Fresh Takes: Strengthening Community at Every Age
- Endowment for Health
- Nov 3
- 4 min read
Updated: Nov 21
Fall 2025
Young Organizers United
As a first-year student at West High School in Manchester, Mackenzie Verdiner says that she didn’t see herself represented in the school curriculum.
But she had been attending meetings of Young Organizers United – a program that helps young people work on issues that matter to them. As a group, the students organized to add an African American Studies course to the curriculum. Three years later, as a Senior, Mackenzie got to take the class.
Now, Mackenzie works with the next generation of young organizers.
Young Organizers United (YOU), is a program of the nonprofit Granite State Organizing Project, that receives support from the Endowment for Health. Mackenzie is now on staff as the YOU program coordinator. She works to provide students with information, skills, leadership training, and opportunities to create better schools, neighborhoods, and community.
“YOU puts power in the hands of students,” she says. “It gives students the ability to reach their full potential, and to start civic engagement at a young age.”
The current cohort of young organizers are working on the Better Spaces, Brighter Futures campaign to secure needed improvements to the school bathrooms. “A lot of bathrooms don’t have working soap dispensers,” one student explains. “And they run out of toilet paper. It’s a severe problem.”
So, the students are organizing. They’re talking to peers, teachers, and parents. They’re meeting with school board members and aldermen. They’re asking questions, delivering testimony; they’re organizing listening sessions and encouraging their peers to make their voices heard. In doing so, they’re learning how to articulate their concerns, recognize how an issue affects their community, and turn that concern into action.
These students have regular teenage concerns – who is dating who, how to react when someone ghosts you, school sports. These concerns can sometimes convey something deeper. When one student complains that his soccer team wears old, ill-fitting jerseys, Mackenzie asks him why he thinks that might be.
He pauses. “The good athletes are going to private schools on vouchers,” he explains. “They could be uplifting Central. But when the kids are really good, they leave, and even our Varsity students are stuck with uniforms that don’t fit.”
Mackenzie listens closely. “That sounds like a problem,” she says. “What do you think we can do about it?”
Illustrating Community
How do we help families become more connected to their communities – and to each other?
That was the question that Sam Durfee, and the Concord Connections coalition, hoped to answer. The Coalition understands that community and belonging are fundamental social determinants of health. And when kids and families connect with each other, they create community.
Sam is the Director for the Capital Area Public Health Network at Granite United Way, the fiscal sponsor of Concord Connections, a coalition of organizations that serve families with young children in New Hampshire.
Concord Connections wanted to create a resource for families to explore their communities. The idea they came up with was a map that shows free or low-cost activities: trails to explore, books to read, playgrounds to climb on, and family resource centers to visit.
Concord Connections had the vision. They had the resources. They just didn’t have the staff capacity or graphic design skills to create an illustrated map.
Through Catchafire, a resource available to Endowment for Health community partners, Concord Connections was able to connect with Alexa, an artist in Texas, who worked with them to create the resource that they envisioned.
The map, Family Friendly Concord, will be distributed to family resource and childcare centers, to the Concord School District and Early Head Start. It will direct families to activities and places where they can connect with each other.
Sam hopes that families will hang the map on their fridge and, on a slow weekend afternoon, embark on a new adventure in their community.
Catchafire is an online platform where community partners connect to volunteers to implement projects that they otherwise would not have the capacity to complete. The projects are wide ranging – marketing and communications, professional development, program management, technology, leadership, fundraising, human resources, finance and operations. You can learn more by emailing ahession@endowmentforhealth.org.
In The News
The Endowment for Health awarded nearly $5.8 million over the past 12 months, supporting a selection of projects that strengthen community health, bolster the state’s healthcare workforce and address pressing issues such as food insecurity and behavioral health across New Hampshire.
“The Endowment recognizes the importance and fragility of the state’s safety net,” said Endowment for Health President Dr. Yvonne Goldsberry. “Much of our recent grantmaking supported New Hampshire community efforts to ensure that Granite Staters continue to thrive,” Goldsberry added.
Over the past program year, the Endowment’s funding totaled $5,769,311 representing 90 grants to 61 organizations with an average award size of $64,000.
The following grants highlight the range of the Endowment’s recent funding:
Sustaining New Hampshire Safety Net Providers – More than 1 million dollars was awarded to 21 New Hampshire community health centers and community mental health centers to provide care and services to Granite Staters. Each of the 21 centers received a one-time $50,000 operating grant to support comprehensive primary care, mental and behavioral health, dental and other essential services.
New Hampshire Hunger Solutions – $66,666 was awarded to address screening, referral, and application assistance within the state’s healthcare, public health, and community-based organizations to assist in reducing food insecurity and improved connection to services.
New Hampshire Family Network – $120,000 was awarded to NAMI New Hampshire to support informed youth and family leaders who are full partners in strengthening the children’s behavioral health system in New Hampshire.
HealthForce NH – $200,000 was awarded to grow, retain, and sustain New Hampshire’s healthcare workforce and to implement the “Giving Care” strategic plan.
Mount Washington Valley Adult Day Center – $20,000 was awarded to implement the Guiding an Improved Dementia Experience (GUIDE) program through a Care Navigator.
You can view a full list of Endowment for Health grants here.