Economic resilience refers to an economy’s ability to avoid, withstand, and bounce back from significant disruptions such as economic downturns, natural disasters, or the loss of a major industry. Communities with high economic resilience often have diverse industries, healthy demographic and workforce compositions, public-private partnerships, and disaster plans. Economic resilience in the Monadnock Region is represented in municipal hazard mitigation planning efforts, workforce development initiatives, and community partnerships.

The Monadnock Region’s workforce has decreased since its peak in 2012, after net increasing over the previous decade, and dropped precipitously around the COVID-19 pandemic. Employers throughout the region are experiencing difficulties filling vacant positions because there are not enough skilled workers in and around the region. The number of older adults living in the Monadnock Region has increased 120 percent since 1980 and is projected to continue increasing over the coming decades. Many of these older adults are opting to age-in-place, tying up single-family homes that would otherwise provide appropriate housing for working-age people. This tightens the housing market and increases housing prices, which often become prohibitive for workers. This has created a situation where workers cannot afford to live in the Monadnock Region and therefore are unable to fill the many job vacancies left by people retiring from the workforce.

According to NH Employment Security 2025 Q1 data, close to 40 percent of all jobs in Cheshire County are at firms with 100 employees or more. There are just 42 firms of this size within the county. While employers of all sizes are important for the economic prosperity of the region, the loss of any of these larger firms would cause an especially disruptive shock to household livelihoods, the tax base, the general economic well-being of local communities. Some larger employers have expressed concerns about the workforce shortage referenced above and have indicated that it is factoring into their decisions about where to expand operations or whether to relocate outside the region. The ability to retain and support the success of these larger firms is essential to fostering regional economic resilience.

A variety of severe weather is becoming more common in the Monadnock Region, including seasonal droughts, heat waves, and severe rainfall events. It is this last type of natural hazard that perhaps poses the most signicant risk to physical infrastrucutre, residential property, and public life and safety within the region. It is anticipated that severe rainfall event will continue to increase in frequency and intensity. These severe rainfall events bring with them increased flood risks.

One way that this increased flood risk manifests itself is through an expansion in the floodplain surrounding waterbodies and waterways. The U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has issued preliminary updates to its Flood Insurance Rate Maps (FIRMS), which show that the total Flood Hazard Area in the region has expanded by about 15,000 acres, from 62,000 acres in the maps currently in effect to 77,000 acres in the preliminary ones. This expanded Flood Hazard area encompasses a larger number of physical infrastructure assets, including bridges and buildings.

The biggest flood risk in the region, however, may be flash flood events that occur outside of designated Flood Hazard Areas. Flash floods are possible wherever severe rainfall occurs, including along small streams, poorly drained valley bottoms, or areas with large amounts of impervious surface. They are difficult to predict and thus difficult to prepare for. Many areas across the region were affected by severe rainfall and flash floods in the summer of 2023. For example, properties Swanzey Lake (but outside designated Flood Hazard Area) suffered flood damage from torrential rainfall rushing down unmaintained (Class VI) roads located uphill.

The Greater Monadnock Collaborative Chamber of Commerce serves as a hub for local businesses and organizations throughout the Monadnock Region. As a membership organization, it provides services such as marketing, business and chamber directories, and resources such as internships and job postings, economic development groups, and visitors’ guides. The chamber also provides professional development opportunities for emerging leaders, such as the Leadership Monadnock program. Leadership Monadnock works to strengthen workforce retention and business connection in the Monadnock Region by deeply connecting participants to institutions and individuals throughout the region.

The mission of the Hannah Grimes Center for Entrepreneurship (HGCE) is to provide “provide the space, tools and connections that innovative entrepreneurs need to build strong businesses, thriving local economies, and vibrant communities in the Monadnock Region.” HGCE runs a variety of programs aimed at supporting small businesses and entrepreneurs including the Business Lab, Incubator Program, various workshops on topics such as marketing, taxes, management, and finances, one-on-one coaching, and networking events. HGCE also runs the Hannah Grimes Marketplace which provides over 250 local artisans and small businesses with a venue to sell their products.

Workers need more than a job to move to and stay in the Monadnock Region; they also need housing, opportunities for growth, and community ties. Workforce recruitment initiatives aim to provide incentives for workers to move to the Monadnock Region, resources to help make the transition easier, and benefits to help employees gain skills through continuing their education. Manufacturers in the Monadnock Region employ tactics such as higher salaries, comprehensive medical, dental, or vision coverage, tuition assistance, retirement plans, hiring bonuses, and moving costs. Some employers, like Kroka Expeditions, provides employee housing. Housing availability is one of the main barriers to strengthening the Monadnock Region’s workforce. Multiple organizations run programs that help foster more available housing, like Southwestern Community Services’ 21 in 21 Home Upgrade Program and Keene Housing’s Moving to Work program. Supporting local and regional housing initiatives allows more workers to move to the region to fill vacant positions and leverage existing resources throughout the Monadnock Region.

Other workforce recruitment efforts include job training at higher education institutions and talent recruitment initiatives. One of Keene State College’s workforce development initiatives is the Precision Optics Certificate. This certificate trains students in various skills required in optics manufacturing, a significant industry in the Monadnock Region. By providing this low-barrier, one-year course, Keene State College is helping to create a workforce pipeline from education to employment to fill vacant optics manufacturing positions throughout the Monadnock Region. Magnify Monadnock is a destination marketing initiative spearheaded by the Greater Monadnock Collaborative Regional Chamber of Commerce. Magnify Monadnock seeks to attract “the next generation of students, residents, and workers” to southwestern NH to secure the region’s economic vitality. The initiative promotes the region’s natural and recreational resources, cultural values, and economic opportunities in printed guides, digital media, and live events.

Municipal hazard mitigation planning efforts seek to include all members of the community, including businesses. While FEMA’s Local Mitigation Planning Handbook identified businesses as a “required stakeholder” for outreach, businesses participation in hazard mitigation planning varies between communities. However, the assets that businesses maintain that could be helpful in emergency situations are documented in an inventory of “community lifelines.” These lifelines can include institutions like Cheshire Medical Center, retail locations like grocery stores, contractors for services such as snowplowing, or business-maintained infrastructure like Eversource power lines. These lists also include critical facilities that are vulnerable to disaster events like flooding or cybercrime. In one Monadnock Region town, business participation in hazard mitigation planning has led to a collaboration between the municipality and a manufacturer to designate the manufacturing facility as an emergency shelter.