The basement of the United Way of Greater Nashua is ready to party. There are sandwiches, snacks, gifts and balloons to celebrate the most recent class to graduate from the Family Childcare Preparation Program run by the Nashua Smart Start coalition and the Community Engagement Training Center.
The program aims to build the local supply of childcare workers by lowering the entry barriers to get an available online certificate. The program also aims to provide additional support, mentoring and networking for participants. In the year that the program has been in place, it has helped train more than 100 students who speak English, Spanish, Portuguese and Swahili.
“The state of New Hampshire needs you,” said facilitator Emily Ricardo. “Without child care, how can parents go to work?”
New Hampshire, like many other parts of the country, has been grappling with a severe shortage of qualified child care workers, and the issue has become a broader strain on the economy, About 16,000 Granite Staters were out of the workforce every month between September 2022 and October 2023 because they were providing care for children, according to a study from the New Hampshire Fiscal Policy Institute.
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The same study found a shortage of approximately 8,300 child care spots statewide in 2021.
As federal funds for health and social services are being cut, United Way Director Liz Fitzgerald hopes to keep the program running anyway. She thanked private supporters like the Community Development Finance Authority and the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation for their ongoing support. However, she said there is still mentoring and support available for graduates and encouraged them to keep on going.
“The national government is cutting resources that support child development through the Department of Health and Human Services,” she said. “Our local resources have been diminished, but we have a strong network of private funders. They believe very strongly in the work that you’re doing and planning to do.”
This particular cohort has about a dozen people. It’s a mix of people early on in their career in child care, people switching careers and people who have been running a daycare for years.
This is the case for Carla Torres. She has been working with kids for over 16 years and joined to renew her CPR certification and grow professionally. During a short graduation speech, she encouraged her classmates to keep on going.
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“It was hard for me sometimes,” she said in Spanish. “It’s easy to say ‘I don’t speak English at 100%, I can’t do it. There’s too many rules. There’s too much paperwork.’’ But there was always someone who told me that I could make it. When you have a passion for your work, you’re going to reflect it.”
Torres already owns a daycare, but she hopes to expand her skillset so she can eventually work with kids with autism.
Similarly, her classmates also have big dreams. With the certificate, participants have the ability to start working towards bigger goals, like opening a daycare business, working in a school or an established daycare, or taking early childhood classes in college.
CONCORD, N.H. — Those who attend crowded outdoor events in New Hampshire may soon notice troopers deploying a new tool to identify potential threats from above.
New Hampshire State Police secured permission on Wednesday to buy a mobile trailer equipped with a drone detection system that uses cameras, radar, and artificial intelligence to monitor the skies for small unmanned aircraft systems that might pose a threat to public safety.
Robert L. Quinn, commissioner of the New Hampshire Department of Safety, said the system will be useful at a variety of public gatherings, including festivals, sporting events, and protests. His written explanation for the purchase mentioned several events known to draw crowds in the state, including seafood festivals, Independence Day fireworks, and Laconia Motorcycle Week.
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“This system will address emerging security threats, protect critical infrastructure, safeguard public events, and enhance emergency response capabilities,” he wrote.
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This technology will be new to the New Hampshire State Police, but it comes from a company that has been providing similar services to other states. Dedrone Holdings Inc. — which was acquired last fall by Axon, a major manufacturer of body-worn cameras for police — offers instant access to drone detection data in more than 50 metro areas, including Greater Boston, through an app.
The “Dedrone Rapid Response” mobile unit that New Hampshire is buying is a physical piece of equipment with a self-contained generator and a tower that extends more than 44 feet into the air, enabling radio frequency detection within a 5-mile radius, according to the company.
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New Hampshire’s five-member Executive Council approved the $275,000 purchase on Wednesday, without discussion.
Quinn referred follow-up questions to a department spokesperson, Tyler P. Dumont, who said the money is coming from federal Homeland Security grant funds.
While the use of surveillance and emerging technologies by law enforcement always leads to questions about the protection of civil liberties, Dumont said state personnel will aim to use the Dedrone tool in a way that enhances public safety without infringing on the privacy or legal rights of individuals and drone operators.
“We will implement safeguards to ensure that any usage of AI is supplemented by human review and verification, and in compliance with applicable laws and regulations,” he said.
What’s more, the drone detection system is a monitoring tool that won’t be used to disable any aircraft deemed a potential threat, he added.
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Steven Porter can be reached at steven.porter@globe.com. Follow him @reporterporter.
A motorcyclist was killed in a crash with an SUV in a town in New Hampshire on Tuesday, authorities said.
Officers responding to a report of a collision on Charles Bancroft Highway in Litchfield found a damaged Toyota Rav4 and a Harley-Davidson resting in a southbound travel lane, and the motorcycle driver unresponsive on the ground, according to the Litchfield Police Department.
The motorcyclist, who police identified as 41-year-old Jean Lopes, of Hudson, was pronounced dead at the scene.
Preliminary findings indicated that the motorcycle driver struck the rear of the Rav4, police noted.
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The New Hampshire Office of the Chief Medical Examiner has been tasked with examining Lopes.
An investigation into the crash remains ongoing.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.
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