Business of the Year - Nonprofit: Easterseals NH

The scope of services provided by Easterseals NH was already impressive before the pandemic. The organization provides services and programs for early intervention, autism, intellectual and developmental disabilities, behavioral health, physical disabilities and support and programs for seniors, veterans, and individuals with substance use disorder.

And when the pandemic and its aftermath dramatically increased community needs, this 88-year-old nonprofit and its 1,462 employees and 260 volunteers stepped up in a big way. In addition to providing services and supports to nearly 16,000 children, youth, adults, and their families in the past year alone, Easterseals has spent the past four years developing and executing on an ambitious strategic plan that included, for the first time, creating affordable housing.

“Organizations of our size can tip the scale for those we serve. We can build housing for poor seniors or people with disabilities,” says President and CEO Maureen Beauregard. “We are all responsible for trying to stop this housing crisis.”

Easterseals NH invested $17 million to open Champlin Place in January, an affordable apartment community for adults ages 62-plus in Rochester. Champlin Place features 65 apartments and quickly filled up. The apartments have an income limit, with 25 units reserved for households whose gross income is not more than 30% of area median income. Champlin Place also provides a hub of services for older adults, including on-site care coordination, adult day care, and accessible trails.

Easterseals NH is also developing a military and veterans campus, a first-of-its-kind project in the Granite State. The 15-acre campus in Franklin will provide affordable housing, a retreat center and a hub of services and recreational opportunities tailored to the needs of the military community. The $23 million project is expected to open in early 2025.

Easterseals also broke ground for Gammon Academy a new 27,000-square-foot school for its Manchester-based residential-education program for children with developmental, behavioral, and or intellectual disabilities.

And it did all this with a new leader at the helm who started just prior to the pandemic in October 2019. “We had to come out bold and strong,”  Beauregard says.

Moving forward, Easterseals NH plans to focus on the childcare crisis.  “We work with babies to seniors to provide services to help people live their best lives,” she says.