Building Community in New Hampshire

Although the president has thrown a wrench into the refugee resettlement system, BCNH continues to serve those who have come here in recent years from Afghanistan, Congo, Ukraine, Haiti, and elsewhere.  Your donations have helped us deliver those services, supplementing the funding that has flowed to us from the US Office of Refugee Resettlement.  We expect the federal dollars to disappear completely after October 1, making your contributions ever more valuable to the people we serve.

And know this: your donation is a vote for refugees, a symbolic embrace of friendship, a warm hug of welcome.  

BCNH helps refugees navigate their way to safe, healthy, prosperous, and connected lives in New Hampshire.  Our case managers are themselves former refugees, from Ukraine, Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Haiti, and Bhutan.  They speak the languages and understand the cultures of New Hampshire's newest Americans and they provide a wide range of services, from helping with employment and housing to finding a doctor, learning English, or registering to vote.  Most of our board members came to New Hampshire as refugees or immigrants as well. The UNDAUNTED people in the image above are members of the BCNH staff and board.  

Founded in 2009 as the Bhutanese Community of New Hampshire, BCNH was a mutual aid association for refugees from Bhutan who had spent decades in camps in Nepal. In 2017, the organization opened its services to all refugees in New Hampshire and changed its name to reflect its new purpose: Building Community in New Hampshire. We maintain offices in Manchester and Nashua and provide services in Concord and across New Hampshire wherever new Americans need our assistance.  

Refugees are still coming to New Hampshire, making the state more diverse, youthful, and economically vibrant.  Please help BCNH continue to build a rich and robust community in New Hampshire.

Who We Are

BCNH helps refugees in New Hampshire become Americans.

Founded as the Bhutanese Community of New Hampshire, we now serve refugees from all over, particuarly the Rohingya community in Nashua, the Congolese and Rwandan communities in Manchester, and the Bhutanese communities in Concord and Manchester. Our four case managers, all former refugees, help their clients navigate New Hampshire’s systems: health care, driver’s licenses, food stamps, schools, employment, and ultimately citizenship. When the schools were closed, we helped teachers communicate with their students' families. Lately, we have been linking people to vaccination clinics as well as information and supplies to deal with COVID-19.

BCNH is a multi-ethnic community-based organization. Nine of our 10 board members came to the US as refugees or immigrants. Please join our efforts to build strong, diverse, communities in New Hampshire.