ROCKPORT — The Maine Health Access Foundation (MeHAF) announced January 6 announced funding of $592,878 for 14 Community Responsive Grants. The CRG program focuses on funding projects that are community identified and led. These projects respond to a need for more opportunities that help communities address health needs they have identified.

The diverse projects span all but two of Maine’s counties and cover issues ranging from addressing food security to health access issues faced by people who are incarcerated.

In Knox County,  Penobscot Bay YMCA received one of those grants.

“The Penobscot Bay YMCA’s Department of Community Health Promotion, led by Connie Putnam, sets the bar for our work in battling addiction in Knox County,” said Melissa Bellew, president and CEO of the Y, in a news release. “These grant dollars will permit us to further our work with the Knox County Recovery Collaborative and the opioid prevention work being spearheaded by Knox County Sheriff Tim Carroll, while furthering the YMCA’s social responsibility work by building stronger communities together, not separately.”

Other grantees include The Center for Grieving Children, The Commons at Central Hall, Healthy Acadia, Healthy Northern Kennebec, In Her Presence, Maine Community Integration, The Opportunity Alliance – WIC Program, OUT Maine, Preble Street, Restorative Justice Institute of Maine, Town of Jackman – Community Health Advisory Team, Tree Street Youth, and Wabanaki Public Health. 

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,” said Ruta Kadonoff, MeHAF’s director of Programs. “We learned so much by working with such a talented group.”

Community Responsive Grantmaking, and responsive grantmaking as a whole, is part of MeHAF’s commitment to health equity in Maine.

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

The Maine Health Access Foundation's mission is to promote access to quality health care, especially for those who are uninsured and underserved, and improve the health of everyone in Maine.

MeHAF works with nonprofit partners and key leaders in the public and private sectors to advance initiatives and policies that particularly help those who face barriers accessing health care services and achieving optimal health. Each year we provide approximately $4 million in grant and program funding to support activities aligned with our mission. 

For more information, visit: http://www.mehaf.org