FINANCIAL STABILITY

Monadnock Food Pantries Collective: $90,000

• Served 23 towns and 3,137 people in 2022
• Accessed more fresh produce for families
• Developed a robust food-sharing system

The Collective includes the following pantries:

• The Community Kitchen (Keene)
• Joan’s Pantry (Chesterfield)
• The Federated Church Food Pantry (Marlborough)
• Helping Hands of Troy
• Jaffrey Food Pantry
• Kidz Cupboard (Marlborough)
• Rindge Food Pantry
• St Vincent de Paul Society

Cheshire County Emergency Housing Collaborative: $76,309

• Served 510 people in 15 towns in 2022
• Provided 30,055 bed-nights to 510 neighbors facing a housing crisis
• 28% of clients participated in self-improvement and educational opportunities

The Collaborative includes the following organizations:

• Southwestern Community Services
• Hundred Nights
• Monadnock Center for Violence Prevention

CHILDREN AND EDUCATION

Monadnock Region Afterschool Collective: $104,050

• Served 1291youth in 12 towns in 2022
• 80% of regular afterschool program attendees reported feeling safe and secure
• 672 (92%) parents reported having a child enrolled in the program has improved the family's financial stability

The Collective includes the following programs:

• ACCESS Winchester Afterschool Program
• Hinsdale Afterschool Program
• Keene Family YMCA School's Out Program (plus Chesterfield site)
• Project Keep (at Symonds, Fuller, and Franklin Schools in Keene)
• Project Edventure Marlborough Afterschool
• Hillsboro-Deering Before and Afterschool Program
• Beyond the Bell (at Mt. Caesar and Cutler Schools in Swanzey, Troy Elementary, and Emerson Elementary in Fitzwilliam)

EARLY CHILDHOOD: Impact Monadnock

MUW’s signature early childhood initiative prepares Monadnock Region children from birth to age eight for future academic, career, and life success.

Monadnock Alliance for Families: $223,650

• Served 1,905 children and families in 36 towns in 2022
• 766 families received home visiting services  
• 85% of parents surveyed reported learning useful parenting skills and a greater understanding of their child's behavior

The Collective includes the following organizations:

• Rise for baby and family
• Monadnock Family Services
• The River Center
• The Grapevine
• Healthy Starts - Home Healthcare, Hospice, and Community Services

Quality Child Care Centers: $110,033

• Served 257 children in 30 towns in 2022
• Provided tuition assistance to families in need
• Expanded training opportunities for staff

Childcare Centers include:

• Keene Day Care Center, Inc - $30,000
• Monadnock Community Early Learning Center - $29,400
• Hillsboro Child Development Center (SNHS) - $14,250
• Walpole Village School - $4,988
• Winchester Learning Center - $29,925

SCS Dental Program (Head Start): $14,250

• 72 children in 10 towns received dental screenings in 2022
• Expanded services to include fluoride treatments and full preventative care to children without a dentist
• Partnered with Cheshire Smiles to manage dental services

Special Allocations

StartSmart: Birth Gifts with a Purpose: $2,145 - Special Allocation

A project of the Impact Monadnock Business Ambassadors, the StartSmart: Birth Gifts with a Purpose program offers individuals the opportunity to welcome a new baby with a gift that can help that child's brain development AND also contributes to the enrollment of a local, at-risk child in Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. This means more books for local kids! Since 2018, over 100 birth gifts have been purchased providing new babies and parents a Smart Start for the future.

Pyramid Model: $130,000 Special Allocation from Early Childhood Education Grant*

Pyramid Model’s behavior intervention methods help teachers, caregivers, and other professionals who work in Child Care settings build nurturing skills, create positive learning environments, and support children with challenging behavior.

• Currently in place at 3 centers in the Monadnock Region
  • Keene Day Care Center
  • The Children's Learning Center (TCLC) at Cheshire Medical Center/Dartmouth Hitchcock (CMC/DH)
  • CDC at Keene State College (KSC) Child Development Center
• Four centers are starting to implement Pyramid Model
  • Rise for baby and family
  • Keene Family YMCA
  • Walpole Village School
  • Home Away from Home in Walpole

*see Grants, Federal Funds and Resources

In addition to grants and allocations, MUW provides coalition building, offers training and tools for human service agencies, advocates for policy change, engages volunteer groups, participates as a member of several community initiatives, and promotes the value of health and human service programs to ensure that our community remains vibrant now and in the future. $456,000 is invested in these initiatives:

• 211- NH is the state’s 24-hour social services hotline, 211 connects individuals with critical services. It is also the hotline for COVID-19 and The Doorway for substance misuse assistance. 211 is managed by Granite United Way and funded, in part, by the four United Ways in NH.
• Membership in the United Way World Wide Network
• The State Early Learning Alliance (SELA) of NH program is a groundbreaking, economy-of-scale model for child care, early childhood education, Head Start, and afterschool programs. Members share back-office services and buying power for bottom line efficiencies. They also join together to strengthen business practices that provide quality care and give the children they serve a better start.
• Impact Monadnock Business Ambassadors
• Advising for partner agencies
• Convener for affinity groups across the region
  • Monadnock Social Services Collective - a group of local agencies focused on issues related to seniors in our community
• Member of the Healthy Monadnock Alliance
  • ​Executive Committee
  • Behavioral Health Work Group
• ​Member of the New Hampshire Community Loan Fund Board
• ​Monadnock Resource Alliance – MUW and the NH Community Loan Fund co-host a cross-sector coalition working to strengthen the region's vitality by focusing on affordable housing. Alliance members collaborate to ensure that our region’s nonprofits, for-profits, towns, community groups, and other stakeholders are aware of and have access to community-building resources needed to solve this issue. Members include:
  • Center for Population Health at Cheshire Medical Center
  • Cheshire County
  • Cohen Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Keene State College
  • Greater Keene and Peterborough Chamber of Commerce
  • Hannah Grimes Center for Entrepreneurship
  • Individual Community Leaders
  • Mascoma Savings Bank
  • Monadnock Interfaith Project
  • Monadnock United Way
  • NH Community Loan Fund
  • Savings Bank of Walpole
  • Southwest Regional Planning Commission
  • Southwest Community Services
• Bringing It Home project support - this project is focused on establishing home-based childcare options for families in the Monadnock region

MUW is honored to be able to attract specialized grant funding into our region for the benefit of our greater community. Some grants are managed and distributed by MUW (Granted Directly) and other funds are managed and distributed by partnering entities (Attracted). Either way, these funds support children, education and financial stability throughout our region.

Department of Education Federal Funding for Early Childhood Expansion - $1,000,000 (attracted) (2022-2024)

Awarded to Keene State College, the funds support a collaboration between the College, MUW, Keene Family YMCA, and local Early Childhood Centers designed to increase access to affordable, quality child care for working families in the Greater Monadnock Region.

Preschool Development Project- $725,000 (granted directly to MUW) (2021-2023)

Early Childhood Region 1 - $350,000

MUW’s Impact Monadnock was awarded the Lead Agency for Early Childhood Region 1. Formed in mid-2021, this community-wide coalition includes childcare and education centers, schools, health and mental health organizations, family resource centers, and businesses spanning a 100-mile corridor of the Monadnock, Sullivan County and Upper Valley regions of NH.

The coalition focuses on improving educational, health, and social-emotional outcomes for children prenatal through age 8 and their families. As a result of the coalition’s work:

• Children’s social-emotional, educational and health outcomes will improve.
• Families will have a genuine voice and role in the success of their children.
• Families of young children will more easily access unduplicated services when they need them.

The Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families awarded the funds through The Preschool Development Grant (Award# 90TP0060-01-00).

Collaboration through Coaching and Mentoring Project- $375,000

Early Childhood Region 1 was also awarded funding for projects that benefit families while fostering collaboration among agencies, schools and programs in this newly-expanded region. The project creates a self-sustaining and supportive train-the-trainer system within the coalition where providers share common delivery systems. This will create positive outcomes for families who will experience commonalities in services, communications/lingo and approaches when they access services.

Emergency Food and Shelter Program (EFSP) - $75,854 in 2022 (attracted, funding varies by phase)

The Emergency Food and Shelter Program was established on March 24, 1983, with the signing of the "Jobs Stimulus Bill," Public Law 98-8. That legislation created a National Board, chaired by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) that consisted of representatives of the American Red Cross, Catholic Charities USA, The Jewish Federations of North America, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA, The Salvation Army and United Way Worldwide.

MUW serves as the liaison between EFSP and food and shelter programs in Cheshire County and serves as chair of a Local Board consisting of local representatives from the national organizations listed above and local food and shelter organizations. Funds are released by EFSP in phases, to these programs, which are determined by a National Board.