As Vermont's employee-owned companies celebrate Employee Ownership month in a diversity of ways, including the annual Employee Owners of Vermont fundraiser to benefit the Vermont Foodbank, we're pleased to announce that Governor Scott has again issued an official proclamation recognizing Employee Ownership Month and the vital contributions Vermont's employee owned companies make to the local economy:

More than scones have been heating up at Flat Iron Cooperative, a worker-owned coffeehouse in downtown Bellows Falls.

In mid-July, with daily highs in the 90s, the afternoon heat started to become severe for workers and guests inside the cafe. Flat Iron had been running an A/C unit and fans in its ground-floor space in the historic wedge-shaped building, but the cafe still wouldn't cool to comfortable temperatures.

Kalchē Wine Co., a recently incorporated worker cooperative winery in Fletcher, VT, invites the public to come celebrate “spring, wine, merriment,” and its newest wine release, Touch of Noir, at Brick at Hotel Vermont on Sunday, April 24 from 1pm-4pm EDT. The Festival of Dionysus, as the event is called, will include wine, snacks, and flower crowns, and will also feature the participation of local businesses Wilder Wines, Poppy Café, Salt & Bubbles, and Hotel Vermont.;

The Vermont Employee Ownership Center was awarded $158,000 for outreach, technical assistance grants, and legal resources development last week as part of the $1.5 trillion federal omnibus bill signed by President Joe Biden on Friday, March 11.

The VEOC is currently experiencing higher-than-average interest in employee ownership business conversions, in part due to economic shifts resulting from both the COVID-19 pandemic and the accelerating rate of retiring business owners, also known as the “Silver Tsunami.”