At a Cohase Chamber of Commerce Economic Summit held at the River Bend Career and Technical Center last December, representatives from chamber member towns, schools, legislative officers, and others were asked to consider the likelihood of establishing a Community Development Corporation (CDC) for the region.
Representatives from the ADAAPTA consulting group were present and led the meeting as they had done for the earlier December session. ADAAPTA has been involved for many years in real estate analysis, market feasibility, risk management, and project financing to help local governments, community stakeholders, and developers revitalize properties and transform areas into resilient, thriving communities.
This follow-up session from the December meeting was held on Friday, February 27, 2026, in the Darren Sherburne Building at the corner of Main and Barton Streets in downtown Bradford. At this meeting, respondents from a variety of organizations, towns, and locations came together to review the CDC guidelines and discuss the possible benefits an area partnership could offer to local municipal members, non-profit organizations, businesses, schools, developers, and others.
Leading the charge of all this bold activity is Marvin Harrison, a long-time Cohase Chamber of Commerce Board member and a retired member of the senior staff at the Wells River Savings Bank. He spoke at the December meeting that the area towns are all dealing with budget issues, housing shortages, and some with vacant commercial properties.
The question being asked is, "What value could a Cohase Community Development Corporation provide member towns?
At the conclusion of the recent meeting, Harrison shared considerable information on how the CDC could operate in this two-state location, with the Connecticut River running down the middle.

Harrison told The Bridge weekly that the Cohase Chamber needs a robust discussion at the upcoming meeting, as six members of the chamber were present or on Zoom for the follow-up meeting on February 27, 2026.
As far as takeaways from the most recent session, Harrison told me that "Perhaps the best/final takeaway is that we may try to pull together coalitions of our Chamber town leadership with board members and reps of the regional planning commissions and regional economic
not duplicating efforts and can perhaps function as 'Cohase-Committees' under their umbrellas at first to get the most 'bang for our buck' at the beginning."
He said that was the gist of his thinking about developing a CDC, as he envisions it, that can serve the region that spans two states. He added that he is looking forward to additional input and discussions, as "there was A LOT that was put onto the table at the Friday, February 27, 2026, meeting."
He agreed that there was enough interest to keep the idea moving, especially from the three directors of the non-profits who feel there is a real opportunity for collaboration for the region. But like any group forming a new CDC, there has to be, he said, buy-in from the town governments, who will probably have to be approached to see if they and other organizations involved are willing and interested enough to undertake the project.
"I think there is little doubt," Harrison said, "that this could really benefit the region. But we have to have the 'human capital' to shepherd it along."

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