Elizabeth Dragon is the City Manager of Franklin, New Hampshire and has worked at the city hall building for nine years. Franklin is an old mill town that is currently struggling but also fighting to succeed.

Back in the 1960’s Franklin was a beautiful town where people loved to gather. However, 24% of the town’s residences now live at or below the poverty line, compared to the 6% average in New Hampshire.

But Elizabeth is trying to make a change for Franklin and make a new story for this town. As City Manager, she prepares the city budget for Franklin, and carries out the ordinances and policies that are enacted by the City Council. She also keeps the Council informed on the needs of the City, and provides reports and recommendations for current and future improvements.

While interviewing Elizabeth, she explained to us that she wants to make the face of downtown Franklin more beautiful in its appearance. She hopes that making a more beautiful downtown environment will entice more visitors driving through Franklin to stop and explore the town.

Listening to her, you can tell through the tone of her voice that she wants to create something new for this city and for the school system. She has been creatively using Franklin’s limited resources to create new opportunities and has helped the town gain hundreds of thousands of grant funding.

Elizabeth Dragon is developing unique ideas by thinking outside of the box and is showing that creative problem solving makes little things go a long way.