Brain foundation announces 2022 grant recipients

More than $174,000 in grants from the Maine Community Foundation’s Frances Hollis Brain Foundation will support organizations that offer early childhood, health, food security, legal and homelessness services, according to a news release from the foundation with offices in Ellsworth and Portland.

The 27 grants to organizations and projects in southern and central Maine include:

• Cedars Nursing Care Center, Portland, for oral exams, dental X-rays, and kits for long-term care residents and rehabilitation patients: $10,000;
• Coastal Enterprises, Brunswick, to help asylum-seekers start or grow businesses: $5,000;
• Episcopal Diocese of Maine, Portland, to provide feminine hygiene products to asylum seekers and others with low incomes: $7,500;
• Greater Portland Family Promise, to find affordable housing and provide ongoing mentorship to families experiencing homelessness: $7,500;
• Greater Portland Immigrant Welcome Center, to facilitate access to food assistance programs and provide nutrition information: $5,000;
• Hope Acts, Portland, to support asylum seekers with housing, support services, and English classes: $10,000;
• Hurricane Island Outward Bound School, Camden, to send four middle-school students from Lewiston-Auburn’s Boys and Girls Club to a summer Outward Bound course: $5,000;
• Laudholm Trust, Wells, to introduce female, first-generation Mainers attending Portland High School to science and nature in Maine and careers possible in those fields: $4,000;
• Locker Project, Portland, to provide low-income families with reliable access to healthy, fresh food: $5,000;
• Maine Equal Justice, to help Mainers access food, health care, and housing through legal assistance: $5,000;
• Maine Family Planning, Augusta, to provide affordable and accessible sexual and reproductive health care to low-income patients: $5,000;
• Maine Resilience Building Network, Manchester, for programming that promotes the healthy development of children: $10,000;
• Mainely Teeth, Portland, to provide dental care to uninsured or under-insured patients: $10,000;
• Mayo Street Arts, Portland, for a no-cost, after-school arts program for students living in low-income neighborhoods in East Bayside: $5,000;
• Mercy Hospital, Portland, for a two-year program for women recovering from substance-use disorder: $8,000;
• Mid Coast Hunger Prevention Program, Brunswick, to provide food to those facing temporary or chronic food insecurity: $5,000;
• Midcoast Literacy, Bath, to provide one-on-one tutoring for 35 children in Bath and Brunswick: $5,000;
• Milestone Recovery, Portland, to support the transition from long-term homelessness to permanent housing: $10,000;
• Portland Stage Company, to expand its K-12 education programs: $5,000;
• Preble Street, Portland, to provide meals, increase food access, and nutrition while supporting a sustainable food system: $5,000;
• Susan L. Curtis Charitable Foundation, Portland, for low-income children to attend Camp Susan Curtis at no cost: $5,000;
• Sweetser, Saco, to provide access to mental and behavioral health services to uninsured and uninsured children: $5,000;
• The Opportunity Alliance, South Portland, to provide client assistance through its Homeless Youth Services program: $5,000;
• Through These Doors, Portland, to provide safety planning, emergency shelter, and basic needs to victims and survivors of domestic abuse: $5,000;
• Tree Street Youth, Lewiston, to design an early-childhood program for preschool-aged children: $10,000;
• Trinity Jubilee Center, Lewiston, to provide shelter, food and diapers, and facilitate access to medical care, housing, and employment: $10,000; and
• YWCA Central Maine, Lewiston, to provide preschool-aged children food services that are designed to build healthy relationships with food and prevent childhood obesity: $7,130.

The Brain Foundation Fund awards grants to nonprofits that serve Auburn, Bath, Biddeford, Brunswick, Greater Portland, Lewiston, Saco, Sanford and those with statewide missions. The funding supports early childhood care and education, extended-day learning, community health clinics, oral health initiatives, hunger prevention and food security, homelessness alleviation and legal services connected to these areas.

The next deadline for applications is April 1, 2023. For more information, contact Program Officer John Ochira at jochira@mainecf.org or 207-412-0837.

David and Frances Brain established the Frances Hollis Brain Foundation in 1993 to address social issues and encourage the family’s future generations to contribute to the wellbeing of their communities in Maine, Georgia and Kentucky.