The Maine Community Foundation has awarded a total of $148,277 to six nonprofit organizations chosen as first recipients of its Early Childhood Community Planning Grants program. The one-year grants are intended to help communities ensure their youngest children are ready to learn and thrive when they begin school. Each grantee will gather data about its 0-5 population, map community resources, identify barriers to early childhood education, and develop local solutions. MaineCF will bring the grantees together throughout the year to share what they have learned. Organizations and communities that received community planning grants are:
• Aroostook County Action Program, Presque Isle • Healthy Peninsula, Blue Hill Peninsula and Stonington-Deer Isle • Starting Strong, Portland • United Way of Eastern Maine, Dover-Foxcroft and Highlands region • United Way of York County, Biddeford • Wabanaki Health and Wellness, Wabanaki people
The initiative is part of the community foundation’s strategic priority that all Maine children receive a healthy start in early childhood. Contributing partners to this program include the John T. Gorman Foundation and Michael and Denise Dubyak. For more information about the grants or initiative, contact Stephanie Eglinton, senior program officer, at seglinton@mainecf.org.
A statewide organization with offices in Ellsworth, Portland, Dover-Foxcroft and Mars Hill, the Maine Community Foundation works with donors and other partners to improve the quality of life for all Maine people. For more information, visit www.mainecf.org or call 1-877-700-6800.