14 April 2026

PRESENT: Kelsey Preecs, Janet May

STAFF: Maureen Kendzierski, Lucy Martin

Meeting started 12:06 p.m.

Agenda

  1. Welcome
  2. Update about Governor’s Awards for Service and Volunteerism
  3. Maine Volunteer Leadership Conference
  4. Getting together service programs to discuss how to fulfill SNAP benefit requirements
    1. Good Shepherd
    2. United Ways
    3. Meeting in May with them and MEMA and Office of Family Initiatives (OFI)
  5. AmeriCorps
    1. Formula Competition coming up soon
    2. AmeriCorps position still moving through HR
    3. VGF fund – only one year now and so looking at alternative ways to utilize the money including regional volunteer fairs throughout the state
  6. Maine Service Fellows
    1. Debrief in June
    2. Received 90,000 from the state and will be able to fund 2 more service fellows that will be available in July
      1. Will be offering the two denied sites opportunities pending Commission and selection committee and the 20 denied MSF applicants the opportunity to reapply
    3. Update on the new MSF fellows
      1. Holly is carrying over
      2. Fellows that are available will also be attending the June Commission meeting to meeting the Commissioners
    4. Having some challenges paying the Education Awards from the state due to lack of vendor code
    5. Working on grant yourself a fellow for MEMA and confirmed with State Resilience Office that the Community Resilience Grants can be used to fund a Maine Service Fellow
  7. Maine Climate Corps Network
    1. Creating a project description for the Betterment Fund
    2. Submitting LD1433 Report to the Legislature this week
    3. Congressionally Directed Spending Coastal Resilience Service Corps application to Pingree, Collins, Golden, and King and was picked by Pingree, Collins asked for a letter of support from Governor Mills, and King asked for clarification on the budget so hopefully it is a competitive proposal

Meeting ended at: 12:58