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New Hampshire鈥檚 workforce is shrinking, while the demand for young, skilled workers is increasing.听

By 2032, the 80 most in-demand occupations will see nearly 197,000 job openings, but only 6,100 are expected to be filled by new workforce growth. An aging population and loss of young people to opportunities elsewhere have left rural communities especially vulnerable.听

, an associate professor of recreation management and policy at UNH, is working to better understand the challenge of keeping youth in the Granite State through her research into how young people in rural communities imagine their futures, and what influences whether they see those futures unfolding in New Hampshire.听

Hartman will have the opportunity to dig deeper into these questions with support from a prestigious National Science Foundation Mid-Career Advancement (MCA) grant. The competitive award supports mid-career faculty as they expand their research through new skills and collaborations. 听

鈥淲e鈥檙e at a critical moment where young people are vital to the 蝉迟补迟别鈥檚 future prosperity, but their voices are often left out of policy decisions. This is about ensuring rural youth perspectives are part of the conversation,鈥� Hartman says. 鈥淲e want to help people see that youth development and economic development are two sides of the same coin. By paying attention to the stories young people hear and tell about their futures, we can create communities and opportunities that make staying in New Hampshire and other rural states a real option.鈥澨�

Cindy Hartman is researching听how rural New Hampshire youth encounter and process messages about success, education, and work 鈥� insights that could help communities create opportunities for more young people to build their futures in the state and strengthen the workforce.

With nearly $250,000 in NSF funding, Hartman will spend the next three years working directly with adolescents in three rural New Hampshire communities. The project has two parts: surveys to capture the content of messages youth are hearing about rural success and identity, and a youth-engaged project that allows youth to collect and assess information about the messages they encounter in real time.听

鈥淲e鈥檒l be exploring how rural youth encounter and process messages about success, from families, peers, schools, communities, and even at the statewide level,鈥� Hartman says. 鈥淭he purpose of this grant is to understand, in as close to real time as possible, how those messages shape decision-making, well-being, and ultimately whether young people see a future for themselves in New Hampshire.鈥澨�

The project will be supported by UNH Cooperative Extension鈥檚 Shane Bradt, and will utilize the ArcGIS Survey123 tool, allowing youth participants to collect and submit geotagged responses that are displayed through interactive StoryMaps. Each of the three communities will receive a customized StoryMap to better understand how narratives are influencing local youth, as well as an aggregate version across all participating towns, according to Hartman.听

鈥淭he survey will look at the content of the narratives, while the youth-engaged research focuses on the processes students use to sort through those messages as they encounter them in their communities,鈥� Hartman says. 鈥淭hat allows us to see each community as an ecosystem, identifying 鈥榩ull鈥� features that encourage youth to see it as a good place to live and work, as well as 鈥榩ush鈥� factors that may signal it鈥檚 better to leave to be successful.鈥澨�

Hartman says the study will also examine not just how youth receive messages but also how they themselves modify and adapt the messages in ways matched to their interests and goals.听

This work will build on research published in the , where Hartman and UNH colleagues interviewed New Hampshire stakeholders in education, workforce development and community organizations and found two dominant narratives shaping rural youths鈥� choices: the 鈥渟pread your wings鈥� message, linking success to leaving home for education and careers, and the 鈥渂oomerang鈥� message, which suggests those who leave are expected to return later in life to raise a family. 听

While this messaging offers a roadmap for youth deciding where to live, work, and play, it often excludes rural communities as viable options, creating developmental tensions for those who may wish to stay and posing a risk of ongoing outmigration for the state, according to Hartman.听

As part of the MCA award, Hartman will also collaborate with Kate McLean, a narrative identity researcher and professor of psychology at Western Washington University. While McLean brings expertise in how broad cultural 鈥渕aster narratives鈥� influence identity development, Hartman will contribute the perspective of rural populations. 听

Hartman hopes that her research project will contribute to those efforts, while potentially laying the groundwork for wider research beyond New Hampshire.听

Hartman鈥檚 research interests fit into a larger puzzle as part of the of , a research group with collaborators Jayson Seaman, professor and chair of recreation management and policy, and Andrew Coppens, associate professor of learning sciences and chair of education. The initiative examines how cultural and individual factors shape young people鈥檚 future planning, and how that influences the 蝉迟补迟别鈥檚 ability to retain and recruit youth as part of its broader community, economic, and workforce development efforts.听