AreWeHereYetPodcast

Vermont isn't just shrinking in population, its aging.  The state has 30,000 fewer working age citizens between 25-40 then it did 25 years ago.  This, while modest population gains during the Covid-19 pandemic has reversed. For those of us at the Innova802 Crew, we see the effects every day.  Many citizens on fixed incomes, who represent a larger share of the population, cannot afford increases to taxes for education, infrastructure and public healthcare subsidies.   For many, the gut reaction is to say, no new Vermont citizens, no new Vermont students, no new Vermont employers taking in  public investment dollars.  While this may seem intuitively correct, it is in fact the path to a downward economic cycle that becomes very challenging to reverse, especially for rural states. We hosted Kevin Chu, Executive Director of the Vermont Futures Project during season nine of the Are We Here Yet? podcast.  One year later, the Innova802 crew had him back to talk about the effort to get all Vermonters on the same page, writing a book of growth in order to create a more livable Vermont bursting at the seams with opportunity and the right balance between caring for our neighbors and having the ability to pay for it.  Listen to VFP on Marketplace This Are We Here Yet? podcast is in association with the Innova802 podcast. This conversation on rural development is so important, we're hosting it on The Housers Podcast, too!

Open Innovation has become essential to good science being completed by our institutions.  Our guest this week, Steve Rader speaks with experience on how open innovation, rather crowdsourcing has and will shape good science work moving forward. Steven recently retired from NASA and is an expert in open innovation after 36 years with NASA at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, TX.   We discussed his experiences leveraging crowdsourcing and open innovation to achieve significant cost savings and accelerate technological advancements at NASA,  including nearly 900 successful challenges within his career.  He highlighted the importance of understanding a problem's root causes before brainstorming solutions and the four "G's" driving participation (Gold, Guts, Glory, and Good) by thousands of our neighbors passionate about the work of science.   Our listeners can connect with Steve by clicking here. This Are We Here Yet? podcast is in association with the Innova802 podcast.

Sharing the mic with Interchain.Live and fellow Innova802 crew member Ryan Munn brought Richard Lowe to our virtual studios for a discussion regarding Rich's experience as a ghostwriter and author in his own right.  The discussion quickly deepened to include his perspective on building the bionic worker: getting business to leverage tech to support workers as opposed to leveraging tech to replace them.  The importance of leveraging older workers who are living longer and what experienced professionals bring to the table for companies and society.  Rich is a deep well of experience on a number of important topics that we encourage you to think more on after listening. Find our discussion on the Are We Here Yet? Podcast roster as well as Innova802 and Interchain Live.

Host and founder Scott Graves is asking some tough questions for all of us to ask in our own communities.  How do we get beyond a place of manufactured scarcity and support all forms of private and public housing development to meet our middle market needs?  Find Scott's Latest Essays from An Artist Audio recording on The Housers Podcast and the Are We Here Yet? Podcast.  Find his housing advocacy work, along with Housers Stephen Box and Mike Waugh at partnersinhousingvt.com.

Athens, GA is home to Building, Inc and founder Matthew Schneider.  Matthew is no stranger to a multi-disciplinary approach to solving some of the toughest challenges for real estate developers and tech leaders alike.  Our discussion hit upon some real-world solutions-oriented work he and his team has done and sage perspective on software use in real estate, on raising and using capital, on building your business to be truly market-responsive.

Gabrielle Bendiner-Viani has spent 20+ years working to understand what's in a neighborhood by asking the question, ‘Where would you take someone on a guided tour of your neighborhood?' In her 2024 book, The Cities We Need: Essential Stories of Everyday Places Viani walks us through the tours she participated in from dozens of her neighbors in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn and Mosswood in Oakland, CA, two cities she and her family spent time getting to know intimately. As a photographer, urbanist and keen storyteller Gabrielle brings to our attention important considerations that truly make you think hard about what makes a neighborhood.  What it means to be a part of a place or really what makes our everyday lives worth living.   Our conversation made me think hard here at the Are We Here Yet? podcast about what kind of a society we want to build and who we want to be in the decades ahead.  How can we learn from our mistakes?  How can we appreciate the micro-moments that make our lives in a neighborhood worth living and how do we steward a place to provide that for all citizens?    You know a book and a conversation is good when it leaves you asking more questions than providing answers.  And our conversation with Gabrielle was just such an experience.

Hosts Ryan Munn and Scott Graves are joined by Justin Loranger of web3iam in what we're sure you'll find to be an excellent primer on why blockchain is the key to transforming crypto into accepted currency, offering security and stability. Why should you anticipate the value of your name and that of your company in the digital realm? Lots to learn for building our rural economies (you don't need to be in a city to leverage this tech to your benefit).  In collaboration with Interchain Live and M the Media Project.   

Production notes: Please add the following voiceover to end: Do download your copy of ‘Pioneer Valley Knowledge Towns Strategy Proposal' go to https://www.smgravesassociates.com§/whitepages/  Dominic Endicott joins us for a second time on the AWHY? Podcast to discuss a white paper co-published by Dominic and AWHY? Host Scott Graves, detailing a $100 billion dollar strategy for transforming the regional economy for Massachusetts, specifically the western third of the Commonwealth. By focusing on two top components of their proposal, housing and venture capital growth, listeners will understand the real potential for the region and a bit of how to start working on their own plan for the place they call home.  Download our white paper on Knowledge Towns Strategy Listen to Ep. 133 Knowledge Towns Dominic Endicott is co-author of 2023's Knowledge Towns: Colleges and Universities as Talent Magnets along with Prof. David J. Staley of the Ohio State University.  Scott M. Graves is a real estate developer working in the Pioneer Valley and nationally in the youth urban and senior living markets.

Host Scott Graves is joined by fellow Vermont houser Stephen Box of Rutland.  Our discussion focused on both the local discussion and a more global look at how parking is affecting housing in all of our communities in the United States. Stephan, a loyal resident recently received a parking ticket in front of his own house due to a winter parking ban (we know you listeners in Florida are scratching your heads).  And our city  is in the midst of discussion around a greenway parking ban to keep the sidewalks free of cars.  At the local level, how can we craft our parking ordinances to encourage housing growth?  And with the global discussion including Minnestota's 2024 landmark decision to ban parking minimums state-wide, are we at the vanguard of a more sane approach to parking nation-wide?   New Podcast announcement! Stephen and Scott and a few of their friends are launching  ‘Housers' for Spring 2025.  A project of M the Media Project and Interchain Live.  We're telling the stories and featuring the heroes in our own small scale landlord and developer community in central Vermont because we know you're out there making it happen in your own communities, and we could all use a monthly dose of smart solutions and moral support. Housers is in conjunction with Mountain Times  which will feature our stories in print and the digital paper under the column ‘802 words'.

And in today's episode we show you some of the leading examples today.  We end our season ten with host Joan Watson Jones look into some of Jazz's unsung heroes.  Women representing a wide range of ethnic and social backgrounds have always been vital to the jazz community.  With that said, most folks focus on the jazz vocalists like Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday and Sarah Vaughn.   In this Jazz Room we look to the women as instrumentalists and largely from current times including Carol Sudhalter, Linda Presgrave, Jan Lear, Marion McPartland, Shirley Horn (yes, she is a piano player of renown) and Emily Remler plus a host of their male counterparts. Join us once again in The Jazz Room!

As we enter the winter solstice, exploring the dark that inevitably comes before the light, we're considering new ways to think about gifting, yes, and what of commerce?  What of a community that reverses the epidemic of loneliness pervasive in our modern society?  Can we do better?  That's up in the latest Are We Here Yet? Podcast to close season X and 2024.  I'm joined by Veronica Mangio, founder of the Minneapolis-based Gifting Grove and once again by my good friend from Grand Isle County, Vermont based Byron Garcia of Natural Designs.  Veronica is the inspiring founder of Gifting Grove, a company dedicated to facilitating community that can involve creating meaningful, sustainable, and handcrafted gifts that leave a lasting impact, sharing time, and skills. Her vision is rooted in promoting conscious gifting, empathy in an epidemic of loneliness, and supporting local artisans/organizations, fostering environmental and social well-being.  Veronica has turned her passion for sustainability and community into a thriving business redefining how we think about giving.  Referenced in our episode Braiding Sweetgrass Wall Kimmerer Our episode on Biomimicry with Byron Garcia on the Innova802 series The Giving Tree: Shel Silverstein (link to the youtube video) Artist Neri Oxman Strong Towns  

Neil Mylet is a do-er.  He's a farmer, a tech advocate and connecting rod.  Neil is also putting his money and his talents where his mouth is, funding his own project, Camden Castle and ensuring a wide spectrum of top-tier programming and connections for his 600 neighbors in the village of Camden, Indiana. Neil sees great opportunity in a future rural economy leveraging AI, blockchain, among other tech and tech-enabled products and services yet to be developed. Students and their families from this village of  are given opportunities to intern and engage with organizations in the United States such as the Tulsa Innovation Labs and MIT and internationally with tech centers like the RDI Labs of Ireland. "It's very challenging in rural America to access a competitive advantage, resources, in a comfortable environment and we need to change that…" This conversation was all about how folks like Neil, yours truly, and you our faithful listeners build access into your own local projects; how do we stay the course on what is important to us as a project of economic development and physical space development despite all the challenges.  Listen in to learn, grab some ideas and make them your own. Mentioned in our episode: Camden Castle, Tulsa Innovation Labs,  House of Lobkowicz, MIT, RDI Lab (Ireland)

We joined Ace McCarleton of Vermont-based New Frameworks to talk about their panelized building innovations for the housing marketplace.  New Frameworks practices high performance natural building towards the construction of climate justice and regeneration.  Innovation is expressed in their home construction products and processes, their sourcing of materials, for sure.  But it's also in their employee-ownership model, their steadfast dedication to inclusion and more.   Learn in two episodes their origin story, Ace's thoughts on housing innovation, employee ownership and how to grow a company that consistently leads through example. Listen to Part I, Episode 174 Explore New Frameworks New Frameworks Beam Embodied Carbon Calculator tool  Link to panels page Link to the Casitas models  And the The Jazz Room… We celebrate the Saxophonists!  Our episode includes the likes of Billy Pierce, Jackie MacLean, Coleman Hawkins and John Coltrane.

We joined Ace McCarleton of Vermont-based New Frameworks to talk about their panelized building innovations for the housing marketplace.  New Frameworks practices high performance natural building towards the construction of climate justice and regeneration.  Innovation is expressed in their home construction products and processes, their sourcing of materials, for sure.  But it's also in their employee-ownership model, their steadfast dedication to inclusion and more.   Learn in two episodes their origin story, Ace's thoughts on housing innovation, employee ownership and how to grow a company that consistently leads through example. Plus in The Jazz Room we celebrate the Drummers!  Host Joan Watson-Jones dedication to drummers. Though she did not have the pleasure of interviewing the great Roy Haynes who passed away last week, we have many of his friends to celebrate in this episode.

Glavel is a construction materials company manufacturing foam glass gravel, or in company parlance GLAVEL.  CEO Rob Conboy sat down with the Innova802 crew to discuss what it took to bring this technology to market in the US.  How are they leading in recycling and carbon sequestration, excellence in innovative construction materials how they plan for growth and what effect they can have contributing to solve the housing crisis.  We recently toured their facility and give credit to the Glavel team for epitomizing what a Vermont rural innovation company should look like.  Shout out to those mentioned who helped this team and many other Innova802 guests along the way including Flexible Capital Fund, Fresh Tracks Capital and  Rural Works. Stay on the line for host Scott M. Graves's personal tribute to one of his inspirations, the legendary composer, arranger, producer and entrepreneur Quincy Jones.  Jones passed away at his home in Los Angeles on November 3 at the age of 91.

Lou Donaldson passed away on November 10, 2024.  In a career spanning more than seven decades, the alto saxophonist began as a stylist devotee to the bop of Charlie Parker, quickly evolving into a soulful and bluesy player which became his signature. Joan Watson Jones, host of the AWHY? Music feature The Jazz Room sat down to interview Lou in 2020 at Studio 952 in Harlem, New York City. In Part 1 of their interview Lou tells us how he got started in the business and why he took up the Saxophone. In Part 2 he tells us about working with Miles Davis, Jimmy Smith and offers his own observations on the future of Jazz.

Our music feature, The Jazz Room returns for a feature of the great American composer George Gershwin.  Host Joan Watson Jones features many great musicians from a long list of recordings featuring the work of George Gershwin, one of the most prized composers of the American song book. For jazz musicians, Gershwin represents an endless source to be mined to create great improvisations and has been for over a century.

Our guest is Noah Harper.  I met Noah at the CNU New England conference in Providence, RI. We were tasked by the organization to debate whether the Congress is positioned well as a leading voice in the current housing challenge before us all.  Thus sparked some great discussion.  Explore Noah's Substack here  Noah has been featured in Strong Towns.  He is a community planner for the firm J.M. Goldson.  Noah is a strong advocate for incremental development and we're sure you will find inspiration in his seamless movement through themes of design excellence, craftsmanship to equity and democracy.   In his own words,   We are, broadly, in a crisis of housing affordability, of which one notable piece is the lack of supply. The question to me then becomes: how should we solve the supply issue? We've been experimenting with a lot of different methods of building in the last century, but a return to a more traditional way of building might yield the best result. I'm really interested in the work and writing of Christopher Alexander, an architecture professor working in the sixties and seventies who wrote a book called “The Timeless Way of Building.” It's on many planners and architects' shelves, but I think some of the biggest ideas have been overlooked (at least until now).  I like to think of it in terms of music. How did we arrive at different genres? How do they evolve over time? By people playing them, innovating, copying off one another. A mutually agreed-upon structure, but also room to innovate, for participation, for call and response. Memes are another great example too—order and variation and innovation. And one of Alexander's big ideas is that our places grew up in the same way, too. It's why so many of our towns and villages have a certain quality, and yet they're not quite the same.  This decentralized, memetic, fundamentally creative act is what motivates me as a planner and writer and advocate. It's the way we achieve beauty and a more democratic order in our built environment, through more people building and taking part in their place. And, beyond the sort of beauty argument, I think you can make a really strong moral and economic case for it too.

We've had the pleasure of featuring Baritone Saxophonist Claire Daly twice in the AWHY? Music feature, The Jazz Room.  Host Joan Watson Jones first sat down with Clare at Studio 952 in New York City to talk about her CD "Baritone Monk", recorded at the North Coast Brewing Company. In our second interview Claire spoke to Joan regarding her recording, "The Mary Joyce Project-Nothing to Lose" which tells the story of her father's cousin Mary Joyce who crossed Alaska on dog sled alone in the mid 1920's. Learn more about Claire and her music at www.clairedalymusic.com  

Our guest, Andrew Fitch is Communications Manager for Lever, a Venture Capital Source pioneered by founders and government in the city of North Adams, MA. The last decade or more has seen a resurgence in young professionals rediscovering opportunities in the western half of Massachusetts.  Opportunities in housing, urban development, entrepreneurship and life crafting. Much of Andrew's time is focused on developing the capacity of the Mass Founders Network, centered in North Adams.  Along with other surging organizations working in collaboration, the northern half of Berkshire County is redefining its economy, with hopes that this will benefit those in place and encourage more relocation already in process. Andrew walks the walk.  He is highly engaged as an economic leader but also represents his neighbors as a city councilman in North Adams.  He is investing in his city by purchasing downtown property. We say Bravo, and encourage all listeners to get involved in this kind of bottom up, roll up your sleeves approach to rebuilding your community.  

Kendall Fortney is an artist and designer based in Vermont who is currently the Program Director for UVM's VERSO the open-source program centered at the University. Kendall spoke with the Innova802 crew on the power of the open-source community in shaping a society that delivers human-scaled, beneficial solutions in technology. Find out more regarding the resources and community at VERSO VERSO offers a vibrant community of problem solvers engaged in their accelerator.  Find out more by clicking here. Also mentioned in our conversation farmhack.org

For our latest Are We Here yet? podcast we offer four perspectives sure to keep you contemplating on this upcoming Indigenous People's Day. Our Season III guest Doug Harris, retired archivist for the Narragansett Tribe spoke to us regarding New England's Ceremonial Stone Landscape for episodes 87 and 88.  We feature two clips here, the first focused on answering the question, ‘what is this place and who are we?' The second which ends our podcast focuses on his groundbreaking work alongside Smithsonian documentarian Ted Timreck, our guest for episode 132, which has dispelled many falsehoods about the peoples of this part of North America.  How they lived, traded and thrived for thousands of years.  Sandwiched between our clips of Doug Harris we offer contemporary native American poets and their work with poet and essayist Joshua Michael Stewart, a frequent guest of our show. We originally aired his reading of these six poems in 2021.   Joshua is the author of three books of poetry, his latest being 2022's ‘Love Something'.  His soon to publish ‘Welcome Home, Russell Edson' combines the graphic novel with the prose poem. He writes for M the Media Project under the feature, ‘The Way of Wind and Stream'.  Listen to our episode on Kerouac at 100 from March 2022.  But first, our host Scott M. Graves reads from his 2020 essay ‘Borders'.  Scott was investigating the early colonial New England period of King Philip's War for several years which led him to taking a deeper dive into the competing concepts over land ownership between indigenous and English colonial cultures.  ‘It didn't escape me at the time that I was doing this amateur investigative work while the question of immigration in the US was speeding into a raging crisis,' he told us. ‘what results here are my thoughts on a very deep, very flawed piece of debris just underneath our skin that continues to leave scars on our culture.  We can and should do better'.  The issue h only become more polarizing and central to the presidential election in 2024.

CEO Kimmerly Nace is dedicated to changing the narrative on how we see our waste.  She's passionate about making this planet, or rather making its people work better for a sustainable planet for all of us, creatures large and small.  Imagine a world where our toughest waste issues become some of our most profitable revenue centers? Literally turning problems into profit; using our existing financial incentives for good and not greed.  We spoke about her team at Brightwater Tools of Brattleboro, VT and it's origin story in the international mission organization she also founded the Rich Earth Institute.  Today's discussion is on regenerative sanitation.  Realizing better nutrient management by diverting the worst offending liquid, our urine, out of the water system and into our soils for crop production.   Or as I like to say, making our Pee pay. That's the latest from SMG's ‘Are We Here Yet?' podcast.  …And in the Jazz Room…We met pianist/composer, Orrin Evans at the Pittsburgh International Jazz Festival.  In part two of this interview we talk about the origins of several songs featured on his CD “The Red Door” and learn about the musicians who are featured on this recording. Click here to learn more about Orrin Evans.

Startup founders: today's audio plat savoureux from the Innova802 crew focused on our guest Matt Cropp, executive director of the Vermont Employee Ownership Center (VEOC). We discussed why you need to consider your future exit now at the onset of your enterprise and why you should take a serious look at forming an employee-owned enterprise and how. The history of tech and tech enabled companies since the post WWII years is a history of equity sharing so it's often a short walk for companies to consider employee ownership (co-operative models, employee stock ownership plan (ESOP)).   We defined how these models work alongside equity-sharing and market-rate employment and what benefits come to founders and when.  Most notable we'll tell you how creating an ESOP and planning for a liquidity event are not mutually exclusive.  We tie the combination of tech business culture and employee ownership to rural development.  How these elements can and should be used to transform communities throughout fly-over, USA. BTW, Watch closely, that is if we see forward momentum in Congress, of an important piece of legislation for incentivising more employee ownership called the Employee Equity Investment Act.   Other work of note by MacKenzie Wark Mentioned by co-host Will Jeffries : Slicing Pie(Fair Equity investment tool)  And in the Jazz Room…We met pianist/composer, Orrin Evans at the Pittsburgh International Jazz Festival.  In part one of this interview we talk about his CD “The Red Door”, the meaning of red, the Jazz Train and Jazz elders. Click here to learn more about Orrin Evans.

We examine local real estate markets and the unique mix of property and economic development components at the local level here at the ‘Are We Here Yet?' podcast so our listeners can find inspiration for their own local efforts back home.  This episode host Scott Graves sat down with Ed Bove, Executive Director of the Rutland Redevelopment Authority in Scott's adoptive hometown of Rutland, VT.  Scott found resonance with Ed in their shared interest in incremental development and generally a ‘Strong Towns' approach to neighborhood building.    Listen to our interview with Strong Towns founder Charles Marohn from 2021. The discussion centered on how Rutland and the RRA are working to assist private developers to realize current Mayor Mike Doenges goal of 1000 units of housing in 5 years.   Given Vermont's past as an often development-resistant region, this may seem like a tall order.  There is little consensus on whether we need more housing at the broadest level, though municipal and state leadership understand there is a housing crisis affecting all of us, particularly working-class people in Vermont. Additional housing needs range from the state's number of 36,000 units, Vermont Futures Project estimate a bit higher and to those estimates by Knowledge Towns of 75,000 or more.   Listen to our interview with Kevin Chu, Vermont Futures Project  Listen to our interview with Dominic Endicott, co-author of Knowledge Towns There is even more difference of opinion when it comes to what kind of housing and for whom it might be built for.  Far from a complaint session, our discussion centered on the solutions being implemented through Ed and the RRA's efforts along with other municipal players.   Our conversation gave us an opportunity to discuss the efforts of Breaking Housing Matters, a national housing initiative working on a pilot in Rutland, VT.    Listen to our interview with BHM founder Peter de Krassel Ed's thoughts immediately went to the innovative parts of BHM in creating new streams of development capital, an essential part of creating more interest in Rutland and the state of Vermont from emerging developers both local and from afar.  And in the Jazz Room…We met with Orchestra Leader/Composer Maria Schneider at the Newport Jazz Festival. This show is a bit different as per Maria's request she asked I play 30 seconds of music and one full composition from her project "Data Lords". As you listen to this interview she talks not only about creating her music, but defending the copyrights of her work in this world of free music streaming and music distributors charging artist exorbitant fees for their use digitally. Click to learn more about Maria

Without getting to Jargon-ey,  our guest Gregory Thomas and yours truly explored where and how we in the private sector and within institutions can support the journey from on-the-shelf research to marketplace success.  Gregory is The Executive Director and Lecturer for the Berthiaume Center for Entrepreneurship, Isenberg School University of Massachusetts Amherst.  UMASS is a leader in cutting edge research for a number of Massachusetts tech sectors. The UMASS system which includes campuses in Lowell, Dartmouth, Boston and the Chan Medical School in Worcester offers a robust set of innovation-driven resources for students and community members.   How can the private sector better interact with programs like those at Berthiaume? How do we build a more robust, diverse and resource rich Pioneer Valley tech sector? How do we best access ideas in financial modeling, management and tech transfer so, in the end, we're building an economy that is better at creating well-paying, meaningful work?  These are the themes of our conversation this hour.  At SMGraves Associates, we've joined up with Living Local 413 to develop a series of mixed-use properties in the Pioneer Valley of Massachusetts as desirable locations for tech and tech enabled entrepreneurs to live, work and find important resources through our programming including access to venture capital, accelerators and top-tier mentors. We're eager to work with and help our private sector partners leverage relationships with the region's best institutions like UMASS.

The team at Innova802 enter the solutions-driven world of biomimicry with Vermont entrepreneur Byron Garcia.  Byron is the founder of Natural Designs where he and his team study the natural flora and fauna of the planet for clues to solving some of industry's most pressing issues.  Projects include improvements to data center cooling systems through the mimicry of beetle wings and elephant ears and a whole new class of non-nicotinoid pesticides that prohibit the infestation of pests without killing them or any other organism.   And in The Jazz Room: Re re-visit Joan's 2021 interview with the celebrated Jon Baptiste.  

We had the distinct pleasure of engaging in conversation with two very special professionals. In their report, Integrating Inner & Outer Systems Change, authors Stephen Posner & Kim Nolan offered us insight into the importance inner perspective within each of us plays in the necessary task of reimagining how we collectively survive and even thrive on the planet. Our conversation was vivid.  I have to say I personally enjoyed these interviews, taken over two months this past spring, for many reasons. Our solutions based conversation offers a number of internal and external applications each of us can engage in to make our lived experience together more meaningful while engaging in better systems practice. People mentioned during our conversation Indy Johar post about the Pathways Forum we did with him recently: https://www.garrisoninstitute.org/the-common-good/ Arawana Hayashi: https://arawanahayashi.com Bill McKibben: https://thirdact.org Applied work mentioned in our conversation Federal policy memo on Regenerative Agriculture.  https://fas.org/publication/a-national-initiative-to-revitalize-american-farming-and-advance-regenerative-agriculture/ Research papers on natural capital accounting for business: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212041621001170 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2212041622000304 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2212041620300413 https://www.wbcsd.org/Archive/Assess-and-Manage-Performance/Resources/Guide-to-Corporate-Ecosystem-Valuation  

Doug Merrill is Regional Innovation Officer for UVM in Burlington, VT. Doug is leading the charge for the Vermont GaN Tech Hub, a regional reshoring initiative spurred on by the CHIPs legislation. Doug joined the Innova802 team to discuss the project's progress and its potential impact to the regional economy. We also talked about what's so fab about gallium nitride microprocessing chips. From a rural development perspective the state of Vermont is eager for this reshoring of technology-based manufacturing and research to benefit more than just Chittenden County.  This decentralization of economic benefit is something many of your rural communities are facing where you live and work. Many top technology providers were mentioned in our podcast including Global Foundries. Innova802 is a series of SMG's 'Are We Here Yet?' podcast.  We're delivering solutions-based audio content on rural development of tech and tech-enabled companies.  We bring you useful stories with a Vermont perspective to bring to your town.  

  For more than five years Travis Benson has represented the interests of citizens of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts as a policy advocate, primarily working on issues of transparency. His article, "Dissecting the 'Toxic' State House Culture", published May 25 in Commonwealth Beacon recounts the current dysfunction of the state legislature of Massachusetts. The issues we discussed are not unique to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, a state near and dear to host Scott M. Graves, the state of his birth and upbringing. For those listening in Massachusetts and other states, discover through our discussion some insight as to countering the issues Travis recounts. Issues you might also be facing in your home state. If our efforts in community development, economic development, rural and urban alike are to take hold, we must get right with our political leaders and the daily requirements of governance.  

My guest today is Ilana Preuss, founder of Recast City, LLC which she's led for 10 years. To date, Ilana has worked with 60 communities throughout the United States. Her commitment is to apply her expertise in smart growth, community reinvestment, real estate analysis, and stakeholder engagement to create more opportunity for more people in more places and to create strong, inclusive, and resilient economies. Her core beliefs navigate this approach. Ilana is the author of 2021's, Recast-Your-City: How to Save your downtown with Small Scale Manufacturing Today's subject: how we build stronger communities through small scale manufacturing.   Those of us involved in redevelopment of downtown property and/or economic development generally should pay keen attention to today's conversation. Also mentioned in our conversation was the work of author Rachel Slade And in The Jazz Room… In Part 2 Arturo O'Farrell expands his thoughts to discuss the ”Still, Small Voice” that we, as a people, share and the non-profit organization he formed to benefit out-of-work performers of all genres during the Covid 19 quarantine.  Learn more about Arturo.  

This latest Innova802 episode had the crew of Scott Graves, Ryan Munn and Will Jeffries exploring different sides of the question, 'Who owns this?' We explored the issue surrounding last spring's decision by Spotify to set limits on how they pay royalties to artists, something Scott takes issue with since his days in the industry.  This affects all creatives utilizing Spotify as a platform, including many local Vermonters and other rural artists. Will and Ryan offer a look at two Vermont-centric areas to take more advantage of.  One is to apply the principles of employee ownership to more entrepreneurial pursuits such as they are in Vermont. Ryan takes us into the world of captive insurance.  This risk specialty marketplace is a true emphasis of Vermont's economy and a unique opportunity according to Ryan to expand upon as a strength of ours. Three ways to ask, 'Who Owns This?' are up next in our Innova802 series on rural tech with a Vermont perspective. Thanks to show sponsor Black River Innovation Campus for hosting our episode session.  

Up End This is a custom modular housing solution, a startup located in Johnson, VT.  It's founder Michael Zebrowski is the kind of entrepreneur that everyone can both connect with and look up to.  He and his family have weathered the recent floods and the more daily mundane challenges inherent in owning your own business.   Learn More from Up End This They are looking to grow with a smart strategy and an eye towards the future of de-centralized housing solutions.  We spoke about how decisions made on materials and design can offer solutions to the challenges of building in our current environment.  We discussed the challenge of contemporary vs. traditional vernacular in the marketplace and a whole lot more that folks in the trades and consumers alike can find connection to.  

We begin our episode with an interview co-host Scott M. Graves held with Vermont State Rep. Monique Priestley (D-Bradford) regarding the latest on the bill she is co-sponsoring.  VT. House Bill 121 was vetoed by Gov. Phil Scott at the end of the 2024 legislative session and upheld by the Vermont Senate. We offer our listeners the latest on the future of the bill from Monique, who used the opportunity to engage our audience with information via her new web presence Let'sDoPolicy.com.   Many citizens and small business leaders are not informed on the importance of data privacy rights to their lives and businesses.  Further, many people do not have a comprehensive understanding for what's at stake and exactly how their information is used and potentially abused every day. We offer our listeners some definition around the issue and perspective from both the voters, small business professionals and  technology companies.

Since 1975, Tom Fox has been at the forefront of urban park and waterfront development primarily in New York City. His creative thinking, commitment to community engagement and coalition building, use of unique funding mechanisms, and knowledge of government and the media have resulted in revitalized waterfronts and waterways, new parks, greenways and community gardens that have made the city a more desirable and sustainable place to live, work, and visit. A working class kid from Brooklyn, Tom's work has required a lot of creativity when it comes to financial planning.  It's required knowledge of government, media and it's also required an ever-refined sense for relationships and how to keep things moving. Tom's also been resilient.  He's seen the development of the Hudson River Park from the outset and he knows how to win, lose and just keep going. On top of also being a successful entrepreneur. Tom is the author of ‘Creating the Hudson River Park: Environmental and Community Activism, Politics, and Greed and it's the story he tells us here that's why Tom is joining us today. ... In The Jazz Room  We met Pianist, Composer Arturo O‘Farrill after his set at the Newport Jazz Festival. We talked about his Grammy winning album “Four Questions”. In part 1 we talk about the influence of Dr. Cornell West and the ”Four Questions” as the inspiration for his album. Learn more about Arturo at https://www.auturoofarrill.com.

Erica Von Kleist is performing artist, educator, businesswoman, colorful commentator on any number of the more ridiculous intersections between art and modern life and wouldn't you know, she plays the saxophone to top it all off and we have to acknowledge,  just had the premiere of three new arrangements at no less than Carnegie Hall.  Find Erica on the Web I've admired her work for many years now and thought about asking for an interview for the AWHY podcast, it was the commentary of many of our peers in and out of music to a social media post by a third party some months ago that finally brought us here.  It seems that within music education circles, art is certainly imitating life.  With one comment by a young-ish undergrad regarding the behavior of collegiate faculty in music departments that we got a whole lot of ‘Boomer' and ‘kids these days' type of repartee.   So what gives when we're all just trying to get along? Wouldn't we be more useful to each other by crossing the threshold of generational divides?  I thought that was what Jazz was all about anyways, we're hoping Erica can set us straight. And in the Jazz Room… We had a fun interview with Grammy nominated, singer/composer Claudia Acuna at the Newport Jazz Festival. She talks about the inspirations for her songs. You'll hear cuts from her albums “Duo” and ”Turning Pages”  . Learn more at www.claudiaacuna.com  

  “Rural communities do not exist solely to be extracted from.  They are also generative, they can host tech, sic (the example from) our radically Rural biotech (program) is to not just bring (biotech) to but grow from the people and places we already have.” Julianna Dodson, Director of Radically Rural and Deputy Director for the Hannah Grimes Center for Entrepreneurship spoke with us regarding the well documented need and regenerative benefit of our relationships in order for community development, the kind that is lasting and has a net positive effect, to develop.  It was clear from our conversation Julianna has a deep commitment to her work and that of countless others bringing people together for business and social benefit in her community of Keene, NH.  For those of us building local economies through tech or creative class industries, building a socially cohesive environment is essential for realizing a desirable city to live in.    Engage with the Radically Rural Summit in September 2024  Listeners, what's your experience in bringing tech to your communities and how has it affected the social fabric of your community? We want to hear from you.  ...And in the The Jazz Room: We met with singer/composer/arranger Jazzmeia Horn at the Newport Jazz Festival. We talked about her CD “Dear Love” and her big band, ”Noble Force”.  Learn more about her work by clicking here.  

"I DON'T THINK THE ‘MONTANA MIRACLE' IS A ONE-TIME FLUKE. I THINK IT CAN REPRESENT A NEW PARADIGM OF POLITICS IN MONTANA, WHERE THE LEFT AND RIGHT JOIN TOGETHER IN COMMON BELIEF THAT MONTANANS MUST BE FREE TO BUILD, INNOVATE, AND PROGRESS IN ORDER TO OVERCOME THE BIGGEST CHALLENGES FACING OUR STATE." So we opened our Season Nine here at the ‘Are We Here Yet?' podcast with this quote from Kendall Cotton.   He is Executive Director of the Frontier Institute. We met earlier this year after Kendall was interviewed by the New York Times.  What caught my attention and compelled me to reach out to him was his thoughts on the housing crisis.  In our discussion we focused much time on how the current housing  market is affecting Big Sky Country and especially on the solutions this rural state has brought to the table including re-thinking zoning and passing Montana House bill 819 which offers developers funding in order they may pass savings on to the future homeowner.  Additionally, Kendall and I spoke regarding other initiatives important to the institute and to Montana's 21st century economy including #artificial intelligence, #dataprivacy and the government and how these sectors affect each other in the rural places we call home.  The similarities with our other rural states abound.  The bipartisanship baked into the efforts of the Frontier Institute are an example to others working on substantive solutions to our rural development challenges.   You'll find Kendall on twitter @Cotton_MT And in The Jazz Room… We enjoyed our conversation with singer, Christie Dasheil. She talks about her CD “Journey in Black” and what it was like growing up in a musical family.  Learn more about Christie by clicking here  

Many rural regions of the US appear to be at the vanguard of a de-centralization of venture capital.  Specifically, we are seeing a gradual increase in interest on the part of those controlling venture capital streams to ensure we go beyond Boston, New York, San Francisco and Austin.  So can Venture Capital ignite rural economies?  What other critical mass changes are necessary to realize resilient rural economies capable of creating well-paying and meaningful jobs in innovation?  This is the focus of our conversation.  Our guest and is Lauren Bass, Executive Director of LaunchVT in Burlington, VT.  LaunchVT is a project of the Lake Champlain Chamber and Lauren is a seasoned and cosmopolitan entrepreneur with experience in multiple innovation sectors.  And in The Jazz Room…We met with many artists at the Pittsburgh International Jazz Festival. We talked with saxophonist, Chelsea Baratz and her dog King. She talks about growing up in Pittsburgh and the musicians and teachers who encouraged her, and, her CD “In Faith” Find Chelsea on the Web here. 

We had the distinct Pleasure to speak with Daniel Parkins with a rather broad question to answer: What does the way we assign value to commerce, global policy, culture and just about everything else in our community tell us about our society.  Does it reflect our weaknesses or our strengths? What does it say about the health of our communities, about the health of our inner self? In an era where most of us question globalization, where students are questioning our values while taking to the streets in protest, just what are we getting right and what are we getting wrong?  That's next here on the Are We Here Yet? Podcast.  Daniel Parkins is founder of Community Wealth Development LLC (CWD), a grassroots consulting firm, dedicated to generating local community ownership over economic initiatives and social programs intended to generate wealth in their community. Through expanding access to justice and creating new economic opportunity for local residents, CWD is committed to building strategic partnerships that foster strength through diversity and that are formed for the sake of equity building within communities and for the benefit of communities.  He helps businesses and local civic leaders work with communities to transform conflicts, launch impact initiatives, and achieve sustainable growth.  Daniel and I spoke with on the subject of Peace in episode 135 of this podcast.  And In the Jazz Room… We met pianist/composer, Orrin Evans at the Pittsburgh International Jazz Festival. In part two we talk about the origins of a couple of songs featured on his CD and learn about the musicians who are on this CD with him. Find more on Orrin Evans right here.  

Our Vermont tech team was joined by Joshua Moses.  Josh works with individuals, organizations, and communities to cultivate vision and resourcefulness in the face of uncertainty and socio-ecological transitions.  He is currently on the faculty of Haverford College.  Josh is currently visiting faculty with us in Vermont at UVM. He joined our conversation dealing with why and how our tech sector requires the perspective of the fine and performing arts and other, broader disciplines defined as humanities. Is there a Vermont way when it comes to the tech sector?  What of Ryan Munn's contention that rural sectors have never in history worked well for its people and we're perhaps on the cusp of that changing through rural economics rooted in latest technology. (Extractive vs. non-extractive economics).  It seems as of late no matter the subset of ideas we're recording about these days the ever-present issue of our changing climate enters the lexicon. So too a discussion towards democracy and what it means to be a valuable citizen.   This recording was no different and our guest provided plenty for the group and you, our listeners to consider as we all consider how Vermont and our tech sector could lead with smart, balanced and informed solutions to work within our complex adaptive environment.  Big thanks to our friends at the Vermont Center for Emerging Technologies (VCET) for hosting our recording session. Find the VCET  Podcast, Start Here ...And in the Jazz Room  In part two of our interview Gary Burton tells us about his work with George Shearing and Stan Getz. He also talks about the "inner player" that is within us all. Follow Gary on Facebook  

The folks at Vermont-based medtech startup Aprexis are no strangers to the definition of persistence.  This is the just the start of why the podcast desired to talk with co-founders Mike Howe, Rob Squire and Carrie LeCompte.   In this episode you'll learn the importance for rooting a medtech solutions company from the clinicians perspective.  We spoke at length regarding the challenges unique to medtech software firms, namely the challenge to working in an iterative technology that comes up against regulatory imperatives for launching fully developed.  We defined MTM or medication therapy management and discussed the growing marketplace as professionals in pharmacology work with a growing geriatric population in an ever-expanding pharma-marketplace.  And in The Jazz Room… We met pianist/composer, Orrin Evans at the Pittsburgh International Jazz Festival. In part one of this interview we talk about his CD “The Red Door”, the meaning of Red, the Jazz Train and Jazz elders. 

David J. Neff serves as Operating Partner at Austin, TX based Ecliptic Capital where he works with portfolio companies on people, process,, marketing, strategy and culture.  he spearheads the fund's concentration on climate change and energy transition as part of ecliptic Capital's deep tech thesis.  Our conversation is focused on the recent report Ecliptic released offering a comprehensive look at considerations for the consequences of Artificial Intelligence called, ‘How Artificial Intelligence is Transforming Our World at Hypersonic Speed'. Find David On LinkedIn Find Ecliptic on Twitter Find David on Twitter   And we talk with Vibraphonist, Gary Burton. We were able to catch up with him at the 60th Newport Jazz Festival.  In the first in our two part interview, Gary tells us about when he started playing the vibes and about his Autobiography that was published in 2013.

It was so interesting to talk with pianist, David Haney. Based in Portland, Oregon David travels often to NYC to perform at Joe's Pub. Since 2012 he's been the publisher and contributing editor of Cadence Magazine Online. In this two part interview we listen to performances of Improvised compositions featuring David and his friends.  David discusses how he became publisher of Cadence Magazine Online. Learn more about Cadence Magazine

Kevin Chu is Executive Director of the Vermont Futures Project  People from throughout the United States can access their thoughtful and well researched information in order to make the case for workforce, middle market, affordable and any other form of housing needed.   The core goal driving the work of the organization is to increase Vermont's population while providing good housing to a more diverse population.  The information provided by the project goes well beyond just addressing housing.    Like many rural states Vermont's demographic changes are placing pressure on communities and every system that drives a population. Our conversation brought us together to discuss not only housing from a development and economic standpoint but from a perspective of what's fair and what's right for rural citizens of Vermont, immigrants and those US citizens eying Vermont as their land of opportunity. 

Join Vermont tech leaders Will Jeffries, Ryan Munn and Scott Graves as they discover the best this Brave Little State has to offer in technology-driven entrepreneurship.   Maybe you're local, maybe you have a rural project in another part of the country, maybe you just love to talk technology and tech policy.   We want YOU to come with us, listen in and join the neighborhood. #ruraldevelopment #techinvestment #ruralinnovation Like what you hear?  Have a episode topic you want us to tackle? Let us know.  

The housing crisis gripping the United States is gaining a disconcerting momentum in the Northeast, as it is in many regions of the United States.  In this episode we're speaking with Worcester, MA developer Jackson Restrepo regarding the challenges to the housing market in this, the second largest city in New England and one of the fastest growing cities there, as the Biotech sector continues to grow in Massachusetts.  This is the second in our ongoing series of episodes focused on the housing crisis in the US for Breaking Housing Matters. Also, meet pianist, Bertha Hope. She talks about her husband Elmo Hope and her CD "Nothing But Love" featuring drummer Jimmy Cobb as part of her ensemble. For more information Bertha Hope's Biography click here.

We all hear about the importance of international talent to the US technology sector. We understand how an open set of arms to international trade, travel and immigration plays a role in our country's success.  But our historic relationship to immigration tells a much more complicated story and with the recent threat of closed borders as posed by a possible Trump 2024 administration, we wanted to take a closer look at the lived experience of those plying the waters of our current international tech sector to really find an explanation for why an open society is so very important.  Our guest represents the human personification, the energy that comes to us and makes our tech sector vibrant and our country great.  Davide Dantonio is with us for this podcast.  He's a Class of '22 Venture for America fellow and currently plays program lead on no less than 2 Indiana-based gener8tor accelerators.  He's also a podcaster in his own rite.   You can find him and his crew at the Young Outcast's Podcast. Davide is also Program Manager for two Indiana based programs for gener8tor, a rural-focused technology fund operating more than 223 accelerators nation-wide. We're talking multiculturalism and the lived experience of young entrepreneurs living and working in America. 

Scott M. Graves, host of the ‘Are We Here Yet? Podcast speaks to us regarding the importance for small cities and towns to take advantage of the opportunity recently presented to solve some of the most pressing economic and social issues of our day.  ‘For we are, I'm sure of this, at the start of a national movement to decentralize the map. For placing venture capital where it's needed most, for updating outmoded zoning laws so we can start rebuilding our built environments to serve all of our neighbors and financing policies so more Americans can access the housing they desire.  Here's to transforming our cities and towns for a new generation.' The Jazz Room w/ Lakecia Benjamin Meet saxophonist, composer, Lakecia Benjamin. We met briefly after her set at the Newport Jazz Festival. She talks about her CD, “Phoenix” and the story behind the project. Learn more at Lakecia's Website.  

With a background in housing policy, law and international business, author and business leader Peter de Krassel has witnessed the long arc of bad housing policy across the globe.   He is launching Breaking Housing Matters as a novel means to solve the global housing crisis, one that is designed to address the impasses our current system of financing and policy has created over the last half century or more. More on Peter's Book, Custom Maid Housing for a New World Disorder Breaking Housing Matters (BHM) is a grassroots movement dedicated to delivering affordable housing profitably. We believe landlords and developers must get a reasonable return on their investment while people must be able to afford decent housing. Our proposed Housing Subsidy Solution (HSS) could become a public-private model for local communities to achieve affordable housing profitably around the world. Full disclosure: AWHY? Podcast host Scott Graves is now agent to BHM.  Working with SMGraves Associates, Breaking Housing Matters intends to develop its program to proliferate throughout the United States beginning with the leadership of the city of Rutland, VT, USA.   Connect with Peter de Krassel Engage BHM through SMGraves Assoc.   The Jazz Room welcomes Kurt Elling Our interview with Kurt Elling at the Pittsburgh International Jazz Festival includes stories about the people who have lifted him up through the years and his personal observations of The Jazz Room during his visit. Learn more on Kurt's Website  

We're launching a closer look at Artificial Intelligence; how it has and will shape our society.  How you can shape an informed perspective around what's sure to play a significant role effecting all of us for centuries to come.   Rather than do this investigation from a good/bad standpoint, we'd rather treat all of YOU, our listeners as the smart and curious people that you are!  So away we go! Our guest, Dr. Meltem Ballan, Ph.D. has decades of experience in digital technology, data science, and AI.  She is a leader, entrepreneur, and advisor who is passionate about creating innovative and impactful solutions for complex problems. She is the principal and founder of Concrete Engine.  Additionally, Meltem is a Venture Partner with Greenlight Equity Partners.  She holds a PhD in complex systems and brain sciences, with a focus on computer vision, visual cortex, and natural language processing. She is committed to fostering true diversity and inclusion in the STEM domain, especially AI and data science. We're looking at AI and neurodiversity in today's podcast. Click here for  Meltem's All Things AI Newsletter