Maine Initiatives is raising $500,000 to provide general operating support grants next month to approximately forty (40) immigrant-led and immigrant-serving organizations.  Donate here to the Immigrant-Led Organizations Fund at Maine Initiatives.   Here in Maine, we can sometimes feel removed from the many crises we see on our daily news feeds. War. Pandemic. Climate catastrophe. Gun […]

I am going to be the bearer of bad news today. Normally, I am more of a “love-can-conquer-all-things” kind of guy. But today is not that day. Because I need to tell you: we have a lot of work to do. It is going to be painful and difficult. And it starts here: America is […]

A few words are all I can manage in moments like this.  We know these moments all too well.   And we know these attacks are not isolated moments, but the violent expression of a white-nationalist movement on the rise, the latest tragic expression of the systemic racism in this country.  We know too well that […]

Dear friends:
I am shocked and not surprised by the news today about the pending SCOTUS decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. My shock is an emotional reaction: it hurts my heart. And I shouldn’t be surprised…

Monday, January 17, 2022 is a day of remembrance when we come together to honor the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. It is also a day for looking forward, and re-dedicating and re-committing ourselves to the future we seek to build together: a future of racial, economic, and social justice.  Although normally we would be coming […]

2021 Grants for Change – Over $500,000 to BIPOC-led organizations in Maine Dec 23, 2021 – Maine Initiatives’ Grants for Change Program (G4C) is excited to announce thirty-four (34) grants totaling over $500,000 to organizations led by Black, Indigenous, and People/Communities of Color (BIPOC) advancing racial justice efforts in Wabanakiak (Maine). This year’s grants are […]

Immigrant-Led Organizations Pooled Fund Grantmaking Nov 12, 2021 – Maine Initiatives is pleased to announce a new round of grantmaking from the Immigrant-Led Organizations (ILO) Fund to respond to two critical and time-sensitive funding needs: Afghan refugee resettlement arrivals and a recent uptick in asylum seekers, mostly from central Africa, arriving in southern Maine.  Afghan […]

November 11, 2021 The Maine Initiatives community lost a hero this week. Dee Clarke was an advocate, a leader, a survivor, and a powerful voice for justice in our community.  Dee was the founder and leader of one of our grantees, Survivor Speak USA, an organization led by and serving survivors of sex trafficking. Survivor Speak USA is […]