Aroostook
Aroostook County at a Glance:
- The estimated poverty rate in Aroostook County is 17.7%.*
- Nearly 22% of children under 18 live in poverty.**
- 34.2% of children in Aroostook County receive SNAP benefits, 54.2% of school-aged children are eligible for subsidized school meals.**
- 26.4% of children are living with food insecurity.**
- The infant mortality rate in Aroostook County is 8.1 per 1,000.**
- 9.3 per every 1,000 children in Aroostook County are in DHHS custody.**
- 59% of children in Aroostook County participate in MaineCare.**
- 47.2% of people in Aroostook County are not currently in the workforce.*
- 18.9% of the population is under the age of 18.*
- 12.4% of the population achieved a high school degree; 20% have a bachelor’s degree or higher.*
- The high school graduation rate for Aroostook County is 90.3%.**
*Source: American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, 2012-2016
**Source: Maine Kids Count
Grants Awarded in this Region
| Date | Organization | Award | Description | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | Aroostook County Action Program | $15,000 | To support the Family Safety Program, which works to increase safety in the homes of low-income families with young children throughout Aroostook County. | Presque Isle, ME |
| 2021 | Homeless Services of Aroostook | $15,000 | To provide general operating support. | Presque Isle, ME |
| 2021 | The Progress Center | $15,000 | To support community meals and food distribution programs serving low-income people, including home-delivery to recently discharged hospital patients at risk for malnutrition. | Oxford, ME |
| 2020 | Aroostook County Action Program | $15,000 | To support efforts to reduce family stress, isolation and child abuse through socially-distanced visits to at-risk families during the COVID-19 pandemic. | Presque Isle, ME |
| 2020 | Northern Lighthouse Inc | $20,000 | To provide case management services to homeless youth in Aroostook County, including connecting youth with available housing, mental health services, employment supports, safe family reunification and applying for social service benefits. | Presque Isle, ME |
| 2020 | Wabanaki Public Health And Wellness | $10,000 | To continue support for the Literacy and Love program, providing additional books and educational resources to Wabanaki elders and veterans. | Bangor, ME |
| 2019 | United Way Of Aroostook | $5,000 | To support the purchase of clothing items that can not be sourced secondhand for distribution to low-income people accessing the Kids Community Closets in Aroostook County. | Presque Isle, ME |
| 2018 | Aroostook County Action Program | $18,266 | To provide matching funds for ACAP's Low Income Heating Assistance Program. | Presque Isle, ME |
| 2018 | Aroostook County Action Program | $100,000 | To provide support for the Family Coach program, which pairs families who are vulnerable with coaches to assist them in meeting their housing and other basic needs. | Presque Isle, ME |
| 2018 | Four Directions Development Corporation | $15,000 | To provide support for general operations to provide access to safe, quality housing for members of the Maliseet, Micmac, Passamaquoddy, and Penobscot tribes, mostly located in Aroostook, Penobscot, and Washington counties. | Orono, ME |
| 2018 | Friends of Baxter State Park | $20,000 | To expand participation in the Baxter Youth Conservation Corps, giving young people in Maine’s Katahdin region work experience, job skills, and increased confidence and aspirations. | Belfast, ME |
| 2016 | Aroostook County Action Program | $25,000 | To support the Energy Crisis Intervention Program, an effort that helps individuals and families manage crises such as homelessness or eviction in Aroostook County. | Presque Isle, ME |
| 2016 | Bath Housing Development Corporation | $25,000 | To provide comprehensive technical assistance services to four Maine Public Housing Authorities as they replicate Bath Housing’s Community Aging in Place Program. | Bath, ME |
| 2016 | Eastern Maine Healthcare Systems | $20,000 | To provide support for the Patient Assistance Fund to help cancer patients in Aroostook County with travel and lodging, and financial help for medication co-pays. | Presque Isle, ME |
| 2016 | Friends of Aroostook | $10,000 | To provide funding to grow, maintain, harvest and deliver fresh produce to people in need living in Aroostook, Washington, Piscataquis and Penobscot counties. | Houlton, ME |
| 2016 | Upper Valley Economic Council | $5,000 | To provide support for the Upper Valley Economic Council's Food Pantry, serving food insecure families in Aroostook County. | Sherman, ME |
| 2015 | Friends of Aroostook | $15,000 | To provide funding to grow, maintain, harvest, and deliver fresh produce to Area Agencies on Aging sites in Aroostook, Washington, Piscataquis and Penobscot Counties. | Houlton, ME |
| 2015 | Upper Valley Economic Council | $5,000 | To provide support for the Upper Valley Economic Council's Food Pantry, serving food insecure families in Aroostook County. | Sherman, ME |
| 2014 | Aroostook Area Agency on Aging | $15,000 | To provide farm fresh produce as well as prepared meals for home delivery to home-bound and disabled seniors. | Presque Isle, ME |
| 2014 | Aroostook County Action Program | $20,000 | To provide funding to support staff and program costs to help low-income clients achieve self sufficiency through access to food, employment, housing and medical care | Presque Isle, ME |
| 2014 | Eastern Maine Healthcare Systems | $20,000 | To provide support to establish a Patient Assistance Fund to help cancer patients in Aroostoock County with travel and lodging, and financial help for medication co-pays. | Presque Isle, ME |
| 2013 | Aroostook Area Agency on Aging | $25,000 | To provide meals to low-income seniors. | Presque Isle, ME |
| 2013 | The University of Maine System | $39,000 | To provide services to homebound seniors living in isolated areas and increase travel reimbursement rates for all companion volunteers. | Orono, ME |
| 2012 | Aroostook County Action Program | $12,500 | To replenish the Emergency Relief Fund that provides resources to clients for basic needs when there is no other resource in the community. | Presque Isle, ME |
| 2012 | Aroostook Dental Clinic | $21,400 | To support dental services to 1,300 low-income children in Aroostook County. | Presque Isle, ME |