In May 2025, Payton Lehnherr was hired as the newly formed New London Area Chamber Foundation’s first‑ever community grant writer, a role in which she raises funds to support the chamber, the city and New London School District.
In her first six months on the job, Lehnherr, who previously served as workforce development coordinator with the Oshkosh Economic Development Corporation, raised $101,000 in grant funding. She’s also the owner of a small business, RISE Volleyball Labs, which trains and supports young athletes in a sport that Lehnherr grew up playing.
You’ve secured a significant amount in grants to support rural economic development; what are some of the projects the grants will support?
There’s five total. We were awarded a grant from the Department of Justice for digital mapping of school buildings for the New London School District to improve security. We were also awarded grants from the Community Foundation for the Fox Valley Region to update our Lincoln Elementary School playground and to support the purchase of an ADA‑compliant pool chair lift at the New London Community Aquatic Center. We had one through Wisconsin Emergency Management Services to update cybersecurity with the city’s IT department. And there was one from AMCOR Cares for our Summer Kickoff Night Market. We want to capitalize on tourism growth and funding our events and attractions that boost our local revenue and our business for downtown development.
What are some of your key areas of focus going forward?
In 2026, we’re working toward building on our community spaces that need to be updated and modernized to improve quality of life. We have some really broad parks and green space, and obviously we have the Wolf River that flows through, so really improving that for the next generation.
Where are some of the other areas of potential you see in New London?
Definitely modernizing and really building a community for the future. Really enhancing and making sure our community spaces, public spaces and community amenities match what we want our future to look like, and what we want to bring in. What I’m really proud of is there’s a huge shift for being compliant with ADA, inclusivity and diversity — so working on those in our public spaces and making sure our community is widening and growing that way as well.
