Portland's Kennedy Park Football Club, a BIPOC Fund grantee, engages asylees, refugees and immigrants through a shared cultural touchstone: soccer. The football club provides skill-development sessions and helps players plan for their future and navigate higher education financial aid. Photo courtesy Kennedy Park Football Club
Grants from the Maine Community Foundation’s (MaineCF) Black, Indigenous, and People of Color Fund (BIPOC) are available to organizations that serve people of Native American, Latino, African, Arab and Asian descent.
The BIPOC Fund supports organizations that work to achieve greater equity in Maine by increasing racial equity, addressing health disparities and access, providing leadership development and economic opportunity.
In 2023, the fund awarded 35 grants totaling $327,000. An additional 17 grants totaling $114,750 were awarded by donors with advised funds at MaineCF.
2023 grantees included:
- Action for Life, to serve as peer-support specialists and interpreters for New Mainers applying for state and health benefits.
- Four Directions Development Corporation, for professional development opportunities for its director of operations and grants manager.
- Mano en Mano, to support the area’s community of farmworkers and immigrants to overcome barriers and thrive in Maine.
MaineCF will offer three in-person workshops to answer questions about the BIPOC Fund and application process. Workshops will be held in Portland on Thursday, Jan. 11, in Cohen Community Hall at the Jewish Alliance of Southern Maine; Tuesday, Jan. 16, Lewiston Public Library, Jeanne Couture Room; and Thursday, Jan. 18, Bangor Public Library, Laurence E. Crofut Community Room. All workshops are from 4:30-6 p.m.
The deadline to submit proposals is Feb. 15. The application, details of the grant program and a list of all recent grants are available at www.mainecf.org/bipoc.
