Community Impact

Community Impact: What Is It?

Community impact is improving lives by mobilizing communities to create lasting changes in community conditions. While UWGN funded programs help make important, measurable improvements in people’s lives, community impact examines root causes of a problem and unifies the community in addressing the issue. It is the basis for United Way’s mission.

Collaboration Is Key

Creating community impact is a collaborative effort. United Way is one of many players and sees its role primarily as a convener that brings together numerous resources throughout the community to address a critical issue. In addition to funding, resources can include time, talent, community research, agencies, public policy, and neighborhood associations. United Way works with community leaders from business, government, faith-based organizations, agencies, and other local groups in developing consensus around a community impact plan.

Housing Coalition

In January 2005, several community leaders came together for the first meeting of the Greater Nashua Workforce Housing Coalition (GNWHC), which was hosted by United Way. The coalition is an all-volunteer group of more than 30 members and includes representatives of corporations, government, chambers of commerce, banks, real estate firms, developers, and other interests. Its initial focus is on fostering the development of permanent housing for working people. The coalition, which received grants from NH Charitable Foundation and NH Housing Finance Authority, hired a coordinator, who works out of United Way's office.

Grants

General Fund dollars set aside for the Workforce Housing Initiative allowed United Way to create a Housing Fund for permanent and transitional housing programs. Initial grants of $25,000 were made to:

Mary's House, a program of Southern New Hampshire Services;

The affordable housing program of Neighborhood Housing Services of Greater Nashua;

The Transitional Housing Program at Nashua Pastoral Care Center; and

The Anne-Marie House temporary shelter in Hudson , a program of the Greater Nashua Interfaith Hospitality Network, which earlier received a UWGN venture grant.

The Anne-Marie House, Mary's House, and Nashua Pastoral Care Center each applied for and received supplemental grants of $25,000.

Through its Housing Fund, UWGN also recently awarded grants of $10,000 each to Harbor Homes for its new transitional residence for veterans, and to Nashua Pastoral Care Center for a revolving loan fund that lends families money to help them avoid foreclosure on their homes.

Workforce Housing Projects

UWGN is working with the GNWHC, New Hampshire Housing Finance Authority (NHHFA), and developer Bennett-Prescott, LLC, to bring new units of workforce housing to two sites in Nashua. Prescott Square is a 41-unit condominium development off Broad Street, and Dalton Village is a seven single-family home development on Donna Street. UWGN provided a $50,000 grant, which leveraged an additional $350,000 in subsidies from NHHFA and the developer.

As a result, 12 two-bedroom condominium units at Prescott Square and three single-family homes at Dalton Village are available to qualified first-time home buyers who can receive up to a $20,000 discount. The GNWHC is marketing the properties to municipal employees with an income of up to $84,100. Qualified buyers of a two-bedroom unit with a market rate of $238,900 would pay $218,900. To help ensure long-term affordability, the $20,000 discount would remain intact each time the property is sold over 20 years.

UWGN also provided a grant to help Southern NH Services (SNHS) defray start-up costs of converting former mill property on Front Street in Nashua to approximately 40 affordable owner-occupied condominiums. UWGN committed Workforce Housing Initiative funds to the conversion, which SNHS will return upon completion of the project.