CONSUMER RESOURCES

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Below is a list of consumer resources to share with families at your program. The NH DHHS also has a separate, easy to use website to apply for most of the resources listed below called: NH EASY. 

Child Care Resources

 

• Child Care Aware of America and Child Care Aware of NH

  The Child Care Aware website offers many resources for families and child care providers. Resources like: webinars, publications, refugee family resources, and so much more. The NH Child Care Aware website offers more state specific information and will soon be home to information regarding all the Child Care Resource and Referral (CCR&R) centers around the state.

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• Child Care Licensing
  The Child Care Licensing Unit, part of the NH DHHS, has information regarding rules and regulations surrounding licensing in NH and also provides technical assistance and consultation.
   

• NH Children’s Trust

  The Children’s Trust’s main goal is to address and eliminate child abuse. They also offer: information about Family Resource Centers in NH, community education, and training for child care providers.

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• Spark NH

  Spark NH’s website provides Consumer Education about child development, health and safety, what to look for in a quality early child care program, and many other resources.

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• 2-1-1 New Hampshire

  Dial 211 from any phone during working hours to receive help finding resources around the state. Their website offers a similar service, but a phone call may be more effective in answering questions you have about specific resources.
   

NCASE (National Center on Afterschool and Summer Enrichment)
School Age Consumer Education Toolkit

 

• Physical Health and Development

  Out-of-school time programs offer unique opportunities to support school-age children’s physical health, wellness, and development, all of which are important for academic outcomes.

  • Let's Go Goes Out-of-School: This nationally recognized childhood obesity prevention program, based in Maine, offers a toolkit, online resources, and technical assistance to help programs support increased physical activity and healthy eating for children and youth.

  • Deal Me In: Food and Fitness: This program, designed for children in grades K–6 in afterschool settings, provides nutrition information, recipes, and activity tips.

  • Spotlight on Summer Learning: The impact of active, hands-on learning during the summer on children’s development and achievement is the focus of this Vermont Afterschool video.

  • Kids on the Move: Afterschool Programs Promoting Healthy Eating and Physical Activity: This Executive Summary provides an overview of a 2014 survey of parents on their expectations of healthy eating and physical activity. It includes areas of improvement and recommendations.

  • National AfterSchool Association Healthy Eating and Physical Activity Standards: This document provides up-to-date, evidence-based, and practical quality standards for providing children in out-of-school time programs with healthy food and beverages and physical activity.

  • STEM and Wellness: A Powerful Equation for Equity: The brief explores blending STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) and wellness in schools, community centers, and afterschool programs.
     

• Social and Emotional Health and Development
  Out-of-school time programs contribute to children’s social and emotional development. The Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) defines social and emotional learning as the process through which children and adults acquire and apply the knowledge, attitudes, and skills necessary to: understand and manage their emotions, set and achieve positive goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions. Sharing research on social and emotional learning with providers and families and giving them hands-on tools ensures that they can be effective partners in helping youth develop healthy social and emotional skills.

  • Illinois Social/Emotional Learning Standards: "Afterschool Focus: Social-Emotional Learning," an article in the Southwest Educational Development Laboratory’s Illinois Quality Afterschool Quarterly, links afterschool programs to the Illinois State Board of Education’s Social/Emotional Learning Standards.

  • Quality Standard: Safe and Supportive Environment: This is the third in a series of videos highlighting California’s Quality Standards for Expanded Learning.

  • Bringing Developmental Relationships Home: Tips and Relationship Builders: This booklet offers everyday ideas and activities that parenting adults can use to improve the developmental relationships in their families.

  • Don’t Forget the Families: The Missing Piece in America’s Effort to Help All Children Succeed: This report, based on a study of 1,085 parents of children ages 3–13 across the United States, highlights the power of family relationships as a critical but often neglected factor in children’s development of character strengths.

  • InBrief: Resilience Series: The three videos in this series provide an overview of why resilience matters, how it develops in children, and how we can help foster and strengthen it.

  • Finding Common Ground: Connecting Social-Emotional Learning During and Beyond the School Day: This brief from the Partnership for Children & Youth (PCY) highlights some key concepts on the opportunities for alignment between the school day and expanded learning programs around social and emotional learning.

  • Social and Emotional Learning and Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports: This brief defines Social and Emotional Learning and Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports, and describes how these frameworks might work together in a school setting.

  • Social and Emotional Learning Practices: A Self-Reflection Tool for Afterschool Staff: This tool from the American Institutes for Research is designed to help afterschool program staff reflect on their own social and emotional competencies and their ability to support young people’s social and emotional learning through program practices.

  • Supporting Social and Emotional Development Through Quality Afterschool Programs: This American Institutes for Research brief looks at work done in afterschool and school-based settings to define social and emotional learning. It includes recent research on how afterschool programs support the development of social and emotional competencies, and recommends some next steps for both practitioners and researchers.
     

• Parent and Family Engagement
  Parent and family engagement is a key factor in promoting school-age children’s learning and growth across the range of contexts in which they learn—in school, at home, and in out-of-school time settings. School-age child care and program providers can engage families in a variety of ways to help them understand what their children are learning and doing and how they can support that learning at home.

  • Increasing Family and Parent Engagement in After-School: This After School Corporation resource outlines a variety of ways that afterschool programs can engage families through helpful tips, sample forms and templates, along with examples of New York City-area afterschool programs’ family engagement strategies.

  • K–12 Student Success: Out-of-School Time Initiative, Family Engagement—A Learning Brief: This learning brief by the Oregon Community Foundation highlights how the state’s K–12 Student Success: Out-of-School Time Initiative has engaged families of middle-school students across the initiative’s 21 sites.

  • Bringing Families into Out-of-School Time Learning: This practitioner-focused article provides place-based examples of how out-of-school time programs have engaged families in children’s learning experiences and evaluated their own family engagement efforts. The article includes recommendations that can be implemented by all types of out-of-school time programs.

  • Expanded Learning Opportunities: Parent/Family Engagement: This resource highlights core elements of successful family engagement strategies for school-age children in out-of-school time settings, based on Joyce Epstein’s National Network of Partnership Schools family engagement model.

  • Involving Families in Out-of-School Time Programs: This resource illustrates different types of family engagement activities appropriate for out-of-school time settings and offers concrete steps that programs can take to promote family engagement.
     

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Nutrition, Health & Wellness Resources

 

• Childhood Obesity Prevention

  The risks of being overweight or obese increase the risk of a number of serious medical conditions, including heart disease and stroke, high blood pressure, Type II diabetes, sleep apnea, respiratory problems and some cancers. The Foundation for Healthy Communities is committed to improving prevention and treatment services for childhood overweight not only in pediatric and family health care practices, but also in NH communities.
   

• NH DHHS Obesity Prevention Program
  The Obesity Prevention Program is one of many state obesity prevention programs funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  Collaborates with statewide partners to begin the implementation phase of the Healthy Eating, Active Living Initiative (HEAL) Action Plan, which was developed by partners across New Hampshire provides technical assistance to communities that implement HEAL initiatives.
   

• Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP or Food stamps)
  Not only does the NH SNAP provide food stamps for those who are eligible, they also offer job training through the Food Stamp and Employment Training (FSET) program.
   

• Women, Infants, and Children (WIC)

  WIC provides nutritious foods to pregnant women, new mothers, infants, and pre-school aged children, as well as nutrition education. The WIC website has an online pre-screening tool you can use to see if you qualify for the WIC program.

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• NH Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP)

  The CHIP provides insurance to NH children under 19 years old. To find out if you or your family qualifies for this program click on the link above for a list of requirements.

   

• NH Smiles Program
  The New Hampshire Smiles Program connects children on Medicaid to the dental services they need.
   

 

Cash/Financial Resources

 

• Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)

  TANF, sometimes known as FANF (Financial Assistance for Needy Families) provides cash assistance for families who qualify. If you are eligible for TANF, you are also eligible for: Medicaid, Children’s Medicaid, and Employment and Training programs.

   

• Emergency Assistance (EA)

  EA is financial assistance that can be used for: sudden homelessness; lack of heat, hot water, or cooking fuel; or termination of another utility.