This commentary is by Loralee Tester, the executive director of the Northeast Kingdom Chamber of Commerce.
Vermonters are, without question, some of the most well-meaning people you will ever meet. We shovel each other out after snowstorms. We show up with casseroles.
We volunteer, donate, coach and serve on boards — sometimes four or five or more. We respond when help is needed, not because we have to, but because it is who we are.
That generosity is one of Vermont’s greatest strengths. But kindness alone is not going to fix a state in crisis.
It is time for us to face an economic reality that no amount of goodwill can fix. The Vermont Futures Project recently released its Competitiveness Dashboard, an honest, data-driven look at how our state is performing across key indicators, from affordability to workforce to business climate.
It is worth a careful look. Not a defensive one. A serious one.
We cannot pretend the metrics in this report are accidental. They are the predictable result of policies, systems and cultural attitudes — embodied by Act 250 — that make it extraordinarily difficult to build housing, grow businesses and invest at scale.
But businesses are not the bad guys. They are employers, taxpayers, innovators and community sponsors. Without them, there is no tax base to fund the services we value so deeply.
As a state, we have to acknowledge that we are falling behind in ways that directly affect how people live, work and raise families. As this report illustrates, we now live in a state where a growing number of people cannot afford to live.
That sentence deserves to be sat with. Because when people cannot afford to live, the consequences ripple outward, quietly at first, then all at once.
It means schools where children arrive hungry, distracted by worry. It means families without stable housing, sleeping in cars, motels, or doubling up in unsafe conditions. It means teachers, nurses and first responders commuting long distances, or leaving altogether, because they cannot find a home near their work.
Creating another food shelf to feed hungry children is an act of compassion, but it is not a solution. It treats the symptom, but does not address the root cause, which is an economy that no longer works for too many Vermonters.
When people cannot afford to live here, they do not move here. When they do not move here, school enrollment declines. When enrollment declines, schools are forced to consolidate or close. Communities lose not just classrooms, but gathering places, identity and hope.
The same pattern is playing out in health care. Hospitals struggle to recruit staff who cannot find housing. Birthing centers close.
You have all been reading the same headlines, so please, ask yourself honestly: Is this the state you are proud to live in?
Recognize that when you chase a development out of your neighborhood, you are not just protecting a scenic view. You may be preventing someone from living a dignified life. You may be ensuring that some teacher, chef or nurse cannot live in the community they serve.
Take a good, long look at the competitiveness dashboard and ask how it affects your sector. Schools. Hospitals. Restaurants. Stores. Construction firms. Arts organizations. Sports teams. Municipal governments. None of them exists in isolation. When the system is under strain, everyone feels it.
We should also ask hard questions about the structure of our civic life. What does it mean to be a viable society when we have 6,400 nonprofits serving a state of roughly 650,000 people?
Nonprofits are born of generosity and need, but they often emerge to fill gaps left by systemic failure. At some point, we must ask whether fragmentation is helping us move forward or simply helping us cope.
This is not a call to abandon Vermont’s values. It is a call to align them with reality.
Imagine a Vermont that is still beautiful and agrarian. A place where neighbors help neighbors. A place that offers some of the best education in the world, strong health care, and vibrant local economies.
Picture thriving downtowns and communities where people can afford to stay, and choose to come. A place where we find balance in how we work, how we play, and how we pursue joy and purpose.
That Vermont is still possible, but it will require compromise. It will require us to loosen our grip on a past that no longer exists and commit to a future that works for everyone, not just those already here.
Believe in the possibility of abundance and support a future that allows that dream to exist for future generations.
