New initiative seeks workers and tourists to Monadnock region

This image was taken from a YouTube video as part of a “Build Your Rich Life” promotional campaign by the Greater Monadnock Collaborative Regional Chamber of Commerce to attract workers to the region.

A two-pronged effort is underway to attract tourists and workers to the Monadnock Region of New Hampshire.

The initiative, funded with a $340,000 grant, is being run by the Greater Monadnock Collaborative Regional Chamber of Commerce — GMC, for short.

“Tourism strengthens our downtowns and small businesses, especially during periods of disruption, while workforce marketing helps employers grow and remain competitive,” said Julie Schoelzel, GMC’s president and CEO. “Together, they support a stronger, more resilient regional economy.”

The collaborative has some 475 members spread across communities in the region and representing a broad range of business, health care and education interests.

The initiative, announced in March, gets the $340,000 funding from a catalyst program run by the Northern Border Regional Commission to alleviate economic distress and contribute to economic growth in the rural regions of New Hampshire, Maine, Vermont and New York.

New Hampshire counties in the NBRC service area include Belknap, Carroll, Cheshire, Coos, Grafton, Merrimack and Sullivan through coordination with the state Department of Business and Economic Affairs.

There is an acute need in the Monadnock Region, according to Schoelzel, for workers across a broad spectrum.

“We need more lawyers. We need more professional workers, admins, bookkeepers, things like that,” said Schoelzel. “I would say legal, manufacturing, health care and education are at the top, with probably health care being No. 1, followed by manufacturing, and then between legal and education.”

The Monadnock Region of the state is located primarily in Cheshire County, which has a population of about 78,000 people and is anchored by the city of Keene. Its median household annual income, at $83,329, is slightly lower than the statewide median of $99,031, and its median age, at 43.6, is only slightly higher than the statewide median of 43.4.

It has a high concentration of jobs in education (owing to Keene State College and Franklin Pierce University), in health care (because of Cheshire Medical Center), and in manufacturing.

“What’s happening is that some of our employers, our manufacturers, are struggling to scale and meet demand, because they simply do not have enough employees,” said Schoelzel. “We want to be a place where companies can grow and really thrive, and so attracting young people to the region is key.”

Attracting young people as tourists might hook them into residency, according to Schoelzel.

“It’s definitely a mutually beneficial way to market, I think, because a lot of people do travel and fall in love with the place while they’re on vacation, and pull up Zillow and look at houses and start poking around,” she said, “and we certainly want to capture that.”

The $340,000 initiative divides the funding into two parts: $240,000 is a campaign called “Build a Rich Life” to promote the opportunity to live and work in the Monadnock Region, while $100,000 is devoted to a campaign to define the region as a four-season destination for tourists.

Some particulars of the workers’ initiative include a dedicated landing page where job-seekers can submit their resume once, and it is then shared among all participating manufacturing employers. That landing page is here:

Among the companies are Corning, Timken, Nanotech, MilliporeSigma, ABTech, Maxcess and Lenhen.

“Have a passion for computers, technology — even gaming? Your skills are in demand. These employers see your potential, value what you bring and are ready to invest in your growth,” the page says.

In addition, the campaign promotes education-to-career pathways, including the one-year Precision Optics certificate and four-year degree programs at Keene State College.

“You could come and do these areas of study, and you are essentially guaranteed a job locally right afterwards,” said Schoelzel. “There’s just such a need.”

The president and CEO of Nanotech cheers the effort.

“Identifying and hiring the best talent to support and grow local companies, like Nanotech, is vitally important to both the company and the region,” said Mark Boomgarde of Moore Nanotechnology Systems.

“Partnering with the GMC, Keene State College and other area manufacturers to find creative ways to market the region, to include The Build a Rich Life campaign, helps people see the real career opportunities available, while also showcasing why the Monadnock Region is a great place to live,” he added.

This new initiative is part of a broad initiative called Magnify Monadnock, which debuted in 2023 with a dedicated website with these primary components: visit here, live here, learn here and work here.

The ongoing initiatives are important to the future of the region, according to Schoelzel.

“Cheshire County is considered a distressed area because of its demographic issues: 35% of our workforce is going to retire in the next eight years; we’ve had a 20% decline in K-12 enrollment since the year 2000; we also have thousands of jobs open,” she said.

Opportunities are there, she noted, from quality of life to jobs to education.

“I talk to manufacturers pretty regularly. Often they will say I could use 100 employees tomorrow,” said Schoelzel.