(Plainfield Area Community Trust)
by Anne Van Couvering
Reprinted from the Plainfield Co-op Newsletter: Fall 2023
Assuming the Co-op moves, one of the ideas being passed around regarding the Co-op building in Plainfield Village is to sell it to PACT. So, you might ask, what is PACT?
We are a group of Plainfield Area residents in the early stages of setting up a non-profit with the following mission statement: “To foster community, support sustainable economic growth and development, and maintain the historic integrity of the Plainfield area.”
The idea is that we are an umbrella non-profit to help facilitate projects spearheaded by community members. People with an idea for how to improve or preserve or maintain the community, who want to apply for grants or state money and need non-profit status to do so, could use PACT for that purpose without having to become a full non-profit. (Details still being hammered out.)
Ideas that have already been floated run the gamut from affordable housing to a day care center or youth center to tool lending library and — most salient for this newsletter — to purchasing the Co-op building so as to be able to access grants to repair it, upgrade it and make it ADA compliant. Once that is done, the model suggested by Preservation Trust is to find an entity (business or non-profit) to lease it that can pay maintenance costs and taxes while they are occupying the building. Models for reduced rent, etc. are available for projects that enjoy wide community support and are beneficial for the health of the town (e.g. community center, youth center, cafe with Co-op distribution, etc. In other words, PACT would not be on the line for upkeep costs unless that’s agreed on in advance and money is coming in from some source to support that.
Please keep in mind that we are painting in very broad strokes here because PACT is still in its infancy and none of the details have been hammered out. If you would like to be a part of creating this non-profit and/or being part of a fundraising committee for your dream project (including the purchase and improvement of the Co-op building if the Co-op chooses to sell to us) please reach out to Anne Van Couvering (annevanc@gmail.com).
Fall 2023 issue of the Newsletter can be found on the Newsletter archives page