Accepting the 2023 Partnership for Innovation Award from New Hampshire Businesses for Social Responsibility. John Benford Photography.
At its spring conference on May 17, 2023, New Hampshire Businesses for Social Responsibility recognized Vital Communities and our partners in the Upper Valley Housing Fund with the 2023 Partnership for Innovation Award.
In giving the award, NHBSR spoke of how, collaborating with Evernorth, the organizations (Bar Harbor Bank, Citizens Bank, Dartmouth College, Dartmouth Health, Hanover Co-op Food Stores, Hypertherm, King Arthur Baking Company, and Mascoma Bank) came together as members of Vital Communities’ Corporate Council, a group of top representatives of locally based employers and social service agencies that gather to listen and respond to the challenges people face. The statement from NHBSR praised “the work Vital Communities has invested in building the trust and engagement of Corporate Council members.”
Together, those partners invested almost 9 million dollars into the new loan fund that is dedicated to building hundreds of units of affordable housing, the first of which is under construction in White River Junction. NHBSR plans to hold a webinar in the coming months to allow people to learn more about the fund.