GORHAM — Work continues inside the two-story former credit union branch at 355 Main St. to convert the space into the future site of the Gorham Community Learning Center.
U.S. Rep. Maggie Goodlander (D-N.H.) visited the building Jan. 27 as part of a tour of the swath of municipalities she represents in New Hampshire’s 2nd Congressional District.
Parents and caregivers in the region continue to search for affordable child care so that they can remain in the workforce to support their families. The needs are intertwined.
“The availability of workforce housing and availability of child care go hand in hand,” Goodlander said to the learning center’s Staff Director Melinda Fauteux and Assistant Director Mariah Middleton, Julianne Gooden, site director for Gorham Community Learning Center. Little Huskies, Airole Warden, a project manager/policy and advocacy consultant and Phoebe Backler, senior program officer with the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation.
Warden is the director of the Coos County Director Network.
Goodlander, the child care professionals, plus Gorham Town Manager Peter Gagnon, met later in the afternoon in the learning center’s current location in the red wooden clapboard building at 123 Main St. to speak of the project.
Currently, there are 104 young children enrolled at the 123 Main St. site, Fauteux said.
Boosting the learning center’s renovation project from a bank building into a child care center is the receipt of a $1 million grant from the Northern Border Regional Commission. The funding was awarded through the commission’s Catalyst Program which supports a broad range of economic development initiatives, including in rural areas such as Coos County.
As a press statement notes, “NBRC encourages business retention and expansion, invests in public infrastructure and promotes tourism across northern Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and New York. This vital federal-state partnership for economic and community development provides grant funding to communities within Belknap, Carroll, Cheshire, Coos, Grafton and Sullivan counties.”
The state’s congressional delegation — Sens. Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan and Reps. Chris Pappas and Goodlander — announced the Northern Border Regional Commission awards on Jan. 23.
The plan to renovate the Gorham Community Learning Center building at the corner of Main Street and Lancaster Road or Route 2 continues.
To help with management of the $500,000 Community Development Block Grant that also will aid in the building’s rehabilitation, and with which AHEAD is a partner, the town of Gorham is looking for a contractor. Written proposals from firms or individuals to conduct environmental records review, property acquisition and preparing records and reports required for federal regulation adherence are due by Feb. 7 to Gagnon.
AHEAD is an acronym for Affordable Housing, Education and Development. It is based in Littleton.
In related news, earlier in the day Jan. 27, Goodlander met at the Berlin Falls House Museum with local and state leaders about economic development. According to a posting at goodlander.house.gov, participants included Renney Morneau, president, Berlin and Coos County Historical Society; Mark Brady, administrator, Coos County; Ray Gorman, commissioner, Coos County; Beno Lamontagne, business retention, NH Business & Economic Affairs; Steve Fortier, NH Business & Economic Affairs administrator of Rural Economic Development; Alex Ritchie, principal, Ritchie & Associates; Kevin Eschelbach, executive director, Coos Economic Development Corp.; Angela Pence, business development manager, CEDC; Maeve Cyr, outreach coordinator, CEDC; Ericka Canales, principal, Backroads Strategies; Kathleen and Mark Kelley, owners of White Mountain Lumber; Julia Umiker, business manager, North Country Growers; and Jack Daley, project manager, North Country Growers.
Goodlander, elected Nov. 5, 2024, to the seat vacated by former U.S. Rep. Anne McLane Kuster (D-N.H.), is serving on the House Small Business Committee.
“Granite State businesses and workers in the North Country are at the very heart of New Hampshire’s economy,” said Goodlander in a statement on her website. “Governing is a team effort, and I’m excited to support the work of our partners at every level of government across Coos County to revitalize the North Country.”
