Shaheen Visits Keene State College Following Successful Push to Secure $1M to Expand Child Care Availability in the Monadnock Region

Press Release

U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) visited Keene State College (KSC) today following her successful effort to secure $1 million through the government funding package for KSC to bolster training for child care workers, including training and professional development for current workers. The Monadnock United Way will partner with KSC on this project to improve retention of employees in the field and expand child care availability in the region.

"Shortages in the child care industry reached a crisis level during the pandemic, straining parents who needed to return to work, hurting child care workers overwhelmed by the demand and impacting businesses whose employees relied on child care to remain in the workforce. It's clear we must invest in training and professional development to grow our child care workforce and strengthen our state's child care industry," said Shaheen. "That's why I fought to secure $1 million for Keene State College through the government funding bill to retain current child care workers and train new students for the industry. This money will make a real difference in supporting this essential field while expanding access to quality child care across the region."

As a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Shaheen helped secure $68,797,000 for projects across New Hampshire through Congressionally Directed Spending (CDS) requests. Shaheen also worked to include more than $17 billion for key federal child care and early learning programs. The bill includes $6.2 billion for Child Care and Development Block Grants to states, an increase of $254 million over last year's funding levels, as well as a nearly $289 million increase to Head Start, funding the program at $11 billion for FY 2022. Shaheen has led efforts in Congress to assist the child care sector, which has been among the hardest hit during the pandemic. In the emergency COVID-19 relief legislation that was signed into law in December 2020 and the American Rescue Plan, Shaheen successfully included language that provided $50 billion in urgently needed relief for child care providers. Specifically, New Hampshire has received more than $77 million in supplemental child care funding through the American Rescue Plan.

This afternoon, Senator Shaheen and Representative Annie Kuster (NH-02) met with board members of Families Flourish Northeast and hospital administrators at the Alice Peck Day Memorial Hospital to discuss $500,000 the lawmakers secured through the government funding package. This award will help Families Flourish Northeast establish a residential substance use treatment program for pregnant and parenting women and their children. This funding will help combat the substance use disorder crisis in the Upper Valley and beyond.

"The substance use disorder crisis has created trauma and heartache for families across New Hampshire, particularly during the pandemic as rates of substance misuse skyrocketed. Expanding access to substance use treatment programs for parenting women and their children helps keep families together on the path to recovery," said Shaheen. "As a senior appropriator who helped write the funding bill, I fought to deliver resources to Granite State organizations who are on the frontlines delivering treatments for addiction. I appreciate Congresswoman Kuster's partnership to secure this $500,000 award for Families Flourish, and I hope this program helps mothers and families find the support they need to heal."

"No mother should have to choose between recovering from addiction or being an active parent for their child -- Families Flourish is working to ensure no Granite Stater faces that choice," said Rep. Annie Kuster, founder and co-chair of the Bipartisan Addiction and Mental Health Task Force. "I was proud to work with Senator Shaheen to secure $500,000 in federal funding for this program to equip New Hampshire mothers and families struggling with substance use disorder with the support they need to recover and thrive. I will continue working in Congress and with local partners to address the addiction epidemic and expand access to treatment."

"Congresswoman Kuster and Senator Shaheen both included Families Flourish in their requests for congressionally directed spending for community projects. As a result of their advocacy, Families Flourish will receive $500,000 to establish a residential treatment program for pregnant and parenting women experiencing substance use disorders in the Upper Valley," said Courtney Tanner, Families Flourish Board Chair. "While we have quite a bit of work ahead of us, this funding secured by Rep. Kuster and Sen. Shaheen brings us one step closer to operationalizing a residential treatment program for women who are desperate for an opportunity to get help, all while also trying to be a present and loving mom."

As a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Senator Shaheen has fought to deliver resources to combat the substance use disorder crisis in New Hampshire. For example, the FY 2021 funding legislation provided $1.5 billion in State Opioid Response (SOR) grant funding, as well as the continuation of a 15 percent set-aside that Shaheen fought to secure in 2018 for hard-hit states like New Hampshire. Shaheen also included a key provision from the 2019 version of her legislation - the Turn the Tide Act - to provide flexibility for treatment providers to use State Opioid Response (SOR) grant dollars to help patients suffering from meth and cocaine dependency, in addition to opioid use disorders. Shaheen wrote the provision in response to discussions with New Hampshire treatment providers. Over the past four years, New Hampshire has received approximately $92 million from these grants to combat the opioid epidemic in the state. In FY 2022 government funding legislation, Shaheen secured $572.5 million to help communities and first responders respond to substance use crises, including opioid addiction and drug trafficking. This also includes $415 million for Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (CARA) grants, which support programs like drug, mental health and veteran treatment courts and substance use disorder treatment programs administered by state and local correctional facilities. Last year, Senator Shaheen helped introduce the bipartisan Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery (CARA) Act 3.0 to help combat the opioid epidemic by increasing the funding authorization levels for these programs. Shaheen also secured funding for the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) anti-heroin task force and anti-methamphetamine task force programs.

Rep. Annie Kuster is a leading voice in Congress to address the addiction and mental health crisis. A senior member of the influential Energy and Commerce Committee and co-founder of the Bipartisan Addiction and Mental Health Task Force, Kuster has championed legislation to bolster our national response to the substance use and mental health epidemic. Earlier this month, she helped advance five pieces of legislation included in the Task Force's 2021 Legislative Agenda to reduce demand, hold illicit distributors accountable, and turn the tide on this crisis.

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