community connections mini-grants

Forty small projects were funded to increase the impact of Lifelong Maine’s Age-Friendly Communities. Grantees will implement quick-action projects to help their communities become more livable through:

• Emergency preparedness programs

• Activities that encourage social conenction

• Volunteer transportation services

• Enhanced accessibility of public spaces

• Health and safety initiatives

• Improved community communications

Learn more about the grant selection criteria here. 

• Bangor - Bangor Livable Communities
  This project will install a crosswalk with a solar RRFB Pedestrian Crosswalk signal on Grandview Avenue in Bangor. 

• Berwick - Berwick for a Lifetime
  The project will connect residents with vital services and social opportunities. Working with our Library, local schools, and volunteers, we will offer tech support, special programs, and telehealth access, including dedicated help for veterans.

• Bethel Region - Age-Friendly Community Initaitive
  The funds will expand our AFCI Handy Neighbor program, a community service initiative designed to assist older residents with home and garden tasks, and engage more Telstar High School students as Handy Helpers.

• Biddeford  Age-Friendly Biddeford (Heart of Biddeford)
  The funding will expand our transportation services by recruiting more volunteer drivers and promoting our medical ride program. We will also expand the use of our donated 8-passenger van beyond medical trips to serve more older residents. 

• Blue Hill Peninsula - Age-Friendly Coastal Communities (Healthy Peninsula)
  We will launch a Fall Prevention Project within Bridging Neighbors, pairing occupational/physical therapists with volunteers to assess clients' homes for fall risks and provide fall prevention checklists, home modification tools, and other materials. 

• Bowdoinham - Age-Friendly Bowdoinham
  We will expand the winter safety kits program and purchase a large shade canopy to provide shade in Mailly Waterfront Park.

• Bucksport - Age-Friendly Bucksport (Bucksport Bay Healthy Communities Coalition
  A "Disaster Preparedness Event/Expo" will invite community members for education, resources, and to meet with the Bucksport Resilience Committee membersand other public safety personnel.

• Buxton - Age-Friendly Buxton
  We will provide event tickets and volunteer transportation to connect residents with social activities and explore new ways to inform residents of upcoming social opportunities, community activities, and services provided by Aging in Buxton. 

• Caribou/Limestone - Age-Friendly Caribou/Limestone (Center to Advance Rural Living)
  The funds will: (1) develop MaineCare toolkit to equip residents to pre-qualify for MaineCare Long-Term Care; (2) recognize County Area Rides and Purple Ladle volunteers; and (3) expand County Area Rides to Fort Kent. 

• Chelsea - Age-Friendly Chelsea
  Age-Friendly Chelsea will purchase a stair lift for installation in an historical building. The lift will allow community memebrs with mobility limitations to attend meetings on the second floor of our Grange Hall. 

• Damariscotta - Age-Friendly Lincoln County (Inn Along the Way)
  Inn Along the Way will install an AED (and provide training in its use) so that community members attending age-friendly events can do so safely. 

• Danforth - Danforth Livable Communities
  Funds will purchase needed infrastructure (generator and heat pumps) to establish a regional warming and cooling center at the Danforth Livable Community Center. 

• Deer Isle/Stonington - Age-Friendly Coastal Communities (Healthy Island Project)
  We will distribute emergency back-packs as a springboard for setting up different ways to check in with people, offer more assistance when needed, and support a “buddy” network to reach out during and after emergencies. 

• Dexter - Dexter Age-Friendly
  Dexter Age-Friendly will hire a professional dance teacher to provide dance lessons and invite participants to celebrate their newly acquired skills with a community "senior prom".

• Dover-Foxcroft - Age-Friendly Dover-Foxcroft (Maine Highlands Senior Center)
  We will create art exhibition spaces in Central Hall Commons, Thompson Free Library, and Center Theatre while fostering intergenerational connections through art classes between older adults and students.

• Ellsworth - Age-Friendly Ellsworth (Friends in Action)
  Friends in Action will extend their volunteer transportation program to the Blue Hill Peninsula communities and Deer Isle/Stonington. 

• Freeport/Pownal - Age-Friendly Freeport/Pownal (Freeport Community Services)
  We will host an educational event in collaboration with local Fire, Police, and Cumberland County Emergency Management. As a follow-up we will distribute 30 emergency "go bags" to older adults and individuals with disabilities.

• Gray/New Gloucester - Age-Friendly Gray/New Gloucester and Building Livability in New Gloucester (BLING)
  Age-Friendly Gray/New Gloucester will provide Emergency Supply Kits to older adults and families already using services (e.g. Meals on Wheels, New Gloucester rides, GNG Connector clients) and veterans. 

• Lewiston - Age-Friendly Lewiston
  Age-Friendly Lewiston will develop and distribute a newsletter translated into the languages commonly spoken in the city. 

• Lyman - Age-Friendly Lyman
  Age-Friendly Lyman will  purchase and install ramps with railings that allow for easy access into the water from the beach and picnic areas as part of a larger project to revitalize Bunganut Park. 

• Madison - Age-Friendly Madison
  Living Well in Madison will use the funds to offer wellness classes and social opportunities. 

• Millbridge - Women for Healthy Rural Living
  Women for Healthy Living will install a shade canopy in the Millbridge Commons Wellness Park. 

• Millinocket - Age-Friendly Millinocket
  Millinocket  Fire/EMS will enhance resident safety through home visits to install CO/smoke alarms and assess fall risks. When needed, EMS will provide and install essential safety items like grab bars and non-slip rugs. 

• Monmouth - Age-Friendly Monmouth
  Funds will be used for an amplification system that will allow community members who live with hearing deficits to participate in all public meetings. 

• New Gloucester - Age-Friendly New Gloucester
  New Gloucester's Fire & Rescue will distribute and install high-visibility house numbers. During these visits, they'll provide File of Life kits. The project will strengthen community bonds and reduce emergency response times by improving address visibility.

• Old Orchard Beach - Old Orchard Beach Community Friendly Connection
  Funding will provide bridge funding for a volunteer medical rides program. 

• Palermo - Age-Friendly Waldo County (Palermoc Community Foundation)
  Funds will be used to purchase and install a highly visible, lighted sign directing people of all ages to the Palermo Community Center, Palermo Food Pantry, and Palermo Community Garden. 

• Portland - Age-Friendly Portland
  We will install benches at key transit stops and downtown locations where older residents and visitors commonly need rest, including shopping and tourist areas near the waterfront. 

• Readfield - Age-Friendly Readfield
  As part of Readfield's Emergency Response Plan, this pilot will provide residents with 3-day kits to shelter in place, create an effective communication plan, launch public education efforts, and support a generator/air conditioner lending program.  

• Richmond - Age-Friendly Richmond
  We will develop welcoming kits for new residents that will include information about volunteering with Age-Friendly Richmond. 

• Saco - Age-Friendly Saco
  Funding will be used for two projects - education about disaster preparedness and support for the van/shuttle transportation program. 

• Sanford - Thriving in Place Sanford
  We will equip our home chore volunteers with essential tools while launching a marketing campaign to connect with both older community members needing assistance and potential volunteers. 

• Sacopee Valley - Grateful Undead
  Three projects to: 1) Train community membes to shelter in place; 2) Create additional social opportunities (a series of barn dances); and, 3) purchase and loan portable ramp to community members.

• South Portland - Age-Friendly South Portland
  Age-Friendly South Portland and Saco will equip food-insecure residents, asylum seekers, and New Mainers with a can opener and 3-day emergency food pack containing culturally appropriate food that doesn't require electricity for storage or preparation.

• Sullivan - Age-Friendly Sullivan
  Age-Friendly Sullivan will upgrade our sound and lighting system for public events held outdoors at the Sumner park/gazebo. 

• Van Buren - Town of Van Buren
  The 'Music on Main' project will bring bi-weekly live music performances to Van Buren’s Main Street Park. We will celebrate the town’s Acadian and French Canadian heritage and feature local artists from Maine and New Brunswick. 

• Vinalhaven - (Vinalhaven Elder Care Services)
  We will host weekly social gatherings for isolated islanders to share tea, refreshments, crafts, games and chair yoga. These meetups will create vital social connections for our older neighbors, many of whom live alone with minimal human contact. 

• Windham - Age-Friendly Windham
  Age-Friendly Windham is partnering with local emergency responders and county EMA to educate residents about disaster preparedness. The team is also gathering and distributing 500 Go-Backpacks. 

• York - Age-Friendly York (York Community Services Association)
  YCSA will host 2 emergency preparedness classes with speakers and distribute emergency go bags for older community members. We will also build on our “FOLIO Project” classes to host two “Death Cafe’s” facilitated by a dealth doula.