This is New Hampshire: Exploring Diversity in the Granite State
Above, James Vayo (left), an organizer for Southern New Hampshire Planning Commission, discusses the creation of greenspaces for neighborhoods in Manchester with Arnold Mikolo, a community organizer for the Conservation Law Foundation in Manchester. Photo by Scott Merrill
Good morning, and welcome to another installment of This is New Hampshire, the Collaborative's newsletter focused on our race and equity project.
Our normal newsletter guru — Engagement Reporter Nour Habib — is on leave. Fear not, she'll be back next month. In the meantime, if you have any thoughts about our project or ideas for future stories, please contact Executive Director Melanie Plenda at melanie.plenda@collaborativenh.org.
Now, a look at our latest work: This month we released our Environmental Justice Series. The project explores the intersection of ethical, political and social issues with climate change. The first story in the series, Burdens of Heat, looks at heat-related illnesses and their effects on vulnerable communities. Upcoming topics include lead poisoning, air and water pollution, traffic, and access to healthy food. Not sure what environmental justice is? Check out this explanation by Scott Merrill.
TELL US: What is your experience with heat in New Hampshire? How have the summer's heatwaves affected you? Email nour.habib@collaborativenh.org with your thoughts.
Check out the video below from New Hampshire PBS's The State We're In to learn more about the Environmental Justice Project.
Survey says: We've also continued to cover the policies concerning what has become known as "divisive concepts." Originally part of a standalone bill in the House, the state budget now has language regarding the teaching and training about race and related issues for public employees. We expect to do more stories on the topic, informed by the results of our recent survey. Thank you to all who took the time to weigh on the issue. While it wasn't scientific, it did offer an interesting look at what supporters and opponents of the policies thought about these issues. Respondents also had some great questions about the legislation, which will likely turn into future stories. Stay tuned!
New initiative: We know how valuable the data we gather is to us, especially given how hard it can be to find and organize for our stories. We think the public, policymakers, and other stakeholders can also benefit from having access to these datasets, to help inform their decisions — which is why we are making all the data we gather available and free to download in this library.
The data we’re providing comes from a wide range of sources. Some of the datasets were reported directly from a government spreadsheet or open data portal, for example, while others were the result of our own analysis.
We will be adding to and improving this library frequently in the coming months. Please do check back often, and let us know what you think.
If you have any questions about our sourcing or analysis, please email Collaborative Data and Research Editor John Bassett. He would love to hear from you, especially if you find errors, have suggestions for datasets that we should develop, or have suggestions about how to make this library more useful and accessible.
Three Questions with activist Grace Kindeke
Grace Kindeke speaks to a "Democracy Defenders" rally at the New Hampshire State House the day after the 2020 election. Sarah Gibson for NHPR
Grace Kindeke of Manchester moved to New Hampshire from the Democratic Republic of Congo in 1989 at just 2 years old. A year later, she was undocumented. It took her 32 years to gain citizenship — in April 2021.
Kindeke is now a program coordinator at American Friends Service Committee, a Quaker organization that works within four key issues: peacebuilding, immigration, criminal justice and economic justice. She is also a project coordinator for Manchester Community Action Coalition. Kindeke currently attends the University of Massachusetts Boston, studying Africana Studies and Sociology.
Most recently, Kindeke, through the committee, hosted a rally at the New Hampshire State House to call on Gov. Chris Sununu to take action and employ what they call an underutilized tool: clemency, or the ability state governors have to grant pardons.
Below, Kindeke answers questions for the newsletter’s “Three Questions” profile. Answers have been edited for length and clarity.
1. How has growing up and living in New Hampshire as an undocumented Black woman informed the work you do?
Well, it definitely has. One of my favorite quotes is, “The personal is political.” Being Black and being undocumented had implications on how my life has been shaped. I found out that I was undocumented in high school, which meant I couldn't go to college. I couldn't pay for college because I didn't qualify. I couldn't get financial aid, and I don't know many people who can go to college without some financial aid. I couldn't drive. All of my friends were getting licenses, and I couldn't do it, so I had to go without. I couldn't work above a certain paygrade. I mean, I couldn't work at all, legally.
So it has informed my work because it's been my life, and everyone's personal life is not divorced from the systems we live in. Whatever categories of life you've been placed in impact what you can do and what you can't do. It has informed my work because now I'm trying to change those systems and trying to get at the heart of the policies and procedures and the statutes and the laws and the regulations that create the circumstances where someone who is undocumented cannot get a driver's license.
2. As a community organizer, can you explain why it is important for everyday people to speak up and work toward change?
It's important because it takes people to do it. I think oftentimes people feel like, “Oh, well, what can I do? I'm just one person,” or “I try to volunteer my time and that seems like it's enough.” It is enough because we are giving and contributing in some way — but it isn't because there’s still more that can be done. I think people often feel intimidated by what those possibilities are, but so many of us are already doing that work amongst the people that we love. We already do these things: we care for one another, we support each other. We support our loved ones, whether it be family members or our chosen family members.
I want to tell you a little story about myself. When I was undocumented, I was able to get onto and apply for DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) because my best friend at the time, her parents paid for a lawyer for me. I didn't have the money, and they did that out of love — love for their daughter who had love for me, and by extension, they had more for me. I was part of their community and their family. I think it's important for everyday people to expand who we include in that family. These issues impact so many people and there are different ways that people can get involved. There are different ways depending on your level and your ability, but there's definitely something that everybody can do.
3. Can you tell me about a project or issue you're currently working on that you feel particularly passionate about?
I am really excited for the work that we started at the clemency rally at the State House because working with incarcerated people, specifically formerly incarcerated women, has been incredibly powerful. The experiences of these women really highlight why we say that carceral systems of prisons and jails are not the answer to the issues that we're having in our communities. I'm really excited for the work that we're starting to build and to connect that work more broadly across New Hampshire because now the New Hampshire program is multi-issue. When we work on economic justice, racial justice, immigrant rights and immigrant justice, these things overlap one another. In order to have justice, you need to be able to both advocate for the policies and take care of the people's material needs, and then get at the root causes of why we have systems in the first place. So I'm really excited for the work that we're doing with that.
To pivot a little bit, I am really excited about the work I'm doing with the Manchester Community Action Coalition. We're doing a vaccine hesitancy campaign to try to address people's needs and concerns and questions and the misinformation that's out there about COVID and the COVID vaccine — but doing so in a way that empowers our community because these concerns are real. These issues are real. We’re doing that work in collaboration with partners across the state and doing it in these ways where we're including art and art-making, as well as building off of the communication pathways that are already present within the community. People already share information and we already connect with one another. We'll be building that up and growing. I'm really excited for both of those projects.
Legislative Corner
By Jenny Whidden, Granite State News Collaborative
With election season fast approaching, we at the Collaborative have been thinking a lot about civic engagement, and what stops Granite Staters from getting involved in their local governments.
We’ve recently embarked on a project to answer that question, highlight possible solutions, and inform New Hampshire residents about how they can be more engaged with their communities — whether they’ve only got a few minutes of free time a week or a few days.
Getting involved is often easier said than done. In 2019, nearly half of New Hampshire residents reported facing obstacles or barriers to community involvement, according to the New Hampshire Civic Health Index. Of those Granite Staters, 30% said lack of information was a “very important” obstacle.
As part of our quest to arm residents with the information they need to face the confusing world of local government, I will be conducting Q&As with elected officials and with people running for public office across the state.
I’m also going to write up a comprehensive story on several ways New Hampshire residents can engage with four levels of government: school, municipal, county and state. Here’s a sneak peek:
Schools: The least time-consuming ways include joining parent Facebook groups, signing up for school or district newsletters, and emailing your school board members. The latter may not sound like much, but one district superintendent told me it is incredibly powerful when parents take the time to reach out and directly communicate with the board.
Municipal: The first step to sorting through the many avenues to getting involved with your municipality is becoming familiar with its website. There, you can sort through and learn more about your town or city’s plethora of departments, commissions, boards, services and events. Next, check out the online calendar to find out when and where your city council, board and commission meetings are.
County: The state has ten counties, each governed by a Board of Commissioners. The board holds public meetings to discuss and make decisions about things like how much the sheriff deputy should be paid, who should be in charge of the jail and how to spend federal funding. Meetings typically occur once or twice a month, and details can be found on your county website. Residents can check out meeting agendas ahead of time to decide whether they’d like to attend.
State: One avenue to stay informed is to check out the official sites for the New Hampshire Democratic Party and Republican Party, which provide listings of events, candidates, multimedia, and other background information. The sites also provide volunteer opportunities for those interested in stepping up for a state representative or state senate campaign. Doing so could be a valuable experience in learning more about the democratic process.
To help me round out this story, I’d really like to hear from you. Do you have any tips for your neighbors on how to involve themselves in the community?
If you’d like to share your thoughts, I’d love to hear them at jenny.whidden@collaborativenh.org.
Coming up
Freelance writer Anthony Payton will be starting a new series of columns for the Granite State News Collaborative, offering a personal perspective on racial and equity issues in the state. Photo by Allegra Boverman
Look out for a new series of columns from freelance writer Anthony Payton, who will tackle racial, social, justice and equity issues. In his first column, Payton will discuss an encounter at Walmart that led to an examination of his own preconceived notions and biases. In future columns, Payton will introduce readers to community stakeholders who can offer an interesting perspective on life in the Granite State.
Through this series, Payton hopes to upend preconceived notions and find common ground.
"I know it can be done. There is so much more that unites us than separates us. It’s a give-and-take process, and being open-minded and open-hearted is a huge first step," Payton writes in his first column.
As part of the series, stay tuned for a podcast with Payton produced by the Collaborative and the Marlin Fitzwater Center for Communication at Franklin Pierce University.
A Manchester resident, Payton was was formerly incarcerated. Today he's an advocate for criminal justice reform and helping former inmates rejoin the community.
Thanks for reading! See you next time.
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ABOUT THE GRANITE STATE NEWS COLLABORATIVE
The Granite State News Collaborative is a collective of about 20 local media, education and community partners working together to produce and share news stories on the issues that most impact our state. Together we can provide more information to more communities across New Hampshire than we could individually.