Upper Valley employers and families both cite access to high-quality, affordable child care as one of the key barriers to prosperity in our region, especially for low- and moderate-income families. How can we increase child care access and affordability in the Upper Valley so our families and workplaces can thrive?
These questions are the focus of a free, two-part, public, online symposium hosted by Vital Communities in partnership with the Corporate Council, municipal leaders, the Early Care and Education Association of the Upper Valley, Dartmouth-Hitchcock and the Couch Family Foundation.
The sessions will be held on two Wednesdays, Nov. 3 and 17, from 8-9:30 a.m. Session 1 will take a hard look at the problem and why it is seemingly so intractable. Session 2 will share examples of current and potential solutions in Upper Valley.
We hope everyone with a stake in this issue will attend, including employers, policymakers, providers and parents. Together we can do our best problem-solving.
Please go to vitalcommunities.org/childcare and register to join us (and please check out other upcoming events related to housing and climate migration).
SARAH JACKSON
East Randolph
The writer is executive director of Vital Communities.
While Congress appears to have retreated somewhat from its proposed $3.5 trillion spending plan, a $2 trillion program is still on the table. This includes money for pre-K education and elder care.
This is the same government that “managed” the Afghanistan withdrawal, is “managing” the border crisis, is bringing us inflation, contributing to our supply chain problems and pursuing policies that seem to be creating labor shortages. Do you want to trust your very young children and your older relatives and friends to these folks? What could possibly go wrong?
DENNIS LOGUE
Enfield
We are often urged to write to our representatives. But also, often, our representative already expresses our view. I feel that New Hampshire District 1 Executive Councilor Joseph D. Kenney has been far from expressing the view of his constituents, nor leading us. I am disappointed in his, as well as the Executive Council’s, actions with regard to the COVID-19 pandemic.
New Hampshire’s primary enemy right now is the virus. More than 1,500 people in New Hampshire have died of COVID-19, and our death rate now is two to three people per day.
The way to end this pandemic and return New Hampshire to normality is to vaccinate our people. About 60% of the state is vaccinated. That means that the majority of Granite Staters have rolled up their sleeve to help end this pandemic. The pandemic would be over if the state actively encouraged wider vaccination.
I understand that some may see opposition to vaccination as a “freedom.” But this is a small personal freedom that is at the expense of others. It leaves our community un-free, shackled with a deadly pandemic.
Patriots are those who put the good of the community, state and nation in front of themselves. In the present case, vaccination is a small price, a minor inconvenience, but it is still a patriotic act that will help our state battle this virus.
To not be vaccinated means that you are willing to harbor the virus; in a very real sense, that is aiding and abetting the enemy.
I want to look to our state’s leadership, including Kenney and the Executive Council, to help get us out of this pandemic. It appears to me that recent actions of the council were based upon scoring political points, and not on trying to get us out of this pandemic. I would ask that Kenney and the council reconsider these decisions.
And yes, Granite Staters continue to die, needlessly, every day.
TIM SMITH
Hanover