This is New Hampshire: Exploring Diversity in the Granite State
By Nour Habib, Granite State News Collaborative Engagement Reporter
It's been a big year at the Granite State News Collaborative. In this month's newsletter, I share with you some of our last projects of 2021.
In the last few weeks, we published a major story about lead contamination in the state, as part of our environmental justice series.
More than half of NH homes were constructed before lead paint was banned in 1978. According to the state's Department of Health and Human Services, about one-fifth of those homes currently house a child under six, meaning tens of thousands of kids may be living in structures with lead hazards. Read more about this here.
Also in the last month, we took a look at New Hampshire's prison education programs, which can offer job training and chances to gain skills. But formerly incarcerated people say it also draws them out of their hopelessness. Read more here. You can also read a first-person account from one of our columnists about how education helped him while he was incarcerated.
I'd also like to point you toward an important story about the state Native American Commission, which has been unable to vote for five months due to lack of members. The governor has not appointed a new member in two years. Among the work the Commission does is weighing in on a range of legislation. Read more here.
I look forward to hearing from you in the new year. Send me an email at nour.habib@collaborativenh.org and tell me what you'd like to see us cover in 2022.
Can we count on your support?
The Granite State News Collaborative provides in-depth and investigative journalism to our communities. We are grateful for the support you all have provided over the last year!
We're still short of our goal to raise $15,000 by Dec. 31 for our 2022 reporting projects. Can you help us out?
We're still looking for teachers and classroom educators to join our private Facebook group, Teachers Off The Record. The group is a space for teachers to have candid conversations amongst themselves and with a few members of the media about the biggest issues facing New Hampshire classrooms.
The discussion will guide our Education and Equity series coverage, but no teacher will be quoted without their express permission. If you're a teacher who is interested in joining, please fill out this questionnaire or reach out to Project Editor Rosemary Ford at romaford1@gmail.com.
Three Questions with Gustavo Moral
Gustavo Moral has many passions. A lot of them involve helping others.
Moral is a member of the Granite State News Collaborative’s Spanish Language Advisory Council. He is president of Independent Services Network, a private company that works with youth and adults with developmental and intellectual disabilities to deliver services in a community-based setting. And he is still heavily involved in an organization he helped found more than 20 years ago to encourage Latinos to participate in the electoral process.
Below, he speaks about the civic engagement group he has a special passion for. Answers have been edited for length and clarity.
1. Tell me about your involvement in the community, and why you feel it is important to be engaged?
Well, I've been involved in the communities of New Hampshire for many years in a variety of levels and capacities. But currently, the one that, in particular, continues to have a special passion and interest on my end is engaging the Latino community to be involved in the civic process of participating in the elections. And to that end, I'm involved with this project called Vote Now New Hampshire Hispanics. That started back in 2000. That particular initiative led to a number of tangible actions that included the first gubernatorial bilingual debate back in 2000, the first bilingual mayoral debate in New Hampshire in 2001, followed by another bilingual mayoral debate in a different election cycle.
It’s important for Latinos and Latinas in New Hampshire...to recognize the importance and value of participating in the process, because we're all affected by the decisions that we make when we elect people. This was certainly a nonpartisan approach, nonpartisan engagement with the community.
2. How has the landscape changed around this effort in the last 20 years? Has it become easier or more difficult to get Latinos involved in the electoral process?
The task has always taken a lot of effort, because you're dealing with communities that come from different countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, that have different histories. The commonality that we have is that we speak the same language, but then you have to talk about the different experiences each of these groups have had in their countries and how those histories are affecting their involvement in the new country, being the U.S. And then by extension, you also have to keep in mind the length of time that people have lived in the U.S. and now have families that were born and bred in the U.S. So you're talking about different generations affected by different cultures, in different periods of time in their lives. So when you're approaching people to engage in this particular process, you have to be cognizant of those various elements that you're dealing with.
3. What draws you to this? Why are you passionate about this work?
The basic simple answer is that I'm a Latino. And that I have lived in New Hampshire for many years, my higher education was right here in New Hampshire. So, I'm a community member. I have that investment. And I have an affection for Latinos. I want them to be successful in New Hampshire, to be participants in all the processes of all the levels in the state, so they can maximize their potential and be fully integrated into the greater community.
Thanks for reading, and happy holidays to all those who are celebrating this season! See you next year. -- Nour
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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.