The Comeback Community

Long ago, on my way to what I believed to be certain career fame and fortunes, I found myself, for what I thought would be a relatively short time, as the only fulltime employee for a regional planning and development organization, located on the Vermont side of what was known as “The Precision Valley – the Home of the Machine Tool Industry.”

If you do not know of either the Precision Valley or exactly what a machine tool is, that was the problem. The Valley -separated by the Connecticut River- was a major international hub for manufacturing machines that made other machines. But it was in economic shock, as their buyers – automotive, energy and defense – were all either imploding or had sourced offshore.

Communities that were once significant players in this field were aging and emptying out. If it was a manufacturing building – and there were many – it was probably empty or soon would be.

So, my stardom would have to wait. The task of stopping the bleeding and redevelopment became my interest and on-going question: How to best help high-need, low-capacity communities recover?

Hence the Comeback Community: Where they had once been an economic leader, then for various external factors had a big drop, but were now trying to “comeback”, but differently.

Fast forward 30+ years; I’m still at it. Stardom will need to wait. But nothing beats a redeveloped site’s ribbon-cutting, and the feeling of accomplishment by the volunteers and champions that made it happen!

The Comeback Community Champion

There are many “former” vibrant communities in New England. Some remain stuck, leaking wealth, energy and people. Others seem to be heading toward a different future and comeback strategy. Why the difference?

One factor we’ve seen in the more successful communities is the leadership – and hard work performed – by residents who have also “comeback:” from out-of-region jobs, careers or educations elsewhere. They have “Comeback to give back.” Finding and supporting these community champions seems to be an essential element of progress.

We hope you’ll find the contributions by Better Future Alliance members of interest and help us identify and recognize Comeback Communities and Comeback Champions.

Thank you for your own good works in your community!