• Affordable Housing
• Jobs
• Education
• Health Care
• Immigrant Rights
• Workers Rights

Manchester Chapter is in on the FUN.  

FUN are monthly Family Understanding Nights (FUN) that are a critical part of  the Manchester School District’s efforts to involve refugee parents in their children’s education as a first step to lowering truancy and the high school dropout rate later on.  ManChester is home to at least 3,000 refugees from Bosnia, Rwanda, Sudan, Somalia, Congo, Sierra Leon, Turkey, and the former Soviet Union, to name a few. 

These families and close to 100 volunteers gather at a school on Beech Street each month. Each guest (attendance ranges from 200-300) receives dinner. Then the 60-70 children participate in a variety of activities, from dance lessons to art instruction to athletic contests and the parents convene into small focus groups with interpreters to learn skills and the process to fully engage life in the USA. Topics cover food safety, obtaining a driver’s license, literacy education, and buying a home. The objective of FUN is to help refugee families integrate into school and the larger community.   In addition, teachers, administrators, new and old community members get to know each other.

***Looks like we are going to be in a school budget battle again! The Mayor has cut the school boards' requested budget!***

We must take a close look at how this will affect important programs in our community. Last year GSOP turned out quite a crew to voice our concerns at the hearing held at Memorial High School. This year the hearing is at city hall. There is less room for people to gather inside at city hall compared to the high school auditorium, but we'll figure something out and keep you posted!

NASHUA Chapter pledges to keep Community building educational programs alive!

Funding for the NASHUA FAMILY CONNECTIONS CENTER (formerly called Even Start), a program that works to increase parental involvement in children’s education and motivating at-risk children and their families through literacy and ESOL training; and communitiy involvement will soon run out. 

Already many GSOP chapters have pledged their support to maintain this program. We are reaching out to Congressman Hodes and encouraging him to protect our children by restoring Federal funding for this program.

Mary Jordan of the Adult Learning Center, the Center’s parent organization says, “The dedication of the GSOP members is inspirational.  I don’t think we have ever had support like this.  You have a wonderful mission and we are so fortunate that you found us!”

Souhegan Valley Chapter uses house meetings to identify key issues. 

Housemeetings/roundtables are groups of 8 – 12 people who meet to discuss issues they care about and want to take action on.They have had 12 such meetings and two more are scheduled. Issues ranged from public transportation, non-emergency medical transportation (particularly for dialysis patients), affordable housing, property taxes, and increasing after school activities for children. 

A word from our organizer,

I am particularly pleased to have started work with GSOP just as member groups began a series of round table discussions on important issues.  So far, these discussions have happened in seven churches, a senior housing development, a town hall, a rotary club, a youth group and a labor meeting.    Round table discussions are a wonderful way to get insights into a community.  The more than 17 roundtable meetings held in this winter 2007 campaign have surfaced issues I expected such as the need for affordable housing, living wage jobs and decent schools for all.  But they have also expressed deep passion on issues I did not expect such as global warming, environmental destruction and the erosion of deep democracy in this country and in our state.

The Special Delegates Assembly meeting with the Presidential Candidates in September will be a chance for us to show the future leader of this country how seriously we take democracy and justice for all.