Portland's Kennedy Park Football Club was awarded a grant from MaineCF's BIPOC Fund to engage new and returning young adults in skill development sessions, help plan for their future and navigate higher education financial aid. Photo courtesy Kennedy Park Football Club
More than $400,000 in grants from the Maine Community Foundation (MaineCF) will support organizations throughout the state that are led by and serve people of color. MaineCF’s Black, Indigenous, and People of Color Fund (BIPOC) awarded 33 grants totaling $327,000. Another 17 grants totaling $114,750 were made by people with donor-advised funds at MaineCF.
2023 grantees include:
- Generational Noor, to engage community members in important multigenerational cultural dialogs related to substance use disorder and mental health
- Maine Prisoner Advocacy Coalition, to help youth navigate incarceration and reentry
- Wabanaki Youth in Science, to provide Native youth in grades 3-8 with two-eyed learning experiences with cultural knowledge sharers and western science professionals.
View all 2023 grantees here.
The grant program is designed to help BIPOC people in Maine achieve greater equity by investing in nonprofit organizations; changing policies and practices that negatively impact BIPOC people because of their race; and supporting efforts to alleviate the impact of race-based discrimination and disparities.
The fund was established in 2007 and leaders from various racial and ethnic communities around the state comprise its advisory committee. This year’s BIPOC Fund was boosted by funding from the Rockefeller Family Fund, Maine Health Access Foundation and the Abbagadassett Family Fund.
For more information, contact Senior Program Officer Gloria Aponte C.
