Burlington, Vermont

Based in Burlington, North County Federal Credit Union is a credit union open to anyone who lives, works, studies, or worships in northern Vermont.  As of 2014, North Country had nearly 34,000 members and held over $454.7 million in assets.  Committed to the community, North Country underwrites college scholarships, supports community events, and funds quality childcare for single, low-income parents re-entering the workplace.

Burlington’s only downtown grocery store, City Market, Onion River Co-op is a 16,000 square-foot food cooperative that provides affordable conventional, organic, and local products.  Established as a buying club in 1973, the co-op currently has over 11,000 members and more than 4,000 customers a day.  Committed to the environment, City Market has a solar-paneled roof and runs numerous initiatives to help reduce its carbon footprint, including offering a 5 percent discount to bicyclists.

Founded in 1984 by a small group of Vermont gardeners, Gardener’s Supply Company has grown into a gardening business serving millions of customers nationwide via its own manufacturing facility, where it makes many of its products.  In 2009, Gardener’s Supply became 100 percent employee owned, and in 2014 became a certified B Corporation to highlight its commitment to social and environmental responsibility, transparency, and accountability.  With a mission to use gardening to build community and make the world a better place, Gardener’s Supply donates 8 percent of its pre-tax profits to programs and organizations that use gardening to improve people's lives and the health of our environment.  The business also founded and supports the Intervale Center and Company Farm, a plot besides its headquarters where it grows hundreds of pounds of potatoes to donate to people in need.

Founded in 1965, the Champlain Valley Office of Economic Opportunity (CVOEO) aims to provide individuals with basic needs in times of crisis and to help them develop the knowledge, skills, and assets needed to thrive into the future.  Headquartered in Burlington, the nonprofit serves over 25,000 people a year in northwest Vermont.  In 2014, its micro-business development program catalyzed 76 business start-ups and expansions, creating 87 new jobs, and its free income tax program served 1,246 households, returning $1.8 million to the state economy.  CVOEO also offers an Individual Account Development (IDA) program, which matches every $1 saved to purchase a first home, finance post-secondary education, or start or expand a business with another $2 over a two year period.

The Burlington School Food Project aims to serve wholesome, fresh, nutritious, and local food to the 4,000 students in the Burlington School District.  To do so, the project supports the creation of school gardens and farm partnerships, and prioritizes farm field trips, cooking classes and nutrition education to promote health and the local economy more generally.  Catalyzed in 2003 by a three-year USDA grant that brought together the school district, nonprofits, and families, the project was strengthened in 2006 when the district hired the first “Farm to School Coordinator” in the nation to source and encourage the use of locally grown foods.  All schools in the district now include a productive garden, and the district serves up to 70 percent local products (depending on the season) in school meals.  The project also encompasses a mobile restaurant that serves as a culinary job training program for local students.

Funded from a dedicated tax approved by voters in 1989, the Burlington Housing Trust Fund provides grants and loans for the promotion, retention, and creation of long-term affordable housing for very low, low, and moderate-income households.  Grants are provided to support the direct project, as well as capacity building, costs (such as staffing, training, planning, fundraising, and ongoing operational expenses), of nonprofit organizations working to create or preserve low or moderate income housing.  In FY 2016, the Fund plans to provide $337,750 of support to Burlington organizations.

Founded in 1993, Burlington Associates in Community Development is a worker-owned consulting cooperative focused on supporting community land trusts (CLTs) and other shared equity homeownership strategies.  To do so, Burlington Associates specializes in developing and evaluating public policies and initiatives that: expand access to shared equity homeownership; protect community investment in affordable housing, transit-oriented development, urban agriculture, and neighborhood commercial districts; ensure the long-term stewardship of housing and other community assets; and nurture a “third sector” of nonprofits that can collaborate with government to deliver essential services to local communities.  To raise the standard of practice throughout the CLT movement, Burlington Associates developed a web-based CLT Resource Center in 2005 through which people can freely access training materials, technical documents, and research reports focused on the model.