Claremont Resident Honored at Awards Celebration

Eagle Times Staff
CONCORD, NH — A Claremont community leader has been recognized for his work to ensure access to health care for individuals and families across the state at New Futures’ annual awards celebration on Wednesday, Oct. 11.

Shawn Cannizzaro, owner of Hope 2 Freedom Recovery Homes in Claremont, received New Futures’ Madeline Demeule Behavioral Health Scholarship for his advocacy for reauthorizing Medicaid expansion, which provides health insurance coverage to tens of thousands of Granite Staters in need. Throughout the 2023 legislative session, Cannizzaro made phone calls to lawmakers, he attended field hearings and he traveled from Claremont to Concord to testify about the importance of Medicaid expansion and the role it has played in his life and the lives of residents in his houses.

“The courage that Shawn showed in sharing his story really resonated with legislators,” said Michele D. Merritt, New Futures’ President, of Cannizzaro. “He helped them see, firsthand, the difference that Medicaid expansion can make in the life of someone struggling and demonstrated the critical importance of this program to the overall health of our state.”

Thanks in part to Cannizzaro’s advocacy, the state legislature voted in June to extend Medicaid expansion for another seven years as part of the state budget. Since its inception, the program, which will continue at least through 2030, has provided health care coverage to nearly 220,000 Granite Staters in need, helping them to access primary and emergency care, substance use and mental health treatment and other needed health services.

“Literally, people die when they don’t have insurance. I’ve seen it,” Cannizzaro said. “It’s important that [legislators hear] real lived experience. … Our stories are important because we’ve lived them.”

New Futures is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that works to improve the health and well-being of all Granite Staters through public policy change and civic empowerment. The Madeline Demeule Behavioral Health Scholarship honors an individual or group that does remarkable work in the field of behavioral health.

Learn more at new-futures.org.