Manufacturing square added to city of Keene’s game plan

In this economy, the word ‘employment’ has taken on a whole new meaning. In the tradition of a classic nuclear fallout, harmful radiation from the Wall Street implosion of fall 2008 still effects families and aspiring entrepreneurs across the country. From a local perspective, it’s hard to deny a single town in the U.S. was unaffected by a stabilized, yet still vulnerable economic makeup.

Before things took a turn for the worst two years ago, college graduates already had an uphill battle ahead of them in finding employment. Today, as acquiring work gets harder and harder to do across the country, the manufacturers of the Keene area are in for a pleasant surprise; Keene State College, in a collaboration with the Keene School District, River Valley Community College and the Greater Keene Chamber of Commerce, will launch The Regional Center for Advanced Manufacturing.

In an announcement on the KSC Web site, college President Helen Giles-Gee said the center will, “[link] business and education resources to establish and support a talent supply-chain for a new generation of precision manufacturing jobs [in the region].”

In a nutshell, the new collaboration will be a quantum leap forward in producing and sustaining business in the 70 high-tech manufacturing companies around the Monadnock area. As if benefiting growth and prosperity wasn’t enough, the proposal will also allow Keene High School students to take preliminary courses in manufacturing in order to get a head start on the craft before moving on to college. This decision will also result in the training and educating of experienced workers to help better their skills.

Such a multifaceted endeavor would, in essence, not only stimulate capital within Keene and provide opportunities for youth to thrive, but it allows for a trickle-down effect to occur throughout all of New Hampshire. A disciplined worker with the proper training can provide their services to companies both within the local area and even throughout the state. The Regional Center for Advanced Manufacturing is so crucial because it sets an example for other businesses and institutions outside of Keene to follow. If this job-creating machine is seen as a starting prototype, just imagine what could be accomplished on a nationwide scale.

New Hampshire unemployment the highest it’s ever been in 17 years, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the Rochester Times Web site states the state’s manufacturing jobs have been in a steady decline since 2007. In the face of a minor downfall, the Keene community is aptly demonstrating what can be possible if we all work together for the greater good.