A communications effort in Peterborough is pulling together people from different sectors and backgrounds all in the name of economic development.
More than 40 people gathered in the Bass Hall at the Monadnock Center for History and Culture on Wednesday night for the Community Conversations series talk about the Monadnock Economic Ecosystem Hub, a communication structure that helps to promote and create growth in various economic development sectors throughout Peterborough and the Monadnock Region.
“The fact that your community has gone through the trouble of organizing and sustaining this ecosystem demonstrates that you place a tremendous value on those very things that attract and retain residents, businesses, and important contributors,” said Dawn Wivell of the Peterborough Economic Development Authority, the group that has been working to develop the hub over the past year plus.
The goal was to create a new “hub and spoke” communication structure that allows for the management of multiple initiatives that would impact local economic development in a collaborative manner, Wivell said, bringing together people from different sectors throughout the Monadnock Region.
“There was a perception that the community lacked an organized culture where different issues could be addressed and where stakeholders could interact,” Wivell said.
The “hub” serves as a central communication and collaboration point between a number of different groups in town, known as “spokes.” There are currently spokes for housing, nonprofits, sustainability, downtown merchants, arts and culture, food and beverage, and more.
Different spokes work on their own action items and individual ecosystems and then meet together once a month at a hub meeting to report on what is happening, and if there are opportunities for collaboration.
Ciaran Nagle, one of the four “conversation sparkers” for the evening, said it was the mission of the Grow, Eat, Drink Monadnock spoke – which encompasses all food and beverage related endeavors – to establish the Monadnock Region as a “world-class destination for food, beverage, and agriculture,” and to promote and support locally grown and produced products in the region.
“The cool thing used to be a rock star, now it’s all food and beverage based,” Nagle said.
Nagle, who came to the United States from Ireland in 2012, said his home country took on a similar initiative in the 1980s to highlight all the “wonderful things” that were going on.
“We want people to come to Peterborough, there’s a magnetic energy here,” Nagle said.
Caitlyn Hatzell said the drawdown spoke is currently working on programs that promote sustainability in the Monadnock region. Many of the discussions and initiatives are inspired by the book “Drawdown: The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed to Reverse Global Warming” by Paul Hawken.
Specifically, the group is working on an initiative that would to promote proper disposal of old refrigerators – a big environmental concern due to chemicals used to cool down the refrigerator.
“We want to bring support to the public so we can shift the culture,” Hatzell said. “The solutions are all within reach.”
James Kelly said the nonprofit spoke is working to facilitate a number of projects with other spokes, including an upcoming exhibit at the Bass Hall that would talk about the past and future of energy and some sustainability education courses at MAXT Makerspace’s Repair Cafe.
Much of the conversation during the conversation focused around the benefits of such a system, and how things could grow even further.
“Every spoke is as powerful as the sum of its own parts,” Nagle said. “The more the merrier.”