Four Child Advocacy Centers Merging
NASHUA – Four locally based child advocacy centers are coming together as a new state entity, officials announced Tuesday.
Hillsborough County Child Advocacy Center, Greater Lakes Child Advocacy Center, Monadnock Region Child Advocacy Center and New Hampshire Network of Child Advocacy Centers are merging as Granite State Children’s Alliance to provide coordinated services to child abuse victims in southern New Hampshire.
The new organization operates four child advocacy centers in Belknap, Cheshire and Hillsborough counties, and is the state chapter of the National Children’s Alliance, which provides technical assistance, training and organizational resources to all child advocacy centers across New Hampshire.
“New Hampshire’s child advocacy centers perform a critical function for child victims, their families and the greater community,” said state Attorney General Michael Delaney, an honorary board member of the new organization. “Child advocacy centers help break the cycle of child abuse by improving prosecution rates of abusers and putting their victims on a sustainable path to healing.”
Leaders of the Granite State Children’s Alliance believe joining forces gives them strength in a challenging economy for non-profits.
“Charities have been forced to do more with less,” Kristie Palestino, executive director of the newly combined entity, said in a statement. “This merger gives us economies of scale, reducing our combined costs and allowing us to fundraise more effectively.”
National estimates are that 1 in 4 girls and 1 in 6 boys will be sexually abused by the age of 18, officials said.
“Every abused child in New Hampshire deserves access to a child advocacy center, but the economy has been especially hard on nonprofits in the state’s less populous counties,” board of directors President Dan Monfried said in a statement. “This is about neighbors helping neighbors, doing what is right for kids in need.”
Click here to see this article in The Nashua Telegraph.
