Vermont Legislature SmartTranscripts:

[Rep. Michael Marcotte (Chair)]: K. Try it again. Good morning, everyone. This is the Vermont House Committee on Commerce and Economic Development. It is Friday, 02/13/2026 at 11:30. So today, we're here to with advocates for Vermont Housing and Conservation Coalition. We're here to take some testimony from them. So first, we have David Newell. David, good morning. Thank you for joining us. Thank

[David Newell, President, Prospect Mountain Association]: you very much for the opportunity. I'm in our busy ticket office here, but I can hear you pretty well. So

[Rep. Michael Marcotte (Chair)]: just for the record, state your name, your affiliation, and go on with your testimony.

[David Newell, President, Prospect Mountain Association]: My name is David Newell, and I'm the president of the Prospect Mountain Association, which is a five zero one c three that now owns and operates the Prospect Mountain Nordic Trail Center. We appreciate the opportunity to testify on behalf of the VHCb today, and thanks for the opportunity. I'd love to be there in person, and I have done that before with the legislature. But today, we have the Williams College Winter Carnival going on up here, which is a great event that includes 12 division one college teams competing. And it probably attracts over 200 folks total of the community who stay here last night and tonight and also patronize our restaurants and gift shops. So it's a great economic driver for our area in the wintertime. And something like this would not have been possible without the great support we got from the VHCV on the grant. And I consider the VHCV grant an investment in our area, and certainly the local economy has benefited from that. In 2018, we had the opportunity to purchase Prospect, and we did, for the total of $900,000. We knew we couldn't raise all of that, and with the help of the Vermont Land Trust, we submitted a grant to VHCb, and they generously believed in our program and our mission and awarded us 265,000. We would not have been able to complete the purchase without that. And it also, enabled people who wanted to donate and enthused quite a bit more enthusiasm when they realized that an organization like the VACB was behind what we were doing. Really helped a lot. And since then, we've had now this is our ninth season of fairly successful operation up here. But, again, the issue is the local economic support we got from the grant. The staff of the VACB was outstanding in helping us, very professional, Gus Seelig and his great team that worked for them. And we, in addition to what we have today with the Williams Carnival, we also had the Massachusetts state championships here two days ago and three days on Tuesday. That involved 300 skiers. Again, they stayed the local area. We also sponsor up here the Bill Coke U ski league. We have an elementary school program, so we opened this place to recreational skiing for people of all ages. The high school local high school public high schools race here, Mount Anthony and others, as well as the college, as you know. But perhaps even more importantly, we have recreational skiing up here, which includes 380 season pass holders every year. They're from six different states that come to Southern Vermont to enjoy our trails. And, again, a great boost to the local economy. And our skier days last year, which we reported to the Forest Service, was 27,000. So it gives you some idea how much these trails are used in about a one hundred day season, assuming we have the weather working in our favor. Prospect is a recruiting tool for local business in the hospital when they're recruiting professionals and doctors. This is a great recreational resource here, which I think helps bring qualified people to work in our area. Last year, we had the New York excuse me, New England force five state competition, competition, including including New New York State for the 16 championships. And next year, we are gonna be pulling off the Bill Coke U ski league, again, a five state festival, and that will involve 600 skiers. So wish us luck on that one. But we'll find a way to get through that. But, again, these are the kind of events that are going on here that really was initially jump started by the great grant that we got from the VACB. So I certainly would encourage the committee to support their budget requests of 37,000,000, and I'm sure other stories for your the folks who testify after me will have the same good comments about the support that they got from the VACB as well.

[Rep. Michael Marcotte (Chair)]: Probably tomorrow, yes. But after that, I'll go back to my psychopaths.

[David Newell, President, Prospect Mountain Association]: Feel free to take some questions if you have some.

[Rep. Michael Marcotte (Chair)]: Okay. Any questions for David? Okay. David, thank you. Thanks

[David Newell, President, Prospect Mountain Association]: for the opportunity.

[Rep. Michael Marcotte (Chair)]: Mary Ann? Doesn't matter because we have a separate room. There's another chair.

[Kathy Reynolds, Incoming Board Chair, Cornerstone Housing Partners]: She's getting ready. For those of you who don't know, it snows at Prospect way more than anywhere else in Southern Vermont. It is a magnet when the earth is bare down rural and everyone's like,

[Mary Cohen, CEO, Cornerstone Housing Partners]: what's going on? But it will be no. You enable me to share?

[Rep. Michael Marcotte (Chair)]: For the record, could you say your name?

[Mary Cohen, CEO, Cornerstone Housing Partners]: It's

[Rita Oakes, Director, Randolph Technical Career Center]: disabled. I

[Kathy Reynolds, Incoming Board Chair, Cornerstone Housing Partners]: live in Tinsmouth, an hour away, and I'll drive there. Thank

[Rep. Michael Marcotte (Chair)]: you. Been a great year for you, that's for sure.

[Mary Cohen, CEO, Cornerstone Housing Partners]: Everybody's had a baby. Yuck.

[Mary Ann Koulet, Town Manager, West Rutland]: Hi, I'm Mary Ann Koulet, I'm the town manager for West Rutland, and I'm the latest poster child for Cornerstone Housing. We just unveiled their latest project in the fall. So thank you for this opportunity to talk to you about the Marble Village project. So this is what it looked like before. This was, in April 2021, I invited Mary Cohen to visit a site in West Rowan. It was a former corner store that had burned several years ago. Next to that was a vacant lot, and next to that was another vacant storefront, which had been vacant for probably seven years total. Lots of contaminated soil, no bites on redevelopment, and obviously Gran List was suffering, not to mention it was a huge eyesore in the middle of town. So during that visit, we began to envision something different, a housing centerpiece that could transform our village center while providing much needed homes for local residents. Location was ideal within walking distance of the grocery store, post office, pharmacy, school and recreation areas, making it a natural hub for vibrant community living. This project has been a true team effort. Our select board embraced the vision. Our planning commission had to work on zoning regs to allow for increased density. Cornerstone and Ever North were exceptional partners working alongside town officials and community members to really create a development we can all be proud of. Marble Village will serve as a cornerstone for our community, providing much needed housing while enhancing the quality of life for residents. It represents an investment in our future and a powerful example of how thoughtful partnerships and strategic public support can help build a stronger, more vibrant West Trumbull. We are deeply grateful for the Mount Housing Conservation Board for its investment in our community. Without your support, this redevelopment would not have been possible. The project has already been locally embraced by the community and residents are always already asking an exciting question, what comes next? There's another equally blighted building right next to it. So we're already working on doing something there. And Dave, you see it every day you go by. So remediated the blight, had to clean out contaminated soils, which was 600 and something thousand dollars, providing the perpetually affordable housing.

[Rep. Michael Marcotte (Chair)]: Increased our grant. The contamination was it? Everything,

[Mary Ann Koulet, Town Manager, West Rutland]: it was

[Mary Cohen, CEO, Cornerstone Housing Partners]: The urban soils, and I think

[Mary Ann Koulet, Town Manager, West Rutland]: there were, this is a huge

[Mary Cohen, CEO, Cornerstone Housing Partners]: fix, underground storage tanks that we had to remove. And this is a small 1.7 acres or something.

[Rep. Michael Marcotte (Chair)]: Very Do you know if you went through the German Cleanup Fund? We do.

[Mary Ann Koulet, Town Manager, West Rutland]: This was and this is allowing our downsizing for our seniors because there's a lot of seniors in big old houses and they're it's allowing them to move in and let the new families move in. So And this is what it looks like. 24 units and it's the center of town. It was, you know, we did the ribbon cutting in October, and sixteen months later, we were opening the door. So really quick, using all the local contractors.

[Rep. Michael Marcotte (Chair)]: The same one in my town, Newport Center, they had a couple of lighted properties and came in and redid them. So huge difference for a community.

[Mary Ann Koulet, Town Manager, West Rutland]: So because of me, Mary's phone is ringing off the hub now. They're like, wait, how did that happen? Well, know, it took

[Kathy Reynolds, Incoming Board Chair, Cornerstone Housing Partners]: a little while to get everything ready.

[Mary Cohen, CEO, Cornerstone Housing Partners]: Slide. One

[Mary Ann Koulet, Town Manager, West Rutland]: might recognize a few people in this ribbon cutting in November. Good.

[Rep. Michael Marcotte (Chair)]: I'm sure you know about the Chitt program.

[Mary Ann Koulet, Town Manager, West Rutland]: Yes, yes. So hopefully we can use that for the next project.

[Rep. Michael Marcotte (Chair)]: Also speaking of, we're having some discussions about type stabilization and how that could be helpful to small projects.

[Mary Ann Koulet, Town Manager, West Rutland]: Yes. We do have a policy already. We have an industrial park that we've used that for. So this is know, it was that'll be helpful. Dave?

[Rep. David "Dave" Bosch (Member)]: I was just gonna comment to drive by in the before circumstance to in this after circumstance and see Christmas tree lights in the windows and stuff. Just total remarkable. My only concern was the white building in the back there is the famous Mary's Cafe, and I was concerned I might not be able to get a seat there anymore.

[Mary Ann Koulet, Town Manager, West Rutland]: He's expanding too. So it all trickles.

[Unidentified Committee Member]: Thanks so much. I was curious, how large is West Round?

[Mary Cohen, CEO, Cornerstone Housing Partners]: 2500.

[Rep. Michael Marcotte (Chair)]: So 24 units. It's like a significant one?

[Mary Ann Koulet, Town Manager, West Rutland]: Yes. We actually have a few How many units do we have that you manage? We manage about

[Mary Cohen, CEO, Cornerstone Housing Partners]: 50 units or more, 60 units in the restaurant. Yeah,

[Mary Ann Koulet, Town Manager, West Rutland]: we transformed an old Polish parochial school into housing units a number of years ago. So we have a few seniors. Yeah.

[Unidentified Committee Member]: And is you mentioned the abided property sort of tax will drag. Is there any payment to the town in lieu of taxes for for the new village center? Yes.

[Mary Cohen, CEO, Cornerstone Housing Partners]: We pay taxes. So we create a for profit entity, and so it should be kind of a disaster. It's slight discount because we have a market.

[Unidentified Committee Member]: Right. I see. Because of the targeting various housing incomes. But it's still

[Mary Cohen, CEO, Cornerstone Housing Partners]: pretty significant, 25,000.

[Unidentified Committee Member]: That was my next question, Ken. Thank you.

[Mary Ann Koulet, Town Manager, West Rutland]: We haven't sent our new text file yet, so I

[Zach Watson, Executive Director, Central Vermont Habitat for Humanity]: don't know.

[Mary Cohen, CEO, Cornerstone Housing Partners]: It's Mary Cohen, I'm the CEO of Cornerstone Housing Partners. It is Kathy Reynolds. Hello.

[Kathy Reynolds, Incoming Board Chair, Cornerstone Housing Partners]: Let's get to where I want to be. So my name is Kathy Reynolds, and I am the incoming board chair of Cornerstone Housing Partners. And maybe you don't recognize the name Cornerstone Housing Partners, and the reason is we used to be three separate entities. And thanks to the support of our friends at PHEV, we are now one unified organization. So think about this. Rutland West Neighborhood Housing Services was its own entity in Rutland, as was the Housing Trust of Rutland County. And for thirty years, they operated side by side, not competing, separate buildings, separate staff, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. Year after year, why don't you guys merge? Two very strong willed independent executive directors said, no. Thank you. And then they both retired the same year. We actually, why don't you guys merge? So we got so much support. And these are really independent organizations with their own board. So it was a very thoughtful, very considered process. We worked on culture. How are we going to create a new board? We each had over 10. We're not going to have a 30 person board. So it was hard, but we did it. And we merged in July '24. And then our friends at VHCb said, you know, you really need to take on Shires in Bennington. They're really having trouble, and they'll be a much stronger organization if they're part of your team. So we brought them into our fold on 01/01/2025, just about a year ago. And don't let anyone tell you that merging is easy. It's really hard. I wrote a list of how hard it is. Imagine this. 54 staff, three IT systems, three financial systems, four offices, three executive teams, three workplace cultures, and four boards of directors. And the list goes on. And I think it's pretty fair to say that we couldn't have done it without the support of VHCb. So now we have one unified, strong organization. We oversee and manage over 800 apartments in two counties. We provide homeownership services through our NeighborWorks affiliate arm for Rutland County, Bennington County, Addison County, and the Northeast Kingdom. We're doing homeownership assistance, down payment assistance, homeowner education, energy efficiency audits, project management, low interest loans, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. And we now can offer our residents in our communities a path from a home in an apartment that's affordable. Ideally, the big win would be to homeownership. So that really has become kind of our arching goal as an organization. And, we're year end, still a work in progress. But it was a great support that we got from VHCb. And I think that's really, part of what I want to share with you today is, like, VHCb is so important to our housing developments. You heard that from Mary Anne. You experienced it in your town. It's really hard and expensive to build new housing. I can tell you for a fact that it does not happen in Rutland or Bennington County very often without help. So VHUB is supporting our organizations. We are a network of organizations across the state, all relying on VHCb as part of our funding stack. And just the fact that that is the word that people use for how do you actually develop affordable housing in this state. It requires a stack. It's not like you could just take out a loan and make the numbers work. The numbers don't work. That's why no one else is doing it. It's really expensive, and it's really hard to be a landlord. Our tenants need so much support, and we're doing it thanks to the help we get from organizations like VHCb. Cornerstone is no exception. We are all, all the organizations, are receiving great assistance. So VOHB doesn't just fund housing. Some of the examples, in addition to our merger support, predevelopment funding, Mary gets a phone call. Oh, this one might be interesting. Well, you have to do some work to find out if it'll actually work, and you can't get money until it's a project. We So get some predevelopment funding, flexible financing tools, technical assistance to our organization to expand staffing. We now are an organization of 54, and we need an HR person. Oops. We never did when we were 15. We need more IT help. We are a much bigger system. We're so many imagine 800 rent checks a month and all the bills that's related to that. So we've gotten lots of support. And through the support that the local housing organizations get, we've then been able to help our communities leverage substantial federal, private, and philanthropic resources to help build those funding stacks to make those projects and communities work. So I think I mentioned this. Well, in Bennington Counties are rural. Anybody who's ever been there, like, how many big, huge apartment buildings do you see that were built in the last thirty years? Two, Marble Village, and we've almost finished another one in Rutland called Maplewood Commons. They just haven't happened. We've done a lot of rehab as well. Think that tables may have turned to the point where actually new construction is as cost effective, if not more, than doing rehab, just because it's really expensive and there's so many things that you have to spend money on, like soil remediation, lead paint, and on and on. So VHCb's support in merging us into one has made us stronger. We have greater geographic reach. We have greater organizational strength and greater capacity to build homes. VHCV helps us create housing that is perpetually affordable in the long term in our communities. We are not the landlord who in five years is gonna say, hey. We could condoize this. These units will be here for our neighbors for a really, really, really long time. So that's really different than our saying, hey. Invest in our new real estate development. Right? One time deal. Who knows what's gonna happen? This will be a center point in rest West Rutland, a community hub of people living there forever. It will not become an Airbnb. It will not be sold as a second home. We're buying security and safety and reliable homes for our And I'll take you back to that. I think I can do that. We go. So the last thing I really wanna say is that we couldn't do it without you. It is not easy. We have amazing staff in from our three organizations coming into one. We have a strong board, but we need all the help we can get. And so the I would make to your committee from both Cornerstone and all the other affordable housing providers in the state is to please fully fund the VHCb request this year in the governor's budget. And if you wanna make it more, that'd be great too, because we have Mary, how often does your you know, there aren't a lot of developers. We've had five or six municipalities call us and say, do have a lot? We have a lot.

[Rita Oakes, Director, Randolph Technical Career Center]: We wanna do what Mary Anne did.

[Kathy Reynolds, Incoming Board Chair, Cornerstone Housing Partners]: And we don't have that kind of funding or capacity at this point. So we're picking and choosing. And we do have a an incredibly vibrant pipeline. Things we actually have in active development, are over $84,000,000. It's huge. You may hear about some communities where there's no opportunity. That is not true in Rutland. If

[Mary Cohen, CEO, Cornerstone Housing Partners]: you

[Kathy Reynolds, Incoming Board Chair, Cornerstone Housing Partners]: have any questions, I'll be happy to, answer them. But otherwise, thank you so much for listening to us.

[Unidentified Committee Member]: I just want to make a comment. You know, this concept of forever housing, has anyone, any of these organizations thought of life transitions? For example, what's wonderful about these affordable housings, you have a couple, they move in, they have three children. Thirty years later, they move out. And now you have a couple living in a three bedroom apartment warehouse way bigger than what they need. But because of the perpetual affordable thing, they're not they're not legal. The numbers can't work for them to downsize.

[Kathy Reynolds, Incoming Board Chair, Cornerstone Housing Partners]: Are you talking about a house or an apartment? Think A house. In a house.

[Mary Cohen, CEO, Cornerstone Housing Partners]: Yeah.

[Kathy Reynolds, Incoming Board Chair, Cornerstone Housing Partners]: I think a lot of people are stuck in cheap mortgages right now or, in that case, homes that they owned. So I think you're referring to if someone had gotten down payment assistance through our NeighborWorks arm. Is that what you're referring to?

[Unidentified Committee Member]: Yeah. Because, you know, I mean, it's it's a, you know, a problem I I'm actually experiencing right now. I went through Champlain Housing Trust. Yep. I'm I don't have any kids, so they're all grown up, but I can't afford to move out. Yeah. So I'm sitting in a three bedroom house that I there's nowhere I can go. I can't make enough money to downsize even.

[Kathy Reynolds, Incoming Board Chair, Cornerstone Housing Partners]: Right. I don't think I know that there's an answer to that because you're not unlike a grandmother

[Rep. Michael Marcotte (Chair)]: Right.

[Kathy Reynolds, Incoming Board Chair, Cornerstone Housing Partners]: Living all alone in a house with no mortgage who can't afford to go anywhere. It is a big problem, not unique to your situation. Absolutely.

[Unidentified Committee Member]: I just want to throw it on the radar there.

[Kathy Reynolds, Incoming Board Chair, Cornerstone Housing Partners]: Absolutely. And I live in a very rural community, and we have 10 houses with three bedrooms or more with one elderly, generally woman living in them. And there is really no place for them to go. That, you know, we're a rural community, Rutland's a half an hour away. So that's another one for us to all consider. Right? What does that look like? Can we build little five unit senior facilities, maybe with an apartment that's a caretaker who can help with services?

[Unidentified Committee Member]: And especially when you consider demographics. By 2035, we're going to have more people 65 than 21.

[Kathy Reynolds, Incoming Board Chair, Cornerstone Housing Partners]: Yes, the graph does not look like it's skewing younger, does it?

[Mary Cohen, CEO, Cornerstone Housing Partners]: Thanks so much.

[Unidentified Committee Member]: You mentioned on your third slide some of the benefits that Cornerstone receives, and one of them I'd like to hear more detail about flexible financing tools. Can you speak a little bit about what those are and how they're made available, etcetera?

[Mary Cohen, CEO, Cornerstone Housing Partners]: When we say that it's more like the capital in our stack that comes, and BHCb has lots of different buckets in which they come to that, and so they supply that. Those are different and inflexible for us and to help us.

[Unidentified Committee Member]: Is that bullet point largely similar then to that final bullet point? Are those the substantial federal, private and economic resources you're referring to? Okay, thank you.

[Rep. Michael Marcotte (Chair)]: Thank you.

[Zach Watson, Executive Director, Central Vermont Habitat for Humanity]: Mike? Hi. Brought a full crew with me. We're gonna try to consolidate as best we can. I'm Zach Watson. I'm the executive director for Central Vermont Habitat for Humanity here as part of the Vermont Housing and Conservation Coalition Day. Those that we don't know

[Rep. Michael Marcotte (Chair)]: was a member of this committee twenty twenty, twenty twenty one.

[Zach Watson, Executive Director, Central Vermont Habitat for Humanity]: That's right. And I'm sitting right in that chair over there. So today, I'm joined by two career and technical education centers in Central Vermont and Randolph to talk about the CTE revolving loan fund, which is a fund that was appropriated to VHCb that is administered by the Rock Community Loan Foundation Fund. It's flexible financing option, a 0% interest financing with an option for some of it to be forgiven when partnered with affordable housing. So we work with Randolph Tech, Central Vermont Tech, and we're also working with Green Mountain Technical Center in Morrisville to support a project in Greensboro. And we just signed an MOU with Randolph to help build our a duplex in Northfield, which is also affordable housing, professionally affordable. And this project is actually veteran housing. So it's a really wonderful financing source. And as far as I'm concerned, it's probably the most effective housing legislation that's come out of this building in the last five years because it allowed for and enabled us to finance construction in a time when, construction costs were going through the roof at a 0% interest rate. And so we were able to go from building the house every other year till we completed two units last year. We're going to complete three units this year, and who knows how many units in the future. But we are growing, and it's made possible thanks to this fund and the incredible partnership with the tech centers. So I'm going to let the tech centers introduce themselves.

[Rep. Michael Marcotte (Chair)]: That's a fund that came from us.

[Zach Watson, Executive Director, Central Vermont Habitat for Humanity]: That's right. And I should have said that Mike Marcotte, representative Marcotte, has been a champion for the tech centers. This program is focused on hands on learning experiences with students, which you'll learn about. We have students with us today. So with that, I'm going to leave

[Brandon Morris, Electrical Instructor, Central Vermont Career Center]: it up.

[Zach Watson, Executive Director, Central Vermont Habitat for Humanity]: You

[Rep. Michael Marcotte (Chair)]: were doing it before. There you go.

[Zach Watson, Executive Director, Central Vermont Habitat for Humanity]: All right, great. So Jody, I'm going

[Mary Cohen, CEO, Cornerstone Housing Partners]: have you introduce yourself and your student.

[Wyatt [last name unknown], Student, Randolph Technical Career Center]: I'm Suana, or may ran off technical center student. I helped with the I think it was the second year of the bill. We did quite a lot of stuff there. We helped hang drywall. I got to learn the opportunity to hang drywall, mud and tape. It also helps a little bit with the plumbing. I ran some of the HVAC and all of those opportunities have helped me get a job in, at Huntington Homes. So, yeah, Johnson.

[Rita Oakes, Director, Randolph Technical Career Center]: Thank you, Mike. And hi, I'm Rita Oakes. I am the director of Randolph Technical Career Center. It's very nice to meet you all. And just super quick, we're going to just take you through a little quick fact sheet and visual tour. So Habitat for Humanity helped create housing for two families in Randolph. It took eighteen months to complete, and 20 to 30 students benefited from this, including students like Wyatt in the construction program and also students in our electrical program. And on average, they were there three days a month. Like he said, they did all of the things that you would accept, a concrete slab, the shed building, sheet rocking, windows. It was truly a collaboration that benefited the community and benefited our students and gave them real world experience to help them build their resume and gave them a way to experience building a house and feeling like they did something that made a lasting impression. One of our students also got a full time co op opportunity and a job through their work for Habitat for Humanity, which was greatly appreciated. It's mutually benefiting our community. We're having a chance to make an impact while also providing workers and humanity, it's a total win win. We're so excited to have been able to be part of that. As I said, it expands the classroom experience into the real world. And so it's one thing to build something in your big classroom, it's another thing to build a real home for real people. Some photos here of them doing what they do and what they love to do. One of the things that they really got to see was that not everything goes perfect, and how do we problem solve when things don't go as according to the timeline? And how do we rebound from that? And how do we make good decisions when not everything is the way we thought it was going to be? You can't do that in a classroom. This is the real world, and this is the connection that we were able to make. So it supplemented our student learning. It created a sense of pride for our students. And we know that this house will stand for one hundred plus years and will be there for the future. As we drive by, it's right across from our central office. We all see it all day long. We witnessed it growing from its infinthood to what it is now, a beautiful home. And we're super excited to be partnering with Habitat for Humanity, and we will be helping to build the new property in Northfield, Vermont, which is right in our school district, and we will continue proudly working with them. So thank you so much for your time, and thanks to Wyatt for being here. Have a great day.

[Rep. Michael Marcotte (Chair)]: Thank

[Mary Cohen, CEO, Cornerstone Housing Partners]: you. Dimitri. Brandon? Who wants to see? Hi,

[Jody Emerson, Superintendent/Director, Central Vermont Career Center]: I'm Jody Emerson, Superintendent Director of the Central Remote Care Center, and this is Brennan Morris, our electrical instructor, and Dmitry Kolowetzak, who is our building trades instructor. And over the past two years, the Central Vermont Career Center collaborated with Haptap for Humanity on a home in Barrie, initially discussing how we might work together and use the Vermont Community Loan Fund to support that work, and then collaborating on a project at 22 Hill Street. And I'll let them talk about it.

[Brandon Morris, Electrical Instructor, Central Vermont Career Center]: Yeah. Give it a time.

[Kathy Reynolds, Incoming Board Chair, Cornerstone Housing Partners]: I'll try to

[Brandon Morris, Electrical Instructor, Central Vermont Career Center]: So sum this up for you I'd like to briefly share how students of the building trades and electrical programs made a real impact. So students were able to get hands on experience and the importance of service, such as showing up on time. We, as the electrical class, took on the whole project 100%. Students were able to do the permitting all the way to the final inspection with the inspectors, fix any mistakes that were needed from the service working with Green Mountain Power to everything that's inside the house that powers it. It was a great experience. I think we were there three days a week for the majority of two quarters semester. Great experience. It's right in Barrie. Students are able to drive by continuously and see what they've built. I know for myself, I took building trades and electrical when I was in high school. And to this day, I still think about the houses that we're able to build and put up. It was a great experience. And thinking back to the program, I too worked at Huntington Homes right out of school too. So I think CTE is a great start. It gets you rolling and it's a great experience. Again,

[Rep. Michael Marcotte (Chair)]: I wanted to prove to make sure

[Dmitry Kolowetzak, Building Trades Instructor, Central Vermont Career Center]: I think a lot of points got covered by previously, which is great, but I'm just gonna continue on. My name is Dimitri Kolamates. I'm a building trade instructor at Central Munk Career Center. Know, students see how their help provide safe, affordable housing for families and the communities. It shows them that their skills can truly make a difference. They also develop strong work habits by arriving on time, adhering to safety standards, communicating with supervisors, working with part of the team. These are the qualities everyone is looking for, by working alongside, habited staff, instructors, community volunteers, student learn teamwork and professionalism. They experience how different traits come together to complete successful projects. You know, When you're working on a real house, the problem solving is endless. Things don't line up, things don't work out. You have to solve this, you have to take your time. And what a way to teach this to the kids in a real setting. Brandon said, kids drive by the house every day, they see it, they're gonna see it five years, ten years from now, they might tell their own kids, Hey, I helped build this house. So most important, experience builds confidence, pride. When students see the finished Hill Street house, they know that they helped create something meaningful. The sense of accomplishment motivates them. It helps us in the programs, but also helps them to be successful in their future. And I just want to say the partnerships highlights the value of career and technical education, and it demonstrates how students are helping build stronger workforce in the community. And I wanna thank everybody for being here, and please continue to support this partnership. It's it's priceless. Thank you very much. Questions, comments, concerns?

[Brandon Morris, Electrical Instructor, Central Vermont Career Center]: I'd also just like to add, I know we're here for funding purposes a little bit. This is huge. You guys were talking about the cost of houses. I think you said $600,000 just for the land situation. That cannot be taken on by a school. While we want to do all we can, there is some hold offs or restrictions. So the fact that Habitat for Humanity and that partnership, yes, it's great for students, but they would miss out on a lot of this, like building a home just because of land restrictions. So, yeah, huge, huge help. And I'll

[Zach Watson, Executive Director, Central Vermont Habitat for Humanity]: just tie it all together. Again, this is CTE revolving loan fund that supported these partnerships. These guys are awesome. Our CTE centers are amazing. The only problem is we don't have enough of them. We need more CTE centers. And this program is made possible because of VHCb, so I request that you all totally support fully funding VHCb at a statutory amount of $37,600,000. So thank you all, and thank you for this committee's support of CTE. We are all very grateful for it.

[Rep. Michael Marcotte (Chair)]: Thanks, Art. Thanks for coming back.

[Unidentified Committee Member]: I wanna specifically ask the two of you. You look like healthy, able-bodied people. What prompted you to leave the private sector and become instructors?

[Dmitry Kolowetzak, Building Trades Instructor, Central Vermont Career Center]: Sure. Life. You know, being in in construction, you are always away from home. The jobs are never in your hometown. I was a union carpenter for fifteen years, and my jobs were everywhere from Possum, New York to Mass to wherever, you know. So when I when I had kids, I said I have to be close to them. So I was a super sub for three years and opportunity came where I was able to become an instructor. So that's my story.

[Brandon Morris, Electrical Instructor, Central Vermont Career Center]: Yeah, for me, be honest, what started it was health insurance. That was a big thing. Getting off my parents, needed to figure something out. I knew I wanted to have kids. I have a two year old daughter now, so I'm thankful for that. But I also had the opportunity to teach what gave me everything. I was in high school. Was a little unsure what I wanted to do. Junior and senior year, taking both building trades and electrical really set me off to work for a contractor, work at Huntington Homes, grow myself, become a master electrician, and even to this day, having my own company as well, to be able to grow my knowledge to bring to students and continue to make projects. So at this point now, it's the connection, seeing the students grow. I just had a student from six years ago, the first year I taught, reach out and said he just passed his journeyman license. So that's a great add on for it.

[Dmitry Kolowetzak, Building Trades Instructor, Central Vermont Career Center]: I think both of us going through trainee programs, we went through a career center, I went through a different path, I still went through a four year apprenticeship program. I think it's only natural for us to try to pass on. I mean, the average age in construction's mid to upper forties, so need some new blood.

[Unidentified Committee Member]: Thank you. That's very insightful.

[Zach Watson, Executive Director, Central Vermont Habitat for Humanity]: And we actually hired Brandon was our master electrician on this project as well, which was a no brainer because he was working with students. It's hard to hire an electrician that also does the teaching. They've got four hours to be on-site and then they got to go somewhere else. So to have an instructor and an actual contractor work together or as the same person, it worked really well as far as I can tell.

[Brandon Morris, Electrical Instructor, Central Vermont Career Center]: Yeah, the cost was, I'm sure, Significantly. It was just permitting that they had to pay. Students were able to do all the work. Towards the end, I think student time got a little restriction. So there were some little things that needed to be fixed per inspector. I was able to do that on nights and weekends, Very minimal. So, yeah, I know it was a great opportunity.

[Jody Emerson, Superintendent/Director, Central Vermont Career Center]: They both work summers and evenings.

[Brandon Morris, Electrical Instructor, Central Vermont Career Center]: That's work.

[Dmitry Kolowetzak, Building Trades Instructor, Central Vermont Career Center]: We're also looking for a new

[Brandon Morris, Electrical Instructor, Central Vermont Career Center]: We got it. I'm looking for a joking word. No. You're not. Kids per succeed. Fuck. Thank you, guys.

[Zach Watson, Executive Director, Central Vermont Habitat for Humanity]: And Mike, I got a gift for your committee room here, or you can wear it around if you'd like, but only have a nonprofit, only have one half.

[Rep. Michael Marcotte (Chair)]: It's up for everybody. Thank you all for joining us. Thank you. Really happy to hear about this problem and it's on the next door. Thank you all very much. So with that committee, I think it's lunchtime. He's back at one, so we'll be looking at H 385.