Lakes Region Community Developers (LRCD), Horizons Counseling Center, and Navigating Recovery of the Lakes Region are partnering to create Compass House, a group home for women in recovery. Compass House will be located at 658 Union Avenue, Laconia and will accommodate up to eight women at a time.
 
LRCD is renovating the building, which previously served as its headquarters. Horizons will operate Compass House with support from Navigating Recovery. Renovations at Compass House are underway by Martini Northern. Construction is scheduled to be complete early this winter.
 
Compass House will provide a congregate living environment for women who have completed a residential treatment program for substance use disorder. Guests at Compass House must not have a household income over 80% of the area median income. Horizons plans to start accepting applications for Compass House this winter.

Financing for Compass House is provided by New Hampshire Housing Finance Authority via a special appropriation that the New Hampshire Legislature made to the state’s Affordable Housing Fund in 2017, specifically to increase housing options for people in recovery from substance use disorder or those experiencing a mental illness. The New Hampshire Women’s Foundation also provided a grant for furnishings at Compass House.

For more details about Compass House click here.

We are excited to introduce you to Kristy Pearce, our new Resident Services Coordinator. (We bid a fond farewell to Kerri Lowe this summer, as she moved on to head up the new Adverse Childhood Experience Response Team at the Family Resource Center.)

Kristy earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology and her Masters in Social Work from the University of New Hampshire.

Her background has been working with adults and children in New Hampshire since 2012. She is coming to LRCD from HealthFirst Family Care Center where she has worked as a Counselor and Case Manager. Kristy has extensive experience in connecting families to local and state resources to help them thrive.

Come visit the new Court Street Neighborhood Center and LRCD Headquarters!
 
Thursday, November 14
4:30 pm to 6:30 pm
193 Court Street, Laconia
 
Hosted in conjunction with the Lakes Region Chamber of Commerce as part of their Business After Hours event series.

NGM Insurance Company has made a generous pledge to purchase $100,000 of our CDFA tax credits to support our Harriman Hill Homes development in Wolfeboro. Harriman Hill Homes will be a development of 20 affordable starter homes for families who make between 75% and 120% of median income (roughly $52,000 to $83,000 for a family of four).
 
The proceeds of our tax credit sales, coupled with grant funding, will help offset the cost of the road, water, and sewer infrastructure for the development so that we can keep the home prices affordable for our target market. Thank you to NGM Insurance Company for helping us build desperately needed starter homes in the Lakes Region!

Instead of raking the leaves and gathering them in trash bags to be collected by the garbage man, why not put them to good use? Fallen leaves are great for using as natural mulch. Not only will using them save you money from buying mulch, but they will also help to enrich your soil, lock in moisture and protect your plants from the cold temperatures of the fast-approaching winter season.

When using leaves as a mulch, make sure to shred them first with a mulching mower, shredder or leaf blower on the vacuum setting. A light layer of small, thin leaves applied without first being shredded is fine, but for the most part, shredding is important. Adding too thick of a layer of leaves can block air and water from penetrating the ground. Thick layers of leaves can also do the exact opposite—locking in too much moisture, potentially damaging the plants that need well-drained soil or are susceptible to rot and other fungal diseases.

Once a layer of small and/or shredded leaves is applied to your beds, you can add the remainder to your compost bin, pack them up in bags for spring mulch use or you can dispose of the rest according to your city or town’s guidelines, such as raking them to the curb for collection, bagging them for pickup or delivery them to a municipal compost pile. You can also use a mulching mower to chop up a thin layer to be left on your lawn as a nitrogen-rich fertilizer.

Happy raking!

Lakes Region Community Developers (LRCD), Horizons Counseling Center, and Navigating Recovery of the Lakes Region are partnering to create Compass House, a group home for women in recovery. Compass House will be located at 658 Union Avenue, Laconia and will accommodate up to eight women at a time.
 
LRCD will renovate the building, which previously served as its headquarters. Horizons will operate Compass House with support from Navigating Recovery. Renovations at Compass House are underway by Martini Northern. Construction is scheduled to be complete early this winter.
 
Compass House will provide a congregate living environment for women who have completed a residential treatment program for substance use disorder. Guests at Compass House must not have a household income over 80% of the area median income. Horizons plans to start accepting applications for Compass House this winter.
 
“This project is a great example of the work we seek to do under our expanded mission,” said Carmen Lorentz, LRCD’s Executive Director. “We have almost 30 years of real estate development experience, and we are pleased to put this expertise to work to meet a wider range of housing and community development needs in the region, in partnership with other organizations.”
 
Throughout its history, LRCD has focused on developing rental homes for families of low income. It now also develops affordable starter homes and community facilities such as Compass House.
 
“Many women in recovery in our community, especially women of low income, do not have access to a safe, affordable, and supportive housing option,” said Jacqui Abikoff, Executive Director of Horizons Counseling Center. “Compass House will fill this long-standing gap in recovery supports in the Lakes Region.”
 
Horizons Counseling Center has provided quality outpatient substance use and co-occurring mental health disorders treatment and recovery services in the Lakes Region since 1987.  Horizons currently manages the Belknap County Recovery Court and provides substance use disorder treatment and case management services for the Corrections Opportunity for Recovery and Education (C.O.R.E) program at the Belknap County Department of Corrections.
 
Each guest at Compass House will be paired with a trained recovery coach from Navigating Recovery of the Lakes Region. The guest will work with her coach to create, follow, and update a recovery wellness plan to serve as a roadmap for her as she moves toward independent living.
 
“When a person in recovery lives in a supportive environment like Compass House, she is much more likely to stay in recovery,” said Daisy Pierce, Executive Director of Navigating Recovery. “Compass House will help us ensure that women in recovery in the Lakes Region have access to this critical recovery support.”
 
Financing for Compass House is provided by New Hampshire Housing Finance Authority via a special appropriation that the New Hampshire Legislature made to the state’s Affordable Housing Fund in 2017, specifically to increase housing options for people in recovery from substance use disorder or those experiencing a mental illness. The New Hampshire Women’s Foundation also provided a grant for furnishings at Compass House.

Photo caption: (L to R) Carmen Lorentz, Executive Director of Lakes Region Community Developers; Jacqui Abikoff, Executive Director of Horizons Counseling Center; and Daisy Pierce, Executive Director of Navigating Recovery of the Lakes Region stand in front of the future home of Compass House at 658 Union Ave, Laconia.