$45K Manchester Community Health Center grant for pregnant moms and babies with SUD

Sign Up For Our FREE Daily eNews!

Screen Shot 2019 04 01 at 1.39.27 PMMANCHESTER, NH – A $45,000 grant from New York-based one2one USA Foundation was awarded the Manchester Community Health Center to fund a new health and social services position focused on supporting the care of pregnant women and their newborn babies struggling from the opioid crisis.

The grant will provide local women with the medical and social welfare services they need and their unborn children deserve. The position is expected to serve about 100 local babies born each year with neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS) to mothers struggling with addiction, a rate that has increased fivefold in New Hampshire between 2005 and 2015, according to the University of New Hampshire and New Futures Kids Count.

Following an introduction at the National League of Cities, Mayor’s Institute on Opioids, one2one USA Foundation worked closely with Manchester Mayor Joyce Craig in determining how to best deploy the grant in order to have the greatest impact.

“This grant exemplifies the generosity of our community and ensures we have the resources we need to solve complex problems,” said Mayor Craig. “This funding for the Manchester Community Health Center will help a vulnerable population within our city, and I want to thank one2one Foundation and its donors for helping us address an area of critical need in Manchester.”

The grant is made possible by the unique mission of the one2one USA Foundation, which cuts through bureaucratic red tape by allowing donors to target donations to specific causes and individual needs. In this instance, the Foundation, a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, worked with a couple from New York, who spend time in southern New Hampshire, to establish the New Hampshire Opioid Relief program, which provided the grant.

“The generosity of one2one USA and its donors will go a long way in our effort to help newborns and their mothers overcome the challenges of opioid addiction,” says Kris McCracken, president of MCHC. “Through their good work we now have the ability to make an immediate impact in our community, improving the lives of the most vulnerable among us. Research shows the success rate of weaning babies off opioids is high when they quickly receive the medical and social services they need. This grant aims to enable hospitals and organizations to do just that.”

Statewide, New Hampshire suffers from the second-highest rate of opioid-related overdose deaths in the country. In 2016 (the latest year for which numbers are available), there were 437 opioid-related overdose deaths in New Hampshire-nearly three times higher than the national rate.

Manchester Community Health Center, a federally qualified health center that specializes in providing high-quality, comprehensive, family-oriented primary health care, is making significant headway in combating the opioid epidemic by providing, among other services, Medication-Assisted Treatment to patients with opioid and other substance abuse disorders.

Individuals can learn more about how they can support important causes to them by going to https://one2oneusa.org/donor/. All donations are tax exempt.

About this Author

Office of Mayor Joyce Craig