The purpose of this study is to evaluate the economy of the six town greater Ossipee area and to provide a plan, or road map, to the Greater Ossipee Area Chamber of Commerce and to local governments and other organizations as to those realistic efforts which should be undertaken to improve the economic conditions for residents of the area. The six town in the study area are: Effingham, Freedom, Madison, Ossipee, Sandwich, and Tamworth.

The recession, which began in 1990, hit New Hampshire, Carroll County and the six town area particularly hard and was the worst recession in the state in at least 30 years, if not since the Great Depression of the 1930's. Carroll County and the six town study area did not begin to see a rebound in employment until early 1995, three years after the rebound began in southern New Hampshire. Carroll County was one of the last areas in the state to start to rebound.

This economic assessment and implementation plan is timely, for the six town area is still lagging behind employment and income levels common during the 1980's and is lagging behind other areas of the state. Some of the recommended actions contained in this report are not new, but have not been implemented even though recommended in previous studies undertaken by the Chamber of Commerce and other area groups. Many of the recommended actions contained in this report are new, because the six town study area is facing a new world economy, with new forms of business organization, new products, and higher levels of competition from distant places.

This study was coordinated by the Economic Development Committee of the Greater Ossipee Area Chamber of Commerce. The Economic Development Committee had applied for and received a technical assistance grant from the U. S. Economic Development Administration and raised matching funds from area businesses and citizens. The Committee selected a consultant team lead by Northern Economic Planners of Concord, New Hampshire, to assist the Committee with the study and the preparation of this report.

The first task in this report was to undertake a visioning session to which local government officials, business people, and citizen were invited. The purpose of this session (held in September, 1995) was to obtain views regarding the six town area's strengths, weaknesses, problems, and opportunities. Based on this information, the participants were then asked to describe a desired future for the area. The participants' vision was for economic growth which improved sales and wage and salary levels, and which reduced annual cycles and long-term cycles in economic activity for the area's existing businesses and work force, while respecting the area's natural/scenic beauty and human heritage. This process is described in more detail in Chapter 1 of this report.

The remainder of this project was devoted to determining how this vision could best be implemented. As part of this process, the Committee and Consultant Team surveyed tourists, area businesses, and local government officials; U. S. Census information and state-wide development programs were reviewed to determine how the Greater Ossipee Area was different from other parts of the State; and other successful programs were examined to determine how they might be adapted to implement the future envisioned for the greater Ossipee zrea.

The second visioning session was held in June, 1996 with local governmental officials, business people, and citizens to review detailed goals and actions prepared by the Economic Development Committee and the Consultant Team. Following the second visioning session, the information contained in Chapters 2 through 5 of this report was finalized. The key goals identified in this report are: (1) to help local businesses expand and (2) to enable the work force to obtain higher wages and salaries. These goals should be implemented by the following:

• encourage more tourism during the winter and spring seasons and longer stays in the area by tourists who are already there;
• undertake a more focused effort on attracting current summer residents as retirees;
• encourage the development of at least one new attraction in the area and at least one new festival or activity during the winter, spring, and late fall seasons;
• promote local retail stores and summer services businesses to reduce the "leakage" of purchases by area residents to distant shopping centers;
• reduce local regulations of manufacturers which inhibit their expansion, provided they are located in appropriate sites and have minimal impacts on neighbors and the environment;
• strengthen ties between local manufacturers and artisans and local retail stores;
• encourage area retail development to occur in a concentrated village shops pattern rather than as sprawl or strip development;
• work toward the long-term development of the Mt. Whittier site as a small, multi-season mountain side recreation area or resort;
• emphasize both the scenic beauty and the human history of the greater Ossipee area in promotional program and the development of activities;
• enable new, small businesses making new products or services to find appropriate locations in the region;
• actively participate in NHDOT's process to make improvements to Routes 16 and 25;
• actively work toward improving communications services across the greater Ossipee area;
• keep up to date information which can be shared with existing and prospective businesses regarding financing programs, management training and work force training programs; and
• recruit state-wide providers of work force training to offer such programs in the greater Ossipee area.

A more detailed list of implementation activities is contained in Chapter 5 of this report.