Meeting Basic Needs/Safety Net

Emergency Home Heating Assistance
In the Fall of 2005, our communities showed growing concern for how low income community members were going to be able to stay warm with the increasing cost of home heating oil. United Way of Mid Coast Maine convened meetings of town, city and state officials, fuel dealers, emergency service providers, human services agencies, businesses, interested community members and those who currently receive heating assistance or were potentially at risk of needing assistance in the coming months.

Participation was very strong, including representatives from the Speaker of the House, Speaker of the Senate and Senator Snowe's offices. The group was able to learn the scope and limitations of the available heating assistance programs, share strategies beyond financial assistance to help meet heating demands, collaborate on supplementing existing assistance programs and explore new avenues of assistance. Participants said these Community Meetings helped them make appropriate referrals and distribute limited fuel assistance funds more effectively.

United Way of Mid Coast Maine also made a special allocation of $15,000 which was distributed to Coastal Economic Development, Lincoln County Emergency Energy Fund, Salvation Army, and Warm Thy Neighbor for use in local communities. 73 households stayed warm during the holiday season thanks to this help made possible by United Way donors!

Emergency Food and Shelter Program (EFSP)
United Way administers the Emergency Food and Shelter Program for Lincoln and Sagadahoc Counties facilitating the distribution of $10,000 to Lincoln County and $12,144 to Sagadahoc County to supplement emergency food and shelter programs.

2-1-1 Maine
Since July 2006, Maine callers in need of health or human services assistance, have connected with friendly and knowledgeable call specialists - 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, simply by dialing 2-1-1. It's free and confidential. You can also search on-line for a needed service in the database at www.211Maine.org.

Earned Income Tax Credit
United Way of Mid Coast Maine distributes information on the availability of the Earned Income Tax Credit program, the largest federal aid program for the working poor, to low-income individuals and families so they can take advantage of this crucial benefit.

Affordable Housing Forum
United Way of Mid Coast Maine is partnering with Mid Coast Business Development and Planning to host a forum of Affordable Housing to be held Thursday, May 11th, from 6:00 to 9:00 pm at the Curtis Memorial Library in Brunswick. The meeting will focus on the current state of affordable housing in the mid coast, who can actually afford to live in these communities and presentations from area groups that have worked on innovative strategies to address this problem.

Aging and Disabilities Resource Coalition
United Way convenes and staffs this Coalition, whose goal is "to have the best possible community system to help seniors and other adults who need long term services find the help that's right for them."

Local agencies providing a wide range of services to seniors and people with disabilities came together for training on important issues, so they could better serve their clients. They also educated each other on local formal and informal services, so they could coordinate effectively and refer people seeking help to the best program or person.

To ensure continuing quality in referrals, the Coalition helped ensure that the new statewide 2-1-1 Maine system has complete information on supports that help people live as independently as possible. The Coalition also supported the launch of the Greater Bath Elder Outreach program, developed by United Way volunteers. Trained volunteers are matched one-to-one with an isolated older person. In addition to being a friend, the volunteers can help link elders to needed services. The Coalition is in its third year of funding by a grant from the Administration on Aging/Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, managed by the state of Maine Office of Elder Services.


A Safe & Healthy Community

United Way Focus on Preventing Underage Drinking
Council members in 2005 chose to focus on alcohol and substance abuse, because they are the root causes of so many problems in our community and elsewhere. They decided the most promising place to intervene would be the prevention of underage drinking.

The problem is serious: data show that one in six area high school freshmen binge drink each month, and that the earlier a child starts drinking, the greater the chances of alcohol addiction, and the greater the chances the child will suffer often irreversible brain damage.

As a first step in developing a community action plan, the Council co-sponsored, with Attorney General Steven Rowe, a public forum entitled: "Underage Drinking in Our Community: Why Should You Care?" There was an outpouring of interest in the subject, with over 160 Mid Coast parents, and law enforcement, school and health professionals attending the forum at Mt. Ararat. Other cosponsors included U.S. SAMHSA and Maine DHHS Office of Substance Abuse, which has also awarded a grant to Mid Coast Hospital to combat substance abuse in our area.

Specific strategies and action steps to measurably reduce underage drinking in our area are being developed through this exciting collaborative effort.


Success By 6: Early Childhood

1. Community Read Aloud
You can share a good book and the love of reading with young children during our one-day Community Read Aloud event in March each year when volunteers visit child care sites and elementary school classrooms. For more information or to register for the next Community Read Aloud event, click here.

2. Volunteer Reader Network
You can volunteer to promote reading to infants and young children, and help prepare a child for a successful future! Success By 6 will match you with a specific child care center or family child care home. Our Volunteer Readers pick up special book bags at their local library and bring them to the child care site to share with the children. For more information or to sign up to participate as a reader or a child care site, visit our Success By 6 Initiatives page.

3. Quality Child Care and Early Literacy
Success By 6 is a partner in our regional child care coalition Coastal ACCESS. Over the past six years, Coastal ACCESS has received three federal grants totaling over $2.3 million to support local efforts to improve quality of care in our region. To learn more about our great results from our Early Learning Opportunities Act grants to this region, visit our Success By 6 Initiatives page.

4. Born Learning Campaign
Success By 6 is participating in this national campaign to provide parents and caregivers with simple actions steps to take to encourage early learning and to help prepare a child for school.

5. School Readiness
Success By 6 has produced two studies to assess school readiness in the Mid Coast region.

6. Support for Public Policy
Success By 6 has supported legislative policies promoted by the statewide collaboration Start ME Right and the Fund for Healthy Maine. Success By 6 believes it is important to work collaboratively with state government to promote the health, safety, and welfare of all children, and to help all children get the best possible start in life.


Youth & Lifelong Learning

Focus on Preventing Youth Violence and Bullying
Research has shown that bullying inhibits students' ability to learn, results in physical and psychological damage to victims that can last a lifetime, and often leads to depression, mental health issues, alcohol abuse, and suicide. One of the most effective ways to protect against violence, according to the Surgeon General's Report on Youth Violence, is a non-violent school environment.

United Way staff, Youth & Lifelong Learning Council members and key stakeholders collaborated to strategize a number of community initiatives that will increase the knowledge of the parents, educators, policy makers and community stakeholder on the negative impact bullying has in our community. Our action plan includes eliminate bullying and harassment in our schools by supporting every school in our region to develop and implement the best possible anti-bullying policies and programs.