groups, staff discussions, questionnaires, demographic analysis to contribute to an annual evaluative report (Michele Cranwell and Fred Schmidt).

Restorative Justice
For the Youth Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. Spectrum: Youth and Family Services, Burlington, Vermont. The mission of the Restorative Justice for Youth Program is to reduce delinquency by providing timely and meaningful pre-charge interventions to youth who commit petty crimes in Northern Vermont (Chittenden County). The evaluation focuses on the project's outcomes and success in meeting grant goals, including accountability and change in attitude and desire to provide restitution towards their actions. Evaluation methods include data analysis, pre and post test, and satisfaction questionnaires. Three year evaluation. (Michele Cranwell and Fred Schmidt).

AmeriCorps Northeast Kingdom Initiative evaluation project
The NEKI AmeriCorps service project began in 1994 and targeted three counties in the Northeast Region of Vermont. Approximately 24 AmeriCorps volunteers located at sites dispersed throughout the Kingdom provide residents with services in the areas of technology, education, and health. Although the formal CRS role in this project was concluded in 1997, the CRS continues to assist through recruitment and providing guidance to annual program evaluations. (Fred Schmidt and Michele Cranwell).

International Development

Partners of the Americas (POA)
- Vermont-Honduras Farmer-to-Farmer Project. POA carries out technical assistance projects between the United States and Latin America and the Caribbean. POA volunteers conduct projects in civic education, emergency preparedness, health, natural resource management, leadership development and other areas while building cross-cultural understanding throughout the Western Hemisphere. Founded in 1964, POA is a private, non-profit organization chartered in DC and registered with the Advisory Committee on Voluntary Foreign Aid of the Agency for International Development (AID). Currently 60 partnerships involve 45 states with approximately 33 Caribbean, Central and Latin American nations.

The Vermont-Honduran Partnership
This effort is over 25 years old and has involved thousands of Vermonters, including UVM faculty, staff and students. Recently the Center hosted a visit from Keith Andrews, Director of Zanmorano, Honduras International College of Agriculture (private) seeking greater curricular and research collaboration for a new imitative of theirs involving students in community outreach. Laura Durham, Sarah Oppenheimer (CRS intern) and Fred Schmidt led 13 volunteers from the University community and from Sterling College to Honduras in May, 1999 to help repair and rebuild homes destroyed by Hurricane Mitch. "Homes for Honduras" is a project sponsored by the Center for Rural Studies, the Farmer to Farmer Project of the Vermont Honduras Partnership (POA).

In the summer of 2002, CRS staffmembers traveled to Honduras with the support of the Vermont-Honduras POA to engage residents in the InfoRural project and teach information technology skill development and develop e-commerce tools. See the Vermont/Honduras Collaborative Projects Site.  (Fred Schmidt, Michele Cranwell, Thomas DeSisto, Meaghan Murphy, Will Sawyer, and Thomas Patterson, CDAE)

The Center for Rural Studies is fully supported by fees for our services, grants, and generous contributions. Please send your contribution to: Center for Rural Studies, 207 Morrill Hall, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT 05405.

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Send Questions Or Comments To: crs@uvm.edu
Last Updated 07.20.07