Jennifer de Lyon Stralka stood up near the end of Gov. Chris Sununu’s talk on budget priorities for the Greater Concord Chamber of Commerce Friday. Departing from the big-picture questions asked by business leaders, service providers and a municipal representative, the Concord attorney wanted Sununu to address an intensely personal topic: mental health.
“Mass shootings have become an epidemic,” Stralka said. “This is important to me because my cousin was killed in the Virginia Tech Massacre.”
Stralka carries around a prayer card for that cousin, Matthew La Porte, in her purse. The 20-year-old New Jersey native died trying to shield his classmates from shooter Seung-Hui Cho, who killed 32 people in 2007 after he had been declared mentally ill by Virginia officials.
Stralka asked Sununu about the shortage in New Hampshire’s mental health resources, which follows the nationwide trend reported by the National Alliance on Mental Illness in 2016.
“There aren’t enough beds,” Stralka said. “Are you going to look at that issue … so that people aren’t falling through the cracks?” she said.
Sununu called the problem the “other crisis” facing the state. “Although we don’t talk about it too much here,” he said.
He added that he didn’t necessarily know where the “trouble spots” were in allocating mental health resources, though he planned to talk with experts about it next week. Sununu did propose $3 million extra for the state’s behavioral health services during his budget address Thursday.
Sununu shared more prepared answers for most of the other questions asked during Friday’s lunch. In response to another query about public-private partnerships between the state and private drug addiction treatment facilities to create more open beds, Sununu said his proposal to double the amount of money sent to the state’s alcohol fund should help out.
Marty Fuller, a Concord “success strategist” who has advocated for individuals with disabilities for 45 years, said she was pleasantly surprised by some of Sununu’s proposals for mental health and addiction treatment. But she wishes these issues would be tackled in tandem with others, such as incarceration and education.
“At the state level, they operate in silos,” Fuller said. “There really needs to be more collaboration.”
New Hampshire Children’s Trust executive director Keryn Bernard-Kriegl wondered how Sununu planned on boosting the Division for Children, Youth and Families, since her organization responds to the “concerned calls” that the state agency can’t get to.
“They only service 1,000 of them,” Bernard-Kriegl said. “The service providers who get no funding need to serve the other 24,000 (callers).”
When she repeated this statistic, Sununu said his administration was heavily focused on remedying the crisis within DCYF. As a start, he said $250,000 will be dedicated to fighting online child predators.
Bernard-Kriegl said she hopes the state will provide more resources for stopping child neglect and abuse before it starts. “Our state oftentimes reacts to crisis but is often not proactive in preventing crisis,” she said.
Former Epsom Select Board member Joanne Randall asked what Sununu might do to address another children’s issue: providing suitable education that’s affordable for taxpayers.
“The school budget number is so inflated with underfunded mandates from the federal government,” she said. “That has the biggest and most painful impact on town residents.”
Sununu responded that he wants to emphasize choice for students, both within their current school and charter schools, depending on the path they want to take. His budget proposal includes $9 million per year to support full-day kindergarten for “targeted” communities, such as low-income towns and areas with a high number of students who speak English as a second language.
As for members of the business community, they said they were hopeful about Sununu creating a more inviting atmosphere for incoming industry.
Merrimack County Savings Bank executive vice president Ed Caron said he wants to see an effort to reduce New Hampshire’s energy costs to attract high-tech manufacturers.
“(It) is a major problem for our manufacturing companies,” he said. “Our business taxes are also high.”
As part of his budget proposal, Sununu maintained previously established business profit tax cuts. He is also supportive of the Northern Pass transmission lines to bring hydropower to the region’s electrical grid.
“With the pro-business President and the pro-business Governor, we have a very optimistic outlook,” Caron said. “We’re also pleased to see he’s balancing the budget.”
If the Greater Concord Chamber of Commerce members didn’t all get their questions completely answered Friday, Sununu welcomed them to come and knock on his door.
“We need your input,” Sununu said. “That’s the value of being in New Hampshire.”
Jennifer de Lyon Stralka, the Concord attorney advocating for better mental health resources, plans to visit the Governor’s office soon.
“It seems like I can, and I very much want to,” she said.