Community Leadership

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Working Together

Helping community members stay focused, work together and create strategies to solve problems.

Community Engagement

We teach innovative and proven techniques to engage underrepresented populations, unearth a wealth of diverse perspectives, unique needs and various opportunities. Engaging community helps community leaders make decisions that recognize the needs and interests of all community members.

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Leadership Development

We work with communities to expand leadership capacity through strategies and training that builds leadership skills that promote collaboration, effective planning and the ability to help move projects from inception to completion.

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Community leadership workshop

Articles

Exterior of the Clarement MakerSpace building, a large historic brick structure
Collaboration Was Key at Leadership Upper Valley’s Economic Development Day
On January 8, the 2025 graduating cohort of Leadership Upper Valley spent the day at the Claremont MakerSpace learning about economic development effo... Learn More
Nate Bernitz and Christopher Parker sitting on opposite sides of an oval table
Building Bridges: Dover's Approach to Inspiring Confidence in Local Government
Key takeaways from a conversation with Dover’s deputy city manager
Cities and towns across New Hampshire use localized approaches to decision making, transparency and accessibility, public engagement and provision of ... Learn More
Nate Bernitz, Sue Cagle and Becky Levy standing in front of a presentatin screen at the NH Municipal Association conference
Crafting Creative Solutions Through Conflict: Insights from the NHMA Conference
On October 30 and 31, UNH Extension Community & Economic Development field specialists Nate Bernitz, Rebecca Levy, and Sue Cagle attended the annual N... Learn More
Conferene presenters seated at a long table in front of a large screen.
Radically Rural: Sparking Solutions Together
If you didn’t make this year’s Radically Rural Summit, hosted by the Hanna Grimes Center for Entrepreneurship, you missed out on some of the most inno... Learn More
Ward 6 Community Meeting at Green Acres Elementary
Manchester Completes Community Engagement Meetings on Draft Zoning Ordinance with help from UNH Extension
On Saturday, September 7, the city of Manchester’s Planning and Community Development Department hosted the last of 12 public meetings to collect feed... Learn More
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What do Planning and Zoning Boards Do?
OPD has the Answer.
Wading through the regulatory framework of what communities can and cannot do, and staying on top of recent trends and growth pressures can seem daunt... Learn More

Events

Resources

Best Practices: Participating in a Virtual Meeting
Virtual meetings provide an opportunity to gather people in different locations efficiently. In order to make your meeting as productive as possible, ... Learn More
Best Practices: Hosting a Virtual Meeting
Virtual meetings provide an opportunity to gather people in different locations efficiently. In order to make your meeting as productive as possible, ... Learn More
A white building downtown on Main Street
Fourteen Tips for Cultivating your Entrepreneurial Community
An entrepreneurial community is a community that intentionally acts to cultivate and support entrepreneurs. Focusing on building business and economic... Learn More
Community Engagement Report: Hood Park, Derry NH 2020
In the summer of 2020, the Town of Derry began the process of engaging the community to determine the future of Hood Park. Goals included creating a c... Learn More
How to Plan a Community Forum
Healthy communities have an active and engaged citizenry. Public engagement is involvement in local decision-making — decisions that have an impact on... Learn More
Tools for Community Engagement
There are many ways to engage your community. Communities can consider forums, storytelling, posters  and many other ways to get more people involved ... Learn More

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