UVM’s Leahy Institute Awards $2.4M to Advance Vermont Partnerships full story >>>

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The Leahy Institute for Rural Partnerships at the University of Vermont has announced nearly $2.4M in grants to fuel partnerships between UVM and organizations throughout Vermont with the goal of addressing pressing challenges in our state.

More than 20 UVM research programs will participate in these projects, which will influence the work of over 40 public, private, and nonprofit organizations in Vermont. The initial activities of the funded projects will span the state, taking place in communities in the Hero Islands, the Northeast Kingdom, Brattleboro, the White River Valley, and many points in between.

"These grants embody our land grant mission by ensuring that expertise from across the University of Vermont is applied for the direct benefit of our state," said Patricia Prelock, UVM Interim President. "These university-community partnerships stimulate dialog, identifying challenges and offering potential solutions that strengthen Vermont communities while impacting research and learning here on our campus."

The 16 funded projects include:

• A new veterinary medicine technology. Northeast Kingdom startup NEK Biosciences has pioneered a medicine to more effectively heal costly wounds common to dairy cows. To move this technology forward, they are collaborating with UVM researchers from multiple areas of the university, including the Department of Neurological Sciences and the Grossman School of Business.
• A community-based organization to foster immigration in rural Vermont. UVM Professor Pablo Bose, a migration and urban geography scholar, is working with the Brattleboro Development Credit Corporation in this effort to better support communities settling in southern Vermont.
• An initiative to improve student health, performance and opportunities in Vermont schools. UVM's Larner College of Medicine and Catamount Community Schools Collaborative are partnering with the Vermont Community Health Improvement Program and other organizations to create new tools to help educators and health professionals more effectively support youth wellbeing.
• A campaign to draw Vermonters to climate-related careers. UVM's Department of Community Development and Applied Economics and Vermont Energy Action Network have partnered to raise worker awareness of job opportunities in clean energy, electrified transportation, home weatherization and other climate-related fields.
• A study to explore the viability of offering telehealth services in rural Vermont libraries. This effort to improve access to quality healthcare is a partnership between the Vermont Library Association, UVM's Department of Emergency Medicine (Larner College of Medicine) and the College of Nursing and Health Sciences.

Kelsey Crelin and Dr. Ken James of NEK Biosciences in the Barton, VT facility where they are developing CorioGraft wound healing gel for dairy cows. Photo: UVM

The 16 grants support work across eight Leahy Institute focus areas, including Resilient Energy Systems, Regenerative Agriculture, and Access to Healthcare in Rural Areas. Six of the projects received Capacity Grants of $10,000, which help grantees to establish new partnerships and develop proof-of-concept for their ideas. The other ten are Partnership Grants ranging from $160K to $250K. These are intended to set in motion more expansive partnership initiatives that will out-live the Leahy Institute funding.

"These are the core goals of these grants," said Tricia Coates, Director of the Leahy Institute. "We want to foster an instinct here at UVM, and in communities throughout the state, to look to each other when trying to tackle our most pressing problems. To collaborate. And we want to spark partnerships that will endure well beyond the year of funding that we provide."

The Leahy Institute fielded 126 letters of interest for this year's round of grants. "We can't fund them all," said Coates, "but that's a significant number of people who are leaning into this partnership model. For those we can't immediately fund, we will connect with community partners and encourage those interactions to continue."

Visit the Leahy Institute website to learn more about the full slate of 16 awarded projects, and to keep abreast of their efforts as the work unfolds. Learn about the Leahy Institute's inaugural grants awarded in Spring 2024. Since launching in 2023, the Leahy Institute has awarded over $4M in grants to advance Vermont communities.

About the funding for these grants: The Leahy Institute for Rural Partnerships and the funding for these grants were made possible by awards of $15.8M from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), with leadership and support from retired U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt. The Leahy Institute's work is further strengthened by collaborations with fellow NIFA-funded consortium partners Auburn University and the University of Wisconsin.