Planners around the region are joining forces to try to replace some of the 625 high-paying jobs lost at Vermont Yankee — along with as many spinoff jobs around the tri-state area believed to have been eliminated after the plant’s December 2014 closing.
A U.S. Economic Development Administration grant is helping bring Franklin Regional Council of Governments together with its planning counterparts in Windham County, Vt., and Cheshire County, N.H.
Planners from the COG met with those from the Windham Regional Commission, the Southeast Vermont Economic Development Strategies and New Hampshire’s Southwest Regional Planning Commission this week to see how the economic strengths and weakness of the three adjoining counties overlap.
Common strengths, they found, include having a relatively strong manufacturing base, access to colleges and universities, each region’s collaboration among various economic development organizations and support for local agriculture.
Among the common weaknesses identified were the disparity between employer needs and worker skills, the limited number of job opportunities and jobs created, and, to an extent, low wages compared to the region’s cost of living as well as poor access to capital.
At the same time, those attending Thursday’s session pointed to an aging, declining population among chief threats to the economy. Growth of renewable energy sources and the “green economy” and the resiliency of small businesses were identified as areas of opportunity, along with the expansion of broadband.
Based on the 2014 top private economic sectors of employment presented at the meeting, compared to New England and the nation, the tri-state region has twice the employment in educational services, as well much greater employment in manufacturing along with somewhat more in retail trade.
COG Executive Director Linda Dunlavy said the three planning agencies are trying to align and document what are the overlapping healthy economic clusters as well as how to strengthen them by having the three states better cooperate in hopes of winning funding for a long-term project to work on strategies for improving the economic sectors.
Franklin Regional Economic Development Planner Jessica Atwood presented data confirming that average incomes in each of the three counties are at, or in most cases below, those for New England and the nation as a whole, and that average job earnings are significantly lower as well.
The COG received a subgrant of $10,000 to fund staff time and related expenses to participate in the project, which now turns to trying identifying other economic sectors beyond green building that can be strengthened by working collaboratively.
You can reach Richie Davis at: rdavis@recorder.com
or 413-772-0261, ext. 269