Generational poverty and homelessness can be prevented when caring adults protect kids from toxic stress. Portsmouth Housing Authority Director Craig Welch asks us to rethink how our communities care for our very youngest children.
Craig Welch is the Executive Director for the Portsmouth (NH) Housing Authority, Craig oversees a $83 million housing portfolio with eleven properties and 600 affordable housing units in the City of Portsmouth, well as a Resident Services Coordination Program and a Housing Choice Voucher program that serves more than 750 seniors and families in the region.
Prior to joining the Portsmouth Housing Authority, Craig was Vice President for Housing at the New Hampshire Community Loan Fund; founded Craig Welch Group LLC; and was in the inaugural class of the AmeriCorps National Service Program, where he developed service-learning programs for the University of New Hampshire and the Portsmouth School District. Craig also served as a policy advisor for New Hampshire Governor Jeanne Shaheen and was instrumental in establishing the READs NH program and the Governor’s Youth Violence Advisory Task Force.
Craig currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Northern New England Housing Investment Fund and is President of the New Hampshire Housing Authorities Corporation. Craig is a graduate of the University of New Hampshire and earned his M. Ed in Organization and Management from Antioch New England Graduate School. Craig, his wife Stefany Shaheen, and their four children, Elle, Annah, Caraline, and William reside in Portsmouth, N.H.
Craig W. Welch is the executive director for the Portsmouth Housing Authority, where he oversees 600 affordable housing units.