A report from community: the barriers people face

We believe that when a community can draw on the potential, strength, ingenuity and grace of every person in it, that community will be healthier, happier, more prosperous and a better place to live for all. We believe New Hampshire can be that community. But we have some shared work to do to get there.

For far too long, too many of us have faced barriers to belonging, basic rights and the ability to thrive based on race, socioeconomic background, age, gender identity, sexual orientation, ability and other factors. Black, Latino, Asian, Indigenous and other people of color, in particular, face disproportionate barriers. Recent crises — a global pandemic, social and economic upheaval, polarization, threats to our democracy, accelerating climate change — have further exacerbated inequity and injustice.

As the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation undertook a strategic planning process to set priorities for the coming years, we first set out to listen closely to people who have faced those barriers.

Through a process called Participatory Action Research, we recruited and hired people closest to the issues our communities are facing to define the problems, do the research and recommend actions. What we wanted to know most was: What are the obstacles that people are facing in New Hampshire communities and what more can be done to lower those obstacles?

The Community Listening Team was composed of people from every region of the state who themselves have faced barriers. Together, they spoke with and surveyed more than 600 residents, making surveys available in 10 languages.

The design and execution of the research, the results and recommendations and format of the final report were left entirely to the Community Listening Team. A consultant facilitated the process and three of our staff served in an advisory role as needed.

This report informed the Foundation’s new strategic plan, “Together We Thrive,” and will continue to help guide our work in the coming years.

We are immensely grateful to the team of people who did this research and created this important piece of work. We consider ourselves accountable to them and to the hundreds of people whose voices and experiences are represented in the findings of this report.

The Community Listening Team has given us great insight and inspiration into how the Charitable Foundation can help New Hampshire be a community where we can all feel deep belonging, and where we all can thrive, together.

Read the Community Listening Team’s report “Increasing Opportunity in New Hampshire” to learn more.