On Sept. 23, staff and board leaders from 10 Upper Valley arts and culture organizations gathered in a brightly-lit conference room at Hypertherm for a day-long convening about the hard and necessary work of becoming more equitable and engaging nonprofits. In my 20-plus years of service to our region’s creative economy, I’ve never experienced a gathering of this size and scope dedicated solely to issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion.
The workshop was cohosted by Lebanon Opera House, Upper Valley Music Center and AVA Gallery and Art Center and generously sponsored by Hypertherm, the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation and Lindsay Dearborn.
Through the lens of values-driven leadership, our expert facilitator Vernetta Walker challenged each of us to get comfortable with uncomfortable discussions and to embrace diversity writ large.
Although there’s still so much work ahead, I applaud my colleagues for taking the time to be vulnerable in the room and acknowledging that we can collectively celebrate our successes, learn from our failures, and — most important — hold each other accountable in our quest to become more accurate reflections of the ever-changing communities we serve.
Joe Clifford
Plainfield
Executive director, Lebanon Opera House
New Hampshire’s crisis response
Nora Doyle-Burr’s well-written article about Dartmouth’s student mental health crisis this past Sunday omitted one footnote (“Campus deaths raise familiar questions,” Oct. 2). It suggested calling the national 988 crisis line, yet, in New Hampshire, there’s a better option.
Calling the NH Rapid Response Access Point gets a live crisis clinician on the phone who will alert a local NH mobile crisis response team when warranted. These are trained crisis clinicians who will visit in-person. They’re compassionate, caring, and are trained to listen and respond with evidence-based practices. Visits are respectful and confidential.
At West Central Behavioral Health, we’ve mobilized 24/7 crisis response teams who have visited homes, schools, community locations, jails — wherever a person in crisis may be. Over 90% of our crisis outreaches have needed no police involvement at all. And 88% no emergency room visits.
Our slogan is: “Call Early, Call Often.” We want to resolve large or small crises before they progress to suicides.
Help us help you, in the Dartmouth and broader Upper Valley communities. Spread the word. Call or text 833-710-6477, or visit NH988.com. You may save a life.
A crisis can affect anyone, and it need not be life threatening. This is a free service offered by your NH community behavioral health centers. Call on us, please.
Dave Celone
West Central Behavioral Health
Director of Development & Community Relations
Church takes a stand
on reproductive rights
In early July 2022 more than 100 clergy and laypeople of the United Church of Christ in Vermont signed a letter in response to the United States Supreme Court’s decision in the Dobbs case overturning Roe v. Wade. This letter included: “We believe that all people have a right to determine what one does with one’s own body, recognizing the difficult and painful yet life-supporting and sustaining necessity in making the decision to have an abortion. This is a statement rooted in our Christian faith which opposes any policy, precedent, statement or law that limits a human being’s right to bodily autonomy determination, dignity and respect.”
Within Christianity there’s a diversity of understandings about what our faith requires of us. Moved by our faith as laity and clergy in the United Church of Christ we affirm God’s gift of free will and proclaim our support for reproductive liberty. Not in spite of our Christian faith, but because of it, we encourage every Vermonter to vote in favor of Proposal 5/Article 22, “Reproductive Liberty Amendment” to the Vermont Constitution.
Karen Lipinczyk
Windsor
Reproductive Liberty Task Force,
Vermont Conference United Church of Christ
Easy for Bolduc to say
I read that Don Bolduc wants us women to “get over it” when it comes to the issue of abortion.
Well, I will certainly NOT be getting over it! Maybe it is easy for Bolduc to tell half the country to just move on, particularly as he has never been impacted by the issue of abortion.
However, his comments are so out-of-touch with the reality that women face.
I have read in horror what is happening to women in other parts of the country where they can’t have abortions, even when their lives depend on it. Some women have spent days miscarrying — losing so much blood that their lives are in danger — but are forced to suffer because doctors are afraid of going to jail.
New Hampshire deserves political representation by someone who respects the rights of all citizens to make decisions about their own bodies. I’ll be voting for Maggie Hassan this November. And I encourage anyone who cares about personal freedom to do so too.
Lisa Johnson
Hanover