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 that the State Service Commission will use when deciding how to allocate National Service resources for the following three years. As the New Hampshire State Service Commission, Volunteer NH (VNH) is strongly committed to promoting volunteer service across the state. In addition to setting priorities, 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 – which should guarantee that the priority areas are an inclusive reflection of the real critical needs of the state.
Committed to the charge put forth by CNCS, VNH planned and facilitated several roundtable discussions and provided the general public with an opportunity to participate in an online and in-person survey. This survey focused on identifying the critical priority areas throughout New Hampshire. These efforts resulted in diverse statewide input.
Final Results:
The final results (with input gathered from over 400 individuals) were an example of a diverse body of public input. Volunteer NH worked to ensure broad, statewide engagement in the process of determining the areas of need that should be prioritized as follows:
1.    Education, Mentoring, Skill Development, and Afterschool Programing
2.    Drug Misuse, Mental Health, and Emotional Health
3.    Transportation Services for Veterans, Older Adults, and Individuals with Disabilities
To read the full Unified State Service Plan: Click Here