Giving Notebook: MCF awards broadband grants, credit union helps cancer patients

Photo / Renee Cordes The town of Naples, whose waterfront is shown here, was awarded $10,000 by the Maine Community Foundation's Broadband Grant Program to conduct a community internet needs assessment.

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By Renee Cordes

The Maine Community Foundation's Community Broadband Grant Program has awarded $117,793 in grants to 13 communities to boost high-speed internet access across the state.

Programs vary widely in scope and geography, and are meant to boost local and regional efforts to improve connectivity.

"Increasingly, quality of life — and communication — for Maine people communities and businesses is improved by the ability to access reliable, affordable high-speed internet," said Maggie Drummond-Bahl, a Maine Community Foundation senior program officer.

The grant program will continue next year, with all applications due by Oct. 15, 2021. The Maine Community Foundation, a nonprofit that seeks to improve the quality of life for all Maine people, is headquartered in Ellsworth with additional personnel in Portland, Dover Foxcroft and Mars Hill.

MCF grant recipients and amounts

Below is a list of all the grant recipients, amounts awarded and projects.

Alexander Broadband Project: $10,000 to help offset the cost of providing high-speed internet service to residents and joining Downeast Alexander Broadband Utility, a nonprofit that is bringing high-speed broadband internet to rural Maine communities.

Greater East Grand Broadband Task Force: $15,000 to complete the funding match for the phase 1 ConnectMaine project and provide funds to prepare the ConnectMaine phase 2 infrastructure grant application in 2021.

Opportunity Center of North Franklin County Inc.: $10,000 to begin implementation project resulting from county-wide broadband plan, running Fiber-to-the-Home in six of 36 communities.

St. George Community Development Corp.: $9,735 to sustain the administrative support, community education, and grant preparation efforts to address the “last mile problem” in St. George.

Town of Denmark: $6,000 to engage residents in broadband goals, starting with committee outreach and ending with a network design project to expand broadband coverage.

Town of Fryeburg: $5,000 to implement a community-involved process to plan for the eventual buildout of reliable high-speed internet.

Town of Harrison: $4,500 to establish or upgrade affordable, accessible, and quality broadband service to the entire community.

Town of Lisbon: $2,950 to create two public WiFi "hot spots" in strategic locations.

Town of Litchfield: $7,000 to provide affordable broadband and boost digital literacy.

Town of Naples: $10,000 to conduct a town-wide community needs assessment to determine if residents and business owners have adequate access to broadband internet services.

Town of Searsport: 12,568 to install community access hotspots for wireless broadband access.

Town of Vinalhaven: $10,000 to design and implement a campaign to explore community preferences for local broadband options and rally support behind a chosen solution for universal affordable access.

Western Kennebec Lakes Community Broadband Association: $15,000 to develop a community outreach program, conduct community surveys, review proposals and negotiate with internet service providers to improve services for customers currently not served.

MCF scholarships for adult learners

The Maine Community Foundation on Monday announced that it is seeking applications for its Adult Learner Scholarship Fund to support non-traditional students.

Two types of scholarships are being offered. Applications to pursue a two- or four-year degree are due by Nov. 15, while applications for a scholarship to support credential or certificate programs that last less than a full semester have a rolling deadline of the first of each month.

Find out more online or contact Maine CF Scholarship Manager Liz Fickett, lfickett@mainecf.org.

Credit union support for cancer patients

Town & Country Federal Credit Union has teamed up with Maine Cancer Foundation to provide financial support to cancer patients impacted by COVID-19, it announced last week.

The 20/20 Relief initiative includes a $20,000 from the Scarborough-based credit union that will be matched by $20,000 from Maine Cancer Foundation, allowing at least $40,000 to go to cancer patients in need this year.

“The financial impact of COVID-19 on people going through serious illnesses, including a cancer diagnosis, is significant," said David Libby, Town & Country's president and CEO, in a news release. "As an ongoing, major partner of MCF, we have been working on ways we could help. Our goal was to not only make it possible for additional support to be available but to highlight the additional financial challenges that cancer patients are going through as a result of the pandemic."

Maine Cancer Foundation Executive Director Cheryl Tucker said the effort builds on awareness raised during Breast Cancer Awareness month by highlighting the needs and challenges of all cancer patients now.

She said her organization is grateful for the funding, which will go towards gas cards for patients to get to treatment and for critical resources like food and prescription assistance where it's most needed.

In addition to the new grant initiative, Town & Country contributed $15,000 to this summer's Tri for a Cure all women's triathlon fundraiser.

A behind-the-scenes look at how this year's Tri went virtual is explored in Episode 9 of the Mainebiz podcast "The Day That Changed Everything," released Monday.