Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program
Provides income-eligible households with help in paying energy bills during the winter heating season. Payments may be made to gas, electric, oil, or wood vendors. The Fuel Assistance Program can also pay a portion of rent, if heat is included.Program eligibility and benefit level are determined by household income, family size, and fuel usage.
Call the Community Action Outreach Office nearest your home:
Rochester Area: 332-3963
Milton Area: 652-9893
Farmington Area: 755-9305
Administrative Office: 516-8130
Eligibility and benefits for the Fuel Assistance and Weatherization Programs are determined by gross household income (total income, including rent, tips, dividends, and all wages or salary, before deductions), number of household members, and vulnerability to heating costs. Eligibility for both Fuel Assistance and Weatherization Programs usually can be determined during one appointment. Homeowners and renters, including renters whose heat is included in rent (Section 8 recipients excepted), are eligible to apply.
Annual Income Eligibility Guidelines
Contact us for guidelines for households over eight persons.
NH's Fuel Assistance and Weatherization Programs prohibit discrimination based
on race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, marital or familial status,
sexual orientation, and mental or physical disability.
The New Hampshire Electric Assistance Program provides discounts on monthly electric bills to income eligible households in an effort to make electric bills more affordable. Discounts vary and are based on the total income coming into the household, as well as the type of fuel used in your home. (The lower the income, the higher the discount.)
You can save from 40% to 95% on your monthly electric bill for one year (or 2 years if all husehold members are 65 years old or older).
Call an SCCAC office to schedule an appointment:
Dover 516-8130
Rochester 332-3963
Milton 652-9893
Farmington 755-9305
You are eligible to apply if you are a renter or homeowner who
receives an electric bill from one of the following companies:
PSNH • NH Electric Cooperative • Connecticut Valley
Electric Co. • Granite State Electric Co. • Unitil
Energy Systems
and
you have a gross monthly income that is equal
to or less than the following guidelines:
• Both pages of your most current electric bill
• 30 days consecutive proof of income for all household members
• A rent or mortgage receipt
Documentation must accompany application so please bring copies if you need originals back.
If you are unable to get to an office to submit an application, please let us know and we may be able to do a phone interview, mailed application, or a home visit.
You need to recertify annually and will be notified by us when that will need to be done.
A grant program designed for families who are not income eligible for fuel assistance but who have experienced a natural gas or electrical disconnection or for those who have broken their extended payment plan.
Grant funds up to $250 per eligible household are made available through the generosity of Public Service Co. of New Hampshire and Northern Utilities Gas Co. and their contributing customers, and administered through the Community Action Program. Phone: 516-8130.
Provides emergency energy assistance when no other funding sources are available. Phone: 516-8130.
Provides use of an electrical generator and bilge pumps to community facilities and private homes experiencing power outages and flooding.
Assists in decreasing the energy costs of low-income households by evaluating the efficiency of the heating system and through the installation of conservation materials to the building envelope. Insulation, caulking, weatherstripping and related materials are commonly utilized in the weatherization program. Call Charlie Wolfe at 516-8142.
Provides substantial rehabilitation for deteriorated homes through participation in the HOME and Rochester CDBG programs.
Call Charlie Wolfe at 516-8142.
A program designed to provide health and safety upgrades in conformance with
HUD Section 8 housing requirements to homes needing plumbing, heating, electrical,
structural or other necessary repair.
The program is free of charge for owner occupied single family dwellings. Owner
must meet income requirements. Property taxes, mortgage payments, and homeowners
insurance must be paid to date.
Rochester Homeless Housing Initiative
A project designed to provide safe, affordable long-term housing and supportive services for homeless individuals with a mental illness.
As part of a statewide initiative to provide housing and supportive
services for homeless persons, an Outreach/Intervention Specialist aggressively
engages unsheltered homeless persons into shelter and other necessary services,
working with homeless individuals and their families throughout Strafford County.
Call Phil MacDonald at 516-8153.
Provides emergency aid to homeless families and individuals.
The goal of the Strafford County Community Action Rental Security Deposit Program is to provide a guarantee fund for security deposits for those in need of affordable housing in Strafford County. The program is also designed to prevent homelessness which might otherwise occur to those families who are without resources to assume the financial burden of the added expense of a security deposit. Strafford County Community Action may also act as a mediator between tenant and landlord to negotiate security deposit payments for up to eight months of the rental lease. Phone: 516-8130.
Provides emergency rental assistance when no other funding sources are available.
SCCAC serves as a job site location for Senior Community Service Employment Program and NH Work Experience Program participants, welfare recipients who may be required to work in exchange for services received from local cities and towns, and those referred by the court system to perform community service. Call Richard Hayes at 516-8135.
Provides assistance to clients with budget problems to help them live within their means or to obtain consideration from those to whom money is owed. Referrals to other agencies are made when household eligibility to receive assistance is determined.
Anonymous/confidential counseling services provided to the public by a certified HIV/AIDS counselor.
Helps preschool children in low-income households prepare to enter the school system, aiding in the areas of education, health, nutrition, social services and parent involvement. Program goals are to increase the child’s social and learning skills while building self-confidence. Health services to 100% of enrolled Head Start children assure complete physicals, immunizations, nutritional services, vision and hearing screenings, speech and developmental assessments, and follow-up services. Children with special needs are welcome and fully included.
Head Start Administration
60 Charles Street
P.O Box 607
Farmington, NH 03836
Tel. 755-3108 • Fax 755-3479 • E-mail rochschs@aol.com
Early Head Start provides comprehensive services to expectant parents and income eligible families with children ages 0-3 in the Farmington, Milton, and Rochester areas. Parent education in the areas of nutrition, health, infant and toddler development, literacy, community resources, job skills, and more. Infants and toddlers with disabilities are welcome and fully included.
Child care center sites in Dover and Milton provide high quality, licensed care to children ages 1-6. These sites are intended to meet the needs of families affected by Welfare Reform, as well as all other families needing child care. Trained caregivers provide child care in centers and in licensed home environments. Cost to families is based on income.
Head Start Administration
36 Charles Street
P.O Box 607
Farmington, NH 03836
Tel. 755-3108 • Fax 755-3479 • E-mail rochschs@aol.com
Baby's Best Beginnings
Baby's Best Beginnings provides home visiting services to at-risk pregnant women through the first year of the child's life. The program serves participants living in the northern tier of Strafford County by providing comprehensive services responding to the individual needs of families. Our intent is to promote healthy pregnancies, birth outcomes, and child development by educating parents in the areas of health, safety, parenting, child development, and family planning. In addition, we hope to ensure that al1 necessary supports are in place so that families can provide a safe and nurturing environment.
Rochester Community Center
150 Wakefield Street
Rochester, NH 03867
Call Jessica Garlough at 332-9040.
Phone: 332-3963 or 335-5128
The program provides transportation for Senior Citizen by van for
shopping, dentist and doctor appointments on a weekly scheduled
route, covering various towns in Strafford County.
Volunteers also provide transportation for elderly clients for
health-related appointments within Strafford County. Call to
arrange for the service.
Available to homebound people at medical risk (especially elderly people) unable to contact sources of assistance because of disability or impairment. A "HELP" button contacts pre-arranged responders by telephone. The program requires a single party telephone line. Call 749-5160 for further information.
Provides nutritious home-delivered meals to frail, handicapped, and homebound elderly persons in Farmington, Dover, Rochester, Milton, and Somersworth.
Located in our outreach offices for the use of local residents, the food pantries serve low-income households in emergency situations. Eligible clients receive food to last two or three days until they can get help from other sources.
Networks with USDA, FEMA and local donors in obtaining and distributing food to area food cupboards, soup kitchens and other food providers.
Milton: 652-9893
Rochester: 332-3963
Strafford County Community Action conducts a summer youth
recreation project to benefit vulnerable youth by providing
beneficial and enlightening field trips to points of interests
not normally accessible to this target population.
At-risk youngsters are introduced to informative recreational,
cultural and athletic activities involving them in constructive
use of their free time. The program provides participating youth
with educational advancement, cultural enrichment, and
socialization skills, all generated within a fun filled
environment.
A colorful van brings books for children of all ages into neighborhoods in Dover, Somersworth, Rochester, and Farmington. Families may keep books for a week, then exchange them for new titles. Trained staff offer story time, puzzles, games, arts activities, and a snack. Available to parents and children. 742-3140.
A Self-Sufficiency Case Manger works intensively with low-income families to address key issues and provide supportive services to overcome barriers to the attainment of self-sufficiency. Call Kathy Radwan at 516-8148 or Deborah Casey at 516-8149.
Strafford County Workforce Development
This program helps prepare economically disadvantaged, underemployed and unemployed people to become productive members of the labor force through a work first approach. Service provided can include skill assessment, employment counseling, job referrals and/or placement, individualized career planning and follow up services.
NH WORKS Somersworth Office
243 Rte 108, 03878-1512
Michelle Hart, Workforce Development Coordinator (Tel. 742-3600, ext. 303)
Cheryl Trombley, Employment Counselor (Tel. 742-3600, ext. 312)
Workplace Success
Provides assistance with job readiness, resumes, computer training, and job search to TANF public assistance recipients who may participate in Community Work Experience Program assignments at area non-profits and local municipalites.
Rochester Community Center, Suite 11
150 Wakefield Street
Rochester, NH 03867
Gwen Erley, Community Job Specialist (Tel. 994-0130)