Kennebec
Kennebec County at a Glance:
- 18% of children under 18 live in poverty.**
- 27.2% of children in Kennebec County receive SNAP benefits, 45.8% of school-aged children are eligible for subsidized school meals.**
- 22.8% of children are living with food insecurity.**
- The infant mortality rate in Kennebec County is 8.4 per 1,000.**
- 10 per every 1,000 children in Kennebec County are in DHHS custody.**
- 50.1% of children in Kennebec County participate in MaineCare.**
- 42.9% of people in Kennebec County are not currently in the workforce.*
- 19.8% of the population is under the age of 18.*
- 35.1% of the population achieved a high school degree; 29.4% have a bachelor’s degree or higher.*
- The high school graduation rate for Kennebec County is 88.2%.**
*Source: American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, 2012-2016
**Source: Maine Kids Count
Grants Awarded in this Region
| Date | Organization | Award | Description | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | Amistad | $20,000 | To provide general operating support. | Portland, ME |
| 2022 | Augusta Food Bank | $18,000 | To provide general operating support. | Augusta, ME |
| 2022 | Boys And Girls Club Of Kennebec Valley | $10,000 | To support programming, meals, and services for older adults in southern Kennebec County who participate in the Oldies but Goodies program. | Gardiner, ME |
| 2022 | Bridging the Gap - Emmanuel Lutheran Episcopal Church | $15,000 | To provide general operating support for the Bridging the Gap program. | Augusta, ME |
| 2022 | Family Violence Project | $25,000 | To support the Emergency Stabilization Program, which provides secure emergency housing, food, and transportation to those going through domestic abuse, stalking, or human trafficking situations. | Augusta, ME |
| 2022 | KVCC Foundation | $15,000 | To support the KVCC Food Pantry's shift from stocking mostly dry goods to offering perishable fresh produce, meat, and dairy items and to fund a part-time, one year food pantry coordinator to grow the capacity of the program. | Fairfield, ME |
| 2022 | MaineGeneral Medical Center | $25,000 | To support the basic needs of Addiction Medicine Practice's patients by providing emergency food bags, transportation vouchers, hygiene products, and treatment resources. | Augusta, ME |
| 2022 | Neighbors Driving Neighbors | $10,000 | To provide general operating support. | Mt. Vernon, ME |
| 2022 | New Beginnings | $15,000 | To provide general operating support. | Lewiston, ME |
| 2022 | New England Arab American Organization | $20,000 | To provide New Mainer families with necessary emergency assistance - to include help with housing expenses, food, utility payments, and transportation - along with case management to strengthen their safety net and connection to resources. | Portland, ME |
| 2022 | Rural Community Action Ministry | $17,000 | To provide general operating support. | Leeds, ME |
| 2022 | Town of Mount Vernon Aging in Place Committee | $6,800 | To support the Respite/Adult Day Program, serving older Mainers in the towns of Fayette, Mount Vernon and Vienna. | Mount Vernon, ME |
| 2022 | Volunteers of America Northern New England | $25,000 | To support a Community Coordinator, who helps veterans access the benefits they deserve and services they need so they may maintain and achieve health, financial, and housing independence. | Brunswick, ME |
| 2022 | Waterville Area Soup Kitchen | $15,000 | To provide general operating support. | Waterville, ME |
| 2021 | Alfond Youth and Community Center | $25,000 | To increase access to youth and adolescent mental health, wellness, and community supports during the COVID-19 pandemic. | Waterville, ME |
| 2021 | Augusta Food Bank | $15,000 | To provide general operating support. | Augusta, ME |
| 2021 | Emmanuel Lutheran Episcopal Church, Bridging the Gap | $15,000 | To provide general operating support. | Augusta, ME |
| 2021 | Mid-Maine Homeless Shelter | $10,000 | To provide general operating support. | Waterville, ME |
| 2021 | Neighbors Driving Neighbors | $5,000 | To provide general operating support. | Mt. Vernon, ME |
| 2021 | New Beginnings | $20,000 | To provide general operating support. | Lewiston, ME |
| 2021 | Rural Community Action Ministry | $15,000 | To provide general operating support. | Leeds, ME |
| 2020 | Augusta Food Bank | $15,000 | To provide general operating support. | Augusta, ME |
| 2020 | Kennebec Valley Community Action Program | $40,000 | To support efforts to reduce family stress, isolation and child abuse through socially-distanced visits to at-risk families during the COVID-19 pandemic. | Waterville, ME |
| 2020 | MaineGeneral Medical Center | $25,000 | To provide vulnerable patients in central Maine with emergency food bags, meal vouchers, transportation vouchers, and materials that share available community resources. | Augusta, ME |
| 2020 | MaineGeneral Medical Center | $75,000 | To support in-home parent coaching using the Attachment and Biobehavioral Catch-Up Model. | Augusta, ME |
| 2020 | Restorative Justice Institute of Maine | $50,000 | To pilot a diversion program for young adults ages 18-25 based on the restorative justice principles of community accountability and peer support. | Portland, ME |
| 2020 | Rural Community Action Ministry | $15,000 | To provide general operating support. | Leeds, ME |
| 2019 | Amistad | $15,000 | To provide general operating support. | Portland, ME |
| 2019 | Augusta Food Bank | $20,000 | To support a backpack program, which provides nutritious food to food insecure children in the Augusta School System and at the Children's Center of Augusta. | Augusta, ME |
| 2019 | Kennebec Mental Health Association | $25,000 | To support the Homes and Community-Based Treatment Program, which provides intensive, in-home, team-based therapy for children and their families who are experiencing difficulties beyond the scope of regular outpatient counseling. | Waterville, ME |
| 2019 | KVCC Foundation | $95,000 | To support a dedicated Two-Generation Student Navigator, who will connect economically disadvantaged KVCC student parents to wraparound supports to ensure degree completion. | Fairfield, ME |
| 2019 | Maine Inside Out | $65,000 | To both support the work of their Leadership Council, which develops the leadership and social capital of formerly incarcerated young people, and to support organizational efforts for financial management assistance. | Portland, ME |
| 2019 | Maine Inside Out | $4,000 | To bring a performance of Maine Inside Out's play "EXPOSED" to the Statewide Juvenile Justice Task Force's meeting in Augusta in fall of 2019. | Portland, ME |
| 2019 | MaineGeneral Medical Center | $130,000 | To support the provision of home-based parent coaching services through the modified Attachment and Biobehavorial Catch-up model to at-risk mothers in the Kennebec Valley Region. | Augusta, ME |
| 2019 | Northern Light Inland Hospital | $25,000 | To support on-site food, food security resources, and transportation vouchers for primary care patients at Northern Light Inland Hospital who are screened and identified as in need of additional supports. | Bangor, ME |
| 2019 | Rural Community Action Ministry | $15,000 | To provide general operating to support at-risk individuals living in rural areas of Androscoggin, Kennebec and Oxford counties via services for basic needs, homelessness and hunger prevention. | LEEDS, ME |
| 2018 | Jobs for Maine's Graduates | $300,000 | Two year grant to support the Expanded Opportunity Passport program -- a financial capacity building, education, and matched savings program expanded to non-foster care youth who face challenges or have little or no family support. | Augusta, ME |
| 2018 | Kennebec Valley Community Action Program | $12,906 | To provide matching funds for KVCAP's Low Income Heating Assistance Program. | Waterville, ME |
| 2018 | Maine Inside Out | $48,500 | To support Maine Inside Out's Leadership Council, which is a year-long effort to develop the leadership, professional experience and social capital of formerly incarcerated older youth. | Portland, ME |
| 2018 | Rural Community Action Ministry | $15,000 | To provide general operating to support at-risk individuals living in rural areas of Androscoggin, Kennebec and Oxford counties via services for basic needs, homelessness and hunger prevention. | Leeds, ME |
| 2017 | Hospice Volunteers of Waterville Area | $15,000 | To provide support for hospice patients and their families. | Waterville, ME |
| 2017 | Kennebec Mental Health Association | $25,000 | To provide support for the Homeless Youth Outreach Program, to ensure youth's basic needs are met, that they have access to mainstream resources, and that they achieve safe, stable housing. | Waterville, ME |
| 2016 | Amistad | $15,000 | General operating support to address the needs of individuals with mental illness and other life challenges. | Portland, ME |
| 2016 | Augusta Food Bank | $50,000 | To support service expansion in the Augusta area. | Augusta, ME |
| 2016 | Augusta Public Schools | $9,586 | For community-based programming to address summer learning loss in Augusta. | Augusta, ME |
| 2016 | Kennebec Mental Health Association | $25,000 | To provide support to youth in Central Maine who are experiencing homelessness. | Waterville, ME |
| 2016 | Kennebec Valley Community Action Program | $15,000 | To provide transportation services to individuals and families affected by cancer. | Waterville, ME |
| 2016 | Muskie School of Public Service | $50,000 | To support Maine LEAP, a coordinated delivery of two evidence based programs to improve education and career outcomes for youth in foster care. | Portland, ME |
| 2016 | Muskie School of Public Service | $65,000 | To support an enhanced level of coordination and organization among all service providers who work with youth in foster care. | Portland, ME |
| 2016 | Rural Community Action Ministry | $15,000 | To support programs aimed at alleviating hunger and homelessness for the most vulnerable residents in 13 central Maine towns. | Leeds, ME |
| 2015 | Amistad | $25,000 | To address the needs of individuals with mental illness and other life challenges; develop peer services; and advocate for changes to the mental health system. | Portland, ME |
| 2015 | Augusta Food Bank | $15,000 | To provide food to children and families and serve as a resource for families in crisis. | Augusta, ME |
| 2015 | Healthy Community Coalition | $20,000 | To support programs that address food insecurity. | Farmington, ME |
| 2015 | Kennebec Valley Community Action Program | $20,000 | To provide transportation services to individuals and families affected by cancer. | Waterville, ME |
| 2015 | Maine Farmland Trust | $25,000 | To support programs that help address the needs of food insecure people in Maine. | Belfast, ME |
| 2015 | MaineGeneral Medical Center | $25,000 | To provide support for developing one point-of-entry for patients seeking a potential oncology referral. | Augusta, ME |
| 2014 | Augusta Food Bank | $10,000 | To provide funding to purchase food items and lunch bags for low-income children in local schools during the weekend and over vacations. | Augusta, ME |
| 2014 | Catholic Charities Maine | $15,000 | To provide funding to support program services and volunteers to isolated seniors so they can remain independent in their own homes for as long as possible. | Portland, ME |
| 2014 | Good Willl Home Association | $65,000 | To provide funding for the College Step Up program, supporting youth aging out of foster care by providing year-round housing, academic coaching and life skills education while they attend Kennebec Valley Community College. | Hinckley, ME |
| 2014 | Hospice Volunteers of Waterville Area | $10,000 | To provide direct care and bereavement services for hospice patients with a cancer diagnosis. | Waterville, ME |
| 2014 | Kennebec Valley Community Action Program | $14,000 | To help families enroll in the Harold Alfond College Challenge savings program, as well as to provide ongoing education and support to families. | Waterville, ME |
| 2014 | Maine Farmland Trust | $15,000 | To provide funds for the Local Food for Seniors program. | Belfast, ME |
| 2014 | Rural Community Action Ministry | $15,000 | To provide operating support for programs aimed at alleviating hunger and homelessness for the most vulnerable residents in thirteen central Maine towns. | Leeds, ME |
| 2013 | American Cancer Society | $25,000 | To support two patient navigator programs at Maine Medical Center and Maine General. | Framingham, MA |
| 2013 | Boy Scouts of America | $15,534 | To support the creation of four new scouting units in underserved subsidized Housing Authority neighborhoods. | Raymond, ME |
| 2013 | Catholic Charities Maine | $25,000 | To provide support services and volunteers to isolated seniors so they can remain independent in their own homes for as long as possible. | Portland, ME |
| 2013 | Central Maine Area Agency on Aging | $25,000 | To provide direct services to low income seniors and their family caregivers to help them remain independent in their own homes for as long as possible. | Augusta, ME |
| 2013 | Hospice Volunteers of Waterville Area | $15,000 | To improve quality of life for isolated senior citizens in rural communities who are in need of hospice and grief services. | Waterville, ME |
| 2013 | Kennebec Mental Health Association | $20,000 | To support general operations of Kennebec Behavioral Health to serve low-income clients with mental illness. | Waterville, ME |
| 2013 | Kennebec Valley Community Action Program | $75,830 | To provide support and technical assistance for Waterville’s Project 2020, a community-driven plan aimed at increasing third grade reading proficiency informed by the National Grade Level Reading Campaign model. | Waterville, ME |
| 2013 | Maine Dartmouth Family Medicine Residency | $12,500 | To pilot a multidisciplinary model that will improve the lives of older patients who suffer from Mild Cognitive Impairment and decrease patient isolation and caregiver burden. | Augusta, ME |
| 2013 | Maine Farmland Trust | $25,000 | To continue a highly successful Community Farm Share program targeting low income seniors. | Belfast, ME |
| 2013 | Volunteers of America Northern New England | $20,000 | To support the Options At Home Program to expand affordable personal care services for low to moderate income seniors in Southern, Mid-Coast, and Central Maine. | Brunswick, ME |
| 2012 | American Cancer Society | $25,000 | To support the Patient Navigator and the Road to Recovery Programs for patients undergoing cancer treatments. | Framingham, MA |
| 2012 | Central Maine Area Agency on Aging | $23,600 | To provide meals through the Meals on Wheels program to homebound adults and seniors in Somerset County. | Augusta, ME |
| 2012 | Consumers for Affordable Health Care | $40,000 | To support the Consumer Assistance Program to help low-income adults and families find affordable health insurance coverage or health care services. | Augusta, ME |
| 2012 | Crisis and Counseling Center | $100,000 | To support a demonstration project intended to reduce recidivism rates among individuals in the Kennebec County Correctional Facility. | Augusta, ME |
| 2012 | Family Violence Project | $19,560 | To support the transportation needs of domestic violence clients seeking community services. | Augusta, ME |
| 2012 | Healthy Communities of the Capital Area | $10,262 | To support outreach workers who provide services to families with substance abuse issues whose children are enrolled in either Head-Start programs or Home Visiting programs. | Gardiner, ME |
| 2012 | Jobs for Maine's Graduates | $25,000 | To support a Pathway Specialist in the communities of Brewer, Windham, Portland and Bath to help high school students attain a high school diploma and identify plans for educational and employment opportunities after high school. | Augusta, ME |
| 2012 | Kennebec Mental Health Association | $10,000 | To provide direct care to youths between the ages of 10 and 17 who are homeless, runaways or at risk of homelessness, to help them move toward stable living options and to reduce youth homelessness in central Maine. | Waterville, ME |
| 2012 | Kennebec Valley Community Action Program | $5,000 | To provide support for the WorkReady program which is designed to assist unemployed individuals achieve employment. | Waterville, ME |
| 2012 | Kennebec Valley Dental Coalition | $12,000 | To provide dental supplies to 3,500 patients serviced at the Community Dental Center. | Waterville, ME |
| 2012 | Legal Services for the Elderly | $29,650 | To support free legal help for low-income seniors most at risk of foreclosure. | Augusta, ME |
| 2012 | Maine Development Foundation | $100,000 | To support the Maine Employer's Initiative, which partners with employers and post-secondary institutions in Maine to reconnect incumbent workers who have some college experience but have not completed their degrees. | Augusta, ME |
| 2012 | New Beginnings | $25,000 | To provide support for housing and other services for disadvantaged and disconnected youth in Androscoggin, Franklin, Cumberland, York, and Kennebec counties. | Lewiston, ME |
| 2012 | University of Maine System - New Ventures Maine | $50,000 | To support career planning and small business development for low-income women in order to realize economic self-sufficiency. | Augusta, ME |