NEK Day at the Statehouse is coming next week — in virtual form.
The third annual event, organized by the Northeast Kingdom Collaborative, aims to give legislators a glimpse into the successes and struggles of the three-county region.
“We’re hoping that it’ll be relatively celebratory” this year, said Carey Crozier, communications director for the regional advocacy group. “The Northeast Kingdom has really proven its grit.”
People can register for the event online.
This year’s event will be split between two days. On Monday at 8 a.m., area leaders will present the collaborative’s new regional recovery plan to lawmakers, with experts speaking to each of five priorities.
Those priorities are familiar to anyone following the region in recent years: broadband access, housing, education, business support and community vitality.
“We’re hoping that a lot of these (points) are already in line with a lot of things they are talking about already in their committees,” Crozier said.
U.S. Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., is slated to give a keynote address at the Monday meeting, she said.
The second part of the event, at noon Friday, mirrors previous years, in which anyone from the Kingdom is able to speak to legislators. So far, more than 100 people have RSVPed.
“Really it’s just a way to connect constituents directly with their representatives, which is something that is lacking,” Crozier said. “This event offers that forum.”
Both sessions this year, unlike the others, will be held virtually over Zoom. But Crozier said the move to the digital realm hasn’t been much of a challenge.
NEK Day at the Statehouse started as an initiative of Katherine Sims, former executive director of the collaborative. Sims left that post after she was elected to the Vermont House of Representatives in November, a Democrat representing the Orleans-Caledonia House district.
Tom Lovett, a board member of the collaborative and former St. Johnsbury Academy headmaster, stepped in as interim director this month.
In the event’s first year, speakers focused on economic development, particularly in the creative, recreation and food sectors, and called for efforts to develop new leaders in the region.
Last year’s discussions spotlighted problems with rural broadband access and the tension between the state’s Act 250 land-use law and expansion of outdoor recreation infrastructure.
Crozier said she believes the yearly event has succeeded in pushing policy that improves conditions in the Kingdom. “We’ve seen evidence of that, especially in terms of broadband,” she said.
Sims said her work in organizing the event for the past two years gave her a better understanding about what policies work, where policy gaps exist, and what solutions might be.
The Kingdom-centric event could help other legislators in the same way, she said.
“Being a citizen in the Legislature and having no staff, it can be challenging to do the due diligence to test assumptions about policy or to understand the challenges and barriers folks are facing,” Sims said. “So the collaborative helps with some of that matchmaking.”
And she’s just grateful that this year she only has to listen and learn — and not worry about whether the Zoom call works.
