Welcome to our June edition of empowerNOTES! We are so glad you are here. It has been a busy few months for us at YWCA New Hampshire. |
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When I was younger, my father, always shared “as you get older, time begins to move so much quicker”. I would always roll my eyes, because as a teenager, time seemed to move so slow. Too slow for a young girl who had so many dreams of how she wanted to change the world.
As I have gotten older, I realize now exactly what he means. Our efforts over the last few months have largely focused on our mission statement of eliminating racism, while still staying true to our other core mission statement of empowering women. Every day, I am in awe of my wonderful team and how they show up to meet the needs of our community day after day, many of them while balancing their own experiences of oppression, experiencing racism, and trauma survival.
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We show up every day for our community and “time” consistently reminds us that we still have so much work to do. We need all of you to ensure that we can make the most of our time and our impact to the community! Join our fight to continue to lift up voices in our community that are often silenced, empower those who are consistently oppressed, and heal those that are working through the traumas they have experienced.
While we can’t do anything about the passage of time, we can work to ensure that time is inclusive of recognizing the importance of us showing up in the best version of our humanity.
I am so grateful that our organization has worked to make sure our time counts over the last few months with:
- A successful REACH for Hope 5K- Race Against Racism
- The first graduating class of youth from our Advocate In Me program
- Daily support for survivors and their children experiencing domestic and/or sexual violence
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A successful school year for our Amiko Youth Program students and their families
- Recognition and active participation in both Pride and Juneteenth activities
We all have a role to play in ensuring this next chapter of our existence can begin to solve some of our most pressing and lingering issues with racial and social justice. Join us, we are a movement!
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Hello and Welcome to Summer!
The past few months, we have been busy at YWCA NH with regard to our racial justice work. Over the course of the month of April, we celebrated YWCA USA national Stand Against Racism challenge. This year's theme was We Can't Wait: Equity and Justice NOW!
Over the course of the month we, along with thousands across the country, focused on creating space for conversation and events that shed light on various topics that progress our mission of 'eliminating racism'. Here in New Hampshire, we were able to host a few events, including a BIPOC networking mixer for young professionals of color to gather and chat about the unique experiences they face here in the Granite State and a BIPOC arts panel that tackled the lack of representation in various forms of art.
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Over the last week, we have continued to support our communities through involvement with Manchester Pride and Juneteenth events. We hope that you continue to support us as we work in collaboration with our community to elevate the needs and voices of folx who are often overlooked. Thanks for your commitment to our mission!
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REACH for Hope 5K- Race Against Racism |
Our annual 5K race was a huge success! Our team had a great time celebrating our work and raising awareness alongside our community. We had almost 200 runners, joggers, and walkers join us to make great strides in fulfilling our mission to eliminate racism and empower women to help build healthier and safer communities in New Hampshire. We are already looking forward to next year’s race, hope to have you join us then! |
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We had an amazing graduation ceremony for the first group of students to participate in our new Advocate In Me program! This program is in partnership with GEARUP and the Manchester School District, funded by a grant from Fidelity Investments. Each week for the last few months, a group of local high schoolers will come to learn the basics of advocacy work in the community and develop their advocacy skills.
They completed this program by using their new knowledge and skills to create capstone projects, including letters to the school board, poetry, and plans for community organizing. We are so proud of these students' hard work and passion!
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We were able to host an open house at our newly launched Derry satellite office last month, joined by key partners in the Derry community including the police department, several community organizations, and elected officials. This office will be open 9-4:30PM Mondays and Wednesdays, located at 16 Manning Street, Unit 110. We are excited to integrate into the larger Derry Community! |
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Allstate Financial Empowerment Program |
We are launching a financial literacy and empowerment program utilizing the Allstate Foundation Moving Ahead Through Financial Empowerment Curriculum. This program is open to survivors of domestic violence and will include 5 modules. Upon completion of the modules, the survivor will receive a shopping card and be given the opportunity to participate in a matched savings program for up to $200! |
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We are in need of household goods for our shelter program, including:
- Paper towels
- Swiffer Wet pads
- Pillows
- Disinfectant wipes
- Newborn and size 1 diapers
Email us at info@ywcanh.org or call us at 603.625.5785 for any questions. All donations are greatly appreciated!
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REACH Crisis Services has been serving a client who has been coming to us for about a year for assistance with the impacts of the trauma they have experienced. The team recently heard back from them asking about a program we had discussed before that might benefit them now that they are able to move forward and work on that step of their journey. Early on, we helped them through getting a protective order, finding additional related court dates, as well as many other resources they needed. Now, they call in every once in a while to update us on how things are going—this is always something we enjoy since we don’t always get to see the outcome after we’ve helped a survivor! We get to hear about all of the good things that have come for this survivor since we first met them, as well as providing additional help when a situation comes up when they are not sure what to do. It always warms our hearts and makes our day when a survivor who we have served are not sure what to do next, or when they think a question feels “silly”, they feel like they can ask us and know we will support them. |
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DUET
Interested In learning about a new way to earn a degree from Southern New Hampshire University? Check out our on-site partner, DUET! Students that enroll in SNHU with DUET have an opportunity to complete their Associate's or Bachelor's degrees in less time and for a much lower cost. This is a program designed for busy adults - you can do all of your school work online, anytime, 24/7 - so even if you're working full-time you can still complete your degree quickly. And the tuition is the lowest in New England! If you want to learn more about how DUET can help you reach your college goals, visit www.duet.org or fill out a form to get in touch
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YWCA NH Advocates
Our REACH Crisis Services Advocates work incredibly hard 24/7 to support the survivors in our community. Join us in thanking and celebrating them for their passion and dedication!
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REACH Crisis Services Volunteer Training |
We will be holding a session of our 30-hour training program for volunteer advocates in September! If you are interested in participating, fill out a volunteer application here.
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We will be hosting an open house at our main building at 72 Concord Street in September, date and time to come. We hope you can join us to see our space, meet our team, and learn about all of the things we have been up to this past year! |
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Our Story Project
August 3, 4-6 PM; Interested in sharing a story in reflection of the pandemic? YWCA NH will be hosting a Story Station with the Our Story project to give NH residents the opportunity to share their experiences over the last few years to capture this unique time in our own words. If you are interested, please reach out to Katie at katiep@ywcanh.org to reserve a spot.
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- June - Pride Month
- June 19 - Juneteenth
- July 15-17 - Art NABE Event
- October 6 - empowerHER Breakfast
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Join us in our mission to eliminate racism, empower women, and promote peace, justice, freedom, and dignity for all.
Join us as we work to create a thriving community free from violence and oppression.
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