January 23, 2025 – On Thursday, the Northern Border Regional Commission (NBRC) announced the recipients of its Catalyst Program, which supports economic development initiatives in eligible counties of New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine.

The YMCA Alliance of Northern New England has been awarded $265,684.50 to deploy a comprehensive, three-year marketing campaign designed to address the critical shortage of childcare workers across four counties (Belknap, Carroll, Cheshire, and Sullivan) in New Hampshire.

The YMCA Alliance’s project, entitled the “New Hampshire YMCA Childcare Workforce Recruitment Initiative,” aims to attract and retain a qualified childcare workforce, enabling local YMCAs to fully staff and/or expand their programs and meet the high demand for childcare services in these regions. Childcare includes early learning centers, before and after-school programming, and day and overnight summer camps, serving children ages six weeks to 18 years old. Currently, there are eight childcare programs in the four targeted counties, 12 percent of which are fully staffed, leading to reduced capacity and longer waiting lists for families trying to access care.

“As the largest provider of childcare in Northern New England, the YMCA is uniquely positioned to lead this type of workforce recruitment campaign,” explained Meagan Hamblett, CEO of the YMCA Alliance of Northern New England. “We are grateful to the Northern Border Regional Commission, as well as the New Hampshire Congressional Delegation, for allowing the YMCA to test an innovative approach to childcare workforce recruitment, a long-standing operational challenge for so many YMCAs.”

By the conclusion of the three-year project, the YMCA Alliance and its participating Ys – including the Keene Family YMCA (Cheshire County), YMCA Camp Coniston (Sullivan County), YMCA Camp Belknap (Carroll County), and YMCA Camp Huckins (Carroll County) – aim to decrease its childcare job vacancies by at least 50 percent.

The YMCA Alliance of Northern New England is a not-for-profit organization representing the interests of the 25 independently incorporated YMCAs in Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont. The Alliance advocates and educates on behalf of the YMCA and its mission to promote youth development, healthy living, and social responsibility.

For more information on the New Hampshire YMCA Childcare Workforce Recruitment Initiative, contact Paige Binfield, Director of Development, at 518-572-4540 or paige.binfield@nneymcas.org.