Hispanic Heritage Month: El Salvador

MANCHESTER – Nearly two dozen people celebrated the raising of the Salvadoran flag in Manchester this month as part of Hispanic Heritage Month (HHM). State Representative Maria Perez, a Salvadoran native from Milford, organized the event.

Perez told NHPR that her goal was to include Latinos and people from other cultures. “I don’t want [other] groups that are underrepresented to feel excluded,” she said.

According to a Pew Research Center analysis of the U.S. Census Bureau, an estimated 2.5 million Hispanics of Salvadoran origin resided in the United States in 2021. Approximately 63,000 Hispanics and Latinos are living in New Hampshire. Just over 1,300 of them are from El Salvador.

Mayor Joyce Craig said Salvadorans contribute to the city with businesses, industry, art, faith, education, and politics. Craig noted Manchester has put forward a Multicultural Advisory Board, and she would like to support similar initiatives at the state level.

Photo: Manchester Mayor Joyce Craig with State Representative Maria Perez, Milford (Credit: Rep. Maria Perez)

The first Salvadorans to the United States before the El Salvador Civil War (1979–1992) began arriving primarily in San Francisco, where they worked as shipyard employees in the early twentieth century. During the ongoing civil war for about 12 years, approximately 1 million Salvadorans fled seeking refuge; about 50 percent immigrated to the United States. Over the past 20 years, more Salvadorans have immigrated to the U.S. due to social inequality, disputes over social and political issues, and increased violence.

The Salvadoran diaspora in the U.S. has established a few large and well-funded organizations. The Salvadoran American Humanitarian Foundation, ENLACE El Salvador, Salvadoran American Leadership & Educational Fund, El Rescate, and Christians for Peace in El Salvador are among them.

Perez emigrated from El Salvador 20 years ago, escaping violence and looking for a better life for herself and her family. The struggles of her fellow compatriots that she knows firsthand are not far from her thoughts. “It wasn’t easy to get here,” she told WMUR. “But I always remind myself I am here because I got the opportunity to be here.”

She grew up in the 1980s during the height of guerilla warfare in El Salvador, witnessing brutal acts of violence. At age 16, her family sold her for an arranged marriage in the United States. Perez said it was not her choice, but got her away from her father’s abuse and the war.

Her arranged marriage lasted 11 years and gave her two children. Perez earned degrees from Nashua Adult Learning and Nashua Community College.

Perez has turned to politics to represent others who need help. She said she wants to be a voice for Latinos and for people in rural communities struggling to be heard.

At the flag-raising ceremony, Perez honored her country by wearing a white embroidered blouse and a red skirt with indigenous patterns from El Salvador. The Central American country celebrates its independence on September 15, the first day of HHM.

Cover Photo Credit: Rep. Maria Perez

LNN Spotlight: Social Security Benefits And Hispanics

LNN Spotlight focuses on major issues important to local Hispanic/Latino and underrepresented communities — stay updated on the monthly series by following us on Spotify, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Pocket Casts, and Radio Public.


On this episode of LNN Spotlight, Writer/Editor Belén Dumont speaks with AARP New Hampshire State Director Christina FitzPatrick on the inner workings and common myths of social security.

In 2021, Hispanics made up around 19 percent of the total U.S. population and these diverse communities are expected to continually grow across the country, according to the Pew Research Center. As Hispanics/Latinos tend to have longer life expectancies in the U.S., elderly Hispanics will also have more time in retirement compared to other ethnic groups.

“One aspect of the program that is particularly important [to Hispanics/Latinos] is that social security benefits are adjusted for inflation and they will last as long as you live,� FitzPatrick explained. “So, whereas with a retirement savings account…all of that money you have to figure out how to draw it down to last as long as you do but with social security, you don’t have to make those calculations. It will be there.�

“The inflation adjustment is especially important to Latina women because they have the highest life expectancy of any racial/ethnic group. So, that inflation adjustment sort of compounds over time and is particularly important,� she told NH Latino News.

The average life expectancy for Hispanic Americans, before the pandemic, was around 81.5 years—higher than any other racial and ethnic group—according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In 2021, a study found that the U.S. Hispanic population had the largest life expectancy decline—down to 78.8 years—compared to other populations.

FitzPatrick also discussed Social Security Disability Insurance, as about 10 percent of the Latino population lives with some type of disability, according to the University of New Hampshire’s Institute on Disability.

“Latino Americans have higher rates of disability than other racial and ethnic groups,� FitzPatrick shared. “So, the fact that if you become disabled and can no longer work there is this backstop of social security disability benefits that can really help to sustain you and your family.�

The episode also explores the myth that the social security system can run out of funds. FitzPatrick shared about measures put in place to prevent bankruptcy but confirmed that the federal program is expected to experience financial challenges further down the road.

“The program is facing some long-term funding challenges and there are different theories on how to address the financing,� FitzPatrick said. “So, we want to make sure that things like the cost of living adjustment stay in place and survivor benefits…and disability benefits. We want to make sure that those elements stay in place.�

AARP New Hampshire has proposed a variety of reforms on social security benefits including an effective boost for residents who have had a lifetime of low wages. Since social security benefits are calculated from a person’s past earnings, an individual who has had low earnings during their lifetime could receive very low social security benefits.Â

“So, we want to make sure that people who had a lifetime of low income might have a little bit of a boost for their social security benefit,� FitzPatrick said. “There’s something on the books now, it doesn’t work well, and almost nobody is eligible for it so we’d really like to see a robust benefit for those workers.�

Learn more by listening to the full conversation at www.aarp.org/ and checking out related resources below.

RESOURCES MENTIONED


Publisher’s Note: AARP New Hampshire and New Hampshire Latino News are partners in providing greater visibility and voice to local Hispanic-Latino communities. 

Latino News Network Chosen To Participate In Solutions Journalism Network’s Complicating the Narratives (CTN) 2023 Fellowship

“As the United States grapples with worsening polarization and seemingly intractable conflict, the Solutions Journalism Network (SJN) is thrilled to announce its second class of Complicating the Narratives (CTN) Fellows,” writes Julia Hotz, Fellowship Manager with SJN.

Eleven journalists, representing a wide variety of geographies and communities, will spend the next 12 months using CTN techniques and interview questions to report on solutions to some of the nation’s most divisive issues, with communities historically misrepresented by media and misunderstood by audiences. In the Meet The 2023 Fellows post, Hotz shares that “topics for our fellows’ projects range from gender-affirming care to wildfire management; the goal is to replace polarization, problems and simplicity with understanding, solutions and complexity.”

Hugo Balta, Publisher of the Latino News Network (LNN) is a CTN Fellow. “Mainstream news more often than not focuses on extreme views creating a false impression of divergence that bolsters fear and distrust,â€� Balta. “Elaborate ideas and points of view require more than overly simplistic bite sized misleading narratives served up by the establishment.â€� Balta’s CTN project will explore conflict and solutions surrounding health insurance access and inequities.

CTN helps journalists to find new ways to report on controversial issues and polarizing politics. It draws on the experience of experts in conflict mediation. When reporters use these strategies, they listen better, ask more revealing questions, effectively introduce opposing viewpoints, and embrace nuance in their reports. They learn to tell more accurate, richer, and fuller stories.

The SJN trainings are centered around the four pillars of CTN which focus on skills and techniques including:

  • Listening differently through the technique of Looping
  • Going beneath the problem by asking interview questions that probe and uncover motivations rather than positions
  • Framing and covering stories from a different lens; stories that embrace complexity and provide necessary context
  • Countering confirmation bias in our audience and ourselves through infographics, inclusive events and exercises that check journalist blind spots

LNN has been chosen to participate in SJN fellowships before. Last year, LNN participated in the Democracy SOS fellowship supporting reporters and editors in significantly strengthening journalism’s role in advancing our democracy through innovative approaches that build civic engagement, equity, and healthy discourse. In 2021, Connecticut Latino News (CTLN) was among the newsrooms chosen to be part of the Advancing Democracy project. CTLN produced a special series exploring responses to why Hispanics-Latinos don’t vote by engaging with thought leaders in Connecticut and drawing from the best practices and lessons learned in communities across the country. 

This year, Belen Dumont, Writer/Editor with LNN East is a fellow in the Democracy SOS fellowship. Dumont’s project will focus on affordable housing.

Balta is an accredited solutions journalism trainer. He recently led “Solutions journalism: New ways of elevating your reporting and engaging audiences”, a free online course hosted by the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas.

Balta will be leading the “Fair, Accurate And Ethical Storytelling: How To Serve Your Latinx Community With Solutions Journalism” at the National Association of Hispanic Journalists (NAHJ) Conference in Miami, Florida on July 13.


Publisher’s Notes: NH Latino News is part of the Latino News Network.

NH Healthcare System Ranks Third in Nation; Reproductive Health and Medical Debt Major Issues

A study released June 22 deemed New Hampshire as the third best performing state in healthcare in the nation, ranking top 10 nationally in almost each category. It earned the number one spot overall in Prevention and Treatment.

The 2023 Scorecard on State Health System Performance was this year’s version of an annual data assessment by The Commonwealth Fund aiming to determine how well the healthcare system is working in each state. The scorecard measured 58 areas of health access, quality, use of services, costs, health disparities, reproductive care and health outcomes to calculate the scores.

Given the effects of the pandemic the number of preventable deaths rose, but COVID-19 was not the only contributing factor. Drug and alcohol-related deaths skyrocketed as the pandemic hit. In 2021 alone, 106,699 overdoses resulted in deaths nationally, jumping from 70,630 before the pandemic began in 2019.

Temporary policies implemented during the pandemic, like continuous medicaid coverage, drove uninsurance rate to all time lows but the report also highlighted coverage gaps and inadequate insurance as issues fueling medical debt.

Source: The Commonwealth Fund

While only 6% of New Hampshiners had medical debt in collections, the national average was 13%. Comparatively, West Virginia had the highest percentage at 24%.

“While these numbers are striking, they also underestimate the real scope of the affordability crisis since they do not include debt people owe directly to hospitals or other providers,� explained Jesse Baumgartner, co-author of the report and Senior Research Associate, The Commonwealth Fund.

New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island were ranked the top performing states on reproductive care and women’s health. 

This is the first time this category was included in the report, but the data regarding reproductive health was collected before the Dobbs decision overturned the constitutional right to abortion. Many of the states with the worst reproductive and women’s health outcomes are currently implementing harsher restrictions on this type of care.

“This really raises concerns about inequity in access and inequity in health outcomes so as we think about women’s ability to access healthcare, we have to promote policies and innovative payment models and digital tools that can really support the continuum of reproductive and women’s health care,� said co-author Laurie Zephyrin, Senior Vice President of Advancing Health Equity at The Commonwealth Fund.

According to the report, the maternal mortality rate nearly doubled between 2018 and 2021. In 2021, the death rate for Hispanics while pregnant or within 42 days of being pregnant was 28 per 100,000 live births. American Indian and Alaskan Native women had the highest maternal mortality rate at almost 119 per 100,000 live births.

“Ultimately part of this work is to highlight where do states stand now, where do they compare to each other and really allow us to raise the alarm and say we really have to have policy interventions now to intervene before we see things worsen in the future,� said Zephyrin.

LNN Spotlight: NH Family Caregivers

LNN Spotlight focuses on major issues important to local Hispanic/Latino and underrepresented communities — stay updated on the monthly series by following us on Spotify, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Pocket Casts, and Radio Public.


On this episode of LNN Spotlight, Writer/Editor Belén Dumont speaks with AARP New Hampshire State Director Christina FitzPatrick on the invisible work of family caregivers and the types of resources available to them.  

The total amount of unpaid care New Hampshire residents provided for their loved ones in 2021 carried a value of $2.8 billion, an increase of $500 million since 2019, according to an AARP report released in March

Currently, more than half of Millennial family caregivers identify as people of color, while an increasing 27 percent identify as Latino, according to the U.S. Census. Further research shows that about 75 percent of Latino caregivers are women and are likely to be in their early to mid-40s. 

As a variety of federal and state-level initiatives look to address the growing financial and emotional stress New Hampshire caregivers are experiencing, community organizations are calling for culturally-informed policies that look at the specific needs and experiences of different communities. 

“There’s a real cultural component to how people perceive this role as caregiver,� FitzPatrick said. “So, I’m looking at it and thinking about how difficult it is and it is difficult. But in the Latino community, in particular, there is more of a sense that this is a duty and something that people want to live up to rather than seeing it as a burden or something that they have to do.�

In the interview, Dumont also shared her experiences as a bicultural Latina who watched her family care for all four of her grandparents at home. Listen to learn why she sees “pride� in the family caregiver role. 

The COVID pandemic continues to impact family caregivers as it has “disrupted the work patterns and the apparatus that family caregivers had created to help them maintain a balance in their lives,â€� FitzPatrick explained. 

It’s common for family caregivers to work full-time or continue their education while caring for a loved one. Many of these individuals learn to single-handedly juggle multiple schedules and responsibilities at a time, creating a delicate system around them.

FitzPatrick pointed out that “…Hispanic caregivers are more likely than others to be working full-time and they’re more likely than others to be caring both for their own children and for an older relative at the same time.â€� 

According to FitzPatrick, organizations that work with family caregivers are more likely to meet the needs of their clients and understand their perspectives when their staffs are increasingly diverse.

“It’s diversity in all its forms,� she said. “There are differences between people who live in rural areas than people who live in urban areas, people who have kids living at home and people who don’t, people who don’t speak English and people who do.�

FitzPatrick added that all employers can greatly support their employees by providing them with some flexibility so they can better balance their work and caregiving responsibilities.

“It really helps out the worker and the worker’s family and also really helps people to feel more loyal to their employers and in the long run that means you’re reducing turnover,� she said.

Learn more by listening to the full conversation and checking out the March 2023 report at www.aarp.org/


Publisher’s Note: AARP New Hampshire and New Hampshire Latino News are partners in providing greater visibility and voice to local Hispanic-Latino communities. 

Associate State Director, Advocacy and Community Engagement

AARP New Hampshire is accepting applications for the Associate State Director, Advocacy and Community Engagement position.

The opportunity is a regular full-time position based in Concord with some light traveling involved.

The candidate hired will develop and execute state, federal, and local advocacy activities. They lead state-level advocacy activities and represent the organization and its interests to elected officials, local and state government agencies, and partner organizations.

Other responsibilities include:

  • Leading state-level implementation of national campaign efforts
  • Recruits, develops, and manages volunteer teams to advance advocacy community outreach campaign goals and objectives
  • Establishes strategic community partnerships and leverages internal and external resources to achieve the organization’s community engagement goals at the state and local levels
  • Integrates advocacy and community engagement work with internal and external teams and partners
  • Develops and executes advocacy and community engagement campaigns that include grassroots mobilization and leadership

For more information and to apply click HERE.

Women’s History Month: Latina Invisibility

March is Women’s History Month. It celebrates women’s contributions, struggles, blocked opportunities, and ultimate triumphs.

It is also a time for issuing empty promises that things will improve, a refrain often heard but only partially fulfilled.

For Latinas, Women’s History Month presents a vivid reminder of the barriers and challenges they face. The discussions, campaigns, and commitments to action marginalize their stories and struggles.

Equal Pay Day epitomizes this sharply: “This date symbolizes how far into the year women must work to earn what men earned in the previous year.â€�

In March 2023, March 14th was Equal Pay Day, an embarrassment and a mark of economic inequality and inequity that defines many women’s lives today.

But Equal Pay Days for Latinas and Black women do not appear in the Equal Pay Day story. Equal Pay Day for Black women is September 21, 2023. In 2023, Latinas will reach Equal Pay Day on October 8.

While the start of Spring marks Equal Pay Day for all women, for Latinas, it appears as stores decorate for Christmas.

This economic fact fails to appear in the mainstream media narrative during this month celebrating women. This absence underscores the invisibility of the struggles, inequities, and barriers that cripple Latinas.

Other examples of Latina invisibility are equally jarring. The Latina maternal mortality rate is the most poignant.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently released the latest maternal mortality rates.

The data horrifies.

Between 2018 and 2021, overall maternal mortality increased by 89 percent, while Whites saw a 79% increase and Blacks 70%.

2022 article notes that the annual number of maternal mortalities in the U.S. has doubled over 20 years. The United States, Afghanistan, and Sudan are the only countries with increasing maternal mortality rates.

Armed with this data, media and political leaders in wealthy civil society have alighted on two alarming and unacceptable points.

First, the U.S. maternal mortality rate is 55th globally, greater than Russia, in a nation that purports to care about women, children, and families.

Second, the Black maternal mortality rate at 69.9 per 100,000 live births is the highest among racial/ethnic groups. This fact is deplorable on both moral and social levels.

Yet scant attention is directed to the disturbing and frightening situation of a continual significant increase in the Latina maternal mortality rate, data found in that same CDC report:

Between 2020 and 2021, there was a 53.8 percent increase in the maternal mortality rate for Latinas. This is the most significant increase among racial/ethnic groups.

Between 2018 and 2021, Latinas experienced a 137 percent increase in maternal mortality. Again, the largest increase among racial/ethnic groups.

This dramatic increase in the Latina maternal mortality rate is a harbinger of economic, social, familial, and personal consequences that will reverberate throughout society.

The health of women and children represents a key index of the health of a nation. The overall U.S. maternal mortality rate and the alarming high increase in the Latina rate are symptoms of a disordered society that disinvests in women, children, and families and a failing healthcare system.

The continual increase in maternal mortality rates — especially the accelerated rate increase among Latinas — indicates an insidious malignancy impacting the well-being of mothers, children, families, and society. While some aspects of this problem have been identified, the invisibility of Latinas conceals the gravity of their condition.

Each of us will pay the price for this invisibility.

For Latinas, the lesson is that their challenges and barriers and the inequities endemic to their lives are far more significant than is commonly acknowledged. Rectifying these endemic inequities requires Latinas be made visible. The inequities affecting Latinas must move from the margins to the center of policy agendas to ensure economic, housing, health, education, and workforce equity.

As Women’s History Month winds down, it is time to take on the task of equity for all women all year around — and not just talk about it during March.

Until there is equity for all women, there will be equity for no women.


Publisher’s Notes: Women’s History Month: Latina Invisibility was first published on The Edge.

Noreen M. Sugrue is currently the Director of Research at the Latino Policy Forum. Before joining the Latino Policy Forum, she was a professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She is the author or co-author of many articles and book chapters. Her international and domestic research focuses on immigration, immigrants, gender, health care, and the workforce centering on inequity, inequality, and distributive justice. In addition, she analyzes and evaluates the construction and implementation of social policies to address and redress inequities.

Do you have an idea for an Opinion-Editorial? We want to hear from you. Email us at Info@LatinoNewsNetwork.com

Labor of Granite Staters caring for relatives estimated at $2.8 Billion according to AARP report

157 million hours worked. 168,000 New Hampshire caregivers. $0 paid out.

A new report by AARP revealed that the amount of unpaid care Granite Staters provided for loved ones in 2021 carried a value of $2.8 billion dollars.

Compared to the last report in 2019, this number has increased by $500 million.

“Family caregivers play a vital role in New Hampshire’s health care system, whether they care for someone at home, coordinate home health care, or help care for someone who lives in a nursing home,� said Christina FitzPatrick, AARP New Hampshire State Director. “We want to make sure all family caregivers have the financial, emotional and social support they need, because the care they provide is invaluable both to those receiving it and to their community.�

Whether it’s an abuelo, a tia or a parent, Latinos are known for caring for their family members and in many households, it is expected that Latino children will eventually care for their elderly relatives. In 2021, Salud America estimated that 1 in 3 Latino households had at least one family caregiver.

AARP reports that 61% of caregivers are also working a full time or part time job. This leads to lost income, less career opportunities and reduced savings due to their commitment at home. The report also points to the notion of “sandwich generationâ€� caregivers. AARP estimated that 30 percent of caregivers lived in a multigenerational household, including children or grandchildren. This “sandwich generationâ€�, consisting of Gen Z and millennials, are even more likely to be balancing work and tending to elderly relatives. 

26 percent of the Hispanic population in the U.S. lives in multigenerational homes, according to Pew Research.

AARP suggests several recommendations to offer support for diverse family caregivers including federal government assistance and an expansion to the Family and Medical Leave Act. To access the full report, click here.
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Publisher’s Note: AARP New Hampshire and New Hampshire Latino News are partners in providing greater visibility and voice to local Hispanic-Latino communities. 

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Cover photo: Kampus Production for Pixels

DHHS Sends Urgent Yellow Letters; Over 72,000 at Risk of Losing Medicaid

New Hampshire Latino News produces and amplifies stories focused on the responses to the social determinants of health. A key social determinant, Health Access & Quality is defined as the extent to which people have equitable, affordable and available access to needed healthcare services. This definition includes both physical accessibility and availability via financial means, transportation options, and other factors.


The federal government announced at the end of 2022 that it will be ending continuous Medicaid enrollment. For over 72,800 Granite Staters, that means their coverage will be gone if they don’t contact the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) by March 31.

This continuous enrollment, a provision of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, allowed millions of Americans to remain on Medicaid without having to show that they still qualify. Starting April 1, the DHHS will return to its annual redetermination process, in which recipients will have to prove their eligibility for the first time since before the Covid-19 pandemic. 

With the March 31 redetermination deadline rapidly approaching, the department is sending out yellow letters to New Hampshire residents that need to complete this process. State Medicaid Director Henry Lipman said that NH EASY users may receive an electronic copy of the letter as well.

The letters state in bold, “Continuous Medicaid coverage is ending,â€� and include instructions and resources to navigate redetermination. 

“It’s going to be important for Medicaid beneficiaries to watch their mail, email and text messages for notices from the state and to complete their Medicaid renewals in order to avoid a gap in their health coverage,� said D.J. Bettencourt, deputy insurance commissioner of New Hampshire.

The over 72,000 recipients that haven’t yet completed this process ahead of March 31 will lose their Medicaid coverage if they don’t meet this deadline. That’s why Lipman said it’s important for recipients to look out for these yellow notices. 

“All of the notices related to eligibility, everything now going forward is yellow during this unwind period,â€� he said. 

Lipman said his department has been mindful of New Hampshire’s Latino and Spanish-speaking communities when coordinating this outreach campaign. Between eight and nine percent of New Hampshire Medicaid recipients are Hispanic. That’s much lower than the national average, but still a point of emphasis for Lipman and his team.

“We don’t have the necessary ethnicity data to send it out directly [to the households that need it], but we’ve made the letter available and prominent on our website in Spanish,â€� he said. “We’ve worked in the past with New Hampshire Public Radio and their Spanish news component. We do try to have sensitivity not only to people who speak Spanish, but to other languages.â€� 

In preparation for an expected wave of last-minute redetermination requests, Lipman said the department increased call center capacity so recipients can have the chance to qualify. 

But not everyone who completes redetermination on time will be able to keep their existing Medicaid coverage. In fact, many won’t qualify to stay on Medicaid and will have to seek out alternative health insurance options. 

To help with the search, New Hampshire’s DHHS recognizes two services as the state’s Health Insurance Navigators: First Choices Services and Health Market Connect, both of which offer services in English and Spanish.

“Our goal is to find, connect with and enroll as many New Hampshire residents in whatever qualifying plan that they’re eligible for,â€� said Eli Cohn, navigator with Health Market Connect. “So if they’re continuing to be eligible for Medicaid, we want to keep them on Medicaid… if not, we want to get them on a healthcare plan on heathcare.gov.â€�  

Cohn expects to be helping many state residents whose incomes are now too high to stay qualified for Medicaid.

“If they need to transition out of Medicaid because they’re over income, we can get them into a Marketplace plan that’ll still offer them some financial support,â€� he said. 

Cohn said that Health Market Connect hasn’t gotten a lot of calls just yet about the March 31 redetermination, specifically. He anticipates that will change in the near future as recipients start reacting to the letters.

“I think it’s going to pick up really, really soon,â€� he said. “It feels, to a lot of people, this yellow letter looks a little threatening… A lot of the job is going to be emotional sensitivity, helping people find the peace of mind that they’re looking for by getting themselves covered.â€� 

Benefits will end gradually for those who no longer qualify, however. Lipman said that they will remain usable for one year after a person has been ruled no longer eligible. 

Additionally, the state will leave children, people in long-term care settings and other vulnerable individuals to be evaluated towards the end of this Medicaid unwind, a process expected to take about one year. This way, these groups have more time to seek alternative healthcare options, if necessary.

Resources:

First Choice Services; 1-877-211-NAVI or (603) 931 3858; https://acanavigator/com/nh/home

Health Market Connect; 1-800-208-5164; https://hmcnh.com

Federal Health Insurance Marketplace; https://www.healthcare.gov

Marketplace Call Center; 1-800-318-2596 (TTY: 1-855-889-4325)

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Cover photo: TaxRebate.org.uk

AARP Announces 2023 Community Grants

Granite State nonprofits and government entities looking to enhance their community impact may be eligible for AARP’s 2023 grants, the Purpose Prize Award and the Community Challenge Grant.  

The AARP Purpose Prize Award aims to support 501(c)(3) or 501(c)(4) nonprofit organizations in their community efforts. 

AARP will select five winners to receive $50,000 each and up to ten fellows who will receive $10,000 each. Winners and fellows will also receive a year of technical support to help expand the scope of their work. 

“The AARP Purpose Prize award recognizes applicants who go beyond individual volunteering to take on a specific social problem in a sustained, systematic, and measurable way that aims to make the world a better place for us all,� said Christina FitzPatrick, AARP NH State Director. “All across New Hampshire, people 50-plus are using their life experience to give back in ways that elevate their communities and the world. The AARP Purpose Prize award seeks to recognize these leaders.�

Nonprofit founders or co-founders must be 50 years or older to be eligible, learn more at AARP’s website. The deadline to apply is February 28, at www.aarp.org/apply

The 2023 AARP Community Challenge offers nonprofit organizations and government entities a variety of grants—ranging from $500 to $50,000—for quick-action community projects. 

These grants look to support permanent physical improvements in the community, new programming pilots or services, and temporary demonstrations that lead to long-term change.

Since the program began in 2017, 18 NH organizations have been recipients of the Community Challenge Grant, according to AARP NH Associate State Director of Communications Pamela Dube.

In 2018, Manchester Connects received funding from the Community Challenge to develop more recreational space along the Merrimack River. 

“We were super excited to get the AARP grant because it allowed us to make this a place where people want to spend time. It can really now be a destination,â€� said Manchester Connects Co-Chair Sarah Jacobs. 

Unlike previous years, the 2023 Community Challenge offers three different grant opportunities including Flagship Grants, Capacity-Building Microgrants, and Demonstration Grants. 

Interested applicants can register for the Q&A webinar on February 8 at 2PM to learn more about the grant program and its application process. 

Applications are being accepted until March 15. Selected projects will begin late June and are expected to be completed by late November. 


Editor’s Notes: AARP New Hampshire and New Hampshire Latino News are partners in providing greater visibility and voice to local Hispanic-Latino communities.Â