The Granite State News Collaborative has launched a new multi-year project exploring race and equity in New Hampshire. To dig deeper into the project and thinking behind it, we talk to several partner organizations participating in the project as well as the GSNC’s new Engagement Reporter
The PPP funding approved by Congress in December totaled $285 billion and was part of a $900 billion stimulus package called the Economic Aid to Hard-Hit Small Businesses, Nonprofits, and Venues Act. Businesses have until March 31 to apply for a loan from a qualified lending institution.
The grant will be used as seed money to challenge other local donors to help reach a goal of $64,000 to aid local news outlets in reporting through the summer.
Across the state, substance abuse treatment providers are grateful for federal money the state received to address the opioid crisis but have made it clear it’s not the only issue they are treating.
When the dual opioid and behavioral health crises engulfed New Hampshire following the Great Recession, the expansion of drug courts took on new urgency. Following an influx of state funding in 2016, four more drug courts were added over two years to the existing system, based in superior courts.
“We gotta do something because it’s impacting everyday people,” Nick Toumpas said. “It’s impacting kids, its impacting adults, it’s impacting innocent people who are impacted by somebody else who has a problem with substance abuse — it’s an overall sense of urgency. They basically said it’s better to do something fast and then correct it as we go along, as opposed to stepping back and looking at it in a more measured way.”
In the midst of a statewide substance abuse crisis, the New Hampshire Department of Labor will launch an Opioid Pilot Mediation Program to voluntarily transition some injured workers away from opioids and into treatment.
“We Are One: Empowered Through Connections, United By Hope” was held Jan. 15 in Derry, powered and led by young people as a way to discuss mental health, substance misuse and suicide awareness and prevention.
The time I spent in the Annex — about 27 hours — is a mind-numbing blur of naps, meals and bad daytime TV shows, with a couple of visits from my wife as the only highlights. I had a two-minute conversation with my therapist on the second day, but no treatment took place there.
