TAPP History 

TAPP’s overarching goal is to support children’s educational, social, and emotional development. To accomplish this, TAPP created a member-based educational resource with an emphasis on “Humane Education” serving Pre-K through high school educators and teachers in southern New Hampshire and the surrounding communities.

 

TAPP’s purpose is to create a better world for people, animals and the environment by teaching children how to care for themselves, others and their surroundings. TAPP is 100% volunteer based. TAPP’s humane education resources not only align with but also enhance the educational framework and standards of New Hampshire. By emphasizing humane education, TAPP works to promote the following outcomes in our community:

 

• development of critical thinking and personal responsibility;

• more tolerant students and compassionate members of our community;

• increased motivation to make a positive difference in the world;

• a culture of empathy for animals resulting in a decrease in animal abuse in our society;

• reduction and prevention of violence in our schools and homes; and

• motivation of students to strive for a more sustainable environment.

 

In its first 16 months of operations, TAPP’s board of directors had three main activities to meet the mission and vision of the organization. TAPP operated a Teacher Resource Center store at 472 Amherst Street where, as members, teachers could acquire low and no-cost school supplies. The Resource Center store also provided access to educational materials and humane education kits, as well as professional development opportunities to meet state licensing requirements for continuing education. To help provide a dependable stream of revenue for TAPP while we sought grants and additional funding sources, and to encourage community support of TAAP’s mission and goals, TAPP established and ran a thrift store (TAPPestry) co-located in the same-leased space as our Teacher Resource Center.

 

The Teachers Resource Center was open to all educators in the community who teach at the kindergarten through high-school and was stocked full of free and low-cost new and gently used school supplies, fabric samples, architectural tiles, paint sample books, etc. TAPP encouraged teachers whose students participate in the free or reduced-lunch (FRL) programs to join and made a concerted effort to reach and support schools such as Mt. Pleasant Elementary School and its teachers since 82.7% of their student body was on the FRL program. TAPP also had Resource Center membership sponsorships from community members for teachers at Elm Street Middle School, Dr. Crisp Elementary School, and Ledge Street Elementary School in Nashua. To date, TAPP has served over 4,000 children residing in southern New Hampshire by directly supporting over 100 educators with 55%- 70% of these children from very low to moderate-income families.

 

With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and the Governor’s stay-at-home orders, TAPP prepared and delivered over 80 “kits for kids” to the Nashua Soup Kitchen and an inner city school program in MA in March and April 2020 to help students adjust to the significant change in schooling. The kits contained books, art supplies, pencils, markers, crayons, soap and other items. During this time, TAPP tried unsuccessfully to renegotiate the terms of our leased space so that we could keep our doors open and continue to serve the community. TAPP’s board of directors made the difficult financial decision to close both the Teacher Resource Center and TAPPestry in August 2020. This action was taken after obtaining the assistance of an attorney and identifying a sublease candidate so that our lessor would release us from our remaining lease term; unfortunately, the lessor assessed a substantial early termination penalty (payable over 30 months) and retained our 2-month security deposit.