The 55% Initiative – An Effort to Encourage More NH College Grads to Stay in NH

New Hampshire is a great state in which to live. Yet, we face a looming crisis. The state’s population is the fifth oldest nationally and many baby boomers are close to retirement. In good times and in more challenging times, employers have traditionally had trouble finding skilled workers.  And currently, only about one in three new college graduates earning a four year degree remain in New Hampshire, creating a gap in this workforce. 

The 55% Initiative sets a goal of convincing at least 55% of new graduates to "Stay, Work, and Play” here, as compared to the roughly 50% of all college graduates (two-year, four-year, and advanced or professional degree) who currently stay. The Initiative was launched in 2007 and includes four phases – research, outreach, planning, and implementation.

Research: More than 3,000 college seniors and recent alumni were surveyed to help determine why students decide to stay or leave. The results provided some important findings and demonstrated that most students had a very positive perception of the state, may move back if they leave, and mainly leave due to concerns about finding a job

Outreach: USNH staff, in partnership with many other organizations concerned about this issue, conducted substantial outreach in 2007-08, speaking about this subject, building a coalition of organizations that support it, raising awareness, and gaining input on what could be done to encourage more to stay.  Both the information and the support are being used to develop ways to encourage more new graduates to consider launching their career in New Hampshire. 

Planning: Based on the feedback, efforts are now underway to develop a "tourism-like" marketing campaign aimed at our future college graduates, on heightening awareness of key attributes of the state and its employers, and on shifting perceptions about the state that may be outdated or incorrect.  This will include a Stay Work Play mega web site aimed at the 20-25 year old population that provides creative content around staying, working, and playing here, social media, and links to the many activities, organizations and resources across the state that is attractive to this audience.  This also includes aligning our efforts with those of the Governor’s Task Force on Young Worker Retention, which is developing a statewide plan to unveil in mid-2009 regarding attracting and retaining more young workers.  The Task Force has endorsed the creation of the web site and is also using much of the research done as part of the 55% Initiative for their work. 

Implementation:  Through the generous support of several Charter Partners, the web site is under development, with a major launch planned for fall 2009.  In addition, the Stay Work Play Incentive Program, an effort designed to encourage companies to hire new graduates from the state and assist them with their student loan debt, was launched in early 2009. Organizations that sign up to offer this incentive will be heavily promoted through the web site and in other promotional materials. 

In this time of economic uncertainty, putting in place a program to encourage more of our new grads to stay, work, and play here is critical. Many older workers are currently delaying their retirements, and when they do retire, they will create significant employment opportunities that will need to be filled with the next generation workforce of the state.  By working to position New Hampshire as a place to stay, work, and play now, we can demonstrate the true quality of life our state offers and be prepared to fully take advantage of future economic opportunities.

For more information on this initiative, please contact Matt Cookson at matt.cookson@usnh.edu