If Jim Snodgrass didn’t have a spare tire one morning in 1974, alternative education in the Concord area could look very different.
Snodgrass, who was 25 years old at the time, was on his way to Concord to interview for a counselor job at a new alternative school called Project Second Start, but right before exit 2 on Interstate 89 his ’68 Volkswagen Beetle got a flat tire, 15 minutes before the interview was scheduled to begin.
“I said, ‘I’m never going to get this job,’ ” Snodgrass said. “Fate was with me, because they were running about 45 minutes late.”
This year, Snodgrass is retiring from Second Start after being executive director of the alternative education organization for 47 years, where he cultivated program offerings to teach underserved populations and advocated for adult education programming across New Hampshire.
“I never thought I would be here this long,” said Snodgrass, now 72. “But it’s been a big piece of my life and I’ve taken it year-to-year and I’ve finally decided it’s time to phase out.”
While Snodgrass first started at the school as a counselor, he had training as a social studies teacher, and had studied administration at Antioch New England Graduate School. He had counseling experience from teaching adolescents in a drug rehab facility in the South Bronx through the Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA) program. Then, when Second Start’s executive director left unexpectedly a few months into the job, the board asked 25-year-old Snodgrass if he would consider serving as interim executive director. He has been in the position ever since.
“I really did take it year-to-year,” Snodgrass said. “Obviously, I grew to love it. It was definitely a big part of me.”
Second Start was started by educators Ruth Hooke and Nancy Callahan in the basement of the First Congregational Church in response to a need for adult education. At the time, 42% of Merrimack County’s adult population had not finished high school, according to the 1970 census. The program offered basic reading, writing and math and a clerical office training program as well as a part-time daycare so students who were also parents could attend classes.
In 1975, the organization expanded to include an alternative high school for adolescents, located in the former firehouse building on North State Street, where the program is still situated today. When the adult education department and daycare grew too big for the church basement, it moved to the Walker Building on S. Fruit Street and then to the former Garrison Elementary School building on Knight Street, where it remains today.
Snodgrass said the learning curve after becoming executive director was made easier by others in his admin team, and that he asked a lot of questions, talked to people and learned as he went along.
“I like putting things together, I like making it work,” Snodgrass said. “What I try to do is fulfill some educational needs, try to stay close to the mission and try to find funding for it.”
Under Snodgrass’s leadership, the school has expanded the part-time daycare to a fulltime business serving over 200 kids, and adapted its education programs to fit the needs of the time. Some programs, like the office training program, were ended due to declining need while others, like the English as a Second Language (ESL) program have expanded over the years to serve an ever-growing population of new Americans. They also started the Student Assistance Program (SAP), which does drug and alcohol prevention efforts in local middle and high schools.
“The man is undaunted, he rides the tides of change like a surfer,” said Joanne Del Deo, who was the adult education director at Second Start for over 30 years. “One thing I remember him always saying is that you have to ‘stay nimble,’ and he does. And by extension, so does his organization.”
In the beginning, Snodgrass said, the ESL population was relatively small and consisted of a few students from Korea and Greece. In the 1980s, the school saw more students from Serbia and Croatia and in 2001 the ESL population at the school almost doubled. Now, Snodgrass says, ESL learners are the school’s biggest population, including many originally from the Democratic Republic of Congo. Snodgrass led the creation of the New American Driving School in 2018, to serve the large population of new Americans who don’t have U.S. driving licenses.
“You gotta learn to drive in New Hampshire or you won’t get anywhere,” Snodgrass said. “All these programs, we saw needs and we tried to figure out how to satisfy them, how to provide programming for them.”
One of the biggest challenges Snodgrass has faced over the years has been funding, which he said is a yearly “struggle” as the organization has no guaranteed funding. Area public school districts fund the alternative high school and the school districts and the state Bureau of Alcohol and Drug Services have funded the school’s substance abuse prevention efforts. The New Hampshire Department of Education has provided grants for adult education.
“He’s had a couple instances where big things happened that impacted the budget, and his ability to whether the storm and come out on the other side is the biggest thing I see,” said Frank Lemay, a local business owner and longtime Second Start board member. “He stepped back, looked at things, found a way out of it. He keeps the ship going in the right direction.”
In the late 1980s, the school faced extensive “NIMBY” pushback when when it acquired the Garrison building on Knight Street, from residents who were concerned about having alternative education students in the neighborhood. As the community debate over the school’s purchase of the building grew more heated, Snodgrass launched a capital campaign and ended up raising $1 million, which he credits to the public controversy.
“It had all this publicity, letters to the editor, students were writing letters, it was a regular ‘not in my neighborhood’ fight,” Snodgrass said. “The struggle helped us. It was not an election year, there were no primaries, it was a slow winter for news, and so this took over as one of the major topics. It helped us raise the money.”
Snodgrass said he has never been a fan of organizing fancy fundraisers and would rather apply for a grant than host a gala.
“Philosophically, I believe what we do is education, so those are the institutions and agencies I’ve tried to fund these programs,” Snodgrass said. “That’s where it should be. I would rather do that then put a golf tournament on or some other type of fundraiser.”
Snodgrass, who lives in Concord with his wife, has six children and nine grandchildren. He says some of his favorite moments happen when he meets former students, who often thank him and say how they have had their lives changed by the organization. Despite his impact, Snodgrass remains humble about his own role.
“He never brags, he’s quick to give credit to other people,” Del Deo said. “He is not in it for the glory. I don’t think you could be in an organization for so long and be in it just for the glory.”
William Mealey, who was previously director of the organization’s alternative high school, took over as executive director of Second Start on July 1. Snodgrass will stay on in a consulting capacity for a while longer, although he says he feels ready to step back and let the organization move forward. The organization is holding a retirement party for Snodgrass at Beaver Meadow Golf Club on Sept 11 from 11a.m. to 3 p.m.
“I’m very proud of what Second Start represents, and what it does,” Snodgrass said. “I feel good that it’s going to continue.”