Rutland land trust renames organization
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By STEPHANIE M. PETERS STAFF WRITER - Published: November 28, 2009
Landing on a name that better describes their purpose than "Rutland County Community Land Trust" was not a quickly come by decision.
Staff, board members and a Guilford design company brainstormed for more than a year before deciding the name Housing Trust of Rutland County featured everything they were looking for: short, easy to remember, regional and focused on housing.
"It's a tricky and risky business to change your name, but we really felt that we had to have a name that people could use to find us easily if they were looking for housing," said Barbara Hanson, board secretary and a member of the subcommittee that focused on the name change. "We worked and worked and worked on it."
The name change was made official Nov. 5, although the organization is still working to spread the word and build on what's currently just a landing page for their new Web site, housingrutland.org.
According to Executive Director Elisabeth Kulas, the timing was right for a name change as the organization approaches its 20th year as a developer and provider of affordable housing. When known as the RCCLT, there was some confusion that their focus was more on land conservation, similar to organizations like the Vermont Land Trust, she said.
"We want to be known in every living room in Rutland County," she said. "Every person knows someone in need of housing that is affordable, safe, decent and well-managed. If our name doesn't tell the world what we do, and it's too confusing to remember, how are we going to get the word out and make the difference we are trying to make?"
The conversation about reworking the RCCLT's identity first began in May 2008, when the organization partnered with Guilford-based Woodward Design.
"It was quite an intense process," Hanson said. "We finally came to something that we were very comfortable with … even to the shading of what color the roof on the house (in the logo) was going to be. … It really was a labor of love. We wanted it to reflect who we are and why we do what we do."
Since 1990, the Housing Trust of Rutland County has developed 257 units of perpetually affordable housing, including 197 rental apartments that have been purchased and renovated; 120 of those are in Rutland City, 40 are in Brandon, 18 are in West Rutland, six are in Castleton and the remaining 13 are in Fair Haven.
It has also created a 14-unit mobile home park in Rutland City and acquired and reconstructed an 18-unit park in Fair Haven. Twenty-eight families have also obtained homeownership through the organization's HOMELAND program.
stephanie.peters@rutlandherald.com
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