It is with great excitement that we connect to give you an update on our second half of the year grants money allocation! For Q3 + Q4 we committed to devoting our money to organizations fighting to reduce systemic Maine problems of education, generational poverty + affordable housing, substance abuse, limited access to medical care, and food insecurity. With $120,000 raised in Q3 + Q4, our 1% for Maine® committee was able to support 11 organizations across Maine with grants.
The first grant we chose to support was one submitted by the SEED Team at Voices of Hope (Students Empowered to End Dependency) Here are the quick details:
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Organization Mission: SEED is an effort by students and adults in Maine, to elevate messaging about chemical dependency.
Grant Mission: To use storytelling to elevate messaging about substance use and to augment formal health education with locally produced videos, thereby bringing the topic and its impact to life, in an effort to help middle and high school students make better-informed decisions regarding the use of chemical substances. In addition, we believe the involvement of the recovery community will reduce stigma and invite more people into recovery.
Grant Money Allocated: $25,000
Learn more about the organization on their website.
The second grant we chose to support was one submitted by the Safe Families for Children, Maine Chapter. Here are the quick details:
Organization Mission: Safe Families for Children hosts vulnerable .png)
children and creates extended family–like supports for families through a community of devoted volunteers who are motivated by compassion to keep children safe and families intact.
Grant Mission: Safe Families for Children’s most important program is to host children and create extended family-like support for families who have nowhere else to turn through a community of devoted volunteers who are motivated by compassion to keep children safe and families intact. Safe Families for Children works to bring the social service agencies together with the compassionate volunteer community to work on family preservation and stabilizing communities.
Grant Money Allocated: $15,000
Learn more about the organization here on their website.
The Third grant we chose to support was one submitted by Mainely Teeth. Here are the quick details:
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Organization Mission: Mainly Teeth's mission is to break down barriers to oral health care and provide access to quality, compassionate dental care to individuals, families, and communities. We believe that quality oral health care is a basic human right, not a privilege.
Grant Mission: Mainely Teeth serves patients that lack access to care across the State of Maine through strategic partnerships formed with schools, churches, community-based organizations, primary care offices, and others. Target areas are those with low-income residents that see significant barriers to quality care in their community.
Grant Money Allocated: $10,000 Learn more about the organization on their website.
The fourth grant we chose to support was one submitted by Learning Works. Here are the quick details:
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Organization Mission: LearningWorks responds to educational needs in the community by providing tutoring, mentoring, and alternative education opportunities designed to ensure the success of learners whose needs are not met by traditional systems.
Grant Mission: LearningWorks Afterschool: free afterschool program for PreK-5th grade students in Portland, Saco, Biddeford, and Waterboro serving between 600 and 1,000 students annually. The program targets students who are falling behind academically.
Grant Money Allocated: $10,000
Learn more about the organization on their website.
The fifth grant we chose to support was one submitted by the Telling Room. Here are the quick details:
Organization Mission: At The Telling Room, we empower youth through writing and share their voices with the world. As a literary arts education organization focused on young writers ages 6 to 18, we seek to build confidence, strengthen literacy skills, and provide real audiences for our students. We believe that the power of creative expression can change our communities and prepare our youth for success both now and in the future.
Grant Mission: We are committed to creating safe spaces—brave spaces—where all students can improve their writing and literacy skills in a supportive, structured way. Our goal is to provide opportunities through which students can realize their individual potential, validate their creative voices, and gain self-confidence and initiative through writing and sharing.
Grant Money Allocated: $7,500
Learn more about the organization on their website.
The sixth grant we chose to support was one submitted by Youth Led Justice. Here are the quick details:
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Organization Mission: To work toward creating healthy, safer, stronger, more connected communities through educating youth in restorative justice and by giving youth respondents a second chance to be a part of this healthy, safer, stronger, and more connected community.
Grant Mission: Youth-LED Justice (YLJ) is focused on facilitating restorative processes for disenfranchised youth and diverting them from punitive justice systems. This program entails building relationships with respondents, providing them resources and support, and guiding them through a restorative dialogue with their peers
Grant Money Allocated: $5,000
Learn more about the organization on their website.
The seventh grant we chose to support was one submitted by the The Locker Project. Here are the quick details:
Organization Mission: The Locker Project connects food-insecure children in Maine with nourishing food to improve their learning capacity, health, and future. We take a whole-family approach to child hunger with programs that strive to be low barrier, stigma-free, and environmentally responsible.
Grant Mission: Locker Project provides low-income families with children and their communities with reliable access to healthy food, with an emphasis on fresh produce. We source fruits, vegetables, meat and bread from supermarkets (via rescue), fresh produce from local farms, and produce and staples from Good Shepherd Food Bank.
Grant Money Allocated: $7,500
Learn more about the organization on their website.
The eighth grant we chose to support was one submitted by the Intercultural Community Center. Here are the quick details:
Organization Mission: ICC seeks to empower immigrant families in.png)
their journey to becoming self-sufficient, productive and resilient citizens. All of our programs are no-cost, culturally inclusive, and built towards fully integrating new-Mainers into our community. By forging partnerships with other community-based organizations, government agencies, and local nonprofits, ICC fosters new connections and ensures long-term sustainability.
Grant Mission: ICC has 2 main programs: The Youth Program and Adult Program. The Youth Program, called Power School, includes an after school and summer program. Power School serves low performing and English Language Learner students ages 8-14 years. The Adult Program founded in 2019 offers health, social and educational opportunities to immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers. We offer English classes, financial and computer literacy, parenting, one-on-one case management and health assistance.
Grant Money Allocated: $5,000
Learn more about the organization on their website.
The ninth grant we chose to support was oe submitted by the White Pine Programs. Here are the quick details:
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Organization Mission: White Pine provides transformational nature experiences that forge personal resilience, inspire lifelong commitment to our environment, and connect individuals to community.
Grant Mission:We run nature connection programming both as White Pine and in partnership with local land trusts. We have a weekly half-day preschool, weekly school day programs for ages 4 – 15, monthly weekend programs for ages 7 - 15, after school programs in two communities and adult and family program that happen several times per month. We are also collaborating with the York School District in 2020 to co-teach an outdoor special to kindergarten and first graders on the land at the school.
Grant Money Allocated: $15,000
Learn more about the organization on their website.
The tenth grant we chose to support was one submitted by the Coastal Kids Preschool. Here are the quick details:
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Organization Mission: Coastal Kids Preschool’s mission is to provide an inclusive, developmentally appropriate education for preschool children of all incomes and abilities.
Grant Mission: Coastal Kids offers high quality, developmentally appropriate preschool, after school, and summer camp programs for 90 students from 15 months to 7 years old.
Grant Money Allocated: $10,000
Learn more about the organization on their website.
The eleventh grant we chose to support was one submitted by the Housing Resources for Youth. Here are the quick details:
Organization Mission: At HRY we are dedicated to ensuring youth have access to safe and stable housing whether they are homeless or at-risk. We work with youth to help them to complete their education, reunify with their families when appropriate and make successful transitions to post-school life.
Grant Mission: Using an alternative housing model called "host homes", HRY connects youth at risk of becoming homeless to housing in their community through our network of trained volunteers.
Grant Money Allocated: $10,000
Learn more about the organization on their website
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