Welcoming Concord Initiative

The Welcoming Concord Initiative was funded by the Endowment for Health and the New Hampshire Charitable Fund. The Concord Initiative was sponsored by Second Start, a non-profit agency which has provided childcare, alternate high school education, adult education, and classes for adult English language learners in Concord, for more than forty years. We believe that both newcomers to our city and those of us who are US-born will all benefit from the opportunities that come with the energy, entrepreneurial spirit, culture, and ideas that immigrant integration brings to our city. Concord-born children have opportunities to learn about far-away cultures and newcomer children have opportunities to learn how to succeed in this country. Adults can learn and share together in our schools, workplaces, shops, gardens, concert-halls, houses of worship, and on our athletic fields.

Experience at both the national and state level supports the idea that as a city, Concord has much to gain from our immigrant newcomers. We know from a report issued in 2015, by the New Hampshire Center for Public Policy Studies that the population of New Hampshire and of Concord has been decreasing due both to the realities of our aging population. As a result, our workforce, our tax base, and our economic health are increasingly reliant on the contributions to the labor force and the consumer economy provided by immigrants who move here. In fact without them, we face the social and economic stresses associated with a dwindling population. Non-profit nationally-based groups form part of the network of immigrant integration efforts that inform and support our work. Welcoming America and the National Partnership for New Americans suggest models for success based on the experience of other cities. As a result we know that several elements can ensure greater success for cities engaged in establishing and maintaining successful immigrant integration programs, including:

• Strong support from city government
• Strong support from chambers of commerce
• Cultural competencies in agencies providing health and social services
• Enthusiastic support from and to employers of New Americans
• English language training in different venues including the workplace
• Celebration of arts, religions, and cultures of—and by–all community members.

Even though funding from the Endowment for Health and the New Hampshire Charitable Fund ended in June of 2018, the working relationship built during that time and Concord’s welcoming culture continues. Two initiatives that came out of the Welcoming Concord Initiative that have continued are:

1. Greater Concord Loan Fund, which has expanded statewide into the New American Loan Fund. The New American Loan Fund is administrated by the Regional Economic Development Center (REDC) located in Raymond New Hampshire. The purpose of this fund is to encourage business development and job creation for New Americans (first generation immigrants) in NH.
2. The New American Driving School was started by Second Start because learning to drive is an essential life skill necessary to become economically self-sufficient. The immigrant community also raised a strong voice that they needed and wanted help in learning to drive.

Our Partners:

• American Friends Service Committee
• Ascentria Care Alliance
• Building Community in New Hampshire
• Boys and Girls Clubs of Central New Hampshire
• Concord Community Music School
• Concord Family YMCA
• Concord Multicultural Festival
• Concord Police Department
• Concord School District
• Democratic Congolese Community of New Hampshire
• Family Health Center, Concord Hospital
• Greater Concord Chamber of Commerce
• Greater Concord Interfaith Council
• Marketplace New England
• New American Africans, a program of ORIS (Organization for Immigrant & Refugee Success)
• New Hampshire Health and Equity Partnership
• New Hampshire Office of Health Equity
• New Hampshire State Council on the Arts
• New Hampshire State Refugee Advisory Council
• New Hampshire State Refugee Mental Wellness Community Council
• New Hampshire Technical Institute
• Overcomers Church
• Riverbend Mental Health Center
• UNH School of Law
• Victory Women of Vision

Directions

Second Start
17 Knight Street
Concord, NH 03301

From Downtown Concord: Go north on Main Street towards Penacook. Main Street becomes North State Street at the lights by Bennett Funeral Home. Follow North State Street to Hutchins Street (about one and a half miles beyond the State Prison). Turn left on Hutchins Street. You will see the West Congregational Church on the corner. Go two blocks up Hutchins Street. Second Start is the red brick school building on the left. Enter the parking lot from Hutchins Street.

From Penacook: Go south on route 3 to Hutchins Street.   Turn right onto Hutchins Street. Go up two blocks. Second Start will be on your left,

From Route 93/393: Take Exit 15W to North State Street. Take a right at the second set of lights. This is North State Street.   Follow North State Street to Hutchins Street (about one and a half miles beyond the State Prison). Turn left on Hutchins Street. You will see the West Congregational Church on the corner. Go two blocks up Hutchins Street. Second Start is the red brick school building on the left. Enter the parking lot from Hutchins Street.