JOHNSON, VT – U.S. Senator Peter Welch (D-VT) joined Governor Phil Scott, U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Chris Saunders of the Northern Border Regional Commission (NBRC), Johnson Selectboard Chair Beth Foy,and community leaders, in the Town of Johnson, Vermont, to celebrate the town’s award of a NBRC’s Catalyst Award—a $10.8 million grant program across 13 projects to revitalize Vermont’s rural communities.  

The Town of Johnson received a $862,000 grant to complete a new light industrial/commercial park on Route 15.  

“What’s sweet about being here today is that these grants show—in order to apply for a grant—someone in Johnson, with the promise of industrial facilities and jobs, a daycare center, the Vergennes Opera House, I can go on….There’s a commitment by the people in each of our communities that took the effort to apply, to do the hard work. It’s a commitment to the future. It’s about rebuilding,” said Sen. Welch during the event.  

The other 12 Vermont Catalyst Award Winners hail from Addison, Caledonia, Essex, Grand Isle, Lamoille, Orange, Orleans, Rutland, Washington, Windham, and Windsor Counties.  To learn about the other recipients and projects being funding, please click here. 

The NBRC is a federal and state partnership created by Congress in 2008 to support economic and community development projects across Vermont, Maine, New Hampshire, and New York. This year’s funding to Vermont is nearly double that of prior year investments, thanks to increases in the overall funding for the next ten years that was championed in the last Congress by former Senator Leahy, Senator Sanders, and Sen. Welch when he served in the House.  

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