What is an AmeriCorps planning grant? Planning grants provide community organizations with the resources needed to prepare to host an AmeriCorps program.
Planning grant recipients will lead community partners in a 10-month program design process. The goal is to submit a successful AmeriCorps program proposal in the 2020-21 competition for operating awards. These programs will not host AmeriCorps service members during the life of the planning grant.
Maine AmeriCorps planning grant recipients
- Penquis Community Action
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Primary contact: Rebecca Dinces
Address: 315 Main Street, Suite 205
Rockland, ME 04841
Phone: (207) 974-2435
Email: rdinces@penquis.orgPenquis is the lead agency in the six-member Community Investors of Knox County, a group that provides micro-financial support to residents struggling with the consequences of poverty. The funding is a “last resort” and the group has noticed a significant increase in requests for help accessing other services.
The planning process aims to develop an AmeriCorps program whose members would be Community Resource Navigators, helping low-income residents create financial and personal plans to manage the challenges related to poverty. The AmeriCorps members would also recruit and train volunteers in Knox County to serve as Community Navigators.
- Town of Van Buren
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Primary contact: David P. Cote
Address: 51 Main Street, Suite 101
Van Buren, ME 04785
Phone: (207) 868-9895
Email: davidcote@earthlink.netThe Town of Van Buren is a partner in the Van Buren Resiliency Project (VBRP). The group seeks to design an AmeriCorps program that address community needs in Van Buren, Caswell, Limestone, Hamlin, and Cyr Plantation. The project expects to qualify as a Maine Rural State grantee, meaning it will request between 2 and 5 AmeriCorps members.
- UMaine Center on Aging
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Primary contact: Jennifer Crittenden
Address: 25 Texas Avenue
Bangor, ME 04401
Phone: (207) 262-7923
Email: jennifer.crittenden@maine.eduThe University of Maine Center on Aging proposes a planning grant to ultimately have five AmeriCorps members who will support COVID-19 long-term recovery response by completing direct service and capacity building work in select rural Maine communities. At the end of the first program year, the AmeriCorps members will be responsible for launching at least five long-term capacity building projects as identified by their host communities. In addition, the AmeriCorps members will leverage 25 volunteers who will be engaged in long-term COVID-19 recovery activities, working with the local lifelong community team to address the needs of older residents who want to age in the community.