Article Archives: Vermont

Investing in Sustainable Forestry
Rural banks in northern New England and upstate New York now have the opportunity to invest in a vital industry sustaining their communities: forestry. Under a new investment fund introduced by Coastal Enterprises, Inc., banks can receive tax credits for their participation in a program providing long term working capital for sustainable timber harvesting and forest management across the northern regions of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and New York. The project has received an allocation of New Markets Tax Credits, and investors purchasing these tax credits will be capitalizing a fund supporting forest-based businesses such as paper mills while helping to sustain jobs and maintain working forests and receiving a direct credit to federal taxes at the same time. Last year, Coastal Enterprises celebrated its 25th year of providing critical support to community development initiatives in Maine, and is now expanding its market to encompass all of the northern New England and upstate New York.

For further information about this and other funds in these rural geographies, contact Coastal Enterprises, Inc, at (207) 882-7552.
[Published in News from the Districts, Community Developments Investments, Summer 2004]

Vermont Agency Wins Award
The Vermont Housing Finance Agency's Housing Choice Homeownership Initiative has won a Program Excellence award from the National Council of State Housing Agencies. The Initiative helps lower-income Vermonters to buy homes using federal Housing Choice (formerly Section 8) vouchers. Although these vouchers are most commonly used to acquire affordable rental housing, the Vermont program, in partnership with numerous financial institutions, has been notably successful in using them to meet homeownership needs.

For more information, visit www.vhfa.org.
[Published in News from the Districts, Community Developments, Spring 2003]