Specifications include, but are not limited to: Preservation Trust of Vermont, a historic preservation non-profit, applied to and received from the USDA Rural Development Block Grant (RDBG) a business technical assistance grant for The Landmark Trust USA (LTUSA). LTUSA requires project development consulting services to grow their innovative historic preservation stewardship model, which focuses on restoring significant historic buildings and managing them as short term vacation rentals. After the initial expense of restoration, the income from the vacation rentals provides sufficient cash flow to cover the long term management and maintenance of each property. This ensures that the historic property is protected and is available for future generations. There is a large pipeline of at risk historic properties and numerous opportunities to expand this model and grow the organization. However, current staff is at capacity, and there will not be sufficient funds in the budget for a full time project developer position until additional properties are added to their portfolio. The RDBG grant will fund a project developer consultant to help scale the LTUSA model for one year. We anticipate the selected consultant will work with LTUSA, on average, 10 -15 hours per week for one year.
