 I'm back. Do we have Ben? Yes, Ben, Nick. Okay, we're all here. Great. Well, so really quickly the clothes we want to just hear from each of the groups with just a quick synopsis of what was discussed and because I'm facilitating I get to choose who goes first this time and it's not me. John, do you want to go first? We had actually decided in your absence that as the last one back you got to go first, but well, we decided that for Paul before and he hasn't had to do it. So my group was talking about community unity and health and it was a really rich conversation. There was I thought we had really good geographic representation of the county. I feel like we had nine or ten towns of Washington County there and we started by talking about some of the challenges and the obstacles and I'm just going to glance down at my notes a little bit to share, but you know some of the issues are around sort of access now and how are we accessing some of the health care needs that we have? It's not as easy as it was, especially for some of the non-urgent needs that folks have in accessing care. There was a fair amount of talk also about primary care and that we just that lack of capacity for primary care is profound and significant and that affects obviously people need primary care, but it also affects other health care providers, mental health providers and others because when you don't have primary care the implications spread throughout the whole health care system. So we talked quite a bit about that and just about the need right now in terms of mental health, the isolation that people are feeling, the difficulty accessing services at this point, particularly in-person and residential care given that people are sort of reducing capacity to comply with safety protocols at a time when frankly the demand is increasing. So those are those are some real real challenges. On to some more positive things and you know what's interesting when you're talking community unity and health is it was the conversation covered some broad territory. We had a select board member talking about Zoom and the fact that they've had greater participation in their community in their select board meetings because they're now on Zoom and they're able to integrate people into those conversations and that that's actually they feel like that's been a positive outcome of this is that people are more participatory in their in their government and we I would say and I'm this is the challenge of going first is I haven't had a chance to sort of make this a cohesive whole. But another thing that we talked a fair bit about was sort of I guess I would use the term matchmaking because one of our participants really made that point and we talked about it in a few different ways. One in terms of the great work that happened in mutual aid groups around central Vermont and the matchmaking that happened there to meet urgent needs that folks have and that those meeting those needs through mutual aid was bridging some divides getting people connected in ways they hadn't been before and the organizations that were coordinating that were getting connected to each other in a way that that hasn't happened before. And actually Bonnie sort of provided the reflection at the end about how do we those new connections that we've made. How do we perpetuate that. How do we sustain that those connections those human connections are so valuable but but when we think about that matchmaking it's beyond just meeting immediate needs and how do we do it in a more sort of holistic way and in a longer time scale and how do we do it not just on a town by town basis but in more of a coordinated way in our state in our in our regions as also a real point of point of discussion and reflection. There was a lot more to it and thank goodness there was someone taking detailed notes because they'll they'll do a better job with summarizing but I think I'll stop there. So thanks Jenna. Okay. Thanks John. Nick do you want to share the rethinking employment and supporting business recovery? Sure. Yeah. So thanks Jenna. As you might imagine from that title art our conversation was broad and far reaching and really fascinating. I think we we wound up in some really interesting places and kept coming back to this idea of the pandemic as a really transformative moment. We all agreed and have all been hearing that we're not we don't want to recover back to where we were but that this opportunity has traumatic in some ways and difficult as it is for many of us is is in and of itself a real opportunity for transformational change. So we we followed the similar structure. Yeah we started thinking about challenges thinking about things that predate the pandemic the ongoing need for workforce development and skills acquisition and and shorter pipelines between schools and workforce and and connecting people to meaningful employment. But then some of the things unique to the pandemic the the different impacts on different sectors on different kinds of employees and the different availability of federal and state and local support. So we from there pretty quickly transitioned into thinking about what the what the dream is and it's not that there's any one articulatable dream. But what what would we like to see in an ideal world. And I think that's where we really started to think about some of the strategies that we're seeing on the ground some of the resources there's clearly a great availability of folks in Washington County working really hard on this. Lots of great programs from Vermont Tech and Capstone continuing education, micro business grants just really glancing at my bullet points here. So we heard about some of those and then we thought thought through ways we could move forward other like big innovative ideas. It's clear that we're in this moment where we really need to seriously reconsider office space. And for many people remote working may become the new normal. And so what does that mean for our downtowns and our brick and mortar retail? So I will also sort of wrap up. I know we're short on time. It was a really amazing conversation. Really want to thank everybody for being a part of it. And yeah, I'll turn it over to you or Ben. Great. Thanks, Nick. Ben, why don't you tell us about the housing and homelessness conversation. Great. Thanks, everybody. I thought we had an excellent conversation. I said this at the end of the conversation. I always feel like when I'm involved in a conversation having to do with housing and listening to people who live that work every day, they're the smartest people in the world because they have to be that the challenges are just so complex and so important. And it was a pretty inspiring conversation to hear about the good work that's being done. And some good ideas to address some of the challenges. And the challenges are many. So some of the ones that we identified, just really starting off with a really great kind of setting of the frame of the conversation was there's a 1% vacancy rate in Central Vermont. And so we're in Washington County. And there's just a real housing shortage, both in number of units, but then units or housing opportunities that are appropriate for different kinds of people. And so that's just obviously a huge challenge in it. It's brought that's the reality because of the development costs, right? I mean, we have lots of regulation in the state often for very good reasons, but it adds to the cost of developing housing and different types of housing. The markets really just not working. In addition to that, there's, you know, the topography of our region is really challenging when we've historically settled in downtown and villages near the river and in the time of climate change is that the best place to be. And we so value our working landscapes and want to preserve that. And yet, how do you strike that balance between them? Another challenge we found was just kind of cultural. You know, that for example, here in Montpelier, there are so many folks that live in large older homes, but that might find themselves one or two people living in a five bedroom home. And yet there's a there's a kind of cultural challenge to the idea of opening up your home to someone to either rent a room or share that house with. And, you know, what's the kind of cultural component there that we can talk about as a community and really think about ways to address. And then, you know, another kind of challenge is just understanding the complexity of the problem, you know, that there's just so many multifaceted issues when it comes to housing folks with unique needs that to really try to get a comprehensive understanding of the challenge can be challenging. And then finally, sorry to focus so much on the challenges. But finally, what's really just the tension between various priorities and values that Vermonters in Washington County have, you know, where they care about climate change. And so but how does, you know, climate change legislation end up impacting the ability to build affordable housing, or we care about historic preservation, what's the tension there between building new units and preserving the kind of historic settlement patterns. And so and then obviously competing economic challenges at the State House where there are obviously a lot of needs in this in this time. But there were, you know, really, I think some fascinating and interesting solutions and strategies that are being employed in Washington County that I think are being replicated and could be replicated. And I think number one, what I heard was, it's all about relationships and collaboration. You know, that we really have some fantastic leadership here in Washington County. And they're collaborating, right, where we've got Downstreet, we've got Capstone, you know, folks like that working together to form comprehensive solutions. Another strategy that was suggested is really just education, education and advocacy, understanding that in many ways, affordable housing has been underfunded for a number of years in our state. And, you know, this has been a long term challenge that we've seen coming. And we need to really recommit ourselves to solving it over the long term. And educating people about the complexity of the problem. And then finally, there's all kinds of opportunities for innovation, you know, that we're in this moment of crisis of this kind of crucible, that is going to spark innovation. And that's things like accessory dwelling units, really taking a look at zoning policies that were developed in the 70s that do not meet the urgency of now, right, things like land banking for housing, we do a great job in this state of preserving land for agricultural use or for recreational use. What about preserving areas for housing? So I think, you know, again, as John said, all this was captured in the copious notes that were taken. But I thought it was a challenging conversation, but also ultimately an inspiring one because there are good ideas and good leaders out there that can move the work forward. So I just want to thank everybody for the opportunity to have the conversation. Thanks, Ben. So really quick summary of the arts, entertainment and recreation conversation. I always enjoy the opportunity to have these conversations because they're always incredibly creative. We think about the arts and entertainment. And this was no exception. Certainly, I think you can all imagine some of the challenges we see with the arts and public entertainment and recreation today and getting together in public spaces. Also shared some communities, some challenges around, you know, virtual fatigue and being online all the time. Communication, things like that. But I think the conversation really quickly shifted to a really beautiful vision for and I love Commissioner Snyder articulated this at the end for how arts and recreation can really be a solution to what we're experiencing today and a way to bring people together to connect our communities and to think about the future in a creative way. And so some vision points around every town in the county having groups working on arts and recreation, communities having a pride of ownership and a sense of place, using arts as a way to know each other better and arts as a central to community life. And certainly some really creative things going on today, but also some ideas around, you know, could we have some socially distanced events that bring people together in new ways? Could we get a better sense of what locations are available to have gatherings and bring people together? A lot of thoughts around like technical support, you know, web services for artists, connecting them to those resources, some ideas around enlisting AmeriCorps members and like an artist core or recreation core to really support the work that's going on. But I'll just say that the biggest themes in the conversation, number one, this is really an opportunity to reimagine and re-engage around the arts and recreation and community. The arts and recreation is a solution, the opportunity to engage youth in the solution for the future and the enormous power of having fun together and bringing breathing life back into our communities. So I think that that's really the summary of that conversation. I just will say briefly in closing and then turn it over to Josh to close. You know, we've had 10 of these conversations so far county to county and I will say everyone is different. But there's certainly there's just some themes that we really see coming up over and over. And I think in the beginning I would have been nervous that those themes would be kind of hopelessness or dismal outlook for the future. But in reality we keep hearing the words innovation and creativity and partnership and opportunity really as the biggest theme coming out of these. So, you know, I thought Paul Costello always says bombillier isn't going to solve the problem, Washington D.C. isn't going to solve the problem. You know it's all about local leadership, community, and every Thursday night I get to sit on these calls and look at these squares on my screen and it's just heartening to see all of you putting yourselves on the line, being here to think about the future, and to think about how we can do some of that creative reimagining that we're all talking about. So really appreciate your participation, appreciate all that you're doing in your county and beyond. And I have hope that we're going to get through this not only to recover but also to be stronger together in Vermont. So thank you all. And Josh, do you want to close? Sure, I'll be real quick, Janet. Thanks everyone for coming out. Thank the facilitators. You know, that's a tough job. All the visiting team members, you know, you've had a long day and to add this to it really appreciate that. You know, most of all, thank everyone from Washington County for coming out, you know, participating in this conversation, you know, putting yourself on the line, as Paul would say, and you know, stopping up to try to, you know, move forward, not just recover but move forward and use this opportunity. I've heard those same, that same theme, opportunity, innovation, collaboration, every single time. And so, if we can keep that positive view of this and continue to communicate with each other and move this forward, we'll all be better off. And I know there'll be notes coming to everyone that participated and thank all VCRD and the agency staff and everyone that was involved. So really, thanks for coming out. Thanks, Josh. And I just, Nick, can you just, before everyone waves and says goodbye, I did want to just share what we will be doing in that follow-up and I missed that opportunity. But, Nick, do you want to quickly share what people will hear in the next couple weeks? Sure, yeah. So just to jump off what Josh said, there are in fact notes. You guys, I'm sure noticed, fastidious note taker in each session. Thanks again so much to all of those for helping us capture some of these great ideas. Those usually take us a week or so to compile. We have to get them back and then tidy up. So look for an email tomorrow or soon with contact information for everyone who was on the visiting team in case there you have further questions or want to follow up on anything. We also will include a link to a survey. If you had thoughts or reflections that you didn't get a chance to share during the session tonight, that survey is a really good way to capture those. Or if there are other people who maybe couldn't make it to the session who would be interested in providing some input to the governor's team, that's another good resource there. So we'll have, we'll send one quick follow-up very soon and then another in a couple weeks with full notes and thanks to our media partners for working media for helping record this or there should even be some video recordings as well. So that I think is it. All right, well thanks so much everyone. Have a great evening and we'll be in touch soon. Thanks all, be well.