Charlie leads UNH Cooperative Extension’s Community and Economic Development program, whose mission is to cultivate civic leaders; foster participation in community decision-making; revitalize downtowns; and help communities leverage resources to grow the local and regional economy. In his capacity as Program Leader, he works with his Extension colleagues to provide civic leaders with training, educational resources, and technical assistance in community engagement, economic development, leadership development, and community-based natural resources stewardship.
As an Extension Associate Professor in Community and Economic Development, he brings his applied experience to the classroom in UNH’s Masters in Development Policy and Practice program, where he teaches a course in land and resource use conflict. His current research is focused on civic agriculture and tracking the long-term impacts of community development efforts.
Before joining UNH Extension, Charlie was an Economic Development Educator for the University of Illinois Extension. He also served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in rural Panama, where he taught conservation principles and sustainable agriculture techniques to school-age youth and subsistence farmers. Charlie has a B.A. in Geography from Dartmouth College, an M.A. in Regional Planning from Western Illinois University, and a Ph.D. in Natural Resources Policy from UNH.
Research Interests
- Agriculture/Food Studies--Developing Countries
- Community Development/Revitalization
- Economic development
- Entrepreneurship Education
- Innovation
- International Affairs
Selected Publications
French, C. (2022). Building Rural Community Resilience Through Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Routledge.
Goetz, S., & Zheng, T. (2020). Problem of Low 2020 Census Participation Will Vary with Sociodemographic Factors and Distance from Metro Areas. Choices, 35(1). doi:10.22004/ag.econ.302488
French, C., & Romero-Perezgrrovas, R. (2020). An international agricultural development organization’s experience measuring program impacts with limited resources. In P. La Chapelle, C. Flora, & I. Gutierrez-Montes (Eds.), Building Community Capacity and Resilience in Latin America. Routledge.
French, C., & Romero, R. (2017). Sustainable Harvest International's work in two rural communities: Program participants' perceptions. In S. Chazdon, M. Emery, D. Hansen, L. Higgins, & R. Sero (Eds.), A Field Guide to Ripple Effects Mapping. University of Minnesotal Libraries Publishing.
French, C., & Morse, G. (2015). Extension stakeholder engagement: Adapting to the Twenty-first century. Journal of Human Sciences and Extension, 3(2).
French, C., Wake, C., Williams, J., Abrams, E., Townson, L., Sabin, M., . . . Tang, J. (2013). The UNH Engaged Scholars Academy: Instilling in Faculty Principles of Effective Partnership. Journal of Public Scholarship in Higher Education, 3(1), 19-42.
French, C., Becker, M., & Lindsay, B. (2011). Havana’s changing urban agriculture land-scape: A shift to the right. Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems and Community Development, 1(2). Retrieved from https://www.google.com/
French, C. A., & Gagne, M. (2010). Ten years of community visioning in New Hampshire: the meaning of “success”. Community Development, 41(2), 223-239. doi:10.1080/15575330903446742
Giraud, K. L., French, C., & Ward, S. (2008). Building Wealth through Ownership: Resident-Owned Manufactured Housing Communities in New Hampshire. Journal of Extension.
Ward, S., French, C., & Cullen, K. (2006). Resident-Owned Manufactured Home Communities in New Hampshire. National Association of Housing Cooperatives.
