Looks like NH has a big problem OT: 94 Percent White, Asks: How Do You Diversify?

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With nonwhites poised to make up a majority of the American population in the next three decades, he said, diversity has become a bottom-line imperative for companies competing for talent, especially for workers who can speak other languages.

As it stands, New Hampshire is 3 percent Latino, 2 percent African-American and 3 percent Asian, according to the census, with some people identifying as more than one race. The nation as a whole is 17 percent Latino, 14 percent African-American and 6 percent Asian. “New Hampshire’s future economy is dependent on our ability to set ourselves up as a welcoming state,” Mr. Arvelo said at the meeting. “We do a great job marketing ourselves around travel and tourism. How do we use those tools to attract talent?”

The project grew out of informal talks over the last few years among a racially diverse coalition of people, including Mrs. Celentano, who say they want to change New Hampshire’s demographics. The effort is so new that it has no name. But it is drawing important players. The gathering took place at the offices of Eversource, the energy company, where 17 percent of the company’s 8,000 employees are not white. “We truly believe that this effort will be hugely beneficial to our business operations,” said Paula Parnagian, the diversity and inclusion manager for Eversource.

For Jerri Anne Boggis, executive director of the Black Heritage Trail of New Hampshire, in Portsmouth, N.H., the participation of major companies is a sign of the urgency of the mission. “It’s not just the social justice groups that are doing this, it’s the businesses,” she said. “We’re talking about the economic engine of our state, and we can’t move forward without them.” Image Deo Mwano, left, and Will Arvelo, New Hampshire’s director of economic development, at the conference. Mr. Arvelo said the meeting appeared to be the first broad-based effort to diversify an entire state.CreditKatherine Taylor for The New York Times New Hampshire’s neighbors, Vermont and Maine, are 95 percent white, making northern New England collectively the whitest region in a nation where white residents make up just over 60 percent of the population, according to the census.

Northern New England does contain pockets that are less monolithic. They are concentrated in the largest communities — Portland, Me.; Burlington, Vt.; and in Manchester, N.H. In Manchester, for example, the white population has dropped to 82 percent, down from 98 percent in 1980. Since then, other ethnicities have been increasing, and as of 2016, Manchester was nearly 8 percent Hispanic, nearly 5 percent black and more than 4 percent Asian. In Lewiston, the second largest city in Maine, Somalis are well-established.

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