ENVIRONMENT FUND SUPPORTS PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT ACROSS THE REGION

Lebanon, NH—With a grant from The New England Grassroots Environment Fund, the NH Upper Valley Democratic Committee (known locally as the Upper Valley Democrats), will expand its ongoing series of public lectures on issues of concern to area voters. Since November 2017, the group’s potlucks and panel discussions have drawn hundreds of Upper Valley residents from dozens of towns across the region. In announcing the $1,000 Seed Grant, The New England Grassroots Environment Fund expressed a strong interest in building a partnership that will provide training, project outreach assistance, resources, and other opportunities.

“This is a different kind of political outreach initiative,” says Ann Garland, Co-chair of the NH Upper Valley Democrats Executive Board. “We want to engage with voters regardless of party affiliation, to provide discussion around critical issues that affect all our communities.”

The funding will support the group’s popular lecture series on topics suggested by residents of the Upper Valley’s fourteen towns.  In 2017, sessions focused on NH governance, “fake news,” healthcare, and education. “This grant will make it possible to expand on our core work,” notes Garland, “engaging more New Hampshire voters who share a desire for change and progress.”

The 2018 lecture series began on January 23 when a panel of State legislators addressed  “Education Legislation in the New Hampshire House,” a conversation about current bills that will have far-ranging effects on public education. The second event in the series, a February 26 Grassroots Lobbying Workshop, will take place from 6 PM – 8 PM. All events will be held at the Upper Valley Senior Center on Campbell Street in Lebanon, NH. For more information contact uvdems@uppervalleydemocrats.com.

The New England Grassroots Environment Fund energizes and nurtures long-term civic engagement in local initiatives that create and maintain healthy, just, safe and sustainable communities using stories, tools and dollars to fuel local activism and social change. Since 1996, the Grassroots Fund’s core grant-making program funds nearly 150 grants annually, giving more than $4 million in 20 years to more than 2,000 community groups and initiatives covering more than 60 percent of New England’s cities and towns.

The NH Upper Valley Democratic Committee promotes the development of an engaged, informed electorate through constructive public dialogue.

Education Legislation in the New Hampshire House—
Upper Valley Senior Center
10 Campbell Street, Lebanon
Date: Tuesday, January 23, 2018
Time: 6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. (potluck @6, speakers @6.30)

A panel of state representatives will explain the potential consequences of education legislation introduced in the New Hampshire State Legislature. Significant education bills are being debated and acted upon over the next two months. In anticipation of the contentious debate surrounding this legislation, the New Hampshire Upper Valley Democrats are launching their 2018 Upper Valley Lecture Series on Tuesday, January 23, 2018, with a roundtable of House Representatives who will outline the content of proposed education bills, provide a history of legislative genesis, and offer guidance for grassroots intervention. Funding for the Upper Valley Lecture Series was provided by the New England Grassroots Environment Fund.

The presenter will be Representative Douglas Ley, D-Cheshire, current president of the American Federation of Teachers in New Hampshire. He will be joined by House members Mary Heath, D-Hillsborough, former deputy commissioner, N.H. Department of Education and retired dean, Southern New Hampshire University’s School of Education; Brian Sullivan, D- Sullivan, member-elect, recently retired from the National Education Association of New Hampshire; and Linda Tanner, D-Sullivan, retired department chair for Health and Physical Education, Kearsarge Regional School District.

The New Hampshire Upper Valley Democrats is designing this series of lectures to bring together people of differing views from various local communities to identify, debate, and address injustices, such as equal access to voting, equal access to quality healthcare and education, livable wages, racial bias, and other issues that divide our communities.

The New Hampshire Upper Valley Democrats believes that the best way to serve our communities is to educate citizens on pertinent issues, generate a debate of pros and cons, welcome differing opinions and perspectives, discuss why the issues are important, and agree on what we all can do together to resolve them. The Upper Valley Lecture Series intends to focus on how we can impact injustices within our communities, such as sustainable living, environmental ethics, equal access to voting, equal access to quality healthcare and education, livable wages, racial bias, and other issues that divide our communities.

The 2017 Upper Valley Lecture Series attracted as many as 60 people from multiple communities for each session, some who travel a distance to be included.

The 2017 Lecture Series included the following programs:

• April — A talk by Mathew Houde, former senator from District 5, on the Affordable Care Act;
• May, July, September, November — Civics 102, 102, 103, and 104 led by City Counsilor Karen Liot Hill;
• June — A Fake News panel with Tom Blinkhorn and Dartmouth professors Alexis Jetter, Mark Williams, Jim Heffernan;
• October — A talk by New Hampshire Executive Counsilor Andru Volinsky on the crisis in New Hampshire’s educational funding and why New Hampshire’s Executive Council matters.