What We’ve Learned
MaineCF’s work to improve quality of life in Maine provides a path toward progress in critical areas.
When the Maine Community Foundation began its strategic planning work in 2016, we asked two fundamental questions: What can we do to improve the quality of life for Maine people? And how can we work with our partners to do it? Here’s a look at our five strategic focus areas today, an example of a strategy that worked, and where we go from here.
STRONG START
Our vision: All Maine children receive a healthy start and arrive at kindergarten developmentally prepared to succeed in school and life.
What worked: What young children need to thrive is well documented, but critical gaps still exist between best practices and opportunities for children and families. MaineCF selected six communities as pilot sites to explore how to bridge those gaps in Maine. Our Early Childhood Community Grant Program provided first-year planning grants so each area could identify its childhood population, resources, and barriers, and develop action plans to overcome obstacles. Additional funding helped implement the plans in second and third years.
Leaders from each community collaborated across traditional divides during the planning process and in creating their implementation plan. The trust, connections, and communication they developed during strategic planning created a foundation for rapid responses when the COVID-19 pandemic hit.
What’s next: Networks established with MaineCF “seed” grants have expanded and successfully secured other grant funding to continue their work.
ACCESS TO EDUCATION
Our vision: All Maine people, including adult learners and other nontraditional students, can complete a degree or certificate program to maximize their potential.
What worked: Our research shows adults comprise 30% of Maine’s post-secondary enrollment, but they often do not have adequate funding or supports to complete their education. MaineCF’s new Adult Learner Scholarship program meets students where they are, for the program they need, and provides funding until they complete their education. Making the program as flexible as possible – allowing the scholarships to work for almost any credential program and having frequent deadlines, simple applications, and renewable awards – filled a critical gap.
Because there are so many doors for adults to reenter college – adult education, career centers, campuses – it is challenging to connect to potential applicants. Working with partner organizations brought in more adult learners and provided support they needed to be successful.
What’s next: Endowed funds will continue support for MaineCF’s Adult Learner Scholarship and changing needs of adult students.
RACIAL EQUITY
Our vision: All people in Maine have access to opportunities and life outcomes that are not determined or predictable in any way by race or ethnicity.
What worked: We discovered leaders of BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and other people of color) organizations often struggle to find time and resources for relevant professional development. MaineCF’s Investing in Leaders of Color grant program matched BIPOC leaders with individual coaches who helped focus on specific areas of development. Leaders grew professionally, strengthened their organizations, and built networks that raised their profile and their organizations. Stipends from MaineCF allowed the leaders to carve out time and structure for their own development, which provided for concrete organizational changes and improvements.
What’s next: Funding will continue this program for several more years. Leaders who participated in the program continue to network with each other and the greater nonprofit community.
THRIVING OLDER PEOPLE
Our vision: All older people in Maine are valued and able to thrive and age in their workplaces and communities with health, independence, and dignity.
What worked: We know many communities want to support older residents but struggle to build infrastructure that can support aging. MaineCF’s Lifelong Communities
Fellows Program, implemented by the University of Maine’s Center on Aging, connected older adult volunteer leaders (fellows) to communities that needed assistance with lifelong community efforts. The program included training, stipends, support for fellows, and opportunities for everyone to learn.
The fellows developed their skills and leadership and brought new ideas and fresh eyes to each community. The communities, in turn, benefited from the fellows’ help and could speed up efforts that improved the quality of life for older residents.
What’s next: The Center on Aging has applied for a grant to create the Lifelong Maine AmeriCorps Program (LMAP) that will enable fellows to mentor each LMAP member.
INNOVATION AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Our vision: All entrepreneurs and innovators in Maine have the opportunity to bring their big ideas to life.
What worked: We know many rural entrepreneurs have limited services and connections to meet their needs. MaineCF worked with the Maine Downtown Center to bring national expertise to Main Street communities through our Community Entrepreneurship Program. This program helped communities plan and implement projects to support entrepreneurs and innovation and build an entrepreneurial “ecosystem” – a network of resources that influences business success.
Targeting entrepreneurial work in geographic regions instead of linking efforts to a specific industry aligned better with how rural Maine operates. And pairing planning and implementation grants helped support change from beginning to end. The virtual format imposed by COVID-19 became a plus that allowed communities to easily connect beyond their region.
What’s next: The program will continue through the Maine Downtown Center.
Photo: Holly Allen of Yarmouth strikes a pose in this photo by her daughter Ashley Allen, the first-place winner in the amateur division of the Focus on Real Aging in Maine (FRAME) Photo Contest. The contest aimed to bring a more positive perspective toward older Mainers during the COVID-19 pandemic and was sponsored by the Maine Gerontological Society and the University of Maine Center on Aging in collaboration with the Maine Community Foundation and Elder Abuse Institute of Maine. Holly Allen made more than 1,500 masks for donation during the pandemic. Ashley will study photography at Endicott College this fall as a MaineCF Guy P. Gannett journalism scholar.
