Connect with us

New Hampshire

‘New Hampshire needs you’: Inside one effort to expand the state's child care workforce

Published

on

‘New Hampshire needs you’: Inside one effort to expand the state's child care workforce


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.

Advertisement

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.

Advertisement

“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.





Source link

Advertisement

New Hampshire

Missing motorcyclist found dead after crash in Shelburne, NH

Published

on

Missing motorcyclist found dead after crash in Shelburne, NH


A New Hampshire motorcyclist who had been missing since the Fourth of July was found dead in Shelburne late Thursday night.

State police say they received a request from the Berlin Police Department just after 7:30 p.m. Thursday for help locating 41-year-old Wesley Grondin — the Berlin man was last seen riding his motorcycle on Saturday, July 4, and had been reported missing.

Troopers received a call a couple of hours later, around 10:10 p.m. Thursday, from a concerned resident who had been out looking for Grondin along Route 2 in Shelburne. The person told police they had found Grondin dead, along with his Harley Davidson.

According to state police, a preliminary investigation determined that Grondin was riding his Harley on Route 2 westbound in Shelburne when, for reasons that remain under investigation, he crossed over into the opposing lane, struck a post, and came to a final rest in the wood line.

Advertisement

The crash is believed to have occurred just before midnight on July 4. At this time, police say there’s no indication that another vehicle or person was involved.

All aspects of the crash remain under investigation, however. Anyone with information that may assist investigators is asked to contact Trooper Hunter Newsham at Hunter.P.Newsham@dos.nh.gov.



Source link

Advertisement
Continue Reading

New Hampshire

Nashua, NH, woman jailed for falsifying marriage to claim late man’s estate

Published

on

Nashua, NH, woman jailed for falsifying marriage to claim late man’s estate


KEENE, N.H. — A Nashua woman who had a town clerk falsely certify a marriage that never happened so she could claim her late partner’s property has been sentenced to seven days in jail, placed on probation and ordered to repay thousands to his estate.

Attorney General John Formella said Wendy Leedberg‑Snow, 60, turned to Winchester Town Clerk Jim Tetreault after the death of her longtime partner, Eric Leedberg — who was born in Lowell — using the falsified license to pose as his spouse and lay claim to property from his estate, an effort prosecutors describe as an attempt to rewrite the couple’s history for financial gain.

“This case involved a deliberate effort to manipulate official government records and exploit the death of a loved one for personal financial gain,” Formella said in a press release announcing the sentencing. “Our vital records system depends on honesty and integrity, and those who seek to corrupt that system will be held accountable. I want to thank the investigators and prosecutors whose work ensured justice for the victim’s family.”

According to Leedberg’s obituary, he was 53 when he died on Oct. 12, 2023, following a two‑year battle with cancer.

Advertisement

In the obituary, Leedberg-Snow is described as his “significant other.”

Prosecutors said Leedberg‑Snow moved quickly after his death, relying on Tetreault’s signature to fabricate a marriage that never occurred and position herself as Leedberg’s surviving spouse.

Tetreault, who was a New Hampshire justice of the peace at the time, falsely signed the marriage license claiming he had officiated the couple’s wedding. He later admitted he never performed any ceremony for Leedberg‑Snow and Leedberg and had no personal knowledge of them ever being married.

Leedberg‑Snow used the fraudulent certificate to obtain property from Leedberg’s estate, including a pickup truck and trailer, and later attempted to influence a witness connected to the scheme.

Leedberg‑Snow pleaded guilty in Cheshire County Superior Court in Keene to felony counts of solicitation to commit vital records fraud, title fraud, theft by misapplication of property and witness tampering.

Advertisement

In addition to her seven‑day jail term, she must serve two years of probation, pay $4,600 in restitution, return the truck and trailer to Leedberg’s estate and comply with a suspended three‑and‑a‑half‑ to seven‑year prison sentence, which means the sentence only takes effect if she violates the conditions of her probation.

Tetreault, who continues to serve as Winchester’s town clerk and “fully cooperated with the State’s investigation,” according to prosecutors, pleaded guilty in April to notarial misconduct, a Class A misdemeanor. As part of a negotiated plea, prosecutors dropped a felony charge of vital records fraud. He was sentenced to 90 days in the house of corrections, all suspended for two years on good behavior, and ordered to pay a $1,000 fine plus a $240 penalty assessment.

He resigned his commissions as a justice of the peace and bail commissioner and agreed not to seek recommissioning as a justice of the peace or notary public during the two‑year suspension period.

Tetreault could not be reached for comment at his office number.

Follow Aaron Curtis on X @aselahcurtis, or on Bluesky @aaronscurtis.bsky.social.

Advertisement



Source link

Continue Reading

New Hampshire

Rescue Crews Help Injured Woman Off Mt. Washington

Published

on

Rescue Crews Help Injured Woman Off Mt. Washington


SARGENT’S PURCHASE – On Saturday, personnel from multiple rescue crews teamed up to help an injured woman get off of Mt. Washington to seek medical treatment.

At approximately 7:45 AM, New Hampshire Fish and Game Department Conservation Officers were notified that a staff member at the Appalachian Mountain Club (AMC) Lakes of the Clouds Hut had taken a serious fall at the hut and was left unable to walk.

Fish and Game subsequently mobilized search and rescue personnel to come and help evacuate the young woman from her remote location.

By 10:00 AM, members of the Androscoggin Valley Search and Rescue Team (AVSAR), Pemigewassett Valley Search and Rescue Team (Pemi), AMC and Fish and Game had gathered at the Base Station of the Cog Rail. The Cog Railway generously donated room on their trains, and rescuers and equipment were given rides up Mt. Washington to the West Side Trail, which allowed for a shorter and less strenuous 1.6 mile hike than other routes.

Advertisement

By 11:20 AM rescuers were at the hut with the patient. The patient was subsequently packaged in a litter and prepared for an overland carryout back to the Cog tracks.

Rescue personnel made steady progress, and by 2:15 PM had made it back across West Side Trail and to the train tracks. A Cog Railway train picked up the whole rescue party and brought everyone back down the mountain. Once roadside, the patient was evaluated by personnel from Twin Mountain Fire and Rescue.

She was ultimately driven from the scene by a friend and went to Memorial Hospital in North Conway for further evaluation
and treatment of multiple injuries related to her fall. The patient was identified as Cali Turner, 26, of Willimantic, Maine.

Fish and Game would like to thank all of the people and organizations involved in this rescue effort. Through the help of everyone, the rescue was a great success and got done in a timely manner.

Advertisement



Source link

Continue Reading
Advertisement

Trending