Portsmouth residents need to sign up with new alert system: Community news update

Portsmouth residents need to sign up with new app 'Smart 911' to receive alerts

PORTSMOUTH – The Portsmouth Police Department is rolling out a new emergency messaging system throughout the city to replace the CodeRED system used for emergency alerts and notices such as snow parking bans.

Anyone wishing to continue to receive notices such as snow parking bans and other alerts must subscribe to the new Smart 911 system. Accounts cannot be automatically transferred. To subscribe to the new system, go to: smart911.com/smart911/ref/login.action?pa=cityofportsmouthnh

The new Smart 911 system offers the same benefits as CodeRED: anyone can subscribe to receive alerts and notices by text, email and voicemail (including TDD), and can unsubscribe at any time. The new Smart 911 system also has the ability to provide localized notices and to conduct instant polls.

The Smart 911 system is also tied to the existing Police Department 911 system that gives Police and Fire with information about residents’ addresses and such medical conditions or needs that are often recorded with emergency services and utilities.

The City plans to send out one more CodeRED alert notice to let everyone who is currently subscribed that they need to switch over to the Smart 911 system.

​To learn more about the Smart 911 notification and alert system, go to: www.cityofportsmouth.com/city/rave-alert-notifications.

‘Follow the Yellow Brick Road’ to Rochester chamber raffle

ROCHESTER — All 325 tickets are sold out for the Greater Rochester Chamber of Commerce annual Chamber Raffle for a chance to win a 2022 Harley-Davidson FXBBS Street Bob motorcycle or $10,000, Underwritten by D.F. Richard Energy, the raffle this year will take place on Friday, Aug. 12, from 6 to 9 p.m. at The Rochester Elks Lodge.

Tickets admit two to the “Follow the Yellow Brick Road” Chamber Raffle Bash with the reverse raffle drawing, dinner, games and plenty of second chance prizes. The event will be livestreamed on the Chamber’s Facebook page, sponsored by the Rochester Museum of Fine Arts. The winners of the Grand Prize, runner-up prizes or any of the second chance prizes do not have to be present to win.

Ticket holders can view the motorcycle at Holy Rosary Credit Union at 133 Brock St., in Rochester, until the morning of the event on Aug. 12.

For more information, contact the Chamber office at 603-332-5080 or visit www.rochesternh.org/ChamberRaffle.

WorkReadyNH trains Portsmouth Naval Shipyard employees

PORTSMOUTH — Great Bay Community College partnered with Portsmouth Naval Shipyard and the soft skills training program WorkReadyNH to further train shipyard employees about workplace civility, conflict management, and effective communication skills.

With funding from the AACC (American Association of Community Colleges) Grant, Portsmouth Naval Shipyard enrolled more than 150 employees from its Trades Apprentice and Worker Skills Progression Program in a series of eight-day sessions at Great Bay Community College Portsmouth campus from September 2021 to June 2022. Shipyard employees learned skills to help foster a conflict-free work environment, with positive relationships and respectful behavior among employees.

Prior to the in-person classes at Great Bay, the program involved instructors from Manchester and River Valley community colleges teaching classes online, beginning in January 2021. Over 18 months of online and in-person classes, 329 shipyard employees have completed the eight-day sessions, said Portsmouth Naval Shipyard Training Specialist Juliet Freeman.

“The program has assisted with our focus on the ‘whole person development initiative,’” Freeman said. “Over the last few years, we have been expanding our professional development as a way for employees to grow in their careers here at the Shipyard.”

Participants completed independent work, group work, and classroom discussion about such topics as team building, conflict resolution, collaboration, and public speaking. The program also included a section on mock interviews tailored to reflect the interview process at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard.

The funding from the AACC Grant has expired, but a new iteration of the class will continue in the summer at Great Bay’s Portsmouth campus.

“As we transition into a new phase of the program and away from the grant-funding initiative, it will be a 40-hour program starting with our next session. The name of this phase will be Workplace Skills, but the content will remain largely the same,” Freeman said.

Dawn Hamdi, WorkReadyNH Director at Great Bay Community College, said the positive outcome of the collaboration with the shipyard illustrates the ability of WorkReadyNH to transform the New Hampshire workforce by teaching skills that help employees thrive.

WorkReadyNH, a tuition-free program available to N.H. residents who are 16-plus years of age, is designed to meet the needs of job seekers and career builders by providing training in specific skills that employers are looking for in their current and future employees, Hamdi said.

Army National Guard Retiree Luncheon set for Sept. 15 

STATEWIDE — The New Hampshire Army National Guard (NHARNG) 13th Annual Retiree Luncheon date has been set for Thursday, Sept. 15, by the luncheon planning committee. The committee is made up of current and retired Army National Guard members. Retirees who have not attended prior luncheons or have relocated are urged to contact Command Sergeant Major (Ret) David Follansbee via e-mail: dave_follansbee@comcast.net or 603-623-7757.

This year’s luncheon will be at the Joint Force Headquarters building on the State Military Reservation in Concord and will feature a briefing on the current status of the NHARNG as well as exhibits and displays of interest to retirees. A group photo is also planned. The luncheon fee is $8 at the door.

If you are an NHARNG retiree and plan to attend the luncheon you should RSVP no later than Aug. 26. Use this link to register: https://einvitations.afit.edu/inv/anim.cfm?i=684981&k=046946007356. The planning committee asks if you know of someone who has retired from NHARNG to pass this information along.

Portsmouth Elks No. 97 selects Step Up Parents for grant

PORTSMOUTH — The Portsmouth Elks Lodge No. 97 was awarded a $6,000 Beacon/Spotlight grant to support Portsmouth-based Step Up Parents, which provides financial assistance to relative caregivers who have stepped up to raise children of parents with substance use disorder. In a reception held at the Elks Lodge in Portsmouth, Governor Chris Sununu and Mayor Deaglan McEachern joined Elks members in presenting the grant, developed to shine a light on a community need.

This year's grant focused on the plight of children who are the victims of the opioid crisis fallout, which has escalated due to the pandemic.

"We chose an organization that we feel is trying to directly impact child home insecurity," said Elyse Gallo, Elks Grant Committee Chairperson. "Because so many of the caregivers live on fixed incomes, the added expense of additional family members is often financially devastating. Step Up Parents supports struggling kinship families by paying rents and housing expenses."

“We are so grateful to have been chosen for the Elks Foundation Beacon Grant and to Governor Sununu and Mayor McEachern for their attendance and kind words," said Denyse Richter, executive director of Step Up Parents. "We would like to thank Elyse Gallo specifically for nominating our organization and championing our work for kinship caregivers in the Seacoast and all of New Hampshire."

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Portsmouth NH residents need to sign up with new alert system