Community Strategies and Action Plans

2024 City of Manchester Overdose Prevention Strategy

The City of Manchester has been at the forefront of combatting the opioid epidemic, a challenge experienced nationwide. In 2016, the City released the "2016 City of Manchester Response to the Opioid Crisis". While the community has lead program specific initiatives since then, a city-wide investment strategy has yet to be created. In 2022, the City of Manchester Health Department secured renewed funding and technical assistance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Association of City and County Health Officials (NACCHO). This support enabled the City to implement comprehensive overdose prevention strategies tailored to its local community needs. Furthermore, Manchester, along with states and communities across the nation, has participated in the National Opioid Settlement against pharmacies, resulting in the establishment of the Opioid Abatement Trust Fund. While this fund provides vital resources, this strategic investment guide is designed to deploy measurable impact on the ground.

2024 City of Manchester Overdose Prevention Strategy
 

Manchester Neighborhood Health Improvement Strategy

We know that the livability of a neighborhood greatly impacts the health and quality of life of its residents. However, most of our spending as a nation is on health care. The Manchester Neighborhood Health Improvement Strategy (NHIS) aims to transform this approach through neighborhood or place-based changes to create healthy neighborhoods and healthier choices. As a community action plan, the NHIS provides recommendations to maximize the impact of funding, increase resource sharing and partnerships for the greater good, and serve as a “roadmap to health” for the City’s children, families, and neighborhoods.

There are three overarching goals for the NHIS:

1. Prevent toxic stress and adverse childhood experiences,
2. Attain health equity, and
3. Achieve environmental justice.

We are dedicated to making Manchester a “community of opportunity” that allows all to participate, prosper and ultimately reach their full potential. We practice the guiding principle that residents need to be part of the solution along with community partners, and together we share the responsibility of creating healthy neighborhoods. We are also ultimately committed to becoming an intergenerationally-celebrated, welcoming, inclusive and trauma-informed community. Our success will be measured when all Manchester families and residents thrive and give back to the greater good.

For strategy and priority recommendations, please view the Manchester Neighborhood Health Improvement Strategy.

Manchester Community Schools Project

Since 2012, the Manchester Community Schools Project has been working to transform Beech Street Elementary and Gossler Park Elementary Schools into community schools in order to connect neighbors with one another and to needed services during weekday evenings, weekends and summer months. This approach provides educational opportunities for residents of all ages, linkages to physical and mental health services, and access to social services from food and housing through community care coordination via Community Health Workers. Leadership training, adult financial literacy and High School Equivalency Test (HiSET) education, parent workshops, health screenings, and community events are also among the types of services that are being organized through the schools. In addition to Beech Street and Gossler Park Elementary Schools, there are several partner elementary schools involved in the Project, including Bakersville, Henry Wilson, and Parker Varney. This Project has been generously funded by the U.S. Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Granite United Way, New Hampshire Charitable Foundation, Endowment for Health, and the Cogswell Benevolent Trust.

Please review our Selected Highlights of NHIS Work Within Community Schools.