Repealing the N.H. Vaccine Association would hurt taxpayers and businesses, critics say

Support has emerged on both sides of the aisle for the organization, which buys vaccines at a discount at no cost to the state.

By Kelly Burch, Granite State News Collaborative

The N.H. House of Representatives has voted to do away with the N.H. Vaccine Association, a nonprofit that buys vaccines at a roughly 30% discount at no cost to the state. 

But people who oppose the bill — including doctors, public health experts, and some Republican lawmakers — say that repealing the N.H. Vaccine association would result in higher costs to the state (and thus, taxpayers), inflict a financial burden on doctors’ offices, increase insurance premiums, and ultimately result in fewer vaccinated children in the state. 

“This program has worked extremely well for a long time and hasn’t cost the state any money,” said Rep. David Nagel, R-Gilmanton, who is also a physician. “What’s problematic about this bill [is] from the very beginning, virtually no stakeholders supported it. That should be a red flag for everybody.”

The bill — HB 524 — passed the House on a vote of 189-181 on March 6. This week, it was considered by the House Ways and Means Committee, which evaluates all bills that affect state spending. The committee retained the bill, meaning it will be reconsidered later in the legislative session. 

Rep. Mary Murphy, R-Francestown, initially voted for the bill, but later testified against it during the committee meeting, after conducting hours of research that she said shows the bill would result in higher insurance premiums and thus greater cost to the state. 

“We don’t want to support any bills that are going to add to the tax burden of the public,” she said. “That’s where I’m coming from and why I decided to try and sustain this organization.”

What is the N.H. Vaccine Association?

The N.H. Vaccine Association is a nonprofit that buys vaccines in bulk at a 30% discount from what doctors’ offices would otherwise pay, according to Dr. Julie Kim, president of the New  Hampshire chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

“It has nothing to do with policy or requirements to get a vaccine,” she said. “All it is, is a buying discount.”

The nonprofit was established in 2002 by state law (RSA 126-Q) and had bipartisan support at the time, said Patrick Miller, executive director of the N.H. Vaccine Association. The cost of running the association — including the price of vaccines and a 0.84% administrative cost — is paid entirely by assessments levied on health insurers who operate in the state. 

These funds — roughly $24 million last year — are then given to the state and combined with federal funding that covers vaccines for children who are uninsured or on Medicaid. Using those two funding sources, the state then buys vaccines at a 30% discount and makes them available to all doctors’ offices in the state, Miller said. 

The state has no cost in operating the program. 

“We’re not requiring vaccines, we’re not impacting vaccines policy, and we’re not taking state dollars,” Miller said. 

The impact of repeal

Repealing the vaccine association would impact the economy, taxes and public health, experts say. 

“Vaccines are crucially important to maintaining the health of our population and, honestly, the economic prosperity of our communities,” said Dr. Sally Kraft, population health officer for Dartmouth Health System.

The most immediate impact of a repeal is that vaccines would no longer be available at a discounted rate to providers, and thus patients. (The state would still be able to buy at a discount for children on Medicaid or who are uninsured, Miller said.) 

“There’s no question that the cost of vaccines will go up,” Kraft said. 

That would likely result in higher insurance premiums, which affects individuals who have commercial insurance and businesses that pay for insurance for their employees. The N.H. Insurance Department has estimated there will be an increased cost of $7.19 million annually to the private insurance market if the vaccine association is repealed.

The state would incur greater costs to provide insurance to its employees because of rising premiums, which could impact taxes, experts say. 

"We’ll all be spending more money,” Kraft said. 

In addition, providers would need to buy vaccines on their own, which might mean that some clinics — particularly small clinics in rural areas — have fewer vaccines available, experts say. That’s one of the reasons Murphy, who represents towns of Deering and Francestown, testified against the bill. 

“I’m concerned about the effect it would have on the doctors,” she said. 

Rather than keeping vaccines on hand in their clinics, doctors might order vaccines as needed, meaning that patients may need to return for a second appointment to get a vaccine, creating a barrier to timely vaccination, experts say. In addition, offices would need to shoulder the administrative and financial burden of ordering and billing insurers for vaccines. 

“It took a long time to build up such an efficient framework that runs pretty smoothly and takes a lot of the administrative burden off of providers,” said Tory Jennison, a registered nurse who is executive director of the N.H. Public Health Association.

People in favor of keeping the N.H. Vaccine Association say that payers, providers, patients and taxpayers all benefit. 

“This is a win, win, win, win,” said Nagel. “There are four wins in this and no losses.”

What’s the reason for the bill?

Rep. Michael Granger, R-Milton Mills,, and Rep. Mike Belcher, R-Wakefield, two of the bill’s seven Republican sponsors, did not return requests for comment about the impetus behind the bill. 

In a March 7 press release, Rep. Jim Kofalt, R-Wilton, senior adviser to House Speaker Sherman Packard, said, “Contrary to the fearmongering we have heard from the bill’s opponents, it will have zero effect on the cost and availability of vaccines. What it will do is make government more accountable to New Hampshire taxpayers, who are currently footing the bill for a costly program run by a quasi-governmental organization.” 

Experts who spoke with the Granite State News Collaborative said that’s a fundamental misunderstanding of the N.H. Vaccine Association. 

“There's a misconception that this is costing the state money, and it’s not,” Miller said. 

Some lawmakers have raised concerns about transparency, but Miller said the vaccine association has addressed those in recent testimony and has always been entirely transparent. 

“The website has every document that we’ve ever created,” he said. 

Nagel, one of the Republican lawmakers who voted against the bill, said any concerns he had about transparency were addressed in a different bill, which he supported. 

“The people who have opposed [the vaccine association] have never given a good argument to what the problem is,” he said. 

Nagel was recently removed from his post on the House Health, Human Services and Elderly Affairs Committee in part, he says, because of his stance on vaccines and other health-related issues. He said he needs to prioritize his knowledge as a physician over party lines.

“People taking on legislation … that have virtually no expertise in this area, that aren’t willing to listen to the people who have the expertise – that’s a problem,” he said. “As a physician, I’m really struck with how often the Legislature wants to tell me how to do my job. And what’s really concerning to me, increasingly, is they’re not willing to listen to me explain to them … what the unintended consequences [of legislation] will be.”

Health care workers, including Kim, Nagel, Kraft and Jennison, said those unintended consequences of removing the vaccine association could include higher health care costs and more Granite Staters with preventable disease. The full economic consequences could be seen a decade or more down the road, as hospital systems in the state face increased costs of caring for unvaccinated individuals, Jennison said. 

That’s why there’s such strong bipartisan support for the N.H. Vaccine Association among people who understand its function, they say. 

“This vaccine association highlights the best parts of New Hampshire,” Kraft said. “It’s innovative. It puts that Yankee ingenuity into effect, and it’s incredibly effective.”

These articles are being shared by partners in the Granite State News Collaborative. For more information, visitcollaborativenh.org.

Judicial branch takes big step toward addressing system’s response to mental illness

Three-year process of mapping potential changes nears an end, but work still remains

By Aimee Rothman, Granite State News Collaborative

Across the Granite State, jails and prisons have become overcrowded and overstaffed, in part due to the rising rate of incarceration, intensified by recidivism that the state has experienced over the last several decades. 

Since 2020, New Hampshire’s jail population has grown 23%, while the state prison population has grown 7%. But, measured since the 1970s and 1980s, the jail population has grown 448% and the prison population in New Hampshire has grown 432%. 

To address that growth in the jail and prison populations — and since a substantial number of those incarcerated are living with a mental illness or substance abuse issues — the N.H. Judicial Branch is looking at how to improve both its and the community’s response to people with mental illness. (A 2008 National Alliance on Mental Illness-NH report found that 40% of incarcerated males and 70% of incarcerated females were living with a mental illness.)

For the past three years, a mental health team formed by the judicial system has been holding workshops county by county using the System Intercept Model, or SIM, to track each interaction or intersection between people experiencing mental illness or substance abuse and the judicial system. The goal is to use the data to bring about community-based changes in the system.

The idea of community-based change in the treatment of people struggling with behavioral and mental health problems is not a new one. 

In 1963, President John F. Kennedy signed his final piece of legislation, the Community Mental Health Act, a monumental law that spearheaded a change in the country’s response to behavioral and mental health issues. With it, the United States made a shift toward community-based care rather than the institutionalization of people struggling with mental health and behavioral health issues. 

Elaine Michaud of the Manchester Health Department helps facilitate a SIM workshop at Elliot Hospital on Jan. 17, 2024. (Courtesy N.H. Judicial Branch)

The new legislation was paired with the establishment of community mental health centers across the nation.

Today, over 2,500 of these centers exist in the United States, including 10 in New Hampshire. Even so, the country and the state still report a high rate of institutionalization of people struggling with these issues. But they are not institutionalized at state-sanctioned asylums anymore; instead, they are often placed in jail and prison cells. 

The National Alliance of Mental Illness reports that nearly two in five people who are placed in jail have reported a history of mental illness. Nationally, NAMI reports that 37% of incarcerated people in federal prisons report a history of mental illness, and the number is about 44% in local jails. 

As more and more incarcerated people are struggling with mental health and behavioral health issues, NAMI has found that jails and prisons have effectively become “de facto mental health facilities.”

That understanding has become widespread. A 2022 poll for the American Psychiatric Association found that only 20% of people being held in U.S. prisons and jails were getting the mental health care they need. Rebecca W. Brendel, president of the psychiatric association, said at the time that “Americans are recognizing the longstanding reality that our jails and prisons have become the largest mental health provider in the country and that people in the criminal justice system need treatment and support.”

Addressing institutionalization

While it has been over 60 years since Kennedy signed the Community Health Act, there is still work to be done, according to Susan Stearns, executive director of NAMI-NH.  “The vision for community-based services was not realized and the investment in community-based care was not continued,” she said.

“The act was intended to bring people out of institutions,” she said, with the goal of “providing those community-based services locally so they could live a full life within their community without needing to be institutionalized.” But, she said, the number of people with mental health issues being placed in jails or prisons is “very similar to the number of folks being institutionalized back then.”

The Sequential Intercept Model is made up of six intercepts where people with mental health or substance abuse issues may come into contact with the judicial system. (Courtesy N.H. Judicial Branch)

“We do indeed know that we have a significant number of people who are in our corrections facilities who have mental health and substance disorders,” Stearns said. And, after their release, “it can be very challenging to access treatment services, let alone in a very quick turnaround,” within their communities. 

So, too often, “their symptoms or their treatment would lapse, whether it be mental health treatment or substance abuse treatment, and they would once again become involved in the justice system,” Stearns said.

In 2022, N.H. Supreme Court Chief Justice Gordon J. MacDonald and Dianne Martin, director of the Administrative Office of the Courts, assembled a multidisciplinary mental health team focused on tracking the intersection of mental health and the judicial system. 

That team established three goals: to hold a statewide mental health summit, to survey judicial branch employees about the treatment of people with mental health or substance abuse issues that may come into the judicial system, and to conduct SIM mapping workshops of each of the state’s 10 counties. 

That SIM mapping, according to the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, “details how individuals with mental and substance use disorders come into contact with and move through the criminal justice system.” It also “helps communities identify resources and gaps in services at each intercept and develop local strategic action plans.”

The idea, the agency said, is to bring together leaders, agencies and systems “to work together to identify strategies to divert people with mental and substance use disorders away from the justice system into treatment.”

The SIM model notes six points, or intercepts, at which people with mental health or substance abuse issues may come into contact with the judicial system:

• Community services, such as crisis helplines.

• Law enforcement.

• Initial detention and/or initial court hearings.

• Jail and/or courts, including specialty courts such as mental health courts.

• Reentry after release from jail.

• Community corrections, such as parole or probation. E

While the 1963 Community Health Act aimed to deinstitutionalize people with behavioral and mental health issues, says Susan Stearns, executive director of NAMI-NH, the number of people with mental health issues who are being placed in jails or prisons is “very similar to the number of folks being institutionalized back then.” (Courtesy photo)

Essentially, the model follows each step of the judicial system, looking at how changes could be made at each step to better serve people with mental health or substance abuse issues.

By studying each intercept, the state can identify “gaps” in the judicial system, where there is room to add new resources and improve existing ones. By improving interactions at each intersection, the state hopes to reduce the number of people incarcerated. 

SIM workshops

The state held its first SIM workshop in Merrimack County in April 2023, with a forum led by Chief Justice MacDonald and Martin.

At the gathering, Martin spoke to the importance of the initiative, highlighting the need for mental health awareness and resources. 

“Every one of us is touched in some way by mental illness — in a friend, a family member, a colleague, or ourselves,” she said. “Those working in the court system are touched by individuals experiencing mental illness, people in crisis, and people experiencing trauma, who come into our courts every day. We all recognize we need to do better for them. But we cannot do it alone. This change requires education, training, access to treatment and, most importantly, collaboration across the state.”

Since then, SIM workshops have been held in all 10 of the state’s counties, said Rachael Azotea-Bolstridge, mental health and wellness coordinator of the judicial branch. After each workshop, Azotea-Bolstridge publishes a report highlighting the findings. The results for two counties — Sullivan and Rockingham counties — have not yet been published, but Azotea-Bolstridge expects that to happen by April.

The reports, such as the one from Belknap County, highlight gaps and potential areas of growth in the community, and include a list of resources available in the community. For instance, the Belknap County report noted that the county has no mental health court, which was identified as a “gap.” The county also identified a need for transitional housing for people being released from jail, and additional resources for them.

At each workshop, participants highlighted  “achievable goals which could happen in the near future” and formed breakout groups that focused on ways to achieve that goal, Azotea-Bolstridge said. The most common goal recognized among all of the breakout groups was addressing a shortage of behavioral workers.

The workshops launched a continuing process, as each breakout group worked toward achieving its goals. Azotea-Bolstridge holds a three-month check-in session with the entire group so each focus group can report on its progress and the whole group can collaborate on other ideas. 

Supreme Court Chief Justice Gordon MacDonald chairs the N.H. Judicial Branch’s mental health team. (Courtesy photo)

Azotea-Bolstridge continues to host the check-ins, which she sees as an “opportunity for people to refocus and report out. She plans to keep them going “until they are no longer needed.” 

So far, only one county, Cheshire County, has concluded its check-in sessions.

Bringing the groups back together

Azotea-Bolstridge plans to host a virtual session in April, at which each county can share details of its work, trade ideas with other counties, and keep each other on track with their overall goals. 

A big question from a lot of people attending the workshops has been:”How are other towns doing it?” she said. 

If the April session goes well, “we’ll probably do it for the other large commonly shared issues,” Azotea-Bolstridge said.

As preliminary data from the workshops comes in, however, one thing is clear: The greater community must be involved to bring about changes in the judicial system. 

“I think the biggest impact [of the SIM workshops] is going to be legislative change, whether that’s on the state level or more of the community level,” Azotea-Bolstridge said.

In the end, the breakout groups are working to create solutions tailored to each county. “Every community comes up with different ways to resolve problems in their community,” Azotea-Bolstridge said. 

Looking to the future of the judicial system in New Hampshire, Stearns said the road ahead is still long. “We have laid some really good foundations with the SIM mapping,” she said, “but where do we take that work?”

These articles are being shared by partners in the Granite State News Collaborative. For more information, visitcollaborativenh.org.

(column) Tech Billionaire vs. The Hungry: Why Elon Musk’s Aid Cuts Matter to NH and Beyond

By Shamecca Brown, Columnist, Granite State News Collaborative

I was stunned. My 15-year-old daughter, a 10th grader, came home from school and said, “Ma, the kids in my high school are not feelin’ Elon Musk.” 

That’s not something you hear every day. Teenagers usually talk about music, sports or social media trends, not billionaires and foreign aid. But here in New Hampshire, even young people are paying attention to the controversy surrounding Elon’s latest move: slashing U.S. foreign aid programs, leaving millions of people, especially in Africa, without food and medical assistance.

And that wasn’t the only thing on her mind. My daughter is an ally for the LGBTQ+ community in her school, and she was livid when she found out Elon has basically disowned his transgender daughter, Vivian, who is 20. “How do you turn your back on your own kid?” she asked me. “And now he’s cutting off food to people who need it? That’s wild.”

People in New Hampshire might not think this affects them, but the truth is, it does. We live in a state where community matters, where we take care of our neighbors. If one of us were struggling, we’d show up. So why is it okay for the richest man in the world to decide that millions of people, mostly Black and brown, don’t deserve the same kind of help?

It makes me sad, and honestly, it worries me at the same time. Money, power, respect–what is this really about? Is this what we’ve come to? Cutting people off when they’re in desperate need? This isn’t business; it’s corruption, plain and simple.

Now let’s talk about the real-world consequences of Elon's decision. Because while Elon can sit comfortably in his mansions, those who rely on U.S. foreign aid can’t escape the impact of his cuts. 

Closer to home, the recent DOGE cuts are affecting my work supporting domestic violence victims. My organization relies heavily on federal grants. These funding reductions directly impact our capacity to provide quality services that benefit our communities of Manchester. Without this funding, it’s becoming harder for us, and other organizations, to provide essential services like housing assistance, food security and support for families in crisis. 

Millions of lives are at risk because of these actions. For countries in Africa, where hunger and disease are already rampant, USAID has been a lifeline. Programs that provide food, medicine and educational support are now being slashed. In countries like Liberia, Congo and Somalia, these cuts are more than just an inconvenience, they are a death sentence for countless people who have no other means of survival, according to reporting from The New York Times. 

In New Hampshire, people might not die, but they could go hungry. It’s hard for me to even imagine a life without food. I’ve never had to wake up wondering where my next meal would come from. But I see it every day with my clients, people and families struggling to survive. 

We are all working to counter the challenges that Elon Musk’s cuts are creating. It's hitting our community hard, leaving vulnerable families with fewer resources, putting more pressure on local nonprofits, and making it even tougher for people to get the help they need. 

What if Elon Musk really does have that much power? What happens when someone like him can make decisions that affect millions of lives, and there’s no one to stop him? If he can pull the plug on food for entire countries, what’s next for us? How long before decisions like these start impacting us?

I refuse to live in a world where the rich get richer, and the rest of us are left to fend for ourselves. 

I want to talk to my New Hampshire people, not just as someone working in this field, but as a person who sees the struggle every day. I see the families who don’t know where their next meal is coming from. I see parents trying to hold it together while worrying about rent, childcare and basic needs. I see the organizations, just like mine, stretched to the limit, trying to do more with less. And now, with these cuts, things are only getting harder.

This isn’t just a problem for a few, it’s a problem for all of us. When services disappear, when safety nets break, when funding is stripped away, it creates a ripple effect. Families suffer, children go without and communities weaken. 

If we don’t step up, who will? I’m asking: what can we do together? How can we make sure our neighbors aren’t left behind? We can speak up, demand better from our leaders, and push for funding that keeps people afloat. We can support the nonprofits doing this work by donating, volunteering or simply spreading awareness. 

We can show up for each other, because at the end of the day, that’s what community is about.This affects all of us. And together, we can do something about it.

Shamecca Brown,  is a New Hampshire-based columnist who is family-oriented and passionate about serving underserved communities.

These articles are being shared by partners in the Granite State News Collaborative. For more information, visitcollaborativenh.org.

As measles resurfaces, how concerned should New Hampshire be?

The World Health Organization once declared measles eradicated in the United States, but lately the disease has made a resurgence. The latest outbreak is in West Texas and New Mexico — so far, there are over 300 reported cases and two deaths, though experts fear many other cases haven’t been reported. What’s going on? Should we be worried in New Hampshire? On this episode of “The State We’re In,” Melanie Plenda discusses talks with Dr. Gabriela Andujar Vazquez, hospital epidemiologist at Dartmouth Health’s Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center.

By Rosemary Ford and Caitlin Agnew

This article has been edited for length and clarity.

Melanie Plenda:

Doctor, why are we seeing a resurgence in measles cases?

Dr. Gabriela Andujar Vazquez:

Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, we had started seeing, nationally, a decrease in our vaccination rates, and mainly childhood vaccinations. During the pandemic, that worsened and the rates nationally started decreasing below the 95% threshold where we like to see vaccination rates to be in order to create herd immunity so the community is protected. What we're seeing with measles — which is among one of the vaccine-preventable diseases — is that it mainly is being driven by those declining rates of vaccination.

Melanie Plenda:

What does measles look like? What are the symptoms, and when should you seek medical help?

Dr. Gabriela Andujar Vazquez:

Measles starts with a high, high fever. The struggle is that this particular virus mimics, or is similar to, other childhood illnesses — a fever and rash. Parents experience that a lot. But, it will start with a very high fever, usually up to 105 Fahrenheit, and then four to five days after, you can break into a rash. Usually it starts in the face, and then it spreads through the whole body. People get a cough, runny nose and the eyes become a little bit red.

Call your pediatrician when they're having that high fever because there are severe complications. There are health implications, especially for children, when they get measles.

Melanie Plenda:

Why is what’s happening in Texas and New Mexico concerning? 

Dr. Gabriela Andujar Vazquez:

The outbreak is not controlled yet. We have pockets right in the United States where the rates of vaccination may be lower than the national levels. In West Texas, the particular community where the outbreak started, vaccination rates for children were in the low 80s. The outbreak that's happening in New Mexico is a consequence of the West Texas outbreak. There was a pocket of a community there that was also vulnerable, because their vaccination rates were low. 

Melanie Plenda:

What’s the likelihood of this outbreak or others spreading? 

Dr. Gabriela Andujar Vazquez:

We know that within New Hampshire and Vermont, there are areas where vaccination rates overall are lower than what we want them to be to protect the community. Every state, I think, has been struggling with this. I think in New Hampshire, we are likely to see cases in the future. Hopefully, those come in a cluster, and we can contain them quickly and it doesn’t spread, but we are definitely vulnerable for identifying or getting outbreaks here as well.

Melanie Plenda:

What would happen if the measles spread to New Hampshire? Is the state prepared?

Dr. Gabriela Andujar Vazquez:

In 2024, there was a measles case identified in the summer, and that was actually pretty well contained, with the collaboration between Dartmouth Health and the Department Health and Human Services in New Hampshire. I think every state, including New Hampshire, is prepared to contain an outbreak. 

I would say that once we identify those cases, the key thing for the community to know is if you're sick and you think you may have measles is to wear a mask. That helps contain the spread. It produces source control, so we don't infect others while we're sick, and figuring out if we actually have measles.

Vaccination is the other key — making sure that we're up to date on that too, and if we don’t know to ask questions to your doctors. “Am I really protected? Should I be getting another dose of a vaccine?” So I think those conversations need to happen amongst us to protect our community and those most vulnerable — people that will not be able to get vaccinated.

Melanie Plenda:

Tell us about New Hampshire’s vaccination rates for measles. Is it high enough? 

Dr. Gabriela Andujar Vazquez:

Unfortunately, it’s not. Based on data from the 2023-24 school year . across all vaccines that are recommended for children going into kindergarten we're around 89% — so we're 5% below of what we would ideally want. That's across the state of New Hampshire. There's probably areas where that may vary, where maybe some vaccination rates are higher and some are lower, and that may vary also based on vaccine.

Melanie Plenda:

How safe is the vaccine? Should any certain area of the population be more concerned or be taking more steps for safety?

Dr. Gabriela Andujar Vazquez:

The vaccine was introduced in 1963 — the vaccine that we actually give now was revamped in 1972. Individuals who were born before 1957 were in a state where they were either probably had measles and are thought to be immune because of natural illness because there were multiple measles outbreaks constantly. Usually, if you're born before that date, you should be good — you should be protected.

When you're born between 1963 and 1967, there was a measles vaccine, but that vaccine was later found to not be as effective as the one that we give now.because it was a killed virus vaccine, not like the live attenuated vaccine of today, which is a little bit more effective in producing immunity.  So individuals born between 1963 and 1967 are recommended to get at least one dose of the current vaccine.

After that, if you’ve got your two doses of your childhood vaccination of MMR, you should be protected. There are obviously different conversations that can happen based on your individual risk — medical conditions or things that change over time, and I would encourage those patients to talk to their doctor about. But overall, we can confidently say that if you got your two doses, you're protected for life.

Melanie Plenda:

Does the vaccination prevent you from getting the virus?

Dr. Gabriela Andujar Vazquez:

Yes, absolutely. One  dose is 93% effective, and a second dose is 97%. What that means is that your individual risk of contracting measles is reduced by 97% if you get exposed to measles.

Melanie Plenda:

What about the cost of the measles vaccine? 

Dr. Gabriela Andujar Vazquez:

In the United States, each state has a vaccination program. In New Hampshire, we have a vaccination program basically called New Hampshire Vaccine Group. What that group does is purchase, basically, vaccines that are recommended for children, and they provide the vaccine to all children at no cost, regardless of whether they have insurance or not, whether they are able to pay or not. So for children, it is completely free, right off the bat, in basically all of the states in the United States. For adults, it is covered, but usually through insurance.

Melanie Plenda:

Are there other outbreaks or causes of concern that you are watching right now? 

Dr. Gabriela Andujar Vazquez:

Right now, measles has been taking up a lot of the past couple of weeks, because it's been ongoing, and we're worried that it's still probably a lot of work to be done. There's also been a lot of talk around avian flu and the concerns around how much or how little that may affect human transmission. So far, a lot of the cases across the country have been related to occupation — individuals who work with poultry or cattle and get exposed to a sick animal.

But we have had avian influenza in our flocks for many years. It's not like it's new, but I think we're seeing that it's mutating in a way that it's affecting maybe more of the animals than it used to. 

Another thing that comes and goes every five years is norovirus — a virus that causes gastrointestinal problems, like vomiting and diarrhea. It actually starts around spring to pick up, and it seems like it's going to be something that we need to watch for.

Melanie Plenda:

What’s your advice for those who are concerned about this or other outbreaks?

Dr. Gabriela Andujar Vazquez:

It’s basically just asking questions – keeping ourselves informed and having good resources for reliable information. We want to make sure that people are well informed, but with evidence and not necessarily things that may not have not been proven and alarm people unnecessarily. Having conversations personally with your healthcare provider should be a trusted source, then just talking about concerns and sort of fielding those questions to the appropriate experts.

Melanie Plenda:

Dr. Gabriela Andujar Vazquez, hospital epidemiologist at Dartmouth Health’s Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, thank you for joining us today.

“The State We’re In” is a weekly digital public affairs show produced by NH PBS and The Marlin Fitzwater Center for Communication at Franklin Pierce University. It is shared with partners in the Granite State News Collaborative, of which both organizations are members.

These articles are being shared by partners in the Granite State News Collaborative. For more information, visit collaborativenh.org.

The language of music, the power of dance

By Shamecca Brown, Columnist, Granite State News Collaborative

My grandmother used to call me a crybaby, but she always added, “Put some music on, and she’ll dance.” And she was right. 

Growing up in Queens, New York, music and dance were everywhere in my world. I’d see people battling on the streets, dancing in the parks, or performing for money in train stations. I was drawn to movement like a magnet. I danced every chance I got, and talent shows became my stage throughout school.

But life has a way of shifting your stage. Fast forward, and here I am, living in Concord, a world apart from the vibrant streets of Queens. I was 28 years old when I moved here with my 12 year old daughter and 5 year old son in 2005. I wanted to get out of New York for a bit, but the transition wasn’t easy. New Hampshire lacked the diversity I grew up with. 

And yet, I’ve found that dance–the same community building tool from my childhood–works just as well in Concord as it does in Queens.

I got a job as a paraprofessional at the local middle school, and one day I noticed something that didn’t sit well with me. The students sat at lunch in groups divided by race, culture and cliques. It reminded me of a silent dance, but not the kind I was used to. This one lacked rhythm, connection and harmony.

I couldn’t let that continue. I wrote a proposal to the principal to create a hip-hop dance program. My vision was simple but powerful: use dance as a bridge to help students learn about each other’s cultures, gain confidence and express themselves. To my excitement, the principal granted my request, and Vibes of Style was born in 2007. 

The kids used to joke, “You get famous in the basement!” And they weren’t wrong: I taught dance out of my basement, not some fancy studio. But I always told them, “It’s not the studio that teaches you, it’s the teacher and the passion.” That’s what matters most.

Over the years, my unfinished basement became a melting pot of cultures and stories. The floor was concrete and there was no ceiling, just beams with light fixtures. There was no heat, but the kids warmed it up well once they started dancing. 

After a few fundraisers, I covered the floors with rubber gym tiles, mounted mirrors all around the walls, and covered the beams with blues sheets of fabric. I added party lights and pictures of dancers cut out from magazines as a collage. 

I had African kids, Nepali kids, white kids, kids with disabilities, kids with behavioral disorders, every kind of kid you could imagine. It didn’t matter where they came from or what they looked like. All that mattered was that we spoke the same language, and that language was dance.

I’ve always said, “Dance has no color.” And I live by that. There’s nothing like watching a child walk in unsure of themselves, not knowing the music or the moves, then leaving transformed, confident and connected. Dance has a way of breaking down barriers and building bridges.

The parents of my students trusted me and I was finally feeling like I belonged. I made it a point to show the students my world, my real life, teaching them about things happening in the world around them. I’m not afraid to put out dances that truly mean something, dances rooted in Black history or powerful messages inspired by meaningful words. Dance is more than entertainment; it’s a platform to tell stories and spark change. 

I remember each and every child that ever danced with me, even if it was just to try it out, more than 500 of them between 2007 and 2019. I created a space where every kid felt seen, heard and celebrated. Because at the end of the day, dance isn’t just movement, it’s life, culture and expression. 

My dancers and I performed for assisted living homes, businesses, birthday parties and weddings. We weren’t just performing; we were representing. From local parades to features on NH radio stations, we showed that dance had no boundaries. We mixed folk dances, Black history routines, hip hop, ballet and even majorette styles. It wasn’t just about steps, it was about storytelling, connection and celebrating who we are.

Together, we built a language of confidence, courage and self-expression. We moved together, learning life lessons, building respect, and finding joy in the rhythm of life.

And the best part? Seeing these kids light up when they realized what they were capable of. Dance teaches us that the impossible is possible, and that’s a lesson in itself.

I’ll keep dancing, teaching and changing lives, one step at a time.

Shamecca Brown,  is a New Hampshire-based columnist who is family-oriented and passionate about serving underserved communities.

Shamecca Brown, a proud New Yorker, is family-oriented and passionate about serving underserved communities.

These articles are being shared by partners in the Granite State News Collaborative. For more information, visit collaborativenh.org.

In a nation built by Immigrants, why is it so hard to be one?

Immigration was a hot-button issue in the last national election, and since President Donald Trump took office, it’s become even more prominent. Headlines regularly discuss raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, rounding up undocumented immigrants. Tens of thousands have been arrested in the last few weeks and await deportation. Meanwhile, sanctuary cities have come under attack and face the threat of the federal government withholding promised funding. What does this all mean for New Hampshire residents? Here to discuss that is Eva Castillo, director of the N.H. Alliance for Immigrants and Refugees, or Welcoming New Hampshire. 

By Rosemary Ford and Caitlin Agnew

This article has been edited for length and clarity.

Melanie Plenda:

Eva, please tell us about your work with immigrants and refugees. How long has it been going on, and how did you get involved? 

Eva Castillo: 

I got involved in the late 70s, when I first moved to the U.S. as a student, and then I realized the different treatment that we got from just regular people. I wasn't even planning on immigrating here, but this is all I've ever done since the ‘70s, and I became a resident in the ‘80s.

I worked at the now defunct Latin American Center in the ‘80s, and I noticed that concentrating on services is not going to make any difference, like putting a Band-Aid on a gangrene-infected wound. So I started doing advocacy and policy, and in 2007 I was hired by the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition. They created this program, the New Hampshire Alliance for Immigrants and Refugees, because there were nobody — and still, to this day, there's nobody — whose only job is to advocate for immigrants. We have social justice organizations, and they can pick and choose immigration as one of their issues, but I only do immigration.

Melanie Plenda:

What is the work you do at the New Hampshire Alliance for Immigrants and Refugees? 

Eva Castillo:

Right now, we're working on legislation, but we build community and we build positive relationships that make things easier for immigrants and refugees to integrate into society. We do leadership training with community organizing, tons of advocacy and just building relationships.

Melanie Plenda:

When we talk about immigrants, we often use terms like “documented” and “undocumented.’ For our audience, can you explain what those terms mean? 

Eva Castillo:

Documented immigrants are people that are here legally. They can be students, they can be tourists, they can be people with work visas. They can be naturalized citizens or legal permanent residents. Undocumented people are those people that just came through the borders without inspection, or a very common occurrence is the people that came here on some type of visa and overstayed. It’s very common for students, for example, to overstay their visas, and also for tourists.

Melanie Plenda:

During the last presidential election, immigration was a hot topic. How did that impact the local community? 

Eva Castillo:

Well, it really became frustrating because both parties use immigration as a punching bag to divert attention from the stuff that really matters to the regular public, even here locally.

I don't see why our local candidates have to run on anti-immigrant platforms. I have been asking people, “Is immigration such a problem for you?” And everybody says they care about housing and about jobs or they want a place that provides drug rehab. Immigration is not on their radar, so we are diverting the attention from the things that really matter to your average New Hampshire person and spending money that should go to more positive things.

The fact that they refer to us as criminals and drug dealers — that doesn’t do a service to anybody, because most of the people that are here are just regular, good people that are here just trying to give their families a better chance, and they're contributing as members of our society. 

It is a fact that undocumented immigrants commit way less crimes than anybody. When you hear every time that an immigrant commits a crime or does something wrong, then it gets blown up in the newspapers, in the media. But I never heard anybody saying a French Canadian or an Irishman did this, and that gives a bad impression to the rest of the residents of the state, and that puts targets on our backs because we're all judged by the very few people that are, that are doing the wrong thing.

Melanie Plenda:

What are some of the concerns out there, when the rhetoric heats up like this?

Eva Castillo:

That someday they are going to get violence with us. In fact, I was just left a nasty message on my phone the other day by an anonymous caller. At least I have the guts and the integrity to put my name behind my words. Some just call me names and tell me, “I hope you get deported, I hope you die.” This is not the first time, and it won't be the last time, but it is just a matter of time before somebody really takes it upon themselves to hurt one of us, because we do not walk around with our passport tattooed on our forehead. 

So, if you sound like me, or if you look like the stereotype of the immigrant — which is, by the way, not a white person — then you're in danger. I have calls from parents of U.S. citizens that are brown teenagers, and they say, how can my kid prove that he's a citizen? How do I protect my child? It is so painful, and at the same time it is upsetting that a mother has to worry about proving and doing something to prove that their kids have the right to live in this country when they've been born here.

Melanie Plenda:

I know it’s hard to generalize, but since President Trump took office, what’s been going on in the local immigrant and refugee community? How are they feeling? How do they feel treated?

Eva Castillo:

Again, we have seen an uptick in just nastiness towards us, and people are afraid. They are not going to the places that they used to go to. They try not to go out shopping too much. Some parents don't even want to send their children to school. The small businesses are being affected also, because their clients, their customers, don't show up.

I was talking to one of my friends who has a bodega. She said that at the end of the day, I have to throw half the food away because nobody no one comes. Another friend of mine has a barber shop, and she says that she is going to have to close her barber shop that she had for 20 years because people don't come. 

So we're affecting people that are here legally, that are U.S. citizens. We're affecting everybody. It's not only the people that live in fear. And then the kids — they don't deserve to live in fear. They don't deserve to have this stress on them. It's affecting their mental health and their well being too.

Melanie Plenda:

You mentioned the fear, what are people doing to cope?

Eva Castillo:

I go around, and I teach people their rights. I talk to them and tell them not to fear and to trust that somehow things are going to get better someday. But even myself, I spent many nights just going to bed crying because there's not much I can do. I feel totally powerless.

These are people that I have known for 20 years or more, that I know are good people. I'm not around protecting criminals. This is my community too, so I don't want criminals regardless of where they come from. I don't want them living in my community. Every time they pick somebody that's a good person that I know that is just trying to do the right thing, and there's just no way for them to make it right in the way this dysfunctional system works, it really hurts me. So I cannot imagine if I am like this, how hard it is for those people that are families of mixed status. We have tons of mixed-status families living under one roof, so everybody's affected.

Melanie Plenda:

What is the alliance doing about all this? 

Eva Castillo:

Well, I just give my support to people when they call me. Every weekend I go someplace, or every night I go someplace to give a “Know Your Rights” program. We have groups of people trying to provide support to the families that are left behind. There's another group of people that’s trying to find ICE activity, to verify that it is there instead of just spreading false news. That just increases the paranoia and the fear. We have groups of people just trying to talk to legislators locally to see if we can at least mitigate some of the harm or get people to understand that this is not the way. We really need to pass some type of reform that cleans up the old system and starts from scratch to make things easier. And we need to do something about the millions of people that are already here.

Melanie Plenda:

What other ideas do you have for solving this issue?

Eva Castillo:

We need our congresspeople to really grow some spine and do the right thing and stop using us — and I'm talking about both parties. Stop playing ping pong with the lives of immigrants, with the lives of people, and just revamp and pass some type of law that really solves this issue once and for all.

I have spent at least 25 years, if not more, begging our legislators on both sides. Please do something. We need to restate the fact that we're not talking about numbers here. We're talking about people, and we have really defaced immigrants. We have really dehumanized them to the point that people don't even have any compassion, or they don't feel anything because it's all about numbers. We're talking about families — mothers, children, fathers, elderly. Let's put humanity back in immigration.

Melanie Plenda:

Thank you so much for sharing these insights. Eva Castillo, director of the New Hampshire Alliance for Immigrants and Refugees, thank you for joining us today.

“The State We’re In” is a weekly digital public affairs show produced by NH PBS and The Marlin Fitzwater Center for Communication at Franklin Pierce University. It is shared with partners in the Granite State News Collaborative, of which both organizations are members. These articles are being shared by partners in the Granite State News Collaborative. For more information, visit collaborativenh.org.

N.H. House favors statewide school spending cap, though voters reject caps locally

The bill, passed Thursday, would limit how much any district can increase spending, based on the current budget. Critics say it would lock in inequities

By Kelly Burch, Granite State News Collaborative

The N.H. House of Representatives voted Thursday (March 13) to pass a bill that would impose statewide school spending caps, though voters in at least eight districts across the state have rejected spending caps at the local level. 

“At its heart, this is a state mandate that would take away the ability of a local community to control how they wanted to make their own spending decision on their school districts,” said Zack Sheehan, executive director of the N.H. School Funding Fairness Project, a grassroots organization focused on equity in school funding and taxes. 

The bill, HB 675, which passed with a 190-185 vote, would limit a school district’s ability to increase its budget. While the calculations are complex, they essentially amount to about a maximum increase of about 2.5 percent annually, Sheehan said. To override that limitation, districts would need two-thirds approval from voters. 

The bill now moves on to the House Finance Committee.

The legislation is “probably one of the biggest and most consequential bills I’ve seen in a long time,” said Christina Pretorius, policy director at Reaching Higher NH, a nonpartisan nonprofit focused on education in the Granite State. In part, that’s because it seems to go against the will of voters, she said.

A new state law that took effect in October allows local residents to propose a budget cap for their school districts. Residents in at least nine districts — ConVal, Epping, Epsom, Hollis Brookline, Kearsarge, Salem, Weare and Haverhill — have done that. Eight districts have voted on the caps, and all rejected them, N.H. Public Radio reports. (Haverhill will vote March 15.)

After Kearsarge voters rejected a budget cap, House Majority Leader Jason Osborne, R-Rockingham, told the New Hampshire Journal, “Perhaps, if [local voters] are unwilling to cap themselves, the state will step in and cap local taxes for them.” Osborne is one of two sponsors of HB 675. 

That sentiment is concerning to Pretorius. “They can’t pass these arbitrary caps at the local level, so they’re mandating it at the state level,” she said.

The concern about property tax increases is widespread and tied to school funding, since local taxes cover about 70 percent of the school budgets in New Hampshire districts. Yet voters have repeatedly rejected spending caps, while calling on the state government to better fund education, Pretorius said. 

“They’ve been saying, we don’t want your budget caps; what we want is the state to support public education, and that’s what’s going to lower our property taxes,” she said.

The spending limit in HB 675 "freezes in time all the current inequities” between school districts, Sheehan said. While some districts may currently have enough funding, districts that have a smaller budget would be unable to substantially increase those budgets, he said. 

“What if Newport, a struggling school district, got a chunk of money from a foundation or business that wanted to invest?” Sheehan said. “They literally would not be able to accept that if it went over this cap.”

If a district had a sudden increase in special education expenses, he added, it might need to cut programs such as sports, arts, and Advanced Placement classes to stay within the spending cap.

Megan Tuttle, president of NEA-New Hampshire, the state’s largest teachers union, said that the statewide cap would be “an offense to the will of voters and completely disregards the majority of Granite Staters who support their local public schools and believe every student deserves access to a quality education, regardless of their ZIP code.”

Educators share concerns about rising property taxes, Tuttle said, but they’re calling on the state to fully fund education, rather than putting the burden on local communities or setting spending limits. 

“Make no mistake about it: Instead of fixing our state’s broken public education funding system, HB 675 will lock in the existing disparities around our state and make it very difficult for districts that are already underfunded to make up ground,” she said.

Also on Thursday, both the House and Senate passed bills that would make Educational Freedom Accounts, commonly known as school vouchers, available to all eligible Granite Staters, regardless of income. The vouchers provide an average of $4,600 per student for families to use toward private school tuition or homeschool expenses. Universal eligibility would cost the state about $102 million during the 2025-26 school year, according to Reaching Higher NH.

“Instead of addressing the root issue of rising property taxes — an inequitable public school funding system — the [House and Senate] voted to expand the school voucher program to the wealthiest families in the state,” Pretorius said. 

These articles are being shared by partners in the Granite State News Collaborative. For more information, visitcollaborativenh.org.

How to participate and take action in your local government

Last week we delved into what town meetings are about, alongside their role in local journalism. This week we continue to explore the intricacies of annual town meetings and town meeting elections. How can you get involved? Where can you get information? On this episode of “The State We’re In,” New Hampshire Secretary of State David Scanlan helps us find out how the average person can participate and take decisive action in their local community. 

By Rosemary Ford and Caitlin Agnew

Melanie Plenda:

First, let's take a step back. For our audience who may be unfamiliar with them, how did town meetings begin? How have they changed and evolved?

David Scanlan:

Well, town meeting is rooted from our colonial past, and when the settlers came over to this continent and they started to congregate and form townships and communities, there had to be a way for the people in those communities to make decisions about how they were going to handle the affairs of the community. That's basically how town meetings got started. It became a formal process because there had to be some ground rules on how meetings would take place. 

Melanie Plenda:

Do some New Hampshire towns still have a traditional annual town meeting?

David Scanlan:

Yes, many still have this, mostly the smaller towns, but even some of the larger ones still have a traditional town meeting, and the format is basically the same as it was 300 years ago. I've attended many of those deliberative types of meetings, and they're fascinating. It's great entertainment, if nothing else. But effectively it brings the community together, allows them to discuss important issues to the community and come to a resolution on them. 

Melanie Plenda:

What is the secretary of state’s role in town meetings across New Hampshire? 

David Scanlan:

Well, town meetings are just that. They're there for the local communities and political subdivisions in New Hampshire. The secretary of state really does not have a role in that process, other than there are state statutes that apply to elections generally.

The participants in any election are maintained on the statewide voter registration database. Then there are laws on the books related to electioneering and campaigning and things similar that we're kind of responsible for. The important thing is we act as a resource to the towns on the best way to conduct their elections. What the different roles are of election officials — the moderator, the clerk, supervisors of the checklist — and we're there primarily for support.

Melanie Plenda:

What do residents need to vote? Can they still register?

David Scanlan:

The town meeting is actually in two parts. There is the voting part for officers. The town election is an election. To vote and participate in that election, a person must be on the voter checklist, and towns also have election day registration, so somebody in town who wants to participate that is not registered can do that on the day of the town election.

The requirements have become a little more strict for registration. A voter has to prove four things: identity, age, citizenship and domicile. And when a voter registers, they have to bring documentation that proves each of those qualifications. There's a list on the secretary of state website if voters want to see that. 

The other part of town meeting, then, is the deliberative part, and that is where the voters outside of the election process come together physically in a group. They will take up the articles that are placed on the town warrant. So prior to the deliberative session, there's an opportunity for the selectmen — the governing body of the town — to present the articles that they want to have discussed, like the town budget and other important things. Then there's an opportunity for petition warrant articles, which can be any topic that the members of the community want to discuss. And then that is publicized in advance of the meeting. Only those articles on the warrant can be discussed and acted on at the meeting, and the moderators are responsible for taking those up, one by one — having a debate, making any amendments, voting them up or down, and then moving on to the next article.

Melanie Plenda:

How can a citizen looking to get involved with their local community access information about the annual town meeting and the town election? 

David Scanlan:

In close proximity to the meeting itself, obtain a copy of the town warrant, which is published in a form that is called the annual report. There's a lot of really useful information in there — a lot of it maybe not so useful, but really, really interesting facts about the town. It will have the budget published, so you can see where the town plans to spend money over the next year. All of the articles that are going to be taken up at town meeting will be on the warrant, and many of them publish statistics of how many births there were, how many deaths.There might be ceremonial recognitions for people who have made major contributions to the town. It’s a pretty fascinating document. 

Towns have great participation from the citizens of the town, and it is easy to participate by getting elected to the planning board, the conservation commission, the budget committee, or the cemetery agent. There are many, many elected positions in town government that may interest people, and it is very interesting to serve on those. I've served in many committees at the local level myself, and it's a very, very rewarding experience. It gives you a better understanding of how the town handles its affairs, and you get to meet the other great people that live in your community. 

Melanie Plenda:

Can you tell us a little bit more about what deliberative sessions are and how they relate to town meeting elections, and if someone is able to attend the deliberative session can they still vote?

David Scanlan:

Well, every town meeting has some form of a deliberative component.

In a traditional town meeting, the people that want to participate and vote on the issues show up at the town hall or school gymnasium — wherever the meeting is going to be held. And then it is an opportunity for the voters in that town to express their positions, feelings and concerns about any one of the topics that are going to come up in the form of an article at that meeting. In a traditional town meeting, after the discussion is over and any amendments are made, there is a final vote that's up or down and it becomes the position of the town if they’re passed. If they don’t pass, people can try again the following year. 

In a Senate Bill 2 town, or an official ballot voting town, there is a deliberative session where voters come together again in a single location, and they discuss the issues. They maybe offer amendments, but then when the discussion is finished there is not a final vote taken at that point in time. Instead, the article in its final form is actually placed on the official ballot, on the paper ballot that will be distributed on the day of the election, when the officers of the town are elected. And then the people will get to vote in the voting booth on each one of the articles that was presented. That gives an opportunity for more people to actually participate in the actual final vote of the town because people can show up at the polling place at their convenience during the polling hours and vote on those issues, as opposed to having to set aside two or three hours on a Tuesday night or a Saturday afternoon to attend the town meeting. 

There is no opportunity, really, for remote participation in the deliberative part of town meetings. Part of that is because those articles can be amended, and you really can't vote by absentee, or whatever, on items that might change before the final vote is taken. So at the moment, people have to be physically present at the deliberative session to participate. Now, with the increase in technology, there are probably opportunities that exist now for people to view the actual deliberative session in real time, but there are no opportunities presently that exist that allow people to actually vote remotely on the articles that are being presented.

Melanie Plenda:

What about you? Does your town have an annual town meeting or town meeting election and will you be participating? 

David Scanlan:

My town has a traditional town meeting, both for town and school district affairs, and I do participate in those. They're fascinating to me. It's a study on human nature. It's great to see people that maybe are timid and shy that feel so strongly about an issue that they build the courage to get up and speak — and that's important, and it's important that people feel that they can express their views without intimidation and pressure. And it's the moderator’s job to make sure that the discussion during a deliberative session is controlled to the point that there's no heckling and clapping, and things like that

There can be a lot of drama, and there can be a lot of humor too. I've seen some moderators in the past that have a quick wit and can get the place laughing, and a lot of times that diminishes the tension that sometimes builds on really critical issues that might have strong opposing sides.

Melanie Plenda:

On that note, any final thoughts you want to share with people about town meetings?

David Scanlan:

It is a great process, and I think that those of us that live in New England and in the original 13 colonies are fortunate to have this process that has developed and withstood the test of centuries. It's an amazing process. The further west that you go, the less and less the voters in those places have the same opportunities that we have to have these really great conversations about how the town affairs should be run.

Melanie Plenda:

Thank you New Hampshire Secretary of State David Scanlan. 

“The State We’re In” is a weekly digital public affairs show produced by NH PBS and The Marlin Fitzwater Center for Communication at Franklin Pierce University. It is shared with partners in the Granite State News Collaborative, of which both organizations are members. These articles are being shared by partners in the Granite State News Collaborative. For more information, visit collaborativenh.org.

IINE fields concerns on immigration, detention, mass deportation and humanitarian aid

By Romal Shinwary, Manchester InkLink, Granite State News Collaborative

MANCHESTER, NH – In the wake of sweeping immigration policies enacted under President Donald Trump’s second administration, Henry Harris, Managing Director of the International Institute of New England (IINE) in Manchester, is working to educate and support local immigrant communities. Harris recently met with Afghan refugees at Brookside Church to provide guidance on their rights and the ongoing changes affecting immigration policy.

The meeting with members of the Afghan community was just one of several meetings IINE has been conducting with groups from clients from other countries around the region served by the organization.

“The biggest change we’ve seen is the complete shutdown of the reception and placement program,” Harris explained. “This program helps resettle refugees, and with its suspension, we’re no longer seeing new arrivals.” The policy shift has left families separated, with many who were in transit to the U.S. having their plans abruptly canceled.

Despite the halt in new refugee arrivals, IINE continues to assist those already in the U.S. by offering legal guidance, social services, and employment assistance. A significant focus is ensuring that immigrants understand their rights, particularly in encounters with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Harris emphasized that all IINE clients are in the country legally, yet misunderstandings and racial profiling remain concerns.

Henry Harris, Managing Director of International Institute of New England (IINE) Manchester office, presents information to a men’s group of Afghani refugees at Brookside Church, one of several meetings held around the region with groups from various countries who have questions and concerns about U.S. immigration policy changes. Photo/Romal Shinwary

To mitigate risks, IINE distributes “Know Your Rights” cards in multiple languages, including Pashto and Dari, explaining legal protections under the Fourth and Fifth Amendments. Harris stressed that individuals should carry identification and key documents at all times to avoid complications. “We’re making sure our clients know that ICE agents need a warrant signed by a judge to enter their homes,” he said. “Many times, they use administrative paperwork that lacks legal authority, and we don’t want people unknowingly consenting to searches.”

The effect of these policy changes extends beyond individuals to the broader community. IINE had infrastructure in place to welcome new refugees, including housing arrangements, that is now in limbo. Families who were expecting loved ones to join them in early 2025 have been left waiting indefinitely.

While no major incidents involving IINE clients and ICE have been reported, Harris remains vigilant. “We want to ensure that mistakes aren’t made and that our clients are protected,” he said. “The most important thing is for people to stay informed, engaged, and connected to advocacy efforts.”

As immigration policy continues to evolve, IINE remains committed to supporting New Hampshire’s refugee and immigrant communities, providing them with the tools they need to navigate an increasingly uncertain landscape, Harris said.

Carol Robidoux of Ink Link News contributed to this report.

Below: Full interview with Henry Harris, IINE Manchester

https://youtu.be/s712eCvGS48

These articles are being shared by partners in the Granite State News Collaborative. For more information, visitcollaborativenh.org.

Column: As a Black woman, I depend on Target, but I’m still joining the boycott

By Shamecca Brown, Columnist, Granite State News Collaborative

My daughter and I love Target, maybe more than most. As Black women in New Hampshire, Target is one of the few stores in New Hampshire where we can actually find products that cater to us.

But this month, we’re finding ourselves caught between the convenience of our favorite shop, and the values that are most important to us. March 5 marks the start of a 40-day boycott of Target in response to its rollback of its diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs. The boycott is spearheaded by Dr. Jamal Bryant, a prominent civil rights leader and head of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Stonecrest, Georgia, who called for a boycott during Lent to protest the company’s rollback of DEI initiatives.  

As a Black woman, and mother, I can’t help but ask why is this happening? And what does it really mean for us? I’ll be real, Target has always been one of the few places where I felt good shopping at as a Black woman living in New Hampshire. I could never find products for people of color and brands that I’m familiar with, like Dax Coconut hair grease or gel for my edges. Before a Target opened near me, I had to go back and forth to New York or have my family bring these products when they would visit. Target understood what melanin means and that’s a plus. It has been my go-to when other stores just don’t carry what my family needs.

Target is a place where my family feels seen. At least, we did. During Black History Month, it was heartwarming to walk through the aisles and see t-shirts with empowering messages, children’s clothes with little Black and brown faces, and books that uplift our stories. Representation matters right? When our kids see themselves in products, it tells them, “You belong.” So, when Target decided to backtrack on its DEI commitments, I had to stop and think, what is this world coming to? 

Now, back in April of 2021, Target made a public “ commitment “ to invest $2 billion into Black-owned businesses, expanding opportunities for underrepresented entrepreneurs. This initiative aimed to add products from over 500 Black-owned businesses across its assortment and engage more Black owned companies to enhance its retail operations and shopping experience. 

It was a step in the right direction, recognizing the power of Black consumers and the importance of equity. But now, following political pressure and the rollback of DEI programs nationwide, Target is reversing course. They’re cutting funding to Black-owned brands, stepping away from partnerships with Black designers, and essentially walking backwards. This is about more than dollars: it’s about visibility, respect  and a corporate acknowledgment that we exist and matter.

For Black communities, this feels like a slap in the face. Our economic power is undeniable. We spend billions annually, and we shop at Target just as much as anyone else. When a company takes our money but then decides our representation isn’t worth maintaining, it’s hard not to feel betrayed.

And for allies, I think everyone should support the boycott. Allies stood with us when corporations were posting black squares and making promises in 2020. I’m just hoping nothing has changed and we can stick together. Let me say this: if companies are allowed to erase progress just because the political climate shifts, what does that say about the future of inclusivity in this country?

Raising children who are learning to navigate multiple identities is already challenging in a society that often tries to put people into boxes. When companies stop celebrating diversity, when spaces start feeling less welcoming, those children notice. If my daughter sees fewer Black and brown faces in the books and clothes at Target, what message does that send? That her existence is only valued when it’s profitable?

I can’t lie, it's tough. I love Target. It’s convenient, it’s familiar, and in a state like New Hampshire, where access to diverse products can be limited, it feels necessary. But then I ask myself, what are we willing to accept? How many times will corporations profit off Black culture and communities, only to abandon us when it’s no longer good business.

Boycotts have been a powerful tool in Black history. I remember learning in school about the Montgomery Bus Boycott from 1955-1956. After Rosa Parks’ arrest, Black residents in Montgomery refused to ride city buses for over a year. That made a huge impact. The economic pressure forced the city to desegregate public transportation, proving the power of collective action. During the South African Apartheid Boycott in the 1980s and 1990s, people worldwide boycotted businesses supporting South Africa’s racist apartheid system. The financial strain helped push the country toward democracy. It showed how economic pressure can drive a major change. 

History gives me hope. We might have a chance. Both boycotts worked because they weren’t just symbolic, they hit where it hurts: the economy.

I’m just wondering in the world we live in today at this moment if the boycott is even a good idea. I wonder if Target counts on the fact that people in New Hampshire and across the country don’t feel like we have options. 

If we boycott, that means supporting Black-owned businesses where we can, holding corporations accountable, and using our voices to demand better. If we choose not to boycott, then we should at least be asking questions, like why does a company that was so vocal about DEI suddenly feel the need to pull back? And who benefits from that decision? 

I can’t be silent. I don’t have a lot of answers but I can stay informed and speak out. My answer on boycotting if you all are wondering: It’s a YES, because if I don’t stand up, companies will keep treating diversity like a trend instead of a commitment.

 Shamecca Brown,  is a New Hampshire-based columnist who is family-oriented and passionate about serving underserved communities.

 Shamecca Brown,  is a New Hampshire-based columnist who is family-oriented and passionate about serving underserved communities.

These articles are being shared by partners in the Granite State News Collaborative. For more information, visit collaborativenh.org.

From the web to the streets: Anti-Trump movement takes shape in N.H.

By Jon Decker, Granite State News Collaborative

After protests against President Trump and his administration attracted several hundred people for demonstrations at the State House in February, a group of newly minted Granite State political activists is planning more actions.

On Feb. 5, demonstrators carrying signs protesting Trump and Elon Musk, the leader of the Department of Government Efficiency, turned out in Concord to voice their opposition. And on Feb. 17, a similarly sized crowd showed up in front of the State House for a “Not My Presidents’ Day” protest. Both were part of a nationally coordinated campaign, the  “50501 Movement” — which stands for "50 protests. 50 states. 1 movement.” 

One of the anti-Trump protest’s organizers, Danielle Zobel addresses the crowd via megaphone in front of the New Hampshire State House at a Feb. 5 rally.. (Jon Decker/ Granite State News Collaborative)

No single political organization claims credit for the national campaign, but reporting from Snopes traced initial posts calling for the Feb. 5 protests to a Reddit user by the name of u/Evolved_Fungi, according to a fellow moderator by the handle of U/honeydoulemon. While Evolved_Fungi’s initial post has been deleted, the user is still highly active in the 50501 Reddit page, and has had an account for over three years. 

Three New Hampshire-based Redditors met on the platform and decided to organize the State House protests through additional social media channels. 

“They had it broken out into all 50 states, so I made a post on [the New Hampshire] Reddit. It started to gain some traction, and then I got banned from the national post because they thought I was a bot,” explained organizer and military veteran Christopher Farrell. “So then I jumped over to Discord.”

That’s where organizer Danielle Zobel, creator of the local Discord page, recognized Farrell’s username.

“He was the only one that was starting to get some traction,” Zobel explained. “We had no movement in the New Hampshire Reddit at all and we didn't want that. We were like, ‘no, not in the Live Free or Die state.’”

“I’ve been pushing on TikTok; we have a Facebook group that collaborated with us,” Farrell said. “We had a liaison from the Facebook group coming to Discord to relay information; we had another group from Reddit who were relaying information.”

Farrell filed for a permit to protest from both the state and city just over one week before the Feb. 5 protest was set to take place. The organizer said they were approved the day before the protest.

Democratic activist Todd Ayer speaks at the steps of the State House during the Feb. 5 protest. (Jon Decker/ Granite State News Collaborative)

Although early posts promoting the Feb. 5 event hinted at a protest against the administration's close ties to and implementation of the Heritage Foundation's Project 2025 — a political initiative to reshape the federal government of the United Statesand consolidate executive power in favor of right-wing policies — signs and slogans carried by demonstrators called out just about every aspect of the Trump administration.

Zobel said her primary reason for attending, and helping organize the event, were recent diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) rollbacks and an erosion of women’s rights.

“I also have a teen daughter, so women’s rights are going to be a huge thing for her as she’s coming up into womanhood and adulthood,” Zobel said. “I don’t want her to see that laying down and quitting is an option.”

“My daughter turned 15 today,” Farrell said during the protest, “and veterans are going to be suffering a lot from financial cuts that an unelected billionaire is making with his cronies of 19-to-24-year-olds who don’t have the security clearance to access the keys to the world.”

Musk’s name made frequent appearances on both cardboard signs and from the lips of protesters, who called for the billionaire Trump campaign donor and head of the newly minted DOGE  to be deported to Mars.

“My utter dismay at the disintegration of democracy,” said Nancy Hendrix of Concord when asked what brought her out to protest. “The coup that’s going on in Washington with Elon Musk, an unelected individual, just like all of us accept he’s a billionaire, having access to everyone’s financial information and the treasury payment system. It’s outrageous.”

Anger at Shaheen, Hassan

Protesters speaking out against the Trump administration gather on North Main Street in Concord on Feb. 5 as part of the initial nationwide action called 50501. (Jon Decker/Granite State News Collaborative)

In recent weeks, a host of young aides employed by Musk’s DOGE began entering multiple governmental departments and agencies, including Treasury, Defense and Education as well as the Parks Service, the U.S. Agency for International Development and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. They accessed computer systems, many of which hold private financial information, including Social Security numbers. 

“Just to be frank, I went through certain courses to get security clearances in my military experience, and they wouldn’t guarantee that I would be able to touch any type of those systems,” Farrell said. “So just because you work for someone who is friends with the president does not give you any authority, and I really think they’re going to strip America for parts, cut anything they can so [Trump] can afford the tax cuts he’s promised his friends.”

DOGE is not an official government agency and was not created with approval of Congress, but it has  been able to access large swaths of sensitive, even classified information and essentially shut down USAID. These and other DOGE actions are facing legal challenges from a variety of judges and courts, including in New Hampshire, where on Feb. 10 U.S. District Court Judge Joseph N. Laplante placed an injunction on Trump’s executive order that would end the 14th Amendment’s guarantee of birthright citizenship.

It was not just Trump, Musk and other MAGA allies catching fire from the Feb. 5 crowd.

“Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan should be completely ashamed of themselves for supporting even one of Trump’s nominees,” said Hendryx, describing New Hampshire’s two Democratic senators. “They have supported seven, voted to confirm seven. I can’t even wrap my head around it, honestly.”

Hassan and Shaheen are among three Democratic senators who have supported nine of Trump’s 18 cabinet nominees so far. The only Democratic senator to vote in favor of more is John Fetterman of Pennsylvania.  

Shaheen also was one of five Democratic senators who voted in favor of the Laken Riley Act, which will allow Immigration and Customs Enforcement to detain immigrants charged with larceny, shoplifting and theft regardless of immigration status.

Organizers also claimed that Democratic lawmakers were discouraging people from attending the protests.

Protest organizer Danielle Zobe l(center) joins the crowd on North Main St. in Concord to protest recent executive actions by the Trump administration and Elon Musk. (Jon Decker/ Granite State News Collaborative)

“They were basically saying that if you don’t have funding or aren’t a part of a Democratic organization, that’s an illegitimate demonstration,” Farrell said. “But we’re the people. We live here; you work for us. If you’re not going to do your job, we’ll do it for you.”

Sen. Shaheen did not address the demonstrations when asked for comment, but stated in a written response: “It’s unacceptable that Elon Musk and his DOGE team have been given access to federal payment systems and sensitive personal information at the behest of President Trump. I've demanded accountability and answers from the U.S. Department of the Treasury, and I'll keep calling for protection against this overreach.”

Hassan’s team did not immediately respond to requests for comment. 

Although Zobel and Farrell stated they received little support, and in some cases discouragement from official Democratic organizations, the crowd size at the protests seems to be changing a few attitudes. 

“The day after the [first] protest is when we started getting messages from a few organizations we reached out to previously,” said Farrell’s wife and fellow organizer, Victoria. According to both the Farrells and Zobel, they are now talking with the Kent Street Coalition, a Concord-based progressive activist group.

“They’re more established,” Farrell said. “They were probably sitting back, waiting to see how Wednesday turned out before they tied themselves to it.” 

Kent Street Coalition co-founder Louise Spencer confirmed contact with Farrell after the protests. 

“Our thought was that the call [for protest] had gone out nationally through Reddit and it was anonymous,” Spencer explained. “Without knowing who the organizers were personally, the idea was to let our members know it was happening, but we were not sponsors.” 

The Kent Street Coalition was founded in December 2015, right after Trump won his first presidential term, and experienced a similar beginning, according to Spencer. 

“We went from brand spanking new, too,” Spencer said. “We support people in stepping up when the need arises, and we're grateful these folks stepped up and put the event together. They seem to have done that in a careful and considered way.”

Despite the obviously progressive messaging of the protest, Zobel iterated that the event was not a rebuke of Trump voters themselves. 

“There are so many people that supported Trump and they don’t approve of Musk's involvement,” Zobel said. “We have to be willing to reach across the aisle and say, ‘Hey, do you see this?’”

A protester bearing a sign referencing WWII era concentration camps rallies the crowd. (Jon Decker/Granite State News Collaborative)

“So much is happening, but I know there are Republicans as well who are like, ‘What is going on?’” said Victoria Farrell. “We are all looking at each other saying, ‘What are we going to do about this? Is anyone doing anything?’”

As for future plans, Zobel and Farrell said they are working on a new, more New Hampshire-oriented Discord to plan further protests, including a second nationwide action that took place on Monday, Feb. 17. 

These articles are being shared by partners in the Granite State News Collaborative. For more information, visit collaborativenh.org.

Budget projections: What should we expect lawmakers to agree on this year?

Budget discussions are underway at the State House. These talks are about more than spending money — they look at the financial health of the state and set priorities for the next two years. What is the state’s financial outlook? What are its priorities for the next two years? Here to discuss that and more are Keene Sentinel State House reporter Rick Green and Anna Brown, executive director of Citizens Count and executive director of the Warren B. Rudman Center for Justice, Leadership and Public Service at the University of New Hampshire’s Franklin Pierce School of Law.

By Rosemary Ford and Caitlin Agnew

This article has been edited for length and clarity.

Melanie Plenda:

Rick, as lawmakers head into budget season, what’s the mood like at the State House right now? Are the Republican majorities in the House and Senate and governor getting along? What about the Democrats? Is everyone on the same page about the budget? 

Rick Green:

Well, it probably shouldn't be too surprising that Republican majorities in the House and Senate are generally on the same page with their Republican governor on most things, like expanding the school voucher system, not creating or raising new taxes and not changing the state's 24-week standard on the abortion law, for example. 

With the Republicans having that strong control in both chambers, they're kind of in a good position to exert their will, and Democrats are kind of in the role of being the vocal minority. They look to highlight differences on things like school funding and education policies and so-called sanctuary cities, and then also look for areas of agreement where they can provide school lunch aid for women after giving birth. So they're in that position of looking for opportunities, but not really being able to exert their will in a huge way.

Melanie Plenda:

Anna, what are the different approaches and how far off are they from each other? 

Anna Brown:

When we're looking at the budget, in particular, I think that there's actual agreement between Democrats and Republicans that we are entering a very difficult year in terms of revenue. There is falling business tax revenue, that federal money is gone — which was also earning a lot of interest in the state's bank accounts — and there's some pending lawsuits related to school funding and abuse at the juvenile detention center several decades ago. So all of this is coming with a pretty tough budget season. Even Governor Ayotte said herself that there's going to be a need for steep budget cuts.

That being said, I think that the governor is coming in with pretty rosy revenue projections. I think that the Republicans in the state Legislature are going to want to cut more deeply than she is. They've already said there's some difference there. 

For example, let's look at the Education Freedom Account Program, which lets students take the per-pupil share of state schools funding and spend it on private and homeschool expenses. The governor wants to expand that program so that all public school students are eligible, whereas Republicans in the Legislature were interested in expanding that to all students, including students currently enrolled in private schools. So that's a subtle difference. 

I think there are going to be other subtle differences like that. They're probably going to focus on the things that they can come together on, and do a lot of headlines about those. For example, banning cellphones in schools. The governor did include, I think it was just $1 million in her budget to help schools do that. In the big scheme of the budget, that's a very small amount, but it's seen as a bipartisan win, a win for the governor and the Legislature.

Melanie Plenda:

Here’s one for both of you — usually the New Hampshire budget goes beyond money matters. Is there any sense of what non-spending issues might crop up in it during this session? First to Rick, then to Anna.

Rick Green:

The Legislature will approve two budget bills. One is heavy on the actual spending numbers, and the other — the so-called budget trailer bill — looks more at policies and what's happened in past sessions.

If a bill can't make it through the Legislature on its own for whatever reason, you'll sometimes see the majority party try to take a second bite at the apple and slip that policy measure into the trailer bill, with the idea that this is a way to get that done and kind of force the governor's hand to either sign the whole budget, including that new policy, or reject it, which is always a hard thing for a governor to do. 

This, I think, has been more prevalent in previous years, when the Legislature was more evenly split between the two parties, but with strong Republican control in both chambers, whether they would have to resort to that sort of thing or just pass the policies as presented in the regular sessions, will be something we'll be watching.

Anna Brown:

The governor has already put some policy in that I wouldn’t say are strictly budget items. So for example, she wants to roll back bail reform that was passed in the past couple few years. Those were passed as standalone bills. They had nothing to do with the budget. She specifically said during her address, “Put this bill on my desk,” So that's clearly a priority for her. 

She also has included policies related to speeding up the housing permitting process in state government. So that definitely opens the door to some housing-related legislation or policies to end up in that state budget trailer bill. I don't know if that will happen, but I definitely think that that's one of the more controversial, tricky issues in the House and Senate, especially when it comes back to pushing back on local zoning laws.

Melanie Plenda:

Here’s another for you both — in the last few weeks, President Donald Trump has issued several executive orders that could have an impact on New Hampshire and its economy, especially his tariffs. How are those being received at the State House, and are there any concerns? 

Anna Brown:

A lot of this was unfolding right around when Governor Ayotte revealed her budget, and you didn't see any concern about this in her budget. Certainly she wasn't anticipating any big cuts to Medicaid funding. And remember, federal funding is roughly one-third of the state budget, and it supplies a huge amount of Medicaid funding, which in turn is a huge part of the state budget. So she seems to think that that's not going to be disrupted, whether it's an executive order or an act from Congress.  Also, her rosy projections on business tax revenue suggest that she's not expecting those tariffs to cause any problems, especially with business with Canada, which is a huge trading partner with New Hampshire.

That being said, I think that that conversation is out there. When I've talked to different economists and businesspeople in the state, it's on their mind, so I think it will inevitably become part of the budget discussion. But then again, we also saw protests at the State House over the past couple weeks from people opposing Donald Trump and his policies. There are some Republican legislators who posted about this on X and said they were unbothered, that they view this as all good policy developments. So it's definitely a little chaotic and unprecedented, but we're not really seeing a budget response yet.

Rick Green:

Federal funding in a range of areas potentially could be impacted, including student financial aid, immigration policies also could have an impact, but a lot of these orders have been or will be challenged in court. One lawsuit already filed in Concord challenges an executive order having to do with trans athletes — transgender girls on girls sports teams. So we'll kind of see how all that plays out.

Melanie Plenda:

What else should we all know about what’s happening or coming up at the State House? 

Rick Green:
I think housing is a really important issue at the State House right now. Public opinion polls indicate this is one of the biggest things on people’s minds. The median price of a home now in New Hampshire is topping a half-million dollars, and people of average means are having difficulty affording rent.

I think there's some determination to get more housing built in the state, and often it becomes an issue between local control and state mandates requiring that local officials take actions to be more encouraging toward development. 

Anna Brown:

I think that Republicans have been clear in the House, particularly that one of their top priorities is passing a parent bill of rights. We've seen various versions of this come up over the past few years — some of them dealing very specifically with gender, some of them more broadly just putting the existing rights into one place of state law. So that would include, for example, rights for parents to seek curriculum ahead of time and pull students out of class if they object. Other bills would go further and would say that teachers have to respond to parent requests within a certain amount of time or face consequences.

What that final bill looks like remains to be seen, but I think it’s going to really dig in to those tough social issues and school curriculum issues that have been so feisty for the past few years in New Hampshire. I’m sort of just waiting for that debate to bubble up and really explode in the House this year.

Melanie Plenda:

Thank you Keene Sentinel State House Reporter Rick Green and Anna Brown, executive director of Citizens Count and the Warren B. Rudman Center for Justice, Leadership and Public Service at the UNH Franklin Pierce School of Law.

New Hampshire housing agencies, developers fear derailment of progress under Trump

Trump policies could thwart ongoing efforts to address state’s housing crisis

By Michael McCord, Granite State News Collaborative Freelancer

The significant earthquake off the coast of Maine that shook New England on the morning of Jan. 27 was followed later that night by a greater aftershock, one more political than geological: The Trump administration’s Office of Management and Budget directive to freeze all federal grants, loans and already congressionally appropriated funds. 

The list of programs potentially affected is long (at least 2,400 are under review) and includes funding for education, housing, transportation, clean energy development, health care, medical research, veteran health and homeless programs, and police and fire.

And, despite multiple court orders to release the billions of dollars in funds, the administration continues to freeze any Biden administration-era funds that were to be distributed through the Inflation Reduction Act and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act — and that has put a halt to thousands of clean energy, transportation and housing projects across the country. 

The four members of New Hampshire’s congressional delegation, all Democrats, have called the Trump administration maneuvers “lawless.”

For New Hampshire nonprofit organizations on the front lines of the state’s affordable housing crisis, the directive left confusion, chaos and panic among the thousands of clients who depend on federal funding for rental assistance or homeless programs. Affordable housing projects, either planned or in progress, have been put in bureaucratic purgatory. 

‘Nobody anticipated this. No agency was prepared for this,’ says Joshua Meehan, executive director of Keene Housing, about the Trump administration’s directive to freeze billions of dollars in funding. (Courtesy photo)

This is no small matter in a state where homelessness increased more than 50 percent in 2023, according to a report issued in December by the N.H. Coalition to End Homelessness. 

A wait list of more than 2,000

“Nobody anticipated this. No agency was prepared for this,” said Joshua Meehan, executive director of Keene Housing about the Trump administration directive. “While we were relieved that the administration intended to exclude rental assistance from the spending freeze, funding that we rely on to provide self-sufficiency services to working families, build new affordable housing and reduce our energy costs were all targeted.” 

Meehan’s organization focuses on the lowest end of the housing market, serving about 930 seniors, along with disabled and working families, who would be unlikely to find housing without federal and state assistance.

“We have a wait list of more than 2,000,” he said about the depth of the housing and support services needed in the Monadnock Region alone.

“That memo was a surprise to us, to everybody,” said Rod Dapice, executive director and CEO of New Hampshire Housing, which in 2024 distributed $46 million in rental vouchers through the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development to New Hampshire on behalf of more than 4,200 residents who aren’t covered by the state’s 17 housing authorities. The organization also acts as an accelerator for securing funds for affordable housing projects across the state. 

In the past, New Hampshire Housing has prepared for and worked with landlords in the event of government shutdowns, but the current situation is different, said Dapice. “This looks to be more than a hiccup,” he said. 

According to New Hampshire Housing estimates, the state will need more than 60,000 units created by 2030 and 90,000 units by 2040 to meet estimated population growth. While federal funding rarely covers all the costs, using existing tax codes with tax credits and matching grants are vital parts of the equation. Housing advocates say every dollar of funding is needed because many residents are simply being priced out of affordable housing.

“It will really set us back if we don’t build more affordable housing,” said Nick Taylor of Housing Action NH, which works with dozens of housing-focused partners across the state, including for-profit and nonprofit developers and financiers, homeless services providers and public housing authorities. 

“It will hurt seniors,” Taylor said. “It will hurt local businesses and the state economy. It will lead to more homelessness because a lot of renters have very little wiggle room in their budgets.”

Uncertainty over the potential loss of federal funding and other supports for affordable housing development troubles Lakes Region Community Developers Executive Director Carmen Lorentz: ‘We don’t know what is going to happen if those funds are frozen.’ (Courtesy photo)

Rental costs in the state have risen an estimated 45 percent since the pandemic, and the market is very tight, with the vacancy rate lingering around 1 percent statewide. According to a recent report by the N.H. Fiscal Policy Institute, by mid-2023, 51 percent of New Hampshire renters were paying more than 50 percent of their income for rent. 

‘Inherently risky’

Before the OMB directive, affordable and workforce housing projects throughout the state moved forward through a combination of tax credits and approved federal grants that reimburse agencies for construction costs. Contracts with vendors have been signed, but the situation is no longer predictable and routine.

Among its many endeavors, Laconia-based Lakes Region Community Developers has two affordable housing projects totaling 42 units in Laconia and Wolfeboro (where more than $11 million in funding was secured and approved) that are nearing completion or ready to break ground. Carmen Lorentz, executive director of Lakes Region Community Developers, said the uncertainty is troubling.

“The way the system works is inherently risky,” she said. “We award the contracts for the work and draw down from approved grant accounts for reimbursement. We don’t know what is going to happen if those funds are frozen.”

Like many frontline agencies, Lakes Region Community Developers multitasks private-public development projects while helping clients with potential eviction and rental vouchers. If funds are frozen or rescinded or not budgeted, or if tax credits are changed, the impact on the region’s economic viability will be profound, Lorentz said.

“Everyone knows we have a housing shortage problem. Demand continues to outpace supply,” she said. “In our region, we have a 1 percent vacancy rate, rents and homelessness have gone up, and employers have issues finding and retaining workers, which is a real issue with our tourism-based economy. Everybody also knows it’s not going to get better on its own.”

Betsey Andrews Parker, chief executive officer of Community Action Partnership of Strafford County, said her agency has been doing its best to stay focused since news of the funding freeze broke.

“We were expecting something to happen, like tightened eligibility regulations, but not this, not a freeze,” she said.

Betsey Andrews Parker, the chief executive officer of Community Action Partnership of Strafford County, said her agency has been doing its best to keep focused since hearing news of a federal funding freeze. (Courtesy photo)

Strafford CAP oversees more than a dozen federally contracted programs, from affordable housing development to fuel assistance to domestic violence shelters to Head Start and homelessness services. It even provides diapers to low-income families. 

Overall, Andrews Parker said, while the agency receives funding from more than 140 sources, up to 87 percent of the money that it distributes locally comes from federal funding. That amounts to an injection of $12 million annually into the local economy. 

Andrews Parker said a $5 million, 34-unit “very, very affordable housing” project is at risk, along with some of the federally contracted programs that could be subject to a funding freeze. She said there is also widespread concern among current clients — many of whom have called and expressed panic about the future — and the situation is taking a heavy toll on her staff of 147 and 200 volunteers who keep the organization going daily. “They are concerned about their futures as well,” she said.

Project 2025 looms

Threats to the future of these agencies might have seemed unlikely before the 2024 election. But if the Trump administration follows through on the recommendations of Project 2025 — a conservative blueprint for radically transforming the federal government and its approach to local communities — big changes may be on the way, especially on the housing front.

In particular, while agencies and many communities in the state are focused on developing more affordable multifamily housing, Project 2025 envisions different priorities. A much less robust Department of Housing and Urban Development could focus on these guidelines:

• Eliminate almost all career public servants at the managerial level and replace them with political appointees who will eliminate “Biden Administration ideologies” in policy.

• Urge Congress to prioritize single-family home building to create more “generational wealth” while striving for the “American Dream” and respecting traditional marriage and the two-parent family.

• “Propose tax credits for the renovation or repair of housing stock in rural areas so that more Americans are able to access the American Dream of homeownership.”

• Selling public housing units to private landlords to create more competition and increased tax income for local municipalities.

• Adopt more regulations to curtail rental subsidy needs, imposing new time, income and work guidelines that will encourage self-sufficiency and upward mobility.

• Eliminate all climate and race-based affirmative action policies, and deny noncitizens access to any public housing programs. If local communities want to help with immigrant housing, it should be their priority and not the federal government’s.

Many agencies will send rental voucher requests at the end of the month to HUD, and they trust the requests will be paid. If not, said Joshua Meehan at Keene Housing, “we start to make tough choices,” in part because many of these nonprofit agencies do not have large cash reserves on hand.

“We would do the same calculations to prepare for a government shutdown,” he said. “We need to honor our local contracts, but we don’t know how long we can front money on the federal government’s behalf, and how much faith do we have that they will pay it back?”

These articles are being shared by partners in the Granite State News Collaborative. For more information, visitcollaborativenh.org.

What the Trump administration’s assault on DEI means for Granite Staters

In January, the Trump administration began efforts to remove and minimize DEI — diversity, equity and inclusion — initiatives in federally funded workplaces, schools and athletics. Across the country, businesses and organizations like PBS, the national public broadcasting service, are removing their DEI offices and programs. New Hampshire PBS is a member of the national service. Here to talk about what this means for Granite Staters is Anthony Poore, president and CEO of the New Hampshire Center for Justice & Equity. 

By Rosemary Ford and Caitlin Agnew

This article has been edited for length and clarity.

Melanie Plenda:

Anthony, what is the mission of your organization? 

Anthony Poore:

The mission of the New Hampshire Center for Justice & Equity is to empower and elevate New Hampshire's communities of color by making connections and meeting people so everyone can live their fullest life here in the Granite State. That's our mission. Our vision for our organization is to ensure that everybody who lives, works, plays or prays here in the Granite State,not only feels that they can belong, but their contributions matter to the greater good.

Melanie Plenda:

For our audience, let’s define what DEI is. When people use that term, what does it mean?

Anthony PooreIt depends on who you're asking. Over the course of the past year or so, for some the definition has changed. For myself, when I think about diversity, equity and inclusion, I actually move in the opposite direction, in the sense that what we're attempting to do through this work is create and develop inclusive policies and practices that lead to more equitable outcomes and create much more diverse environments. Instead of ensuring that everyone gets something, the goal here is to ensure people get what they need so they can contribute and live their best life.

Melanie Plenda:

With only 7.5% of New Hampshire’s population identifying as non-white, according to the 2024 Census. Why are these initiatives important in New Hampshire?

Anthony Poore:

Let's talk about young people right now, and I think this is where it's important. If you look at my daughters’ experience both 24 and 21 years of age, and you look at that particular cohort, or you look at kids under the age of 18 in New Hampshire right now, 20.2% of our kids under 18 reflect my daughter's lived experience — that is to say, their mother’s from Columbia, South America, their father happens to identify as a person of African descent here. 

So what I would argue, and this is some of the pushback that we are always trying to suggest to people that, yes, New Hampshire is still a majority white state. But that does not mean that the state is not increasingly becoming more and more diverse.  And as you know, had it not been for the in-migration of people into the state, not only would there be a loss of population, but those people that are coming in are both younger in terms of working age — between the ages of 18 and 44 — and the majority of people that are moving in the state are coming from international experiences or environments. They're coming from New England, with the vast majority of them coming from Massachusetts.

I think this discussion, or this argument, of “Why do we need to worry about diversity when we're not a very diverse state?” is not only inaccurate, but it paints us in a light that's not appropriate. I think about our school systems right now. Down in Manchester, Nashua, these are majority minority school systems, and are really at the cutting edge of our state's diversity.

Melanie Plenda:

What do you think is driving the executive orders on DEI? 

Anthony Poore:

To put it simply, white supremacy. What I argue oftentimes is that we've seen this playbook before. Now, I don't claim to be a history major by any stretch of the imagination, but I do know a little bit about history. When I think about this focus and us moving backwards on what I call some of our Great Society programs — rolling back the Civil Rights Act, rolling back the Voting Rights Act, thinking about the Fair Housing Act in 1968 and the demise of what I would call the Great Society.

Let's go back. Let’s think about the original sin called slavery, right? From there, let's talk about, for example, the Trail of Tears, where we force — relocated — thousands of Native Americans off fertile southern lands so rich white landowners could have access to those rich lands for the production of cotton to support the production of linen, cotton and so on. 

From there, let's talk about the Chinese Exclusion Act. For 60 years in this country, we excluded those of Chinese ancestry to immigrate into this wonderful nation of ours for fear of losing jobs, of them taking our “good jobs” away from us. We go from there, and of course, the post-Reconstruction period, the growth of Jim Crow, the 13th Amendment and so on. But then we get to World War II and the forced internment of Japanese Americans, thousands of Japanese Americans into places like Manzanar, and so on. I look at what we're seeing here as being historically accurate and not dissimilar to things that we've seen in the past. I think history is a wonderful teacher here. 

Many of us would argue right now we find ourselves in maybe the third or fourth Reconstruction period, or post-Reconstruction period, and we've seen these before. So we should not be surprised that those that might fear change or a fear of loss to see these things happen. So I'm not surprised, at least, and I don't think this is a new phenomenon. I think the issue of white supremacy and the fear of loss has been with us since almost the creation of this incredible nation of ours.

Melanie Plenda:

The state of New Hampshire DEI commission page was removed from the nh.gov website in early January. What impact do you see these actions having on New Hampshire and the country?

Anthony Poore:

Well, if I'm not mistaken, that group was finished, if you will, by executive order at the departure of our former governor. But I think when I look at what we see going on at the national level and at the state level is that that creates an enabling environment that somehow suggests that these kinds of behaviors, these processes, these tactics, are somehow OK. And by creating that enabling environment, it allows other folks, either at the state or local level, to act out in ways that they otherwise wouldn't do. 

As such, even our organization, which focuses on our disabilities community, our communities of color and our queer community, we've been the recipients of hate as of late,and this has just happened in the past two to three weeks, actually. Again, I think what we're seeing coming at us is a reflection of the kind of tactics and fear-mongering that we see at the national level beginning to play out at the local level.

Melanie Plenda:

Why do you think organizations that aren’t affected by the president’s executive order are altering their DEI programs?

Anthony Poore:

There were institutions and organizations who were changing their stance relative to DEI even before the executive orders, for fear of and so all those corporations shifted away from this DEI work well before our current administration took office, and, frankly, before the executive orders. I think some organizations — some, not all — were reading the tea leaves, if you will, and tried to get out in front of this problem before it becomes one, for fear of being targeted. 

At the same time, we've seen companies like Costco that I'll lift up and celebrate, who said that we recognize that, frankly, this DEI stuff is not a new phenomenon. It's a tried-and-true solution, and in lieu of targeting specific segments of our consumer base, we want to not only target all of our consumers, but ensure that we have a board and a staff that reflects our consumer base. So instead, we can get a little bit of everybody's money, if you will, and we think that's a good thing. 

I look at DEI as simply being good business, particularly in this space, because you have access to the greatest and largest talent pool, you have access to the largest consumer base, and we have the best talent and the largest consumer base, you can achieve economic prosperity. Honestly, as I think about this DEI and this anti immigration sentiment that exists here in the state, I often think about our local communities.

A dear friend of mine, a mentor, and I’ll call him out  — John Moore from Bangor Savings Bank — told me once that “doing good is good business.” And I think of DEI being good business, particularly in this space, because you have access to the greatest and largest talent pool, you have access to the largest consumer base, and with the best talent and largest consumer base you can achieve economic prosperity.

So, honestly, as I think about, particularly right now, this anti-immigration sentiment that exists here in the state, I also think about our local communities, and let me think about three sectors of our environment. First, I think about the hospitality sector and food service — it's one of the largest economic sectors in New Hampshire. I would argue that our hotels and motels cannot operate without immigrant labor who are here either as immigrants and refugees, or think about places like Santa's Village or the Mount Washington Resort, where young people come here on an H-2B visa to earn money during the summers and gain experience working internationally. 

Let's talk about our health care industry. I would argue, as a cancer survivor and somebody who spends a lot of time in hospitals, that Dartmouth-Hitchcock and other hospitals could not operate if it wasn't for foreign-born providers in our current system, and they require an H-1B visa. 

Or let’s talk about agriculture. Frankly, our agricultural sector, particularly dairy, could not survive if it wasn’t for our migratory laborers who come in based upon the seasonality of work 

So this anti-DEI sentiment, this anti immigration sentiment, not only affects us negatively from a business perspective — but when I think about our overall economic prosperity as a state, to just allow people to come here to work — at the end of the day is just cutting our nose to spite our face if we want to achieve economic prosperity that we all claim to want here in the Granite State.

Melanie Plenda:

What are the perceived benefits of removing DEI initiatives, if any? Who does this benefit?

Anthony Poore:

Mediocre talent. I founded the New Hampshire Center for Justice & Equity, alongside the board, three years ago. And, as any employer, I want the best and the brightest talent. I'm here in the nonprofit sector, but I'm competing actively with the for-profit sector for the smartest, the most hard-working, dedicated employees we can find. The idea of limiting that talent pool because I want people who reflect my own lived experience and not the lived experience of others, I think diminishes our opportunities at the local, state and national level. 

My grandfather used to tell me, “You never want to cut your nose and spite your face,” and I feel that this anti-DEI, anti-immigration sentiment is doing precisely that — we’re limiting our potential and our future opportunities.

Melanie Plenda:

The NHCJE’s website describes New Hampshire as one of the many states subjected to outside interests pushing an agenda to “normalize racism.” What do you mean by that?

Anthony Poore:

New Hampshire has 1.4 million people, and it is small enough to where if you want to move initiatives forward, you can do that in a way that almost represents a test case for other opportunities outside of New Hampshire. 

Let me give you an example — and this is not a discussion for or against, it's just an observation. If we think about current legislation right now to advance universal school vouchers here in New Hampshire. A lot of times people will talk about vouchers as a means to make a positive difference in kids who the traditional school system is failing. Here at the center, for example, we are not anti-voucher, what we're suggesting is for those that the voucher is intended to serve, let's do that work.

But historically, if you look at the utilization of vouchers, a lot of times are used for folks who are either homeschooled, participate in private school, or some combination of that. These typically tend to be middle- and upper middle-income individuals who may not need that additional subsidy. So we're seeing the parental rights movement, the school voucher pieces — all those things are advancing here in New Hampshire because New Hampshire is a smaller state. It gives us an opportunity to try these things out, if you will, and then bring them to scale in other states. So again, Free Staters moving into New Hampshire did not happen by coincidence. It was intentional, because they knew that they had the opportunity to push their agenda here further along, particularly given our citizen legislature and all the things that come along with that.

Melanie Plenda:

What is the New Hampshire Center For Justice and Equity planning to do about all this? 

Anthony Poore:

The first thing that we recognize is that the work continues. We're not going to stop doing what we believe to be really, really important work. 

One is to encourage people to recognize that New Hampshire is not a quote, unquote, lily white state that is diversifying, and that's important for people to recognize that. Number two, it's important to work with our allies and collaborators across the state. We're a statewide institution, but we want to continue to maybe blunt some of the negative activity that's taking place with respect to our communities of color and similarly marginalized populations.

So, in the short term, continue the work and blunt some of the negative things coming our way, but in the long term, begin to galvanize support at the local level that cuts across issues of age, gender, race, ethnicity, preference, identity or geography, and to bring together what we call people of a good conscience to form a coalition of what I'll call the willing. Because, at the end of the day, real power rests with the people.

But there's so much coming at us right now, people don't know where to go, frankly, and are looking for opportunities for mutual support. And so the New Hampshire Center for Justice & Equity, along with our allies, are intent on creating those safe places for communities so we can come together with one unified voice and an agenda that's been developed collectively that responds to our individual communities’ needs, but on issues of mutual concern we can all come together again with one voice and demonstrate our power. And that’s the direction we’re moving forward in.

Melanie Plenda:

Along those same lines, what can the average Granite Stater do about this?
Anthony Poore:

Number one, I think it's about really understanding and knowing our changing community. It's about staying informed and organizing around those issues that concern you. There's so much stuff being thrown at us right now. Identify two or three issues that you really care deeply about and find people that share that common concern and organize. 

When I think about our communities of color, our immigrant population, and so on, I think for those that want to be allies and collaborators and supporters, I think it's important that we build relationships with key leaders in those communities and those organizations — and, as appropriate, identify and advocate for those issues that directly affect those communities. 

I think, just from an accessibility perspective, we want to meet people where they're at, particularly as we're coming together, and accommodate for language or other accessibility issues. I think what we can all do is recognize that everything is local here in New Hampshire, and I think it's important to contact our local and state and federal delegation about issues that concern us so they can know that while there might be a vocal minority of people who may have negative thoughts, that the majority is really in the middle, and there are people of good conscience there who want to really engage in this work. 

Lastly, I think it's important that those that can to donate to organizations who are working directly with these communities, and if you can't donate, support their fundraising activities, so they can continue this good work and make sure that no matter where you come from, no matter how big your pocketbook is, no matter what your language of origin, that you know that New Hampshire is a place where you can live, work, play and pray, and that your contributions matter and you actually belong.

Melanie Plenda:

That was a great discussion. Thank you Anthony Poore, president and CEO of the New Hampshire Center for Justice and Equity.

“The State We’re In” is a weekly digital public affairs show produced by NH PBS and The Marlin Fitzwater Center for Communication at Franklin Pierce University. It is shared with partners in the Granite State News Collaborative, of which both organizations are members. These articles are being shared by partners in the Granite State News Collaborative. For more information, visitcollaborativenh.org.

Who is buying all the homes in New Hampshire?

Influx of wealthier buyers and ever-rising prices have made it almost impossible for average-income Granite Staters to enter housing market

By Jon Decker, Granite State News Collaborative

First-time homebuyers and others who are earning the average wage in New Hampshire and are hoping to buy a home have essentially been shut out of the housing market — and have been for several years, with apparently no end in sight to their plight. 

In fact, even middle- and higher-income renter households are finding it difficult to buy a home.

With sale prices in New Hampshire remaining at record highs — the median price of a single-family home has been above $500,000 since April 2024 — the relatively few homes on the market are being gobbled up almost exclusively by high-income earners from out of state, prior homeowners, and people with access to generational wealth. And these buyers often rely on cash purchases, allowing them to outcompete people who need financing to buy a home. 

The median price of a single-family home in New Hampshire jumped by over 71% between 2019 and 2024, according to the N.H. Association of Realtors. Prices are so high that the state’s housing affordability index is now 59, meaning that a buyer earning the median household income has only 59% of the money needed to qualify for a mortgage on a median-priced single-family home.

According to an analysis from the N.H. Fiscal Policy Institute, in 2023 one-fourth of all New Hampshire households had incomes of less than $50,000 per year. Another 14% earned between $50,000 and $74,999, the analysis found. That means nearly 40% of New Hampshire’s approximately 547,000 households have incomes below the median of $96,838. 

At one point, according to Dave Cummings, vice president of communications for the Realtors association, median household income was double the amount needed to get a mortgage. Now, he said, the current affordability index is “as low as we’ve ever seen it.”

But even though so many potential buyers are priced out of home ownership, New Hampshire homes are still selling fast. According to the Realtors, there was only a 1.7-month inventory of single-family homes on the market, meaning it would take less than two months for the available homes to be sold if no new homes were to come onto the market.

“A balanced market would be about five to seven months of supply,” Cummings said. “The last time we saw a balanced market was October of 2016 and that was five months. Since then it’s been below two months supply, which is an incredible seller’s market, but it’s not a healthy market for anyone entering the housing market, particularly if you don’t have something to sell to gain some equity.”

Who are the buyers?

Such high prices and quick sales raise the question: Who is actually buying homes in New Hampshire?

“Most [of the buyers] are coming up from Massachusetts, because that’s where the money is,” said Conway Realtor Dave Haines. “Unfortunately, local people are pretty much priced out of the market.”

A line of homes rests at the foot of the White Mountains in Conway.With a median single-family home priced at over $437,000, ‘local people are pretty much priced out of the market,’ says Realtor Dave Haines. Most of the buyers, he adds, are paying cash for their new homes. (Photo by Jon Decker)

Haines has been selling homes in the Mount Washington Valley area for five decades and he lives just 150 yards from his childhood home in Conway. In those 50 years, he’s seen homes grow increasingly unaffordable for locals.

“When the price moved up over $400,000, it was out of reach for most everyone with wages, " Haines said, but the buyers he has worked with — whether retired or pre-retirement — haven’t resorted to financing their purchase, even for the most expensive homes.

According to Haines, with decades of savings, pensions and equity built up in their first homes, many buyers are paying cash, making it even harder for people who need financing to compete. 

“I’ve only had just a handful last year that were financed,” Haines said. “The majority of everything was cash. The one that I closed last week was cash, and the one this week is cash.”

Cash is also king in the Lakes Region, according to veteran Realtor Frank Roche, who said at least half of his recent sales were in greenbacks.

“They’ll come in and pay cash, but that doesn't mean they won’t refinance them later,” Roche said. “It’s hard to say how many people stay in that position, but we’re fortunate. Massachusetts is our strongest market, and we get a good number of people from New York, Connecticut and New Jersey.”

While more rural areas like Carroll County are seeing an influx of older buyers, the Lakes Region is a little bit more of a mixed bag.

“It’s mostly older folks, but we do get some younger people,” Roche said. “There’s lots of wealth in the Boston area. Let’s say these families have invested in the stock market; they’ll parlay that to their children. Many have inherited wealth or trusts.”

Other buyers are second-home or condo owners who were able to sell their previous properties and move into their vacation homes full time, said Roche. Members of America’s elite have also purchased multimillion-dollar properties along Lake Winnipesaukee’s shore.

“The president of Black & Decker is here with a few trophy homes in Winnipesaukee,” Roche said. “The president of Moderna bought a house, the Marriott family. There are many CEOs that have purchased property.”

Luxury recreational areas like the Lakes Region have also been inundated with vacation and short-term rentals, putting a further squeeze on housing stock while boosting income for property owners.

“There’s been a lot of investors who have purchased single-family homes for Airbnb and VRBO sites — they're generating very attractive returns because they are doing weekly rentals, and shorter than that,” Roche said. “There’s benefits but major disadvantages. You provide more housing for people who want to recreate, but it can change the culture of the neighborhood, and it definitely takes away product from year-round residents.”

Some towns in the Lakes Region and elsewhere have started to crack down on short-term rentals through local ordinances, but thousands of properties are still available throughout the state on VRBO and Airbnb alone.

Another buyer archetype showing up in the Lakes Region and beyond is the returning Granite Stater. Some are driven by nostalgia, others by climate change or a desire to live closer to family — a reversal of the classic New Hampshire-to-Florida retirement pipeline.

“I was puzzled myself last year because I kept talking to people from southern states like Florida and the Carolinas,” said Suzanne Damon, a veteran Realtor operating in the Manchester area. “The fact is, in Florida, costs to insure property are almost the same as your mortgage, so we’re seeing people move back from Florida to New Hampshire — the grandkids are here, the family is here.”

Damon also cited the pandemic as a major driver for returning retirees.

“Think about mom and dad getting sick and the kids not there to help,” Damon said. “With travel restrictions, there's really no one there to help. People got nervous.”

Damon’s home turf of Manchester is seeing much more than returning snowbirds cornering the market. The city’s proximity to Boston and post-pandemic pressures further cemented the Queen City as a commuter town.

In addition, “what I hear is many millennials moving into this immediate area are in the work-from-home industry — tech, hospital, medical tech people,” Damon said.

Manchester’s average home price of about $423,000 is about half of Boston’s median of $825,000, allowing for easy cash purchases when homeowners sell. 

“We are selling homes very well — my average time is about 14 days, which is nothing in terms of time frame,” Damon said. The mortgage payment on an average home in Damon’s area runs about $3,300 a month, roughly 40% of the local median household income of $94,000.

“Even with that $3,300 monthly payment, it’s still more affordable than being in Massachusetts, and they can commute backwards. That puts pressure on affordable towns like Derry, Merrimack and Manchester,” she said.

Wealthier newcomers

Many of the new commuter and remote workers were pandemic-era refugees enticed by the Granite State’s access to outdoor recreation and a general sense of open space. Their arrival contributed to a significant increase in the state’s average income, according to a 2025 report from the UNH Carsey School of Public Policy.

“When their ability to work from home increased, a significant number moved to their second homes, or if their parents had a second home. I think that’s part of why there was this big surge of income in New Hampshire,” said Kenneth Johnson, the Carsey School’s senior demographer and one of the report’s authors.

According to the Carsey report “Domestic Migrants and Dollars Flowed to New Hampshire During the Pandemic,” people migrating to New Hampshire from 2020 to 2022 earned, on average, $111,000 a year, compared to $87,000 for households leaving the state. Although most of the home purchases appear to be made by older individuals closer to retirement age, Johnson’s work shows that a lot more younger people are moving into New Hampshire than meets the eye.

“New Hampshire tends to gain people in their 30s and 40s with kids, and has a modest influx of older people,” Johnson explained. “The state has a significant outflow of older people to the south, but it still has a net pretty close to zero because it's also getting older adults moving into the Lakes Region and vacation areas in the state. Overall, it's gaining people in their 30s to early 50s.”

Johnson added that, if New Hampshire loses any population, it’s people in the 20-to-29 age group, but in the last few years, the state had “a very modest net gain” even among that cohort.

Limited opportunities

Even among working-age buyers who might not have built up significant equity, Manchester Realtor Damon said, cash purchases are quite common in her market as well — a real estate market that recently was named the hottest in the country by Zillow, the online real estate marketplace.

“In addition to competitive offers, I’m seeing mom and dad pulling out equity to pay cash for the kids’ home so they can turn around and get a mortgage,” Damon said. “We definitely have a good inside population moving from apartments, parents' basements into people’s homes in our local market.” 

With an average time on market of 14 days, it is especially difficult for first-time buyers to mobilize funds quickly enough to compete with cash offers for a home.

“Some [first-time buyers] have been out for a couple of years and have been frustrated, and sometimes they throw in the towel,” Damon said. “But in terms of affordability, you can only go up so high. Two years ago, I would have 10 to 15 offers [on a home]; now it’s two to three, so things are starting to balance out with inventory and pricing.”

But she added that there is some hope for lower-income or first-time buyers.

While the standard down payment is usually 20% of the sale price, “New Hampshire Housing has a fine program, which is state-backed with funds from banks and other lenders, and there are programs with 100% financing, some with 3.5% down, there are grants out there,” Damon said. “They just really need to connect [buyers] with those sources. In these institutions, they don’t really have a marketing budget, and they depend on Realtors to spread the word, so I think I have a responsibility and due diligence.”

However, funding and loans aside, New Hampshire has also long suffered from a lack of inventory to meet demand. Based on current population growth trends, a 2023 New Hampshire Housing report estimated that the state will need 60,000 more units by 2030 and 90,000 by 2024. The shortage is currently 23,500 units, according to New Hampshire Housing, further increasing demand and thus raising prices, all the while attracting wealthier populations throughout the Granite State. 

“This is a story that is playing across the states,” Johnson said. “There is concern about who’s moving in. Who's going to be the volunteer firefighters, paramedics, who's going to coach Little League, are there going to be enough kids in schools?”

A luxury property along the waters of Lake Winnipesaukee, one of the many of its kind that have attracted wealthy buyers to the Lakes Region. (Photo by Jon Decker)

“I’m worried, " said Lakes Realtor Frank Roche, "because we’re one of the top three oldest states. We are an aging population, and one of our biggest problems in the Lakes Region is labor supply.”

Many of the service jobs that make these communities work, such as food service, hospitality roles, EMTs and firefighters, pay well below even the median household income, and far below what’s needed to afford a home.

“You can take Auburn, Candia, Hooksett — towns with significant socioeconomic standing with higher incomes — and those are the people saying ‘I don’t want to bring in the $50,000 blue-collar workers,’” Damon said. “What my $150,000 worker doesn't understand is that we have to have blue-collar and our entry-level workers to run these businesses. You’re not going to have a suit to put on if you don’t have entry-level people working.” 

Johnson, however, pointed out that the influx of wealthier, higher-educated migrants cuts both ways.

“The people who are coming in are coming here because they like it and want to be there, and many of them bring experience in bureaucracies and how to get things done in big organizations,” Johnson said

Johnson, a Lakes Region resident, gave the example of a chief financial officer of a Fortune 100 company who had retired to the area and was elected treasurer of the town he moved to. “There’s no way we could have gotten someone with that kind of expertise to do this job, but he lives there and is part of the community and we get that expertise,” Johnson said.

But while talented and experienced individuals have the potential to uplift the community, the natural effects of an ever-growing market are causing concern, even among experienced Realtors like Roche. 

“Are we going to keep growing at these numbers in leaps in bounds?” Roche asked. “It has to stop at some point and readjust. It always does. It did in the ’80s, ’90s, and 2008.” 

Citing the infusion of COVID funds stimulus and other forms of government spending in recent years, he said, “I think the government pumped a ton of helium into the country, and now we’re at a point where we’ve got to sustain ourselves. I think we’re at a plateau where we have to watch the accelerator.”

These articles are being shared by partners in the Granite State News Collaborative. For more information, visitcollaborativenh.org.

Black History, DEI, and the Silence We Can’t Afford

By Shamecca Brown, Columnist, GSNC Freelancer

“Ma, why do I only see things that mention Black people in February?” my son asked. Movies with Black characters were popping up on Amazon Prime and Netflix–Roots caught his attention. My son, the youngest of my four kids, is 12. He’s so laid back but notices and pays attention to everything around him. I told him the truth: Schools, workplaces, and society at large still treat Black history as a seasonal event rather than the foundation of American history. And now, with Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs being rolled back, it’s clear that some people would rather erase progress than embrace it. 

I grew up in neighborhoods of New York City where diversity, equity and inclusion were the norm. But when I moved to New Hampshire as a 28-year old single mom with a 12-year-old son and 5-year-old daughter, my family faced challenges that underscored the pervasive nature of racial ignorance. 

Shortly after we arrived, a peer called my son  the N-word. In response, my son invited the child to discuss the matter outside, seeking resolution. The school perceived my son’s actions as threatening and involved the police. Despite my requests for a meeting, the school failed to address the racial slur directed at my son. This incident revealed a profound lack of cultural competence and an urgent need for comprehensive DEI training within the educational system. Fourteen years later, I’ve never seen that happen. 

My son’s experience reminded me of when I was in eighth grade, learning the harrowing story of Emmett Till. The discussions were intense, and the emotional weight was palpable among my peers. During one such conversation, I voiced a sentiment that had been brewing within me: “We’re the most hated race.” Instead of engaging in a meaningful dialogue, my teacher asked me to leave the classroom, labeling me a distraction. This reaction was telling. It highlighted an unwillingness to confront the uncomfortable truths about racism.

DEI is more than a buzzword; it’s a daily practice. I celebrate everyone’s unique background and ensure that each person has a fair chance to contribute. I know not everyone starts at the same place, so I work to level the playing field through mentorship, advocacy and simply listening. Creating a space where every voice is valued and respected is what makes me show up at work. I do so with the goal of challenging inequities and fostering an environment where everyone truly belongs. DEI work isn’t on my check list–it is how I live and work every day.

This work isn’t easy. It’s uncomfortable. For white people, it takes vulnerability and a willingness to be an active ally. For Black people these topics can hit hard, stirring up emotions and overwhelming feelings, especially when you feel like you’re constantly having to explain what should be obvious. I’ve cried at more than one DEI training. Despite the discomfort, these tough conversations are needed. They matter—especially in schools, where kids need to learn both history and the importance of diversity, equity and inclusion.

Today, the landscape of DEI is shifting, and not in a good way. What once felt like progress is now under attack.. Let's talk real. This new executive order that’s tryna ban teaching about race in schools? It’s a big problem for our kids. By shutting down conversations about race, we’re keeping children in the dark about our country’s real history and the different stories that make it up. This kinda ignorance? It just keeps stereotypes alive and kickin’, ‘cause our kids won’t learn about the struggles and contributions of different racial groups.

Plus, when schools act like certain histories don’t matter, it sends a messed-up message to minority kids. It’s like saying their stories ain’t worth telling, which can make them feel left out and lower their self-esteem. Schools should be places where every kid feels seen and respected.

DEI programs are crucial. They help kids from all backgrounds understand and respect each other. But now, with moves to cut these programs, with federal agencies pulling DEI guidance from their websites and canceling staff training, we’re taking steps backward. This ain’t just about schools; it’s about creating a society where everyone gets a fair shot.

Bottom line? Keeping race out of the classroom doesn’t just mess with our kids’ learning: it stops them from growing into open-minded adults ready to thrive in our diverse world. We gotta stand up for an education that tells the whole story, so our kids are ready for whatever comes their way.

Writing about this, speaking about this  makes me more curious, but also more cautious. Because the truth is, every time we push for change, there’s pushback. But if we let fear silence us, nothing changes at all.

I didn’t just sit with the shock of racism I encountered in New Hampshire. I educated myself. I sought out Black organizations and connected with people who truly care about creating spaces for people of color, for different genders, for those struggling with socioeconomic barriers. I found my community, even in a place where it wasn’t easily visible.

In New York City I was nurtured in a city defined by its diversity. I was fortunate to experience an educational environment where Black history was an integral part of the curriculum. Schools actively taught it, and our elders enriched our understanding by sharing personal stories of their experiences, especially given my family’s roots in Birmingham, Alabama, and various parts of North Carolina. They instilled in us the importance of respect, a value I now pass down to my children.

Raising my children in a predominantly white state requires a more proactive approach. When people express curiosity about my kids’ hair or skin, I’ve taught them to assertively communicate boundaries, emphasizing that while questions are acceptable, unsolicited touching is not. It’s crucial they understand their right to stand up against derogatory language, such as the N-word, and not allow anyone to demean them.

These experiences have reinforced my commitment to educating my children about their rights and the importance of self-advocacy.  While we can’t change everyone’s mindset, we can empower ourselves and our children to stand up against injustice and demand the respect every human being deserves.

I’ve learned that no matter where I go, the work doesn’t stop. Whether it’s Black history, DEI, or basic human rights, it’s not about waiting for change, it's about making it happen. I will continue to work toward that. 

Columnist Shamecca Brown, a proud New Yorker, is family-oriented and passionate about serving underserved communities.

These articles are being shared by partners in the Granite State News Collaborative. For more information, visit collaborativenh.org.

Shamecca Brown, Courtesy

What are New Hampshire lawmakers’ priorities for 2025?

A new session has started at the State House in Concord, but some of the bills lawmakers are proposing seem to be old favorites. What else are they proposing? On this episode of “The State We’re In,” Anna Brown, executive director of Citizens Count and executive director of the Warren B. Rudman Center for Justice, Leadership and Public Service at the University of New Hampshire’s Franklin Pierce School of Law, talks about what’s coming up in the next few months.

By Rosemary Ford and Caitlin Agnew

This article has been edited for length and clarity.

Melanie Plenda:

Can you give us a high-level overview of some of the bills we’ll see in front of the State House this term? I imagine there are new proposals as well as some old favorites returning for Round 2, or in some cases, Round 22.

Anna Brown:

Yes. When I think about three big hot topics that are happening this year, it's housing, school policies and curriculum, and immigration.

Housing has been a top issue for many years. There is now a housing committee in the House of Representatives that is dedicated to bills looking at this issue. The challenge is that a lot of what the state can do right now is pushing back on local zoning laws, and there's a big tradition of local control in New Hampshire, where towns and cities set their own zoning regulations. 

Many of those proposals are coming up that have been proposed in previous years. For example, limiting parking requirements, limiting minimum or maximum lot sizes, and so on. Those bills are coming back around, and we're going to see where they go this year in terms of school policies and curriculum.

In terms of school policies and curriculum, some of these are repeats — for example, a “parental bill of rights.” There’s another bill that would require teachers to respond to parent inquiries within a certain amount of time, or if they're worried for a student answering that question, then they would have to report it to the Department of Health and Human Services. 

Something new this year is the No Screens in Classrooms Act. This was brought up by Gov. Kelly Ayotte in her inaugural address, and it would ban cell phone use in the classroom during instruction time, unless a teacher is specifically incorporating it, or a student has needs for an assistive device. A lot of these other school bills are definitely variations on a theme from previous years.

Then immigration enforcement — that’s another big priority that Governor Ayotte brought up in her inaugural address. She's looking to ban sanctuary cities in New Hampshire, which I actually don't think is the most controversial immigration issue this year, because it's not really a huge, common thing in New Hampshire that you're going to have a lot of tension between police and Immigration and Customs Enforcement. In New Hampshire, there are only a couple cities or towns that have ordinances that might fall under that category. So that one is getting attention, but I'm looking more at immigration-related issues, on requiring employers to use E-verify, banning out-of-state immigrant licenses, and so on, and seeing where those issues will unfold.

Melanie Plenda:

Let’s drill down a bit on some of the other issues expected to come up this session. First, let’s talk about the state budget. What’s happening there? And how will that affect people? 

Anna Brown:

I could have answered the entire first question about important legislation by just saying “budget, budget and budget.”

The New Hampshire budget is how we really set our most important priorities, and it's going to be a tough one. Governor Ayotte has already said to expect to tighten your belt. She's already put a hiring freeze on at the state level, and that's because there's several challenges going on.

The federal COVID money that was floating around for several years and earning a lot of interest for the state is all gone now. Business tax revenue is slowing down, and the state is facing a few really challenging lawsuits related to school funding, related to juvenile detention, and the ultimate bill on those is anybody's guess.

We already have a shoestring budget for our state compared to a lot of other states. We know there are almost certainly going to have to be cuts. The governor has said as much. She will give her proposal in February, usually right around Valentine's Day — It’s easy to remember that way — so I'm really going to be curious to see where she's proposing cuts and where she's proposing to hold the line.

She's already said that she's very concerned about mental health. She's very concerned about first responders and law enforcement. So we can presume that she's not going to be looking to make cuts there. But honestly, anything else at state government is on the table.

Melanie Plenda:

There are also bills concerning child abuse up for consideration this session. What are those about? Are they related to some of the horrific cases that have made headlines in the past year?

Anna Brown:

There is a lot of bipartisan concern around child protection in New Hampshire. There are bills looking to criminalize neglect, expand definitions of child endangerment, add more assumptions that harm is occurring — so basically making it easier to remove a child from the home or prosecute — and requiring more interaction and cooperation between child safety workers and police. And this is in response to some high-profile cases. Harmony Montgomery, of course, was murdered by her own father, and it was a really tragic case that has been unfolding over multiple years as more information is uncovered about reports that were made or maybe not followed up on, and where communication didn't happen across state lines or in different departments. So definitely, those bills, I think, have a good chance of moving forward. People are trying to shore up the system. A big challenge, though, is if you don't have enough child protection workers, and people are getting burned out, and they have too large of a caseload — this is going to continue to be an issue in New Hampshire.

So this is another issue that I think might get explored during the state budget process as well, because even if you have wonderful laws, if you don't have enough people working to investigate and protect children, we're going to continue to see failures.

Melanie Plenda:

There’s also a bill aimed at no-cause evictions. What is that about? How will that impact people?

Anna Brown:

This is another repeat bill from years past, and it's sponsored by Rep. Bob Lynn, who is a former chief justice of the New Hampshire Supreme Court, so he definitely carries some weight in the House of Representatives. 

This bill would basically allow a landlord to just choose not to renew a lease. Under current law, there has to be some cause, so they can't just say, “No I don't want to rent to you anymore.” It's intended to prohibit discrimination. But the reason this bill is coming up is that there's an idea that, OK, maybe if landlords have the ability to get rid of bad tenants more easily it would encourage more people to become landlords. This is another way to maybe ease the affordable housing crisis in New Hampshire.

The flip side of this is that people are concerned that there will be a movement to just flip tenants and keep on raising rents, and that you can be as picky and discriminatory as you like. Of course, it would still be illegal to actively discriminate against people. But this is the debate. This is the reason why the bill has come up time and time again, and we're going to see if this is the year that it goes forward.

Melanie Plenda:

So, amidst all this, there are also federal mandates coming down the pike. So what is going on with the federal funding freeze, and how will that affect New Hampshire?

Anna Brown:

This is a constantly changing situation. Over a period of just a few days, we saw a complete federal funding freeze. Medicaid portals went down temporarily. There's some debate about whether that was a technical glitch or intentional. Then the Trump administration said they were lifting the order that implemented the freeze, but were still going to continue the review of federal funds. That's a very uncertain environment.

I think the challenge in New Hampshire is how to plan for this going forward, because there are big potential impacts on the budget. At the highest level, about one-third of all of the revenue that's in the New Hampshire budget comes from the federal government, and that might go to roads or schools or contracts for other community services. And it's worth noting that, with our shoestring budget compared to other states, a lot of our social service programs — whether it's after-school programs or public health programs, essential services for new mothers, maybe services for veterans — are coming from nonprofits that get government contracts. So this potential federal funding freeze — it's hard to understate the impact it could have in New Hampshire. But since the landscape continues to change so much on a daily basis, we can't know for sure what ultimately is going to happen.

Melanie Plenda:

Do you expect any of President Trump’s recent executive orders to have an impact on New Hampshire in the coming months? 

Anna Brown:

Absolutely — that's almost undeniable. I've discussed the scope of a federal funding freeze potentially in New Hampshire. Even freezing some of those grants or specific areas of funding could have a very large impact in a state that relies so much on that funding. That being said, it could be a small impact or a big one.

There was also a recent Trump executive order that's looking to expand school choice. So we know that New Hampshire has the Education Freedom Account program, and that allows students to take the per-pupil share of public school funding and spend it on private and homeschool expenses. Is there a world where the Trump administration would support funding that program? It's not impossible.

At this point, I would say the executive orders are written in really broad legal language that leaves a lot of room for interpretation. So absolutely — there will be an impact, and I think it's just up to journalists and nonprofits like Citizens Count and the UNH Law School, and everyone else to just be doing their best to keep reading and talking to each other and doing their best to plan for what might happen.

Melanie Plenda:

Thank you Anna Brown, executive director of Citizens Count as well as executive director of the Warren B. Rudman Center for Justice, Leadership & Public Service at the University of New Hampshire’s Franklin Pierce School of Law.

“The State We’re In” is a weekly digital public affairs show produced by NH PBS and The Marlin Fitzwater Center for Communication at Franklin Pierce University. It is shared with partners in the Granite State News Collaborative, of which both organizations are members. These articles are being shared by partners in the Granite State News Collaborative. For more information, visit collaborativenh.org.

By creating a ‘kin first’ culture, the state substantially increased the number of children staying with family

State policy now says children who can’t safely live with their parents do best when they can remain with other family members.

By Kelly Burch-Granite State News Collaborative

Patrick Sweeney’s mornings are busy. He wakes up his 10-year-old granddaughter Kiarah before the sun, and both leave home at about 5:20 — Sweeney to walk a mile and a half to work, and Kiarah to spend time with a babysitter before school starts. 

Afternoons are when the duo can spend quality time together in their Lincoln apartment. 

“We do everything together: We read, play board games, play Hangman,” Sweeney said. 

Kiarah Sweeney and her grandfather, Patrick Sweeney, pose for a portrait in the skylight of her room in Lincoln, N.H. on Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025. The Sweeneys’ third floor apartment has views of town and the mountains beyond.

It’s not the life that Sweeney, 63, imagined four years ago, before he took custody of Kiarah. Sweeney had raised his seven children and was preparing to retire from his career as a roofer and painter. That’s when one of his sons, a police officer, called to say that Sweeney’s other son, who struggles with substance abuse, was living on the streets with Kiarah. 

Sweeney persuaded Kiarah’s dad to bring her for a visit, and immediately filed for custody. A judge granted the petition, and Sweeney has been parenting Kiarah ever since, trading his would-be Florida retirement for discussions about puberty and working two jobs to make ends meet as a single parent.

“This is my life, and this is what I want to do, and it’s what I’m going to do, but it’s hard,” Sweeney said, his voice cracking. “It’s definitely hard.”

Despite the challenges, research shows that kids who can’t safely live with their parents, often because of substance misuse, do best when they live with family. 

Children placed with family have better mental health outcomes, fewer behavioral issues, and experience fewer moves and school changes than children in foster care with strangers, according to the American Bar Association. 

Kiarah Sweeney and her grandfather, Patrick Sweeney, pose for a portrait in the living room of their Lincoln, N.H. home on Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025.

Over the past few years, New Hampshire has been making a concerted effort to get more children into these kinship placements and to support families like Sweeney’s to make the placements successful. 

“We are really thinking about how to internalize that kin-first culture,” said Marie Noonan, director of the state Department for Children, Youth and Families.

That’s resulted in a shift for Granite State kids. In 2019, just 26 percent of children who came into the foster care system were placed with kin; by last year, that number had jumped to 79 percent, according to state data.

Yet not all kinship placements have involvement from the state agency, commonly called DCYF. Far more placements are informal, where families decide to step in to protect a child. Overall, about 7,000 grandparents in New Hampshire are raising their grandchildren, and about 24,000 children live in homes where a relative other than a parent is the head of household, according to state data. 

A statewide Kinship Navigation Program, administered through the state’s family resources centers, aims to support all kinship caregivers — formal and informal — by connecting them with financial, social and educational resources. 

Kiarah Sweeney shares a story she wrote and illustrated in Lincoln, N.H. on Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025.

Keeping kids with family whenever possible is “the priority,” said Kristin Conlin, kinship program specialist with DCYF.  

“It’s necessary, and it has to happen,” she said. “It’s really important.”

A new process for keeping kids with family

Conlin’s position, created in December 2022, is part of the state’s effort to increase kinship placements. Creating that job “enabled us to really look at how we implement practices and policies” to keep children in kinship families and empower those caregivers, Noonan said. 

In addition, the state began contracting with A Second Chance, a national organization that helps place children with kin and provides resources to kinship caregivers. That contract began in the summer of 2023 and became fully operational in June 2024. 

Now, when a child comes into contact with DCYF, the child’s caseworker and A Second Chance begin working immediately to identify possible kinship placements, should the child need to be removed from their parents’ custody.

Kiarah Sweeney works on a drawing in Lincoln, N.H. on Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025.

“The workers strongly believe that children should be with relatives or kin, and because of that they’re engaging parents from the get-go around who’s in their family system, who could take [the children] temporarily while [parents] work on whatever the issue is that brought the child into care,” Conlin said. 

The state has also made policy changes, such as reducing the amount of state training required for kinship caregivers before a child can be placed in their home, Noonan said.

Finding a kinship placement is only the first step, however. Families need financial and emotional resources to be able to parent that child successfully, especially since many children in the system have trauma. 

That’s where the state’s Kinship Navigation Program comes in. The program, a partnership between the N.H. Children’s Trust and the state’s family resource centers, aims to provide resources to help families address the financial, social and emotional challenges of raising a child. 

“A tremendous amount of resources are necessary and a tremendous amount of parenting strategies are necessary,” said Nathan Fink, senior director of advancement with the Children’s Trust. 

Many caregivers, like Sweeney, have never interacted with the social welfare system before, and sometimes don’t know where to turn. Too often, they carry the financial burden of caregiving themselves, said Lindsay Allsop, director of impact with the Children’s Trust. That can be especially problematic for grandparents on a limited income.

Patrick Sweeney and his granddaughter, Kiarah, hang out before dinner at their home in Lincoln, N.H. on Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025.

“They’re depleting retirement savings and are denied certain benefits,” she said. “They need resources [and] our navigators can really help connect them to programs that they’re eligible for.”

Finding resources to support kin caregivers

Sweeney eventually connected with Megan Woods, a kinship navigator at Whole Village Family Resource Center in Plymouth. She helped him find a range of other resources, including a senior center bus that gives him a ride to the grocery store, health insurance for him and Kiarah, a state case worker, SNAP benefits and fuel assistance. 

“I never knew these resources were there,” Sweeney said. “I have to take advantage of everything I can to try to save us.”

Woods works with about 10 families, spread over a 19-town area. Similar programs exist across the state. In addition to explaining financial benefits, Woods hosts family nights where kids and kinship caregivers can share a meal together, and she teaches parenting classes. After six months to a year with the navigation program, she says, most caregivers have a much better understanding of the resources available to them. 

In the midst of cooking dinner, Kiarah Sweeney and her grandfather, Patrick Sweeney, stand for a photo in their Lincoln, N.H. kitchen on Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025.

“That’s one of my favorite parts – when they can empower themselves after us being in there,” Woods said. 

Other kinship navigators are constantly sharing new resources, Woods said. Yet she doesn’t have every tool she needs for kinship families. Transportation is a major challenge for many rural caregivers, she said. Sweeney, for example, hasn’t been able to participate in caregiver support groups because he doesn’t have a car to make the drive to the family resource center in Plymouth. 

Leaders at the Children’s Trust would like to see even more investment in the kinship program to close gaps like that one. 

“There are so many different pockets of money that could be braided together to support kinship navigation,” said Allsop. 

She would like to see kinship placements — both formal and informal — automatically enrolled in every state benefit they’re eligible for, including SNAP food benefits, cash assistance and Medicaid. 

Patrick Sweeney cooks dinner in the kitchen of his Lincoln, N.H. apartment on Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025.

Kinship caregivers, she said, are often breaking a generational cycle of trauma and substance misuse. That in itself can save the government money long-term and should be supported, she argued. 

While the state is making strides, Allsop says, “we’re still in Band-Aid territory, not system-building territory.”

Caregivers, she said, “need stable, long-term financial support in order to do it right.”

Sweeney said he doesn’t know what he would do without the resources the Kinship Navigation Program has connected him with, and without his local community in Lincoln. 

“As hard as it is for us just to get by, I’m so grateful,” he said. 

Those supports have allowed him to focus on Kiarah, who he says is flourishing. These days she plays basketball, she snowboards, and she’s reading at an eighth-grade level. But her kindness and grace are what Sweeney is most proud of. 

“When she smiles at me and tells me, ‘I love you, Grandpa,’ that will keep me going forever,” he said. 

These articles are being shared by partners in the Granite State News Collaborative. For more information, visit collaborativenh.org.

From incarceration to independence: How Dismas Home helps women rebuild their lives in New Hampshire

How does someone move on from being incarcerated? It can’t be easy, but our guests on this episode of “The State We’re In” — Julie McCarthy-Brown, founder, and Cheryll Andrews, executive director, of Dismas Home of New Hampshire — know something about how to do it successfully and why it’s important for the entire community. 

By Rosemary Ford and Caitlin Agnew

This article has been edited for length and clarity.

Melanie Plenda:

Julie, tell us about Dismas Home in Manchester and how it came to be.

Julie McCarthy-Brown:

First of all, I'd like to change “formerly incarcerated women” to “women that are involved in the justice system,” because we serve women throughout the justice system. The state is moving to restoring and helping women grow, and not just from incarceration, but they come from all areas.

The namesake comes from the penitent thief who died on the cross next to Christ. Before he died, he asked Christ for forgiveness and he was given forgiveness, and we want these women to have forgiveness. His namesake is St. Dismas, and it’s called Dismas Home of New Hampshire.

In most of the other states it’s called Dismas House, but we wanted a home, not a house, because these women have never had truly a good home that’s a safe environment for them. We give them the space and the time to recover from the trauma that got them in trouble in the first place.  

Cheryll Andrews:

So the state is moving towards a more restorative process instead of just punitive. So we consider women “justice-involved,” and that could mean pretrial services. We get calls from public defenders. We get calls from the drug courts, because they plead into drug court, and they need a partner, a housing partner, and so we work with them. We do take women from the prison. We take women from the jails. We take them from other programs that they might be involved in — a detox, a 28-day program. So they all have levels of justice involvement, probation and parole — any of those connections give us a place to reach out to women. And we have recently extended our service catchment to include women veterans who are justice-involved.

Melanie Plenda:

And, why was it important to go beyond just the people who were incarcerated to these other aspects of the justice system?

Cheryll Andrews:

If I'm really direct, if we can catch them before they're actually sentenced and put into a situation where they're incarcerated for a number of years it serves them better. And, because the state is moving away from long-term incarceration, they’re still justice-involved. They still have all the stigmas and obstacles attached to their re-entry into the community, including their substance misuse, but they haven't had four years in prison or 18 months in jail. It might have been a shorter stint with probation or community service or some other piece that still connects them to the justice system. But it's not directly incarceration.

Melanie Plenda:

Cheryll, tell us more about the programs of Dismas Home. What does it offer, and how does it help women?

Cheryll Andrews:

So one of the things that we are asked often is, “What do you mean Dismas Home? Is this a faith-based organization?” And my answer is we are a 501c3 nonprofit organization and we are not faith-driven. But I will tell you that a whole lot of people who have a lot of faith are behind the scenes helping us move all the pieces forward. But we do not preach doctrine, and we ask women to connect with their higher power and work and find a spiritual place for themselves, but we do not dictate that, and we don't preach doctrine. That's definitely a question that we're often asked. 

Our program is a Level 3.1 ASAM (American Society of Addiction Medicine) — it’s a national mental health care standard, and it means that we have a set program. They are required to have one hour with the clinician a week, one hour with the drug and alcohol counselor a week. They have to have three immediate group therapy meetings a week in house, and we take them to several outside community meetings every week. So that's the core of it. Plus we are staffed 24/7 with recovery support workers, meaning if they're struggling with something, they can talk to somebody 24/7 here. 

It's a pretty strict program, and residents come to us on a volunteer basis. They have to want to come. I can't make them come, and I can't make them stay. That is key to their ability to move themselves forward, because they're here on their own accord. They can pick up and leave anytime they want, and they can make the choice to stay.  It's pretty important. 

Then when they move into the transitional living program, they move into heavy case management, where we begin to really help them focus on the plan to leave us, because it's going to come, and we need to help you figure out what that looks like and how to get there. It might be education, it might be a driver's license, it might be finding housing. It's certainly about helping them find meaningful work that's not a get-well job, which is something like Dunkin’ Donuts or McDonald’s. It's a meaningful job where they will earn benefits and wages that will help them move forward to an independent level and all of the surrounding support that needs to happen.

Melanie Plenda:

Julie, how does Dismas Home support itself? 

Julie McCarthy-Brown:

We support ourselves in many different areas. We take donations, we do grants, we have corporate sponsors, volunteering — our board, for instance, is totally 100% volunteers — and they give up their time and they’re all ages. 

We have volunteers that come in. We have a book club starting right now. We have a woman who just became a professional chef, and she's coming in to work with the women. We have canine therapy. We have equine therapy. We have a lot of different programs in which people can support if they are just able to volunteer. Sometimes we have to find someone to help them get a GED, get them through that paperwork and the process to have that behind them, because there are some that arrive with no high school education. 

We also work with colleges. If a woman wants to become a vet tech, we find a scholarship for her so that she can fulfill those dreams and have a very meaningful life — something she loves going forward. Because, if you enjoy your job, it's not work.

Melanie Plenda:

Here’s a question for both of you — why is a place like this needed? Let’s start with Julie then to Cheryll. 

Julie McCarthy-Brown:

You need long-term help overcoming what you've grown up with and how you've lived in your life. Sometimes our women come with 25 years of addiction — selling drugs, being on the street, you don't know. We don't ask them their story — they’ve learned never to trust anybody, and they really just can't fathom the fact that people that don't know them personally would support them financially and would care enough to come and help them. It's very important to have that underpinning. 

When you see them succeed — I equate it to a rose blooming. When they bloom and it's fully fragrant, it is gorgeous to watch — very, very fulfilling to work with this population. I'm blessed to be able to have somebody like Cheryl who runs around very diligently for us.

Cheryll Andrews:

The personal connection for me is this:I have a sister who spent some time in jail, probably more than 20 years ago now, and when she came out, I had no way of helping her. I had no resources. I had nobody to tell me how to help her get herself moving. She was fortunate enough to find a program that helped her, and she is now living her most beautiful life with her family. So when I came to Dismas Home, I wanted to help somebody else's sister, because maybe family isn't the right place for them to go, or they certainly don't have the clinical skills. 

Women don't know how much help that they need because they built this steel cage around themselves of no trust. It's survival mode. But what they want is what the rest of us want — a normal, healthy, happy life, free of addiction, free of all this craziness that goes on because of the addiction, and to move forward to be able to have their children and enjoy going grocery shopping and have a home, the simple things in life that we all take for granted. They don't take any of it for granted, and there are so many of them — on average, over the course of a year, it's about 2,000 women in the state of New Hampshire who are justice-involved, and we can help right now. 

Melanie Plenda:

I’m sure people understand how Dismas Home helps these women, but let’s talk a little bit more about how it can also help the community.

Cheryll Andrews:

The argument is the humanity, right? The human side of things. I want to help her. She deserves help. She shouldn't have to live this way. It helps her. It helps her family. It helps break that cycle of recidivism and substance misuse. It keeps her from teaching those bad habits to her children. It helps her to find new ways to be successful, and that helps the community at large.

It offers her an opportunity to go to work. Our unemployment rate is really low, and there are boatloads of jobs out there, so if we can help someone get back into the workforce — we're helping the community on that foot. If she’s also a taxpaying citizen, she’s also contributing to society by paying her taxes. We're also helping save the state money on the other end because she's not in and out, in and out, in and out of the jail system relentlessly, or she's not living on the street where she could freeze or where she could die from anything. So if you're looking at it from the human perspective, we're helping a small chunk, a very small drop in the bucket, of people who need help. But if we can help one, and then she can help one, then we're helping more than one, and we're hopefully making that ripple effect in the community. 

Melanie Plenda:

Julie, what are your plans for the future of the organization? 

Julie McCarthy-Brown:

Cheryl always laughs at me when I talk about this. The dream 11 years ago was to have a home in every county in the state for women, and probably some for men, too. We've been asked to do it for men, but right now, the women have nothing — and that's where we're concentrating our efforts. We’ll eventually have one for men, but we'd like to have at least 10 homes.

Melanie Plenda:

And for those who would like to offer help or support, what do you need and how can they do it?

Cheryll Andrews:

Anyone who wants to help us in a wide variety of ways can send an email to info@Dismashomenh.org. Visit the website, do a little research, pick up the phone and call us. 

We're always open to lots of ideas and possibilities all the time. We have a group of volunteers that come to us from the Manchester Area Human Resources Association, and that organization has about 180 members, and they come once a month. There's a group of women who come once a month, and they do interviewing skills and resume-building skills, and how to dress for an interview, talking about what kinds of work they might want to do when they leave here or eventually, and trying to help them sort out what do I need to get there? Sometimes the conversations are pretty short, but they're planting seeds all the time to help them move themselves forward. 

You know, our motto is, “You can always make another choice.” So if today you're not making the best choice, you can make another choice today. You can make another choice tomorrow. So it's important that they know that their future is in their hands.

Melanie Plenda:

Julie McCarthy-Brown and Cheryll Andrews from Dismas Home of New Hampshire, thank you for joining us today. 

“The State We’re In” is a weekly digital public affairs show produced by NH PBS and The Marlin Fitzwater Center for Communication at Franklin Pierce University. It is shared with partners in the Granite State News Collaborative, of which both organizations are members. These articles are being shared by partners in the Granite State News Collaborative. For more information, visitcollaborativenh.org.

Bill would expand school voucher program to all families, at steep cost

The expansion would cost the state government more than $100 million a year, according to analysis. 

By Kelly Burch, Granite State News Collaborative

Lawmakers will hear testimony Thursday (Jan. 16) on a bill that would expand eligibility for educational freedom accounts — commonly known as school vouchers — to all New Hampshire families, regardless of income. 

That expansion, proposed in House Bill 115, could cost the state $102 million during the 2025-26 school year, according to Reaching Higher NH, a nonpartisan nonprofit focused on education in the Granite State.

Educational freedom accounts provide families vouchers averaging $4,600 per child toward the cost of homeschooling or private school tuition. That is based on the amount that the state pays per pupil to public and charter schools. 

Vouchers are currently available to families with incomes at or below 350 percent of the federal poverty level, equal to $109,200 for a family of four. House Bill 115, sponsored by 15 Republican lawmakers, would remove the income cap altogether. A hearing on the bill will be held Thursday, Jan. 16, at 1 p.m. The public can also submit written testimony. 

People who oppose the expansion say the state is already underfunding public education. They point to ongoing court battles in the ConVal and Rand cases, in which judges have ruled that the state is not meeting its constitutional obligation to fund an adequate education for students, thus putting the funding burden for schools on local taxpayers. 

“Every dollar that is spent on school vouchers is a dollar that’s not available for public schools, charter schools and property tax relief,” said Christina Pretorius, policy director for Reaching Higher NH. 

Pretorius argues that the voucher expansion would steer state dollars to families that have already opted for private education or homeschooling.

“Basically, it’s just finding ways to subsidize money they’re already spending,” she said. 

Kate Baker Demers is executive director of the Children’s Scholarship Fund NH, which administers the educational freedom account program. She argues that state education funding should be available to every student, whether they’re educated in public school, private school, or at home. 

“Having the income limits on this state adequate education grant that otherwise follows the child, really it shouldn’t be there,” she said. “It should be for every child in the state, logically.”

She said last year 325 children applied for educational freedom accounts, but were found ineligible because their family’s income exceeded the limit — $109,200 for a family of four. Families with incomes “a few dollars over that [limit] feel like this is the most important discussion of their children’s lifetime,” Baker Demers said. 

The effort to expand education freedom accounts comes amid concerns about the transparency of the program. Last year, the state Department of Education declined to make all data available for a legally required performance audit, InDepthNH reported. In addition, a state audit in 2024 found that Children’s Scholarship Fund NH approved some families for the voucher program when their income exceeded limits.

“There is growing concern over the lack of transparency and accountability with the school voucher program,” Pretorius said. 

Baker Demers disagreed, saying there’s “adequate transparency” around the program. 

Zandra Rice Hawkins, executive director of Granite State Progress — an organization that promotes progressive solutions to critical community problems — said that lawmakers’ top priority should be fully funding public schools and addressing taxpayer concerns about school costs, not expanding vouchers.\

“The first question is whether or not we’re fully funding our public schools and we know that we’re not,” she said. She points to recent public concerns, such as those voiced during a deliberative session in the Kearsarge School District, where voters on both sides of a proposed spending cap expressed frustration with the state’s funding formula. 

“It has been very clear that the message from local communities is support for the public schools,” Rice Hawkins said, “but we haven’t seen that call be answered from Concord.” 

State Reps. Valerie McDonnell, R-Rockingham, and Rick Ladd, R-Grafton, sponsors of House Bill 115, did not respond to requests for comment. 

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