BCNH: In Good Hands

BY RICK MINARD, Executive Director

After seven years as executive director of BCNH, I am finally ready to retire.  I think.  I will be 71 in July and I have a garden to tend to in Maine and a son and daughter-in-law to visit in San Jose.  My wife retired almost three years ago. We are ready.

But not entirely. 

There is so much unfinished business at BCNH.  The president of the United States is waging an unrelenting terror campaign against so many of BCNH’s clients, especially those who came here legally from Haiti, Afghanistan, and Ukraine.  The New Hampshire Legislature is loading on with legislation to make it harder or impossible for New Americans to work, drive, rent an apartment, or thrive in New Hampshire.

And the money.  With the Administration ending federal support for refugee resettlement services, BCNH will need to find new funding sources to continue our work.  There are so many non-federal grants to write and donors to appeal to and so little time to finish what needs to be done….

But, of course, BCNH will be in good hands.

BCNH has always been in good hands.  Tika Acharya and his Bhutanese colleagues were astonishingly successful at creating an organization that launched hundreds of refugees, straight from decades in refugee camps, into the middle class.  BCNH succeeded because the Bhutanese were determined to make it succeed and adept and expanding their coalition to include local talent, like Doug Hall, Becky Field, and Sarah Freeman Wolpert.  Together they helped launch organizations to serve other refugee communities: the Rohingya Society of Greater Nashua and Overcomers Refugee Services of Concord.

I accepted the board’s offer to manage BCNH in December 2018, despite knowing nothing about immigration, refugees, Bhutan, Myanmar, or the Democratic Republic of Congo.  Tika and Doug assured me that a native-born white guy would at least be perceived as favoring no particular refugee community.  So I put my career in their hands and have found nothing but unfailing support from them, from local foundations and community leaders, from dozens of board members, and hundreds of donors.  These are the hands that have helped BCNH grow in size and impact over the last seven years.

The staff at BCNH is amazing, and as diverse a group of professionals you are likely to meet anywhere.  Scroll through their pictures and bios on our website and you’ll get a sense of how their tenacity, conviction, and talents keep propelling BCNH forward.  Then scroll through the bios of our board of directors and imagine how securely they support BCNH.

And then celebrate with me the arrival of my successor: Nikki Shults who will start on January 26.  More than 20 talented candidates applied for my job last September.   A board committee and I interviewed many of them.  We chose Nikki because she has years of experience managing nonprofits similar to BCNH in size and scope.  She is a community builder, a former Peace Corps volunteer, a new resident of Barnstead, and someone you will want to get to know.  With your continued support, she will take BCNH to places I never could have imagined.  Expect big things to emerge from today’s big challenges.

I am immensely proud of what BCNH has accomplished during my tenure as executive director.  We have grown from almost nothing to a mid-sized nonprofit with eight full-time employees, approximately 400 clients from all over the world who will succeed as New Americans and propel their children into the middle class and beyond.  We are teaching English to Afghan women; we are helping Ukrainians renew their visas and work authorization documents; we are struggling to prepare Haitians for the day (February 3) when their “temporary protected status” will expire.  We are building a better New Hampshire.

Let me say it again: New Hampshire needs refugees because we need a growing workforce, our communities need young, energetic families, and refugees from around the world need a safe and welcoming place to call home.

This is a long way around to say thank you.  Thank you, friends.  Thank you, staff!  Thank you, board members, past and present!  Thank you donors and contributors of all kinds. Be proud of what we, together, have accomplished.  And, please, keep the faith.