VITAL COMMUNITIES
Vital Communities inspires local energy action to help our region meet 100% of its energy needs through energy efficiency and renewable energy by 2050.
Vital Communities' Energy Programs
Green Real Estate Network
A network of real estate professionals helping clients understand and reduce energy costs.
Solarize Upper Valley
Over 370 homes “solarized” in two years – learn how to launch Solarize in your town.
Resources
Explore the “Resources” menu at the top of this page.
What's Happening
Lebanon Area Businesses – Join us on Sept. 27
So many small businesses in the Upper Valley are burdened with high energy costs. And not enough time to do anything about it!
We've got some g [...]
Get Stoked on Automated Wood Heat!
Boiler on its last legs? Looking to opt out of fossil fuels? Come learn about today's self-stoking automated wood heat! Opt out of oil with delivery o [...]
Weatherize Events in January
Weatherize Round Two kicks off this month across the Upper Valley region.
What is Weatherize?
Vital Communities partners community volunteer te [...]
Green Real Estate Network Kick Off
Working together to empower home buyers and sellers throughout the Upper Valley to understand home energy costs and invest in energy efficiency.
O [...]
Plug-In to Electric Vehicles at the Upper Valley Electric Vehicle Expo
Plug-In to Electric Vehicles at the Upper Valley Electric Vehicle Expo
Vital Communities, Upper Valley Sierra Club, and volunteers from several Upp [...]
Solar Expo in Lebanon 4/1
Solar Installers Expo
Hosted by the Plainfield, Cornish, Lebanon, and Enfield Energy Committees
Saturday, April 1 at 2 pm
Kilton Library at 80 Ma [...]
Why Weatherize?
Many thanks to our friends at CATV and Emily Gardner for helping our Hartford Weatherize volunteer team film this hilarious video explaining why YOU s [...]
FREE Button Up Workshop in Lebanon Oct. 19
FREE Button Up Workshop
Wednesday, October 19
6-6:30 pm Refreshments, gathering
6:30-7:45 pm Presentation
7:45-8:15 pm Q&A
Kilton [...]
Aug. 23 – Energy Independence Seminar
Would you like to be energy independent? Join Alan Johnson and Steve Spatz to learn how to reduce the energy use in your home or business.
Tuesday [...]
Vermontivate Gone for Good
For those of you who missed this summer's announcement from Vermontivate, below is a letter from Kathy Blume, Vermontivate's founder and strongest adv [...]
Photo Gallery
Vital Communities News
2018 Farmer Celebration Mixer
Join us to celebrate the work we did together in 2018! Do your chores early, leave the spreadsheets behind, and come share some beer, crepes, and farm chat with fellow farmers as we celebrate the successful 2018 ...more
Donuts & Hogwarts: A Transit Travel Training Case Study
One thing a group of Millennial cartoonists doesn’t need is help using a smartphone app – especially an intuitive one that shows the real-time location of buses in the rural transit system, Advance Transit. No, ...more
Donuts & Hogwarts: A Transit Travel Training Case Study
One thing a group of Millennial cartoonists doesn’t need is help using a smartphone app – especially an intuitive one that shows the real-time location of buses in the rural transit system, Advance Transit. No, ...more
Farmers' Market Roundtable
Join Vital Communities and NOFA VT for a Farmers' Market Roundtable November 7, 2018 from 4-7 pm at the Wilder Club & Library in Hartford, Vermont The roundtable is an opportunity to network, share market successes and challenges, gain ...more
Celebrate Co-op Month with the Co-op Food Stores!
Celebrate October as Co-op Month, Fair-Trade Month and Co-op Food Stores as the Business of the Month! Visit the Co-op Food Stores during the month of October and save 10% off purchase of Co-op Brand Coffee from ...more
EPA Recognizes Hanover Co-op Food Stores with National Award
Congratulations to The Co-op Food Stores! EPA Recognizes Supermarkets Across America for Smart Refrigerant Management WASHINGTON — Yesterday, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recognized 13 organizations in the supermarket industry for their achievements in protecting human health ...more
Market-Fresh Cooking Demos
Love to shop at the farmers' market, and want to learn a new tip or recipe for cooking with all the great produce that is available this month? Join local chef Holly Pierce for weekly cooking ...more
September Market-Fresh Cooking Demos
Love to shop at the farmers' market, and want to learn a new tip or recipe for cooking with all the great produce that is available this month? Join local chef Holly Pierce for weekly cooking ...more
The Norwich Bookstore is the BOM!
Celebrate The Norwich Bookstore as the September Business of the Month! And as a founding Local First Alliance member, The Norwich Bookstore has been and an anchor business in downtown Norwich providing the community with expert ...more
Bird and Quest
The Vermont Center for Ecostudies lists 382 species of bird that occur in Vermont, whether year-long resident or migratory visitor. The VCE’s Vermont Atlas of Life citizen science operation has recorded sightings of 332 of ...more
Mascoma Bank is the BOM!
Celebrate Mascoma Bank as Business of the Month August 6-17 and support three nonprofits while you're at it! Mascoma Bank has put community first since 1899 and as their way of celebrating being the BOM, Mascoma ...more
Subbasin Spotlight!
This year's Aquatic Adventure Super Quest showcases the 5 subbasins that make up the Upper Connecticut River Valley, or, more fondly, the Upper Valley. A subbasin is a term used to describe a watershed within a ...more
A Valley Side-Quest
While Questing is an absorbing hobby in its own right, it opens the door for a number of Side-Quests that you may find enrich the experience. One such Side-Quest is to collect data for any of a ...more
A Lot Lighter with More Hands: Leadership Upper Valley
On the bright, sunny morning of June 13, Cobb Hill was waking up, and the soon-to-be graduating 2018 Leadership Upper Valley class was just arriving for their final meeting. Before the ceremony at Harpoon Brewery, ...more
Buses are FREE Thursday for Dump the Pump Day!
Join people around the Upper Valley and nationwide and take the bus Thursday, June 21 for the 13th annual Dump the Pump Day. Stagecoach and Connecticut River Transit ("The Current") will be FARE-FREE. And Advance Transit ...more
Y'all Curbed the Car!
On Friday, May 18, the Upper Valley celebrated its newest holiday: Curb the Car Day. Riffing off National Bike to Work Day, Curb the Car Day embraces all forms of non-drive-alone commutes: biking, walking, taking transit, ...more
Longevity & Commitment: Keynote Remarks from Heroes & Leaders 2018
Editor's Note: Many thanks to Kevin Peterson, Director of Economic Development for the New Hampshire Community Development Finance Authority, who offered the keynote speech at our May 3 Heroes & Leaders celebration. Read his complete remarks ...more
Long-Standing Stewards: Heroes & Leaders 2018
Every spring, Leadership Upper Valley, a program of Vital Communities, hosts a Heroes & Leaders celebration to recognize individuals who make significant contributions to the greater Upper Valley region. This year, Heroes & Leaders is ...more
Staff
Paige Heverly
Energy and Transportation Project Coordinator
Transportation, Energy
Transportation, Energy
— Paige Heverly, Energy and Transportation Project Coordinator
Paige Heverly joined Vital Communities in 2017 as the Energy and Transportation Project Coordinator. Hailing from the suburbs of Philadelphia, she moved to Vermont in 2011 and earned a joint BA in Renewable Energy and Ecological Design and Environmental Studies from Green Mountain College. After completing her Master of Energy Regulation and Law from Vermont Law School, Paige worked in energy efficiency consulting in Portland, Oregon. Her love of local food systems, the White River, and the Green Mountains brought her back to the Upper Valley to work on regional issues with localized solutions. Paige is passionate about closing ecological loops and treating waste as food. In her free time, she enjoys baking homemade English muffins, weeding her garden, and writing letters to her pen pals.
Sarah Brock
Energy Program Manager
Energy
Energy
— Sarah Brock, Energy Program Manager
Sarah Brock joined Vital Communities in 2013 as our Energy Program Manager. Through her work Sarah provides support for our region’s 40+ local energy committees, engaging with dozens of volunteers and clean energy businesses in programs like Solarize Upper Valley, Weatherize Upper Valley, and the Upper Valley Green Real Estate Network. Prior to joining the Vital Communities team, Sarah was an Environmental Philanthropy Associate with the High Meadows Fund, a supporting organization of the Vermont Community Foundation. Sarah now lives in Warner, New Hampshire, with her husband Zach and her chickens. When she's not busy advocating for energy efficiency, Sarah enjoys playing the trombone and taking walks in her backwoods to look for signs of New Hampshire's abundant wildlife.