The Hancock County Committee of the Maine Community Foundation has awarded $164,133 in grants to 28 nonprofit organizations, it announced on Friday.
Recipients include Island Connections, which will get $10,000 to expand services by transporting people to medical appointments and social outings with a new, donated minivan, and Annex Arts, which will get $7,350 to add a residency and other programs for writers.
The Hancock County Fund is a permanent endowment that supports projects and nonprofits that strengthen communities in the county.
Out of 60 applications received in the latest round, 47% received grants, and the average amount awarded was $5,862, according to data shared with Mainebiz.
Grant winners
Annex Arts, to add a writer’s residency and related programs for writers: $7,350
Blue Hill Bach, to expand involvement of local high school students in choral singing during Blue Hill Bach’s summer festival: $2,000
Brooksville Free Public Library, to install a counting device to more accurately count the number of people using the library: $400
Bucksport Historical Society, to create Museum in the Streets in downtown Bucksport, a series of interpretive signs that highlight the community’s history: $8,000
Camp Beech Cliff, for the Mental, Emotional, and Social Health (MESH) program to support Camp Beech Cliff campers, staff and the local community: $5,000
Deer Isle – Stonington Community School District No. 13, to develop opportunities for career exploration, skill building, internships, apprenticeships, and job placements for local high school seniors entering the workforce after graduation: $10,000
H.O.M.E. Inc., to expand H.O.M.E.’s Community Transportation and Outreach program designed for guests in H.O.M.E.’s shelters and low-income older people and residents in surrounding towns: $8,894
Hancock County Community Reparations Board, to expand its restorative justice juvenile program to young adults (ages 18-29) and to establish a pathway for school-based referrals in lieu of suspension or expulsion: $4,544
Hospice Volunteers of Hancock County, to support a capacity-building initiative that includes a new legacy gifts program, direct-referral professional relationships, and recruitment and training of new volunteers: $7,500
Island Connections, to expand services by transporting people to medical appointments and social outings with a new, donated multi-person minivan: $10,000
Island Housing Trust, to support educational and marketing materials that communicate results of the trust’s housing study and increase awareness of housing needs and Island Housing Trust’s work: $5,000
Island Workforce Housing, for a study to define the scope and depth of workforce housing needs and to complete a strategic plan to address this need: $7,500
Jesup Memorial Library, to develop a strategic plan for youth services: $3,000
Maine Granite Industry Historical Society, to create a permanent hands-on workshop area for educational programs and to purchase supplies for those programs: $4,375
MDI Racial Equity Working Group, for programming to educate community members about racial equity with a goal of greater fairness and safety for people of color in Hancock County: $3,000
New England Mountain Bike Association, to build a high-quality, sustainable, single-track mountain bike trail on Great Pond Mountain Conservation Trust land in Orland: $7,800
Next Step Domestic Violence Project, to provide the board’s development committee professional support to create and execute a strategic development/donor stewardship plan: $8,500
Northeast Historic Film, to enable the Alamo Theatre to meet Greater Bucksport’s growing needs for a versatile community performance and gathering center: $7,880
Opportunity Housing Inc., to cover costs of mandatory training to operate a clubhouse in Ellsworth, a vocational rehabilitation program for adults with mental illness in Hancock County: $8,500
Reversing Falls Sanctuary, to convene a conference that will bring together different sectors of the community to address climate change: $4,050
Salt Pond Community Broadcasting Company, to help fund the first five years of a newly developed WERU smartphone app to make community radio accessible to a wider range of people: $3,000
Schoodic Arts for All, for professional development activities for staff, board, volunteers, and interns to strengthen the organization during a period of planned succession of executive leadership: $7,890
Special Children’s Friends Inc., to create an on-site applied behavior analysis (ABA) department to include a full-time board-certified behavior analyst and an ABA coordinator: $8,000
Swan’s Island Broadband, to enable the Swan’s Island Broadband Committee goals of bringing high-speed broadband to the community: $5,000
Town of Bucksport, to host a reading from the Still Mill Anthology by several contributors and guest poets laureate: $750
Town of Sullivan, for Age-Friendly Sullivan to create and expand activities that will support all residents to thrive in a diverse and sustainable community: $3,200
University of Maine System Inc., to help Hancock County volunteer fire departments develop solutions to address dwindling emergency response capability throughout the region: $7,000
Wendell Gilley Museum of Bird Carving, to bring-high quality art from the Farnsworth Art Museum and create educational programming for the public: $6,000
The next proposal deadline is February 15, 2020. Application forms, guidelines and a list of grants can be found online.
