Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) announced Tuesday, March 26 that his office has secured an additional $15.3 million in federal funding on behalf of 13 Vermont projects, including in health care, emergency operations, youth programming, and substance abuse prevention. This funding brings the total amount of Congressionally Directed Spending (CDS) secured by Sanders in Fiscal Year 2024 to $57.951 million – following his announcement of $42.5 million in the previous appropriations package, which was signed by President Biden earlier this month.

Sanders recently announced that he is accepting preliminary requests for Vermont-based projects for Fiscal Year 2025. Requests are due by 5:00 p.m. on Monday, April 8, 2024. Additional information, as well as the application, can be found on his website: https://www.sanders.senate.gov/congressional-directed-spending-requests/.

This most recent tranche of federal funding for Sanders’ CDS projects – which passed the Senate on March 23 as part of the second package of FY2024 appropriations bills – includes: $3 million to renovate and expand the Community Health Centers of Burlington’s Winooski practice; $2 million for a primary care physician training program focused on rural medicine at the Southwestern Vermont Medical Center; nearly $2 million to establish a University Assisted Community Schools Collaborative at the University of Vermont; nearly $1.9 million for the Vermont Agency of Education to expand the Global Leadership Program statewide; and $665,000 to establish the Youth Community Action Corps at the Vermont Folklife Center.

FY2024 CDS Project Highlights Passed Last Week

Homeland Security

• Curtis Pond Dam Renovation: $525,000 
  This funding will support the Town of Calais in constructing a concrete wall upstream from an existing dam that is rated as a Significant Hazard in Poor Condition, thereby mitigating risk to the surrounding community and maintaining an important resource downstream. 
  
• St. Johnsbury Armory Redevelopment: $585,000 
  Funding will support the Town of St. Johnsbury in reconstructing an outdated facility for use as a state-of-the-art emergency operations headquarters including local police and dispatch services in an underserved area. 
  
• Stowe Area Emergency Operations Center: $245,000 
  Town of Stowe will construct a modern Emergency Operations Center to improve emergency management and preparedness capabilities, including pre-disaster planning, outage restoration, and emergency response. 
   

Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies

• Medical, Dental and Mental Health Expansion (CHCB): $3,000,000 
  Community Health Centers of Burlington will renovate the Community Health Center’s Winooski practice to more than double the medical and mental health area, and accommodate the integration and expansion of the neighboring dental practice.
  
• Primary Care Physician Training Program (SVMC): $2,000,000
  Southwestern Vermont Medical Center will increase access to primary health care in Southern Vermont and rural areas across the nation by launching a primary care physician training program with a focus on rural medicine. 
  
• Dental, Wellness and Health Education expansion (LHP): $1,500,000
  Lamoille Health Partners will build a new building on their main campus to provide new and expanded space for their dental services program, additional clinical capacity, space for kids’ wellness programs, community events, and health education workshops.
  
• Primary Care Expansion (NOTCH): $2,500,000
  Richford Health Center, Inc. dBA Northern Tier Center for Health (NOTCH) will renovate a new site, combining two existing primary care practices.
  
• Establishing a University Assisted Community Schools Collaborative at UVM: $1,999,000 
  University of Vermont will support existing community schools through service-learning, research partnerships and grant funding, while also providing institutional support and grants to develop three new community schools. 
  
• Vermont Global Leadership Program: $1,895,000 
  Vermont Agency of Education will expand Essex High School’s Global Leadership Program statewide, enabling high school students to access virtual and in-person international exchanges, as well as free online courses, dual enrollment programming, and language learning. 
  
• Expanding Theatre Arts Summer Camp Opportunities for Vermont Youth (Very Merry Theatre): $118,000 
  Very Merry Theatre will provide theatre camps in three new counties (Franklin, Grand Isle, Windsor and/or Washington) and enhance the production value of two existing camps in Addison and Lamoille counties, while making each camp available free of charge. 
  

Financial Services and General Government

• Children and Recovering Mothers Team (CHARM): $130,000 
  KidSafe Collaborative will use a collaborative case review model to address the complex needs of pregnant/postpartum women with opioid use disorder and their infants. Participants receive services including obstetrics, prenatal, neonatal and mental health care and social services. 
  
• Supportive Outreach After Overdose Program: $205,000 
  Turning Point Recovery Center of Springfield will establish the Supportive Outreach After Overdose Program to reduce substance use disorder, fatal and non-fatal overdose, and drug-related incidents through coordinated, cross-sector outreach to affected individuals. 
  
• Vermont Youth Community Action Corps: $665,000 
  VT Folklife Center will establish the Youth Community Action Corps to involve youth and adults in archival, ethnographic research, strengthening community engagement and youth leadership and voice by using historical records collections, archives, and action programming.