One Step Forward Two Steps Back

When I moved from Portland, Maine to North Conway two dear friends secretly had a betting pool going to see how long I would last. Both were convinced that urbanite in me would beat mountain lover into submission and I would seek refuge in Boston or Manhattan in no time.

One half of the couple gave me three months, the other a generous six. They confessed this plan over dinner about a year after the bet. This June is the fifth anniversary of the move to the mountains.

Not only did I fall in love with the place where we live over the last five years, I also became deeply fascinated by the unique socio-economic issues facing rural communities. To be clear, I am not referring to the Mount Washington Valley (where I live) when I talk about rural communities. Yes, there are places in the valley that are designated by the USDA as rural but the Mount Washington Valley is by all other accounts an anomaly in Northern New Hampshire.

Much of the work I do is focused on Coos County, the northern most county in New Hampshire. Coos has the smallest population and the largest geography of any county in the state. It is also the poorest county and arguably the most beautiful. The source of stories of groundbreaking innovation and heartbreaking economic decline the county is rich in paradox. Play around with google and you will find Coos is home to three of the remaining four Grand Hotels in New Hampshire and hundreds of small businesses fighting to keep their doors open.

I got on the phone at 8am this morning and email shortly there after, focused on the details of a Coos County based community/economic development event I am managing in early May. The event format is a-typical, the report out sessions are creative and encourage participants to stretch, in short I can't wait to bring the attendees together and bring it to life.

Along the way this morning I came across a series of stories about rural Maine which fueled my optimism that innovation, over coming the odds and moving forward toward a bright future is real for rural communities facing economic transition and challenge.

Then a press release from a Berlin, NH based company came across my desk. One of last major manufacturing entities in Berlin, a once thriving manufacturing city in Coos County, was closing the doors on its operations in the city, effective immediately. 46 people lost their jobs in Berlin today. A little hard to stomach when the region is fighting so hard to survive.

So tomorrow I am going to get up, get on the phone, fire up my email and keep working toward the future of the region.