The Carsey Institute is working with the Neil and Louise Tillotson Fund of the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation to conduct three research projects designed to examine the attitudes and experiences of Coös County residents as the region is challenged following the closing of area paper mills.

Coös County Youth Study

The ten-year panel study of youth in Coös County seeks to better understand the life-circumstances and trajectories of youth in Coös County, starting in 2007. It included all of the seventh and eleventh graders in 2007 in nineteen public schools (fourteen public and five private/alternative schools). Like rural areas across America facing growing economic uncertainty resulting from the decline of once-thriving industries, youth out-migration in northern New Hampshire has resulted in a net loss of young adults between the ages of 20 and 29. As a consequence of the declining paper and pulp industry, Coös County lost more than a third of this population (35 percent), between 1990 and 2000.

Read more.

North Country Community and Environment Survey

As one of our Community and Environment in Rural America (CERA) study areas, we periodically conduct telephone surveys to learn more about how Coös County residents view the changes happening in their communities and the region. From 2009 to 2011, we also conducted a case study of community change through interviews and surveys of community leaders, observations and group conversations, and content analysis of relevant newspapers and documents. The research culminating from this study includes a conference paper for the Eastern Sociological Society, a Carsey brief entitled Stretching Ties: Social Capital in the Rebranding of Coös County, New Hampshire, and an in-depth report, Forging the Future: Community Leadership and Economic Change in Coös County, New Hampshire.

Read more about the CERA project.

Socioeconomic Indicators in the North Country

This site provides information to help understand and guide the changes taking place in northern New Hampshire and adjacent counties in Vermont and Maine, as leaders in the region endeavor to move from managing decline to building a sustainable future that attracts and retains young people.

Visit the Tracking Change Indicators site.