Many people are familiar with Head Start, the federally funded early childhood education program for at-risk children. You may also be familiar with fuel assistance or weatherization programs in your community. But what you may not know is that these programs fall under the umbrella of the Community Action Partnership (CAP) agencies around the state.
The Community Action Partnership agencies are celebrating 60 years since they were formed in 1965 as part of President Lyndon Johnson’s “war on poverty.” And what is listed above only scratches the surface of the services they provide to Granite Staters.
There are five Community Action Partnership agencies in NH that together cover the entire state: Community Action Partnership of Strafford County; Community Action Program Belknap-Merrimack Counties; Community Action Partnership Hillsborough and Rockingham Counties; Southwestern Community Services, serving Cheshire and Sullivan counties; and Tri-County Community Action Program, serving Coös, Carroll and Grafton counties.
All of them operate core programs: Head Start, fuel assistance electric assistance, weatherization, food and nutrition assistance, homelessness support, and housing assistance programs. Working with federal, state, and local partners, each agency also provides other services to meet community needs.
The CAPs play a pivotal role in the state’s housing crisis. For example, Southwestern Community Services has 39 apartment buildings providing affordable housing to seniors and families, says CEO Beth Daniels, and an additional five that support people who are chronically homeless. It also runs six homeless shelters.
In 2024, CAP of Strafford County took operational control of the seasonally run shelter in Strafford County. It also opened the Gaffney Home last year as low-income housing for seniors in Rochester.
CAPs can respond quickly to emergencies, such as setting up the emergency rental assistance program in just three weeks during the COVID-19 pandemic to distribute more than $200 million in federal funds to landlords and utilities so people could stay in their homes.
Some of the CAPs also run bus and transportation services for their communities, which is essential, especially in rural areas. CAPs support people in every stage of their lives, from babies to senior citizens, says Michael Tabory, COO of Community Action Program Belknap-Merrimack Counties, including running senior centers and the Meals on Wheels program.
CAP Belknap-Merrimack Counties also administers the Emergency Food Assistance Program that provides commodity USDA food at no charge to over 240 food pantries and shelters in the state. “We meet the needs of the most vulnerable in our communities,” Tabory says.
Tri-County Community Action Program is a lifeline for people in the North Country, serving 78 communities and more than 26,000 people annually, says CEO Jeanne Robillard. “People seeking our services are working families with young children,” who despite having jobs are finding it hard to make ends meet, Robillard says. “We are the safety net to keep them going.”
Donnalee Lozeau, who is retiring as CEO of Community Action Partnership Hillsborough and Rockingham Counties in January, says they have been contracted by the NH Department of Business & Economic Affairs to serve as the statewide operator of the WIOA Adult Worker program, which provides people with the support they need to work, from paying for educational opportunities to tools. “We can’t move the dial on poverty unless they can get jobs that pay a living wage,” Lozeau says. “We work on the workforce pipeline, concentrating on in-demand careers, such as early child care teachers, health care and the trades.”
Betsey Andrews Parker, CEO of CAP of Strafford County, says in addition to helping people, CAPs are also economic drivers in their communities, including paying millions in fuel payments to vendors on behalf of families in need. Statewide, CAPs employ about 1,200 people and in FY 2024, the five CAPs assisted a total of 112,000 people statewide and put over $156 million to work in local economies, Robillard says.
