A rendering of a planned pavilion on Gilbo Avenue in Keene, a project that was awarded a $1.756 million Northern Border Regional Commission Timber for Transit grant, announced Wednesday. (Courtesy City of Keene)
Rural communities across the state will get an economic development boost after 14 projects were awarded nearly $10.5 million in Northern Border Regional Commission grants for New Hampshire, Maine, Vermont and New York.
New Hampshire was awarded grants through two programs, with $8.7 million in Catalyst grants going to projects in 13 communities, and $1.756 million from the Timber for Transit Program awarded to Keene.
The NBRC is a federal-state agency that supports economic development in rural counties in New Hampshire, Maine, Vermont and New York. New Hampshire counties eligible for grants are Belknap, Carroll, Cheshire, Coos, Grafton and Sullivan counties. Merrimack County will be added in the next round of funding, a result of legislation sponsored by Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-NH.
The state’s projects funded in the latest round range from five $1 million awards for substance abuse treatment centers, child care and Mount Washington trails work and more, to $117,750 toward an electrical grid update in Wolfeboro that will help a business in town create 20 jobs.
“Community centered economic development is at the heart of NBRC’s work,” Chris Saunders, NRBC federal co-chair said in a news release. “What’s consistent about all the projects receiving funds from the commission’s fall competition is that they will create economic opportunity and improve day-to-day life for the people who call this region home.”
That’s true in Keene, which was awarded $1,756,800 in the new Timber for Transit Program, which advances the use of forest products in transportation projects. The Keene award will help pay for design and construction of an outdoor hybrid timber pavilion on Gilbo Avenue, a $2.196 million project. The pavilion will provide a hub for the Cheshire Rail Trail connection to downtown and serve as an economic catalyst for new business opportunities, new jobs, and private investment, according to a NRBC news release.
The NBRC was created by Congress in 2008 to help alleviate economic distress and encourage private sector job creation in the four states that comprise it, and it must be reauthorized every five years. The bill introduced by Shaheen in February 2023 to reauthorize it and include Merrimack County finally passed the U.S. Senate in December as part of the Water and Resources Development Act of 2024.
Projects in Merrimack County can apply for funding beginning with this year’s spring round of the Catalyst Program, which has a Feb. 28 deadline.
The new legislation also broadens NBRC’s ability to award grants to projects and activities to address the opioid epidemic and other substance use disorders. Shaheen, as a member of the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee, secured $46 million for the NBRC in the committee-passed fiscal year 2025 government funding bill — the highest level ever included in annual government funding legislation, according to a news release from her office.
New Hampshire’s Department of Business and Economic Affairs administers the NBRC’s programs for New Hampshire, working with community leaders and organizations throughout the year providing technical assistance to apply for and develop projects, according to a BEA news release.
“Over the past decade, NBRC’s Catalyst program has been a much-needed source of funding for important rural projects in our rural communities,” said BEA Commissioner Taylor Caswell said in the release. “Often, an NBRC grant is the last bit of funding needed for these important projects to get off the ground.”
