For many, it is stating the obvious to say our area’s declining population is having a negative economic impact on the Keweenaw. The Keweenaw’s population decline has not been a straight line but has extended for over a hundred years. Previously linked to the vagaries of commodity prices such as copper, the line leading down has been steeper in recent years. Since the 1980s, the median age of residents rose from 34 to its current 52 years of age. Associated with our population decline has been a shrinking of economic activity and opportunity. This in turn has pushed out those young residents who would have preferred to stay and raise their children in the Keweenaw but lacked the possibility to earn enough to support a family. The loss of population has a direct correlation to a loss of revenue for local governments, which leaves less money to pay for all necessary services from schools to roads.

Team Peninsula is committed to reversing the linked downward spiral of a declining population and a local economy that grows at a slower rate than other areas of the state and country. Though it is currently in vogue to promote the concept of “prosperity without growth,” there are no models for sustaining a competitive economy while an area’s population is going down. On the other hand, the world is full of examples of countries who battle chronic economic challenges when their populations start declining. Prognosticators in the 1980s expected Japan’s industry to increasingly displace America’s but instead Japan’s economy suffered the “lost decade” of the 1990s as its population decline took hold. Italy is a more recent example of the costs associated with delayed action to arrest population decline as a decade of state incentives there have done little to encourage young Italian couples to have children while their economic security erodes.

Thankfully, the Keweenaw still has time to address our own looming challenges. One way Team Peninsula works to reverse the decline is by promoting our area’s natural beauty and its wealth of possibilities for outdoor recreation. As the immediate threat of COVID-19 recedes and area businesses fully reopen, this summer’s tourism season has seen large numbers of visitors to our area.

Among those tourists are some who are looking for a new home. This last year has seen record increases in the number of people working remotely and for many it has been a win/win as both employees and employers have profited from the experience. As a result, some of this last year’s new remote workers will not return to the office but instead continue to work remotely in new locations untethered from the high cost of living and congestion of their former locations. Research shows that remote workers are on the higher side of the wage scale. Paid by employers from outside our area, spending by remote workers creates new opportunities for local workers in a range of sectors from construction to retail to services. Consequently, communities around the country are competing to attract relocating remote workers from high cost of living areas such as California.

Team Peninsula was an early supporter of Keith Meyers’ “Remote Workforce Keweenaw” initiative. A resident of Chassell, Keith has been partnering with groups across the Keweenaw for the last three plus years to highlight our area’s assets to those considering relocating. Always popular, the Remote Workforce Keweenaw’s Pinterest boards and Facebook page have witnessed a significant spike in interest over the last year. To attract and retain remote workers who contribute to our community, however, the Keweenaw must have dependable internet – another priority of Team Peninsula.

The 2020 U.S. census highlighted the growing size of the challenge we all face sustaining economic growth and vitality in the face of a slowing birth rate. The United States recorded its lowest population growth rate since the Great Depression of the 1930s. If the Keweenaw was falling behind when the rest of the country was expanding, our area will find it increasingly difficult to close the gap as the competition for a declining pool of workers heats up.

One way Team Peninsula seeks to get ahead of the current national trend is to replicate the best practices of areas that are gaining ground. Many of the areas bucking the trend are doing so thanks to immigration. The Keweenaw was its most prosperous when immigration was highest and its population most diverse. Consequently, Team Peninsula has explored a state and national designation for our area as being especially accommodating for immigration. Similar sized areas that have been designated a “Welcoming Community” have witnessed a range of benefits including the creation of new economic opportunities for their residents.

Like everywhere, there is a segment of our population that is suspicious of outsiders and resistant to change. But change is inevitable. And connecting with others is inherent to prosperity in the 21st century. Team Peninsula is working across a range of efforts to help shape that inevitable change to protect our community’s shared values and promote our identity. We are anxious to work with other groups and individuals on these and other efforts to increase the prosperity of all our residents.