“Making $ense New England” Airing April 15 @ 8 p.m. on NHPTV

MAKING $ENSE NEW ENGLAND – Yankee Ingenuity Airing April 15 at 8 P.M.NH Focus It’s ingrained in our Yankee personality – reusing to save money. The new Habitat for Humanity ReStores encourage this thriftiness by reselling new and used construction materials and furnishings donated by builders, businesses and individuals. Meet the manager of the Dover, NH, ReStore.Looking for a job. Sean Sullivan of Raymond, NH, lost his job two months ago, and has embarked on an aggressive job search. He talks about how he’s doing it. Growing a business. Kelly Flagg, owner of Flaggship Landscaping of Gorham, ME, explains why she invested in marketing at a time when many business owners cut this budget item. A matched-savings program helps income-eligible Vermonters save money to buy a home, pursue higher education, or capitalize a small business. It’s a program designed to help people who help themselves.Are non-profits important to the U.S. economy? Robert Egger, the founder of DC Central Kitchen and a non-profit expert, talks about the role of non-profits. Making $ense New England is a monthly series combining expert advice with stories of how people across northern New England have found resourceful ways to weather the economic downturn. www.makingsensene.org COMING NEXT MONTH on Thursday, May 20 at 8 p.m.Stay-cations – Teaching Kids to Save – Credit Card Fraud – Looking for Work Additional airdates at www.nhptv.org/schedule WATCH ONLINE ANYTIME www.makingsensene.org ReStores & Affordable Home Improvement • Looking For A Job • Growing a Business in Tight Times • Matched Savings Plan • Economic Importance of Nonprofits (DURHAM, April 12, 2010) – Using ReStores to save money on home improvement items, a candid story of job hunting after a lay-off, growing a business in tight times, a savings plan that matches money, and the economic importance of nonprofits are featured on Making $ense New England, airing Thursday, April 15 at 8 p.m. on New Hampshire Public Television, Maine Public Broadcasting Network and Vermont Public Television.ReStores & affordable home improvement. For decades, Habitat for Humanity has built homes for people in need. What you might not know is that they also take them apart. Habitat for Humanity volunteers deconstruct kitchens, bathrooms and even entire homes. The furnishings are donated by the homeowners to one of more than 600 Habitat for Humanity ReStores throughout the country where they are sold at greatly reduced prices. The proceeds go back to Habitat for Humanity to build new homes. These means that people looking to buy a sink, door, or refrigerator have an affordable option. “We’re helping people succeed. We’re giving them a hand-up, not a hand-out,” said store manager Tom Boisvert of Habitat for Humanity’s ReStore, in Dover, NH. There are five ReStores in Maine.Looking for a job. Sean Sullivan of Raymond, NH, lost his job two months ago, and has embarked on an aggressive job search. He talks about how he’s doing it. Growing a business in tight times. During the recession, many small businesses in northern New England were compelled to lay-off employees, cut pay, or scale back advertising. But some, like Kelly Flagg, owner of Flaggship Landscaping in Gorham, did the opposite and met with success. MPBN’s Jennifer Rooks finds out how a landscaping company raked in the sales with an aggressive marketing campaign.Saving money for life. Where can an entrepreneur of modest means find a few thousand dollars these days? Vermont’s Individual Development Account (IDA) program offers asset-eligible individuals a $2,000 match for $1,000 saved over a two-year period. The only catch is that they attend a series of basic financial management classes during that time. Meet two Vermonters who used to the program, one to help expand her beveled stained glass business, and the other to start a math tutoring enterprise. According to Gillian Franks, a financial educator with the Champlain Valley Office of Economic Opportunity, the most important outcome is the simple act of saving: "They very often come back to us and say the money was nothing. What you’ve taught me to do in terms of savings is worth so much more."Importance of nonprofits. Robert Egger, a nonprofit expert and founder of DC Central Kitchen, a job training and meal distribution nonprofit, talks about the important role nonprofits play in the US economy.Making $ense New England, a 10-part series, airs monthly through August 2010, with stories about grassroots responses and solutions to the economic crisis of northern New England. The series is a collaboration of New Hampshire Public Television, Maine Public Broadcasting Network, and Vermont Public Television. www.makingsensene.org Funding for Making $ense New England provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting; Financial Industry Regulatory Authority; Foundation for Financial Planning; FINRA Investor Education Foundation; and Goodwill Industries of Northern New England.

Visit the NHPBS PRESSROOM at www.nhpbs.org/pressroom
Phone (603) 868-1100  •  Fax (603) 868-7552

---

NHPBS • NHPBS EXPLORE • NH WORLD • NH CREATE • NHPBS KIDS

###

Pressroom Contact

Carla Gordon Russell
Director of Communications
crussell@nhpbs.org
(603) 868-4339