The Power of Community Collaboration

Every day, New Hampshire PBS partners with community businesses, organizations and individuals across New Hampshire who value public television. Partnerships allow local businesses to align with NHPBS’ public service mission and reach viewers, while business support allows NHPBS to raise funds and strengthen or expand our program offerings.

Eversource Energy is one of the station’s long-standing community partners — a relationship stretching back decades. The residential energy provider serves to more than 200 communities throughout New Hampshire, as well as Connecticut and Massachusetts. William Hinkle, Eversource’s media relations manager and a member of the NHPBS Board of Directors, believes the two statewide organizations share service goals that help New Hampshire communities thrive.

“Eversource, as a company, seeks to embody core values of education, community engagement, environment and sustainability, and economic development and well-being,” says Hinkle. “The projects at NHPBS that we partner on reflect those areas, as we know collaboration is essential to best meet the needs of our communities.” 

Hinkle works closely with Bryn Burns, of the corporate support team, to identify projects that align with each organization’s mission. Current initiatives that Eversource supports include a new and improved website for NATUREWORKS, the natural sciences program geared toward students and teachers grades 3-6, and increased investment for the OUR HOMETOWN series, which profiles historical and contemporary stories in New Hampshire towns and cities.

“People across the country are using NATUREWORKS, its online resources and teachers’ guide, and it’s making a difference. It’s exciting for us to reach young people and educate them about our environment, nature, and sustainability,” says Hinkle. “Here in New Hampshire, OUR HOMETOWN speaks directly to folks in the communities we serve.”

Hinkle, who remembers growing up as a “PBS child” in North Carolina, believes that service and education are key principles he learned by living in a household that valued and watched public television. In his current role at Eversource, that translates into an understanding that partnering with NHPBS brings legitimacy and authority.

“You’re reaching people who care about the world around them; you’re reaching leaders; you’re reaching people that value the service NHPBS provides to our communities,” he observes.

Hinkle says Eversource staff are out and about every day in New Hampshire cities and towns constantly maintaining, upgrading and building new infrastructure to meet customers’ needs and to ensure systems are more resilient to the impacts of climate change. Eversource is also taking a science-based approach to renewable resources, with an industry-leading goal to be carbon neutral by 2030.

“Our natural resources in New Hampshire are our cultural resources as well; they’re fundamental to who we are as a people and place,” Hinkle says. “Our first priority is to provide safe and reliable service to our customers, but we strive to do so in a manner that addresses concerns and protects and preserves, whether it’s historic stone walls or sites of community importance.”

Hinkle also praised NHPBS’ role in the state’s emergency preparedness plan. “For Eversource, we work statewide during storm situations, and we’re trying to get resources to where they need to go. NHPBS’ broadcast infrastructure is part of that planning, allowing people to communicate with each other. Nothing can work in an emergency if we don’t have the critical infrastructure that NHPBS provides and the working relationship the station has with the state.”

To learn more about how your business can connect with NHPBS viewers, contact Bryn Burns at
603-868-4395, or visit online at nhpbs.org/corp.

Pressroom Contact

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