Joyce CraigMunicipal General Election 2021 IncumbentMunicipal General Election 2021 Winner
Running forMayor
in 2021
Running as
I have a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration and a minor in English from the University of New Hampshire. I worked as a marketing director in Boston for 15 years, managing client objectives, developing strategic plans and managing multimillion-dollar budgets. I also worked at a biotech startup, helping take the company public. I’m a member of the Let America Vote Board of Advisors, formerly served on the Webster Elementary and Hillside PTOs, 2015 Governor’s Task on K-12 STEM Education, and the Palace Theater Advisory Board, and completed the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative, where I was part of the second class of 40 mayors from around the world.
I served on the Board of School Committee for one term, the Board of Mayor and Aldermen for three terms, and am currently serving the people of Manchester in my second term as Mayor.
Current jobMayor
Current residenceManchester, NH
HometownManchester
Best way to contact candidateinfo@JoyceCraig.org
603-624-6500
mayor@manchesternh.gov
Websitehttp://www.joycecraig.org/
Why are you running for mayor?
I’m running for Mayor to ensure our city fully recovers from the pandemic and builds on our progress.
When I began my second term as Mayor in January 2020, I was excited to continue helping our residents lead better lives with stronger schools, a safer community, good jobs, and a growing economy. When the pandemic hit, we focused our efforts on keeping our residents safe, students supported, and businesses open. Today, Manchester is ready to continue its growth, thanks in large part to the resiliency of Queen City residents.
We passed a comprehensive plan to allocate $43 million in American Rescue Plan funds to rebuild a stronger economy that you can read here. By continuing to prevent violent crime, support small business, increase affordable housing, assist seniors and support education, we’re setting Manchester up for long-term success. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for the city, and I want to see these programs through.
You can contact our campaign by emailing us at info@JoyceCraig.org, calling (603) 865-1925, going to our website at www.JoyceCraig.org, or stopping by our office at 264 Mammoth Road. If you have a city concern you’d like to report to our office, you can call 603-624-6500 or email mayor@manchesternh.gov
Education, Professional History and Previous Political Offices/Campaigns
I have a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration and a minor in English from the University of New Hampshire. I worked as a marketing director in Boston for 15 years, managing client objectives, developing strategic plans and managing multimillion-dollar budgets. I also worked at a biotech startup, helping take the company public. I’m a member of the Let America Vote Board of Advisors, formerly served on the Webster Elementary and Hillside PTOs, 2015 Governor’s Task on K-12 STEM Education, and the Palace Theater Advisory Board, and completed the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative, where I was part of the second class of forty mayors from around the world I served on the Board of School Committee for one term, the Board of Mayor and Aldermen for three terms, and am currently serving the people of Manchester in my second term as Mayor.
What uniquely qualifies you to be mayor of Manchester?
My experience both working in city government and the private sector, as well as my passion for the City of Manchester make me uniquely qualified to be Mayor. After two years of steady economic growth, I led Manchester through one of the most difficult years in city history, while maintaining a budget surplus, staying within the tax cap, and expanding city services. Prior to my two terms as Mayor, I served on both the Board of Mayor and Aldermen and the School Board, but most of my career was spent in the private sector. There I learned what makes a community attractive to businesses and start-ups, balanced multi-million dollar budgets, and gained the entrepreneurial spirit needed to stretch every dollar and make sure the government works for the people of our city.
What do you see as the key solution to reducing homelessness in the city?
From a statewide perspective, there needs to be more supportive housing and additional mental health services. In my time as Mayor, I’ve worked to foster relationships between the city with non-profits, community and faith-based organizations, and unhoused populations to offer services, provide additional shelter beds, and increase public safety measures.
Utilizing federal funds, we hired a Director of Homeless Initiatives to lead and coordinate the city’s efforts. We developed an outreach team at the Manchester Fire Department to connect with unhoused individuals living at the encampments, providing services and referring them to treatment and housing resources.
We’re looking to address homelessness at a state level as well. Homelessness increased 21% statewide over the last year, and with every Mayor in New Hampshire — Democrats, Republicans, and Independents — we identified homelessness as the number one issue facing each of our communities, and successfully had New Hampshire’s statewide plan to address homelessness updated for the first time since 2006. A key component of this plan includes better collaboration between the State and local communities, specifically on funding the state provides directly to non-profits in each community, data collection, and measures of success.
Ms. Green recently presented the Housing Options Promote Empowerment (HOPE) program for the city, which focuses on the chronically homeless population, increasing affordable housing options, and a community outreach awareness campaign. There are currently shelter beds available at FIT and Cafe 1269, and the city is working with other nonprofits to increase beds. You can learn more about the HOPE program, homeless resources or report an encampment here.
Do you feel that Manchester needs more affordable housing as defined by US HUD and NHHFA (costing no more than 30% of occupants monthly income)? If so, how would you achieve this? If not, why not?
Yes — and we’ve made great strides to increase the number of affordable housing units in the city. Earlier this year, we released recommendations from the Mayor’s Affordable Housing Taskforce Report, and since then, have worked to move those recommendations forward. Using federal HOME funds in the FY22 budget, we have allocated $4.7 million to incentivize the building of more affordable housing units, the most allocated in the program’s 30 years of existence. We issued requests for proposals for two underutilized surface parking lots in the downtown area to build mixed-use, mixed income housing. We’ve established a Housing Commission to oversee the recommendations of the Taskforce report, and are in the process of updating multiple zoning regulations. We’ve worked to update the State Building Code, which the Governor signed on July 23. And because of State legislation signed in July, we’re able to take advantage of building tiny homes for the first time ever.
Through the American Rescue Plan, we allocated $3 million to the Affordable Housing Trust for flexible uses. These funds are available to organizations to establish more affordable housing, grants for individuals to stay in their homes as they age, grants for landlords to make improvements to their properties if they remain affordable, emergency home repairs, and more.
What are your thoughts on public safety in the city?
Keeping Manchester safe is my top priority, and I’m honored to have the endorsement from the Manchester Police Patrolman’s Association and the Association of Police Supervisors. Over the past three years, we’ve added 30 police officers across the city, resulting in the largest compliment we’ve ever had. Under the leadership of Chief Al Aldenberg, officer training increased from 8 to 40 hours annually, focusing on de-escalation tactics, use of non-lethal force, implicit bias, and cultural responsiveness. MPD also signed on to the 30×30 Pledge, establishing a goal of 30% female officers in all ranks by 2030. We’ve added to our community policing efforts, increased the number of officers on overnight shifts and expanded foot patrols throughout the city, opening lines of communication between downtown business owners and the police department. We’ve added community meetings, including “Chat with the Chief” Facebook live conversations. We implemented CompStat360, developing a framework for MPD to more effectively address gun crime by engaging with community stakeholders and developing strategies to solve issues. With the Police and Health Departments, we passed a violent crime reduction initiative, to have Community Health Workers respond to non-violent check condition calls. They will become a hub for addressing neighborhood-level health concerns. Additionally, the programs funds investigative overtime and foot patrols for MPD to address violent crime. We’ve also worked to make the MPD more accessible by adding substations in Veterans Park and Arms Park, in addition to the substation at CMC, and establishing an LGBTQ+ liaison in the Police Department for the first time. Public safety is a community issue. If you see something, please call MPD at 603-668-8711 or Crimeline at 603 624-4040. Thanks to these efforts — and more — crime in the city has decreased for the fifth year in a row.
Please provide one or more examples of a person, organization, or business that exemplifies the spirit of Manchester
Manchester is hard-working, passionate and creative. There are two examples that come to mind that I feel embody that spirit of our City — Girls at Work, and Former Mayor Sylvio Dupuis. Manchester has a rich history of strong women leaders and Girls At Work is ensuring this tradition continues. Girls At Work helps girls build confidence, discover their self-worth and find their voice. Girls are empowered by using power tools and gain a sense of accomplishment by building things such as picnic tables, benches and robots. This program focuses on empowering girls and women through building, instilling the message that power tools are actually just tools, and that the real power is within each and every one of us. The founder, Elaine Hamel says it best, “You can give a girl a pep-talk on being anything she wants to be, or you can give her a hammer and some nails and teach her how to build her dreams into reality.” As a result, thousands of girls have discovered their inherent power and courage while building with Girls At Work, and all of this is happening right here in our historic Millyard. Former Mayor Syl Dupuis is a Manchester institution – he has, and continues to be, a pivotal force in creating positive change for our city. From saving the Palace Theatre from demolition in the 1970s, to overseeing the redevelopment of Pine Island Park, Mayor Dupuis’ work has solidified Manchester as the cultural center it is today. He left City Hall in 1975 to serve as the founding president of Catholic Medical Center, and his focus on our community never faltered, dedicating his time as a community leader, volunteer, and philanthropist, he epitomizes all that’s involved in bringing and sustaining excellence in our community. I admire Syl for his commitment to public service and his passion for the City of Manchester. He is a man of integrity, wisdom and strength, and he builds consensus wherever he goes. Syl is always willing to help, and his positive impact and outlook is something that truly exemplifies the spirit of Manchester.
How would you describe the city's current infrastructure and business climate?
Even though our community faced immense challenges during the pandemic, Manchester is seeing strong economic growth. For the second year in a row, Manchester was named the hottest real estate market in the country, and was recently named the 14th best-managed city in the country. New businesses are opening, the Airport added the first new airline in 17 years and we’ve moved forward on bringing a rail platform to downtown Manchester. We’ve seen $360 million in new, private development, and are supporting our business community by allocating funding towards Small Business Resiliency Grants for COVID-19 recovery, to assist with business planning, outdoor space improvements, employee retention and more. In addition, we’ve repaved and repaired 183 miles of roads and sidewalks, and made historic investments to parks and green spaces throughout the city — the largest investment in city infrastructure in decades. We have expanded rail trails and bike lanes in the city, and brought Bird Scooters to downtown. We have expanded outdoor dining and streamlined the process for businesses, and in the 10-year plan, we will be developing underutilized areas in the city.
What are the strengths and weaknesses of the Manchester School District? What is the top need for improvement or change?
Over the past few years, we’ve made great strides to improve our public schools across the city. We have effective, caring, and dedicated teachers who love Manchester students. We adopted a new reading and math curriculum, increased professional development for educators, and provided more technology for our schools, including reaching a district wide goal of one device per student — all while keeping class sizes low. The district has strong and robust music programs that are available to all students, starting in elementary school.
However, we know there’s more work to do.
We must continue investing in the future by ensuring every Manchester student has the opportunity to receive a quality public education. We need to continue to engage in innovative workforce training opportunities, and build upon public-private partnerships such as ManchesterProud. We also must continue to seek out new funding opportunities for our students — like the GEAR UP grant, which secured $10.5 million to help provide professional development to our educators and help our students become college and career-ready. We must create a consistent K-12 curriculum and high level academic standards for all students.
As a mother of a student in high school, I know firsthand how difficult remote learning was for students, teachers and parents. Last year, we made the difficult decision to transition to remote learning in order to keep students, families, and school staff safe. Our top priority this year is to have in-person learning throughout the school year — we know it’s best when students are in the classroom. We will address academic as well as social and emotional needs of students, and provide opportunities for advanced learning too. You can read the full recommendations for the Manchester School District’s American Rescue Plan funds.
Do you support the budgetary autonomy of the Manchester School District's governing body? (currently known as the Board of School Committee, but proposed to be renamed as the Manchester School Board). If so, why (or why not?)
Anything else you'd like to add
Manchester is a city on the rise. I love this city, and I believe in our community, and serving as your Mayor is a tremendous honor. I ask for your vote on Tuesday, September 21st.