When Hope for New Hampshire Recovery announced the closure of four of its facilities, including the location on South State Street in Concord, there was still a chance that state funding could bolster the struggling organization.
Last week, the Executive Council voted to do just that by approving a $600,000 state contract with Hope for N.H. – but that infusion of cash will go to only Manchester, Berlin and Franklin locations. Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center put forward $20,000 to help keep the Claremont location afloat, and community leaders there are working to find a permanent solution.
It seemed as though the Concord community would be facing a gap in opioid recovery services.
Until last Wednesday, when Midpoint Recovery Center Inc. appeared. The organization said last week it would be looking to fill the gap left by Hope for N.H. by taking over its Concord space and providing support services for those in recovery.
The nonprofit, founded in September, is new to the game. So new, in fact, that there’s no data for it on nonprofit information service Guidestar, and its website has only a few lines of text and a donation section. Merle Burke, the organization’s president and a former life coach, said the organization is currently operating out of the First Presbyterian Church in Manchester.
But he’s hoping people will be able to look past that and give Midpoint a chance. If they’re able to raise $103,000 through private donations by April – enough to cover initial expenses like rent and insurance – he said they’ll be able to get their facility up and running.
If that happens, hopefully, steadier state-backed funding and grants will follow, he said.
“We’re trying to set up something where we’ll be getting around one-third of our monies from private donations,” he said. “The rest will be from grants and the state government. I’ll be honest with you, if that’s not able to happen, we’re not going to be able to go ahead.”
Hope for N.H. found out that operating recovery treatment centers is challenging without state backing.
In October 2016, the state’s Executive Council – which included now-Gov. Chris Sununu – approved a pair of contracts that gave Hope for N.H. $600,000 to help sustain its facilities and expand its peer recovery support services. The contracts went through the end of June 2017.
But just as the contracts were about to expire, questions were raised about the organization’s management and oversight. Employees complained they were mistreated and said some staffers used drugs at work, according to a report from New Hampshire Public Radio.
At Sununu’s request, the state attorney general’s office investigated the organization and found no criminal activity. But the contract was not renewed, and two weeks ago Hope for N.H. announced the closure of four of its five locations – leaving only Manchester – citing a lack of funding.
Burke said Midpoint is still in the organizational stages and is currently courting private suitors, which he declined to elaborate on, as well as businesses to get up and running. But he said he’s hoping to add a clinician down the road, which could make Midpoint eligible for Medicaid reimbursement and provide a revenue stream.
He also said he wants to explore partnerships with local institutions, such as having referral services from the prison and working with Concord High School to provide GED services. And, drawing on his professional experience, Burke said he would also like to see some life-coaching classes take place at Midpoint.
But Burke has more on his resume than life coaching. He has a political background that includes serving as the assistant to House majority leader Leigh Bosse in 1981, and he helped craft the state’s impaired driving intervention program. He got a degree in human services when he was 60, and he’s worked for the Friendship House program in Berlin.
(Caitlin Andrews can be reached at 369-3309, candrews@cmonitor.com or on Twitter at @ActualCAndrews.)