Maine Health Access Foundation Awards $1,250,000 to Community-Led Organizations

MeHAF is pleased to announce $1,250,000 in funding for 17 Community Responsive Grants. The Community Responsive Grants program focuses on funding projects that are community identified and led to address barriers to achieving health equity. Grantees include Aroostook County Action Program, Defend Our Health, Hand in Hand/Mano en Mano,  Healthy Peninsula, In Her Presence, Maine Access Points, Maine Equal Justice, Maine Inside Out, Mindbridge, New England Arab American Organization, Northern Light Health, OUT Maine, Penobscot Bay YMCA, Restorative Justice Institute of Maine, SafeBAE, Town of Mount Vernon Aging in Place Committee, and Wabanaki Public Health and Wellness. The diverse projects, which include both one- and two-year grants, cover the health-related aspects of issues ranging from healing racial trauma to age-friendly community planning after COVID-19.

The CRG process included engaging a panel of community-based reviewers who helped to advise MeHAF on selecting the projects to be funded. “The thoughtful approach our community partners took to reviewing applicant proposals and recommending projects for funding strengthened our decision making,” notes Frank Martinez Nocito, MeHAF Program Officer. “We learned so much by working with such a talented group.”

“The opportunity to fund projects that are truly community-led is exciting and eye-opening,” says Barbara Leonard, President & CEO of MeHAF. “By shifting power and agency to those who know what their communities need and supporting them to address those needs, we can foster changes we might never have imagined.”

A full list of funded projects and their descriptions can be found here.