I've Seen New Hampshire From Both Sides of the Ledger.
In 2015 I arrived as exactly the high-earning small-business owner the 'Live Free or Die' tax model is built to attract. A few years later I was navigating that same state's safety net from $0 taxable income. Almost no one who designs, funds, or promotes these systems has stood at both ends of them. That vantage — not sympathy — is the qualification this page documents.
Why This Page Exists:
Not for Sympathy. For Standing.
The people who design, fund, and promote New Hampshire's safety net have, almost without exception, only ever seen it from the funding side. They have never had to use it. I have seen it from both sides — and that is the entire reason this page exists.
I'm not here to question anyone's intent. I'm here to report what you cannot see from the side that only writes the checks: what the system actually does when a strong household stumbles. What follows is one household's path through that system — documented, specific, and structurally ordinary. Nothing in it required bad luck beyond what thousands of NH families face every year: a divorce, a pandemic, a disability, a layoff. The state's own caseworkers summed up the answer:
Consider one example the data never captures. New Hampshire has effectively nothing for the caregivers of disabled children. The toll of that role — the invisible loss of relationships, family, friends, hobbies, financial challenges from putting your child's need first — is invisible unless you have carried it and many parents know this exact feeling. You cannot design for a burden you have never felt. I have felt it. That is why 603 Circle is built the way it is — and why no one who has only ever funded these systems should decide, alone, what a family at $0 income actually needs.
Here is the part the data hides. The State doesn't mislead with false numbers — it misleads with accurate ones. New Hampshire really is ranked among the lowest-poverty states in the country. That number is true. It is also a mask. It doesn't count the families who earn too much to qualify for help and nowhere near enough to live here — the 35% of New Hampshire households below the ALICE threshold, working families who can't afford basic necessities. The ranking wasn't built to find them; it was built to attract earners like the one I used to be. The people still standing where I stood can't see them either.
And that blind spot isn't only a human problem — it's a business one. In a state where nearly all employers are small businesses, the fact that more than a third of families can't afford to be their customers isn't a side issue. It's the whole problem. I can say that plainly because I've stood on every rung of this ladder — which is exactly why I'm qualified to tell you it's missing steps.
If that's the answer for a household that arrived at the top of the income data, it's the answer your workforce is hearing too. The rest of this page is the evidence.
A Decade as the Data Point
Each entry pairs what happened with the structural gap it exposed. These gaps are the design specifications for what 603 Circle builds.
Raised in Maine, on the Systems I Now Study
I grew up in Maine in a family that leaned on the same public programs I now research, and I was the first in my family to go to college. The climb started at the bottom, not the top — every rung after this one was built by hand.
12-Year U.S. Air National Guard
Enlisted in the U.S. Air National Guard in 1990 and served twelve years, including during Desert Storm. The systems thinking and mission-first discipline of military service inform everything 603 Circle is built on. The willingness to fight for what's right is in the DNA.
25 Years in Digital Strategy · 15 Years Building Commerce Forge
A career from national e-commerce brands to Senior Director of Digital Strategy, managing SEO and visibility across 250+ franchise locations. In January 2011, founded Commerce Forge LLC — a digital consultancy that served national clients for fifteen years: roughly a decade of strong earnings before COVID-19 reshaped everything that came after.
Arrived in NH at the Top of the Income Data
Moved to New Hampshire during the strong-earning years, with the business providing a comfortable lifestyle for my family. Bought in. Paid the property taxes. Contributed to the local economy exactly the way the state's tax argument assumes high earners do.
The Stress Test: Divorce and COVID, At Once
A divorce and COVID-19 landed in the same three-month stretch, leaving a single father and small-business owner with three young children and a business fighting to survive the pandemic alone. Earnings fell sharply that year; federal COVID relief loans bridged the business for a couple of years before becoming a weight of their own. No childcare relief. No NH caregiver support. No bridge for the family itself.
Two Disabilities Confirmed. Debt to Stay Alive.
Two of the children were confirmed disabled soon after the height of COVID-19, multiplying the caregiving load while services stayed waitlisted or unfindable. New Hampshire has no real support for single-parent caregivers of disabled children. To keep Commerce Forge operating through the strain, the business leaned on federal COVID loans — paying people, and standing in for the support that didn't exist.
The System Names the Impossible — Then Offers to Split the Family
A third child's disability surfaced, opening an ongoing fight with the school district over accommodations while the business kept absorbing the cost. After every sacrifice, an evaluation team suggested state residential placement as an option due to the known challenges of a lone caregiver. The answer was no — these are my children, I can work harder. Then the federal loans came due the same year.
Every Safety Net, Tested. Every Safety Net Failed.
Two years of no owner pay — every business dollar went to the federal loans. $33,000 repaid, none of it toward principal. 398 job applications produced one $150,000 role; every dollar went to digging out of debt. Eight months later came a layoff — arriving at the worst possible moment for a household already carrying everything. NH Employment Security denied unemployment, citing LLC income that went entirely to loan payments, despite the business running at a loss and federal loan covenants legally prohibiting owner distributions. After a two-year effort, both younger children were ruled medically disabled — then benefits were denied because a credit-card balance taken on to pay a family-law attorney was counted as a "resource." A non-taxable caregiving stipend was eventually found; only one entity counted it as income: NH SNAP, which then cut food assistance. Caregiver support had to buy groceries, leaving the family where it started. The Governor's office replied, promised to look into it, and went silent. State representatives called any intervention "inappropriate."
Why run a business for no pay, repaying a disaster loan that will never clear, while your children go without?
Commerce Forge closed in early 2026 after fifteen years — loans unresolved, no help arrived. From that new reality, the view was of a state full of others struggling with the same things. Rather than take the advice every system offered and move to Massachusetts, the choice was to stay and build the fix: 603 Circle LLC — SNHLocal.com, a free, verified local business guide that drives customer visibility; a primary-sourced data research platform; a planned equivalent for human services; and a partnership framework that carries the argument to NH's business leadership.
Still Here. Still Building.
603 Circle is live. SNHLocal carries thousands of business listings. The data platform is published and primary-sourced. The mission is documented and ready for partners. The work continues — by someone who arrived with wealth, family, and a strong business (every good NH statistic) and then lived every bad one. He knows what small businesses face. He believes Strong Communities = Strong Commerce — and that it's a circle. The 603 Circle.
Not Isolated Failures. A Structure That Releases Families.
These are the specific mechanisms that failed — documented, not hypothetical. Each one is structurally ordinary: any NH family in the same position hits the same wall.
Disability Ruling + Attorney Debt
Both younger children ruled medically disabled by the Social Security Administration. Benefits denied because a credit-card balance — taken on to pay a family-law attorney — was classified as a resource. Debt treated as wealth.
Caregiving Stipend vs. SNAP
A caregiving stipend, awarded for the care of disabled children, was counted as income by SNAP — which then removed food assistance. Support meant for the children's care had to buy groceries instead.
Unemployment vs. the LLC
Laid off from the Senior Director role. NH Employment Security denied unemployment, citing LLC income — despite the business operating at a loss and loan covenants legally prohibiting owner distributions. Ruled no fault, then denied benefits anyway.
The Escalation Path That Wasn't
The Governor's office acknowledged the case, then went quiet. Five state representatives were contacted: one called intervention "inappropriate," the rest stopped responding. The mechanism meant to catch edge cases declined to engage.
The Outcome: 603 Circle
Every mechanism above is a design specification. SNHLocal exists because services were unfindable. The data platform exists because the contradictions were undocumented. ReviewsNH's accountability layer exists because no one records what these systems actually deliver. 603 Circle is the infrastructure mapped by someone who hit every gap from the inside.
The Mission Is Personal. The Execution Is Professional.
Digital marketing and strategy spanning national e-commerce brands, franchise networks, and local businesses.
Senior Director of Digital Strategy managing visibility and SEO for a national franchise network.
Founded and operated Commerce Forge LLC from January 2011 to January 2026, building digital strategy for clients across industries.
This Work Doesn't Stop.
603 Circle is built by one person and necessary for everyone who lives and works in Southern New Hampshire. The directory is free. The data is primary-sourced. What it needs now is expertise, introductions, and partners — not pity.
Partner With Us Back to Home