Children's health programs in Maine are the focus of Davis Foundation grants
Courtesy / LifeFlight of Maine
A LifeFlight of Maine helicopter in action.
An organization dating back 26 years and a small startup for youth entrepreneurs were among 15 organizations selected to receive a total of $266,660 from the Patricia D. Klingenstein Grants Program.
The Klingenstein program is part of the Sadie & Harry Davis Foundation in New York City, established in 2007 and focused on smaller organizations that help improve the health and wellbeing of Maine’s children.
The 15 organizations represent a diversity of efforts, and 11 have never before received funding through the program, according to a news release.
The LifeFlight Foundation is slated to receive funds that will help the organization replace two aging "isolette" units. The units provide an enclosed crib during emergency transport that maintains a warm, safe environment for a new baby and protects the baby from germs. The foundation, headquartered in Augusta, runs LifeFlight of Maine.
Since 1998, LifeFlight has transported more than 38,000 patients from every Maine community. The service has an airplane and five helicopters, based in Bangor, Lewiston and Sanford, and ground ambulances. Each base is staffed by a team of pilots, flight nurses and flight paramedics, EMT vehicle operators, aviation maintenance technicians and communications specialists.
The Center for Entrepreneurial Studies in Farmington is a startup nonprofit that develops business enterprises for young adults and provides them with the tools and resources to start and grow their own businesses. Its retail store offers a variety of products from our program participants. Planning is underway to develop a larger campus.
The Klingenstein funds are aimed at supporting the center’s programs that provide rural under-resourced youth in Franklin County with meaningful vocational learning and work experiences to foster an entrepreneurial mindset, financial wellness, social-emotional health and community engagement.
At Maine Boys to Men, a Portland nonprofit founded in 1998, funds will contribute to an evidence-based program that uses a social and emotional learning framework to change attitudes, behaviors, and beliefs about sexism, sexual harassment and gender-based violence.
Looking to build its visibility, Maine Boys to Men earlier this year appointed Bruce King as its next executive director. King is an activist, advocate and public speaker who has covered many issues around the state and nationally. The organization’s mission is to end male violence and self-harm and to advance gender equity by supporting the development of self-awareness and empathy.
Nature nurtures
Nature and the outdoors are part of the missions of several recipients.
At Viles Arboretum — a 224-acre botanical garden in Augusta with miles of trails, programs, events and a variety of habitats — funds will grow the capacity of the arboretum's successful summer program to reach more underserved youth in the Kennebec County region with a new "Nature and Nurture" initiative focused on the area's growing New Mainer population. This program will integrate English language learning, family resource support and daily meals.
The Androscoggin Land Trust, which conserves more than 5,000 acres from Jay to Durham, will use its award to support a "Nurturing Nature, Nurturing Health" initiative designed to enhance children's physical and mental health through nature-based programming, including environmental education outreach and curriculum integration work with area schools, summer camps, and after-school programs that engage children with nature.
Hearty Roots Inc., an outdoor-based community wellness program in the Lincoln County town of Bristol, has its sites set on furthering a variety of outdoor-based programs that get Maine kids "off the grid" with a goal of de-stigmatizing depression, anxiety, ADHD and childhood trauma in order to decrease isolation and despair that often lead to long-term adverse health issues.
School partnerships
Programs initiated by schools are also targeted.
A pilot partnership program is underway with Bath Middle School and Morse High School to develop a Midcoast Youth Center & Skatepark. Funds will help the pilot program get off the ground for youth ages 12 to 17 to work together to live healthy, substance-free lives.
The Foundation for Portland Public Schools is slated for an allocation designed to allow the Portland Public Schools to bring a mobile "vision van" clinic this fall and winter to conduct eye exams and provide glasses to as many as 400 students.
Serving youth at risk
Maine Inside Out, a Lewiston nonprofit where groups create theater to inform and engage the greater community in dialogue about social change, will use funds toward a project that utilizes Theater of the Oppressed techniques to engage youth at risk of involvement with the juvenile justice system. Youth create and perform original theater based on their lived experiences that opens dialogue with school and community leadership about social conditions and policies impacting youth's lives.
SafeBAE, a student-led national organization working to prevent sexual violence among teens, said it will use the grant to support a partnership program with New Beginnings, a shelter for unhoused, at-risk youth, to implement peer education aimed at reducing the risk of sexual violence and recidivism in perpetrators.
Funds for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Mid-Maine will expand a small, existing Big Brother Big Sister program to create a broader "mentoring hub" in partnership with the Bangor Boys and Girls Club. The expansion is expected to serve at least 100 school-aged, at-risk youth throughout Greater Bangor.
Improve health, eliminate barriers
Fit Girls, a nonprofit and primary prevention program for fourth and fifth grade girls in Franklin County, will receive a grant toward its goal to teach and help improve physical, emotional and mental health.
At Hardy Girls, Healthy Women Inc. in Augusta, funds will support the organization's programs that address Maine girls' and nonbinary youth's mental health, particularly those living in rural communities, through small, safe and connected spaces, tailored to the needs and identities of participants.
Also in Augusta, Maine Equal Justice Partners Inc. will use funds to support its work with the Invest in Tomorrow coalition, which aims to increase income support for families with low incomes and eliminate barriers to work and economic stability so these families can find a sustainable path out of poverty.
Women for Healthy Rural Living is slated to receive a grant to support Incredible Edible Milbridge that includes multiple highly productive community gardens for anyone in need of fresh produce, culturally relevant foods and bilingual signage to engage the area Latinx community, and Harvest Table family cooking classes.
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