Volunteer NH administers grant funding to the AmeriCorps State programs and serves as a steward to other National Service resources, including AmeriCorps
VISTA, Senior Corps and AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC). Volunteer NH serves as New Hampshire’s designated State Service Commission as per the National and Community Service Trust Act of 1993.
The Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) requires every State Service Commission throughout the country to design and develop a three year Unified State Service Plan. The purpose of the State Service Plan is to create a set of priorities which the State Service Commission will use when deciding how to allocate National Service resources. Additionally, the State Service Plan is intended to establish goals and strategies that directly respond to the identified priorities. To address the most critical needs of the state, CNCS mandates that the priority areas should be identified with public participation in order to guarantee that the priority areas are an inclusive reflection of the critical needs of the state. As the New Hampshire State Service Commission, Volunteer NH is committed to promoting volunteer service across the state and to acting as stewards of the National Service funds provided to NH by the CNCS.
Committed to the charge put forth by CNCS, Volunteer NH provided the general public with an opportunity to participate in an online and in-person survey that focused on identifying the critical priority areas throughout New Hampshire. In addition, Volunteer NH planned and facilitated round table meetings in Berlin, Lebanon, Portsmouth, Manchester, and Concord, where partners and the general public were invited to come and weigh in on identifying the top unmet needs in their communities. These efforts resulted in diverse statewide input.
Final Results:
The final results, with input gathered from over 450 individuals yielded a diverse response pool with regions from around the state being represented. Volunteer NH worked to ensure broad, statewide engagement in the process of determining the areas of need that should be prioritized as follows:
Priority Area 1: Economic Opportunity – Affordable Housing, Workforce Development, Transportation & Food Insecurity
Priority Area 2: Healthy Futures – Substance Misuse & Mental Health
Priority Area 3: Education – After-School Programming, Access to Higher Education and Training, Emotional Support
Read New Hampshire’s full Unified State Service Plan for 2020-2022