LEXINGTON, Ky.–New Hampshire Sen. Sharon M. Carson is one of 48 state policymakers from across the country selected as a Council of State Governments’ Henry Toll Fellow for the Class of 2013.

The 48 Toll Fellows in the Class of 2013 represent 35 states and Puerto Rico, with 35 serving in the legislative branch, four serving in the judiciary and nine hailing from the executive. A 13-member committee of state leaders, many who are Toll Fellows themselves, reviewed a record number of applications to select the class.

“Individually, these leaders have a proven track record of accomplishing great things; collectively they represent the future leadership of the states,” said David Adkins, CSG’s executive director/CEO.

The Toll Fellowship Program, named for CSG founder Henry Wolcott Toll, is one of the nation’s premier leadership development programs for state government officials. Each year, Toll Fellows brings 48 of the nation’s top officials from all three branches of state government to Lexington, Ky., for an intensive six-day, five-night “intellectual boot camp.”

“I applied to the Toll Fellowship program to learn new leadership skills that will help me to become a stronger and more effective leader so that I can better serve my constituents,” Carson said.

The program’s agenda includes a lineup of dynamic speakers and sessions designed to stimulate personal assessment and growth, while providing priceless networking and relationship-building opportunities. While each year’s program is unique, previous programs have included sessions on leadership personality assessment, media training, crisis management, appreciative inquiry, adaptive leadership and much more.

Carson said the kind of training provided by Toll Fellows is important for state leaders.

“Continued leadership training is an investment not only in an individual,” she said, “but also in your organization. We must continue to strive to be better, to seek out new ways to tackle problems that our states face every day.”

Adkins was a 1993 Toll Fellow when he served as a Kansas state representative.

“The Toll Fellowship remains the oldest and most prestigious of all leadership development programs for elected officials,” he said. “Its impact is profound and its quality is renowned. As a Toll Fellow from 1993, I know first hand the impact the program has on elected officials.”

Toll Fellows alumni include U.S. Rep. John Carney, a former Delaware lieutenant governor; U.S. Rep. Colleen Hanabusa, a former Hawaii state Senate president; U.S. Rep. Todd Rokita, a former Indiana secretary of state; former North Carolina Gov. Beverly Perdue and former U.S. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis.

This year’s program will be held Aug. 16-21.

On Monday, February 11th Senator Sharon Carson sat down with staff at the Avery Center located at 128 Pillsbury Road, in Londonderry to discuss the services offered by this organization. The Avery Center has been operating in Londonderry for over two years. Senator Carson was invited to Avery House because of her outstanding work on the prevention, intervention, treatment and recover of New Hampshire residents who struggle with the disease of addiction. Carson is the recipient of this year’s Kathleen Taylor Legislator of the Year Award.

After meeting with staff at the Avery House Senator Carson stated, “I am truly honored to be recognized by the members of this organization for being awarded the Kathleen Taylor Legislative award as legislator of the year. The work they do everyday helping the vulnerable citizens of our community on the road to a full recovery is so important and we need to show them our continued support.”

The Avery House is affiliated with the Derry Friendship Center. The two independent non-profits have formed a partnership with the goal of working to provide access to recovery and support in many forms. The two organizations share resources to reduce and streamline administrative costs and operations.

The Derry Friendship Center mission is to provide an alcohol and drug free environment for rehabilitative support, referral information for those seeking recovery, and social activity, on a drip-bases to promote and provide awareness, education, and advocacy; and to provide an affordable place for peer support recovery groups to meet. The Friends of Recover-New Hampshire is a statewide grassroots organization of people in recovery, family members and other supporter’s of addiction recover. The goal of the organization is to educate the general public about the nature of addiction, the effectiveness of treatment and the value of hope of recovery, as well as promote policies and resources that support recovery.

Both organization hosts oriented meetings such as AA, Vet to Vet, Women for Sobriety, Rational Recover, SMART Recover and NA. The help individuals in their daily lives by provided services to social activities, job search, resume help, Computer/internet access for housing, job search, communicating and related services.