Guest blog by Jeffrey Grimshaw, Executive Director of View Arts Center Like many places in the Adirondack Park, we rely on tradition as a component of our economic development engine. Also, in many places there have been entrepreneurs who have a need, find neighbors and others that have a similar need and then share their skills, product or expertise to help others. In today’s economy we call those people Makers and where they do their thing — Makerspaces. This has been going on for a very long...Read more

It has been a sizzling summer in the Adirondack North Country, but The Hub on the Hill is keeping its cool. This spring, it became official. The Hub’s retrofitted refrigerated box truck hit the road, delivering locally grown and processed food to buyers and markets around the region and beyond. The Hub on the Hill is a local food hub based in Essex, NY which provides Adirondack and Champlain Valley farms and local food businesses access to shared resources including a commercial kitchen,...Read more

The number, size and distribution of ground-mounted, photovoltaic solar projects that generate electricity for off-site sale or consumption are expanding at quite a clip in New York. In fact, electrical generation from solar has grown by more than 1000% in the North Country over the past 6 years. There is money to be made and policy to provide the nudge. It also doesn’t hurt that the cost of solar production is now comparable to, and in some instances, less than that of fossil fuel based...Read more

My attention, of late, has fixed on a tagline created to promote ANCA’s Clean Energy Economy Conference. It’s a pithy phrase that has both rhetorical spirit and visual appeal: “ POWER – owning our energy future .” A call to action conveying optimism and collective possibility. Nothing subtle. That is, until you start to unpeel it. ANCA’s purpose is to advance a New Economy in the Adirondack North Country that builds community capital, strengthens local economies and safeguards the natural...Read more

Just when you thought you’d learned a whole new vocabulary (Uber, Airdrop, gig economy, mansplain, bloviate, co-sleeping, kombucha, glamping...) so you can communicate with your kids or understand the news, along comes another whole new vocabulary. Cryptocurrency, Blockchain, Bitcoin, Bitcoin miners, Ethereum, Nonce, Gigahash. Do you really need to learn these? We think so. ANCA is focused single-mindedly on growing the New Economy up in the northern parts of the state. And we are digging into...Read more

There's an invisible problem that poses a looming challenge to the North Country economy. Somewhere between 10,000 and 16,000 small business across the region are owned by Baby Boomers, and they are reaching retirement age. Most of them do not have solid plans in place for their businesses to change hands, change ownership or change ownership structures. Without plans in place, many will simply close their doors, leaving our communities short of jobs, main street businesses and the engines that...Read more

Did you know that investment as small as $3,000 can make the difference between inertia and growth for a small business? Over the past few years we have been listening to the needs and challenges facing our rural businesses and entrepreneurs. Often a small amount of capital can have a significant impact on their businesses. From one small business we learned that the purchase of a $2,500 machine could save hours of work every week. The time saved would allow them to diversify their business and...Read more

Reinventing Rural Businesses According to the United States Small Business Administration, the majority (nearly ⅔) of small businesses in the United States are owned by Baby Boomers. A survey from CNBC and the Financial Planning Association indicates that fewer than 30% of businesses have a written succession plan -- despite the fact that 78% of small business owners intend to sell their businesses to fund their retirements. For the over 70% of business owners that don’t have a succession plan...Read more

“I heard that eating salad helps you live longer.” That’s what one fourth grader proclaimed at last month’s meeting between Watertown elementary school students, school staff members and two local farmers. Wiggly second and fourth graders munched on fresh salad greens and crunchy apples while learning from farmers about how the food on their plate was grown and why it’s important to eat nutrient-rich fruits and vegetables. Kevin Richardson of Agbotic , in Sackets Harbor, and Jay Canzonier of...Read more

I was in New York City recently for a Federal Reserve Bank of New York meeting. The elegant carved wood rooms with formal portraits of the men who have chaired this august enterprise always unnerve me somewhat—the contrast with the wildness of the Adirondacks not so far north is extreme. I come down to the city from the provenance of trees and ancient reserves of granite, before they get cut, carved, mined, tamed and carted into the city as testament to man’s attempt to subjugate all things...Read more