Every year MaineCF’s Report to the Community offers an overview of the foundation’s work, with donor and grantee stories, a review of financials, and a sampling of new funds among its features. This 2019-2020 edition offers that familiar content, but also reflects heightened awareness of the challenges Mainers face as the COVID-19 crisis continues and the nation and the world respond to violence against people of color.
The stories and photos that follow highlight ways MaineCF has responded to unparalleled needs – and how some very brave and dedicated organizations across the state are addressing inequities that adversely affect so many Mainers.
Thanks to the generous response of MaineCF donors, from mid-March to mid-June the foundation granted more than $5.1 million to organizations serving Mainers most affected by COVID-19. Grants were for food, housing, health, child care, and other essential services. The COVID-19 pandemic highlights an acute reality: Due to systemic racism, people of color face greater risk of viral exposure, sickness, and death, while at the same time continuing to face racist violence and other forms of discrimination and injustice. MaineCF condemns racism in all its forms and is committed to help dismantle the structures and systems that perpetuate it. See our statement, "A Time to Speak," below.
In the shadow of the COVID-19 crisis, MaineCF staff continue to implement strategies that support our other focus areas. Our goal to support adult learners took on added urgency as educational institutions converted to remote learning centers almost overnight. In May, MaineCF made a $75,000 grant to the Office of Adult Education to purchase devices for adult learners without computers so they could access the academic, English language studies, and workforce programs they need.
The Start Up Scale Up Grant Program, announced last fall at our statewide summit on entrepreneurship and innovation, made its first round of grants in May: $200,000 to 10 Maine nonprofit organizations. These grants will help new ventures grow through shared workspaces and incubator and accelerator programs.
The foundation’s strategic goals on ensuring a healthy start for young children and supporting older Mainers also strengthen our vision for a stronger Maine and are increasingly reflected in grantmaking.
The words of Anne Roosevelt, MaineCF board member and County Council chair, resonated with all of us when she wrote council members in May: “In this uncertain time, it is so important to keep alive our community consciousness and actions.” All of us at the Maine Community Foundation are committed to work with you to do just that.
Thank you for your continuing commitment to improve the lives of all Maine people.
Steven Rowe Karen W. Stanley D. Gregg Collins
President & CEO Chair, Board of Directors Vice-Chair, Board of Directors
A Time to Speak
We must act now to end systemic racism.
The Maine Community Foundation condemns all violence and racism directed at people of color. The cries for justice grow louder each day.
More than 240 years after the birth of this nation, and 200 years after Maine statehood, systemic racism remains deeply embedded in our culture. Race remains the greatest predictor of health, education, wealth, and life expectancy outcomes, as well as vulnerability to pandemics such as COVID-19.
To remain silent is to be complicit with systemic racism. We must speak up and condemn racism in all its forms. We must become anti-racist in our thoughts and actions. This means actively confronting and dismantling the structures that perpetuate racism in our institutions and systems.
The Maine Community Foundation developed a strategic goal in 2017 that all people in Maine have access to opportunities and life outcomes that are not determined or predictable in any way by race or ethnicity. We have implemented a number of strategies designed to increase awareness about and reduce systemic racism. Our racial equity work was born out of listening deeply and working collaboratively with communities of color. We recognize the power and privilege we hold and are providing funding to organizations that address systemic injustice, which in turn improves the quality of life for all Mainers.
We are committed to doing more and welcome your participation.
Our nation’s and state’s collective commitment to ensuring racial equity is a moral and economic imperative. The future success of our society and our economy depends directly on our ability to fully engage and improve our systems for all. We cannot remain silent. We must act now to end systemic racism. Please join us.
What we’re doing:
- Providing professional coaching to nonprofit leaders of color whose work builds racial equity in our communities
- Awarding economic opportunity grants through MaineCF’s People of Color Fund
- Working with white leaders to increase understanding of systemic racism through MaineCF’s Leadership Learning Exchange for Equity
- Supporting racial equity training for consultants through the Technical Assistance Consultants Cohort in collaboration with Maine Health Access Foundation
- Engaging MaineCF’s board, staff, and volunteers in racial equity learning opportunities.
