With the impending infusion of federal stimulus funds, we can position the rural economy for long-term prosperity and resilience and help the region’s communities reach their potential. To succeed, we need do more than funnel money through the same old channels.

We're adapting programs to serve immediate needs during the pandemic and finding the space for growth and forward movement.

At the Northern Forest Center, we pay special attention to news and studies about the role forests and forest products play in mitigating climate change – and to media stories that mischaracterize the carbon impact of using wood in our context.

Our community revitalization programming is built on the premise that Northern Forest towns need to attract and retain more (youngish) people and entrepreneurs in order to thrive. Craft breweries signal investment and confidence in their host communities.

We're using integrated capital to achieve a central goal of boosting people, place and economy so that communities can be places of pride, purpose and vitality.

The work we see taking shape in local schools in the Maine West area is the kind of thing we believe can help the region stand out to prospective residents and motivated teachers.

Knowledge and ideas from rural communities across the country helps us be more effective advocates for policy that benefits the Northern Forest region.

Tupper Lake is often perceived as struggling, and some of its demographic statistics reflect this. Those assumptions and statistics don’t capture the bright, optimistic people who love this town, and are choosing to invest here and make it their own.

Center Vice President Joe Short co-authored a blog with Clifford Deaton of the Aspen Institute to showcase the many ways the Farm Bill is crucial to supporting rural communities, families and entrepreneurship.

The general population embraces the local food movement to sustains local farms, but it doesn’t seem to be as popular to use forest products to support our local forests. Forests and farms are interrelated, and together they form the unique landscape across our region. We should celebrate both parts of our working landscape.