 My name is Dan Barlow. I'm the public policy manager with Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility. And we are really pleased to be here today to announce the launch of the ninth annual by local coupon book and the coupon app as well. I have today with me, Treasurer Beth Pierce, along with Kip and Jen Roberts, who are the owners of Under River Outdoors here. Also have Bobby Roem, the owner of Roem nearby and Langdon Street. And I want to mention Melissa Cosmucheski, who is the local first manager at VBSR. So we all know how important locally owned businesses are to downtowns. They are the economic hearts of our communities. They provide local goods and services, create good paying jobs for local residents, and they make our downtowns and communities safe, thriving and positive places. And right now we are standing in a Vermont success story. When a community rallies around a business like they did here at Onion River Outdoors, they are making a commitment to their economy. Communities gather and thrive around locally owned businesses. And VBSR and Local First Vermont are bringing awareness to the importance of spending dollars locally. For every dollar spent at a locally owned business, 45 cents is reinvested in the local economy. If you shop at a big retailer, one of the big box stores, only 15 cents out of every dollar stays in the local community. Additionally, if you're buying online, there's really minimal, if any, local money that would remain in the community there. So that's why shopping local is so important and why products like the Local First coupon book are so important. I'd like to now introduce Treasurer Beth Pierce, who will talk about some of the work Vermont is doing to invest in our local economies. Thank you very much. First, I want to say it's a wonderful store. Thank you very much. I did buy my snowshoes here a few years back. Haven't used them enough, but that's another story. Bi-Local is a win-win-win. Creates jobs and reinvesting the community. And we look at the stores in Vermont and the types of crafts that we have. It's high quality craftsmanship and it's a win-win-win. And I'm just very thankful that for VBSR, for promoting the Bi-Local, it's so important to our economy and to our individuals and our world of life in terms of the craftsmanship, the types of innovative small businesses that we have in Vermont. And small businesses are the backbone of Vermont. When you take a look at the number of businesses that are under 50 employees, it is a really important part of Vermont's fabric. So I'm gonna talk a little bit about how the Treasures Office can assist in that. And there are two things that we're working on that I think are very helpful to us. One is that we have a program called 10% in Vermont, which is a program that says we're going to invest 10% of our dollars instead of putting them out of state in investment houses. We're gonna invest those locally here in mission-driven initiatives. And we had a series of public hearings. This was a dialogue that started back in 2012. It really came together in 2014. And for me, it really is about the fabric of Vermont and assisting in that and using our dollars for good in Vermont. We invest in different areas. We had a series of public hearings, a housing and energy, municipal infrastructure, transportation, and lowering the cost of post-secondary education for students. And we've been successful in most of those areas, housing and energy in particular. We just released an RFP for $5 million worth of local investment in energy efficiency. So folks, you take a look at our website about that. We think that's gonna be a very exciting program. And we look forward to opportunities. We're down in Rutland. We helped out with the neighborhood revitalization program with Project Vision in the Northwest neighborhood of Rutland. This is a statewide program that we believe is an essential way to do business to us buy local to assist in that. The other program I wanna mention is the Green Mountain Secure Retirement Plan. We believe in the Treasurer's Office that every single person in Vermont should have an opportunity for a lifetime of wellbeing, financial wellbeing. And part of that is retirement programs. We have small businesses. We get a study and work with ARP. 104,000 Vermonters, 104,000 do not have access to employer-responsive retirement plans. A large number of those are with small businesses. So with the assistance of the legislature and it was a very strong bipartisan, tricartisan effort, we've been able to work together to develop enabling legislation for us to go forward with the Green Mountain Secure Retirement Program, which would be a retirement plan. Employers can opt in for their employees to participate in a voluntary retirement plan for small businesses under 50 or less employees. We're looking forward to that. We're working right now to get, we're gonna have a meeting in Burlington today on parts of that to try to select some of the vendors that we're moving forward with and we expect to have that in place in early January. This is about building Vermont's future, about economic development. I wanna say thank you for the businesses and thank you for the work that you do because that is you employ people. You give them an opportunity to excel in Vermont. You provide, again, economic development and create jobs in Vermont. I will say thank you very much for all you're doing. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you, Treasurer Fiers. And next we will hear from Kip Roberts, the owner and marketing manager here at Honey River Outdoors. Thank you, Dan. Thank you, Steve. Thank you. Buying local is like exercising. We all know we should do it. Sometimes it just takes a little bit of a nudge and a little bit more effort. And we are so proud to be able to carry on the heritage and tradition that has been in this space for Outdoor Pursuits online industry. And we couldn't have done it without the community support. Back in December and the early spring, I think there was a big gap in this town and I think we all felt it. And with community support, we had probably over 85,000 in local support, people basically investing in this business in the future. And through those small investments, we were able to bring Honey River Outdoors to fruition. And people, this community is super supportive of what we're trying to do here, which is bringing the outdoors, making more accessible to kids, families, everyone. And we do that through biking, skiing, running, et cetera. And we're so lucky to have organizations like VBSR and Local First to help promote spending money, spending dollars locally. The community here has supported Anya River, either Anya River Sports and Anya River Outdoors now, for over 40 years and we couldn't have done it without the support of so many locals. And while Anya River Outdoors was in its early stages of formulation, we did receive a lot of support. There's still people coming in every day thanking us for providing this outdoor community service and outdoor gathering spot, but it's not just a one-time silver bullet. This is definitely a daily effort where everyone needs to realize where their dollars are going. It's not just for the products on the walls, but it's also for the events, the clinics, the group rides and our reciprocal support of organizations like Central Mom Runners, Anya River Nordic Club, Green Mountain Club and Catamount Trail and so many others. And through continued shopping locally when people make decisions to shop downtown on Langman Street and in our other great businesses in this town and not always go to online with the big box stores, that money stays local to our community. We're able to employ locals, kids in high school, et cetera, and that money stays right here. And I'd like to thank everyone for attending. Thank you very much, Kit. And I just want to make some closing remarks. So we've seen how effective the bi-local movement is. From here in Montpelier to Brattleboro to up in Burlington, we have thriving downtowns, local businesses and people in the community who want to support these local businesses. I often also hear from folks, what else can we do to support a local economy? And I wanted to note two opportunities that I see that Vermont has coming down the road. About 10 years ago, there was a report release called the Vermont Job Gap Study, the Leaky Bucket Report, that detailed how much money Vermont sends out of state for food and energy. So it turns out Vermont spends about $2.6 billion a year on food. Now 97% of our food in the state is imported. Imagine what our economy could be like if we could even just bring about 10% of that food purchasing to our local economies. It would mean $260 million more in the Vermont economy. And after that report came out, the Vermont legislature passed the Farm to Plate Bill and we've made real strides in building up our local food economy here in the state. Additionally, Vermont spends $2.4 billion a year on fossil fuels. We have no coal mines here. There are no oil fields here in Vermont. So nearly 90% of that money goes right out of state, usually in the pockets of corporations that don't have the same values as Vermonters. So I believe through conservation, efficiency and local renewable power, Vermont can seize control of its energy future the same way we've started making progress on our local food economy. So we all know we need to live our values as well as speak them. So efforts like the local first coupon book and the coupon app are effective ways to encourage local purchasing. And I'd like to encourage Vermonters to continue that ethic into other aspects of their life as well. So thank you very much and we'd be pleased to take any questions. Steve Mills of China's Office. Beth, could you just give me some examples of the 10% of Vermont program, these businesses that... So we've committed, so 10% comes from the fact that we take a look at our operating cash and we say what's our average cash per year? And it's about 230 to 350 million. So I'm gonna say about 33 to 35 million dollars. And we've committed a little over 30 million dollars to local investment. So we've done a number of different programs. We've worked with NeighborWorks to do an energy efficiency program across the state. We also worked with NeighborWorks on another program as I said in the Northwest neighborhood of Rutland to do community development and neighborhood rehabilitation. We've worked with VSEC and Vermont Student Assistance Corporation. We bought into one of their bond issues and lowered the cost of financing. I don't like loans period for college education or post-secondary education of any kind. That said, lowering the rate, if you can pay 4.8, you set a six or whatever it might be. That's a good thing. So we loaded that particular issue to the lowest rate in the history of VSEC. So we're very pleased with that. We worked with VHFA to do a series of multifamily retrofits when they were doing a bond issue. Let's see. We invested the Vermont Community Loan Fund in two areas. One is in the area of assisting with family daycare and childcare facilities and second is in food and working Vermont. I was up at a parade years ago and there was a float in front of me and this was in Stars and Strikes Parade up in Lindenville and it was a daycare facility and they were telling me how they got the loan from the Vermont Community Loan Fund and I thought about that and said, we helped provide the capital to do that and those young, rather active children on that float were, had benefited from that and it's great to see that in action. So we've done a number of different projects. We'll continue to look, as I said, we're doing a request for proposals right now to do more in the area of energy efficiency. This is something that the legislature asked us to do in the last session. That is out on our website right now and we will be looking for folks to partner with us on that. So that's, how can people connect with a 10% of Vermont? Well, if you look on our website, you'll see materials on 10% of Vermont. We have what's called a local investment advisory committee and we look at various projects. We also try, there are a couple of principles involved. One of which is that we want to obviously invest locally but the other is not replace capital that would already be out there. So at Vermont Vita, the Vermont Economic Development Authority can do it, Vermont Community Loan Fund can do it. Some other folks, VHFA, we want to work with them and say, this project might fit your mission in your organization a little better than ours. What we're looking to do is fill a gap. Thank you. Thank you. May I ask, Bobby, could you say a few words about how your business depends on people shopping locally and how has business been since you've reopened your business? It's been really great. We're having a great time with the store. Just like Kid and Jen have experienced, almost every customer that has walked in the door since we reopened in May has thanked us for bringing the store back and for giving them a place to buy what they're looking for locally instead of having to drive out of town or shop online. They are really interested in supporting the local economy and supporting their neighbors and friends. When we were working for the former businesses here, we found ourselves out of work in December, which was kind of a scary prospect. And so firsthand, I have a feeling of what it's like to be an employee who wants to be able to stay here in Vermont and looking for a job here was kind of tough. So I kind of always knew that I wanted to reopen the store and I was able to work locally with the bank, with Community National, and get the financing together to reopen the store. And it's been really rewarding. It's been really great. It's a nice reciprocal relationship. The town came out to support us in our efforts and they feel like we're giving them what they're looking for. So it's just been a great experience all the way around. Can I interrupt for just a second? I just looked up here and I saw events. Kids finally guided hike, OK? And take a kid mountain biking day. I'm not going to do it, but I guess my point is that this is the kind of thing that happens when you invest locally, that you have an interaction with the community and you have children and adults and people who are working together. And it's about the family of your community. And I think that that is just a terrific demonstration of why we need to do more locally. So thank you. Jenny, do you have anything to say about being a partnership with a kid in this business? Is it kind of a family affair? Yeah, it is a family affair. That student has a nine-year-old daughter and she is occasionally up at the front running the register. She'll learn her finance skills young. I think the only thing I would add was just that I kind of went on a little ramble this morning as I was writing some notes for Kip about how supporting local is like eating healthy. It is like exercising. As Bobby said, it's a reciprocal relationship. When you support local businesses, they thrive. And then they give back to you in the form of events just the same way as when you feed your body well and you exercise, it gives back to you an energy and vitality. And I think the other thing that really strikes me is that this is a decision you have to make every single day just like when you're choosing to eat a banana instead of chips and you can get up off the couch and not shop online and get out and get moving. This downtown relies on people making those decisions every single day because we've just gone through another round of we just lost a whole bunch of restaurants downtown. There's some storefronts that have been sitting open for a long time. So it's not like, I think Kip said, it's not a silver bullet. Just because Langdon Street is back doesn't mean Montpelier is going to make it. We all have to keep doing it every single day. We have to keep choosing to come in and shop local. And hopefully then we will reap the benefits of this really vital downtown. So it's a holy cry to the whole community. Yeah, thank you. Thank you. Yeah, thank you very much. Thank you. Thanks for coming. Any other questions? Can I just ask, are you doing this anywhere else in the state? This is a launch of the book which I think came out last week. Yeah, it came on Saturday. And we in November before shop small Saturday right on Tuesday for Thanksgiving we're going to be in Brattleboro having a similar event with the Downtown Brattleboro Association. Other coupons in the book, are they for Central Monk this area specifically? They're available throughout the state. Montpelier has a lot of coupons in the book as well as Little Sex, Weightsfield, they're also available through Stowe. There's Barry, Burlington, Brattleboro, or Gens, Ferrisburg. We're trying to serve as much of a state as possible. And we're expanding every year into new regions to let people know that in your town, in your community, where those local businesses are, that you can support. And also, no, it's not just a book, it's also an app on your phone. So if you don't want to carry around the book with you at all times, your phone can tell you when you can save money in a local business. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you so much.