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5,000 households-in Cumberland County alone-depend on food pantries every month. 21% of food pantries report that their numbers have more than doubled, and 82% of food pantries have had to make some type of cutback, either giving less food or even turning people away. These are dire circumstances.

Observing increasingly frequent bare shelves at the Preble Street food pantry, we learned that the USDA Bonus Commodities coming to Maine had decreased from over 3 million pounds of food in 2002 to less than 300,000 pounds in 2007. At the same time, from 2000 to 2005, the USDA reported that the rate of hunger grew more rapidly in Maine then in any other state in the nation.

To respond to a systemic crisis that had grown unabated for decades, Preble Street created the Maine Hunger Initiative in 2008 to 1) meet immediate food needs, 2) offset food supply shortages, and 3) develop long-term solutions to hunger.

Maine Hunger Initiative first took action to offset food supply shortages for food pantries in Maine in early 2009, partnering with United Way and private funders throughout Maine on the Food for Maine project which raised nearly $300,000 to stock pantry shelves across the state.

It next developed efficient, client-centered emergency food services at Preble Street, merging with St. Luke's Soup Kitchen and partnering with hundreds of faith groups, civic organizations, businesses, and individuals to operate eight soup kitchens and a food pantry.

Its most important task, however, is to bring an end to soup kitchen and pantry lines. To build the capacity of volunteer-run local food pantries, strengthen the emergency food system, create practices and policies to assist hungry Mainers to become more self-sufficient. To end hunger by working to:

Make Maine an anti-hunger leader, particularly in child-related food policies such as the availability of stigma-free breakfast and summer meals for all Maine children

Improve access to food and other entitlements that reduce personal poverty and are economic drivers

Develop best practices and education/training at points of access (e.g. food pantries, Head Start) throughout the state

Promote policies and funding that benefit both struggling farmers and hungry Maine families, decreasing wasted crops and sustaining local agriculture

Empower people in poverty to increase public awareness of hunger and create solutions

Emergency Food Work

Our direct service, emergency food work meets basic needs of the most impoverished residents of Maine's largest urban area, providing 500,000 meals a year at Preble Street:

Soup Kitchens in 3 locations providing nutritious meals 3 x 365 to hungry children, families, adults, elders

Food Pantry weekly to households facing economic hardship, disabilities, cultural challenges, etc.

and offering social work services to empower people to move beyond hunger and poverty.

Organizing

MHI organizing began by connecting with all (80) food pantries in York and Cumberland Counties, a critical but fragile resource, to assessing the emergency food delivery system. Coordinating efforts of 49 Cumberland County pantries, we worked to alleviate hunger and create a blueprint for a sustainable, replicable system through:

Regional food pantry meetings

Technical assistance and training

Food sourcing partnerships (e.g. Farm to Pantry)

Best practice research and implementation

Advocacy

Advocacy efforts aim to raise public will to end hunger by augmenting public programs designed to promote self-sufficient families, stable local economies, and healthy communities. Partnering with AARP Maine, Maine Center for Economic Policy, Maine Council of Churches, Maine Equal Justice Partners, and Muskie School of Public Service, we are developing steps to eliminate conditions that force people to depend on food programs. Our collaborative anti-hunger work includes:

Helping initiate and lead the Campaign for Food Security in Cumberland County

Participating in the North East Regional Anti-Hunger Network and the National Anti-Hunger and Opportunity Corps

Supporting anti-hunger legislation

Identifying public policy priorities

Organizing testimony by people who experience food insecurity

Advocating with federal delegates for Food Supplement benefits including the SUA, WIC, and SNAP

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5,000 households-in Cumberland County alone-depend on food pantries every month. 21% of food pantries report that their numbers have more than doubled, and 82% of food pantries have had to make some type of cutback, either giving less food or even turning people away. These are dire circumstances.

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Interactive map of Maine regarding food insecurity

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Interactive map of Maine regarding food insecurity

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Feeding America, a national nonprofit organization, has analyzed food prices, poverty rates and other variables for each U.S. county to estimate rates of food insecurity - a federally-defined measure of whether households and individuals have adequate access to enough nutrition for a healthy and active life.

As seen in the map below, Maine's rates of food insecurity are generally higher than in other parts of New England, and a higher percentage of its residents are eligible for SNAP, the federal food stamp program.

Read: Persistent hunger fuels sprawling food supply system for needy Mainers

Learn more about Feeding America's methodology here.

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Interactive: Food insecurity in Maine and New England

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Feeding America, a national nonprofit organization, has analyzed food prices, poverty rates and other variables for each U.S. county to estimate rates of food insecurity - a federally-defined measure of whether households and individuals have adequate access to enough nutrition for a healthy and active life.

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Maine legislature Tackles Food Insecurity

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Maine legislature Tackles Food Insecurity

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This summer, the Maine State Legislature has been busy passing laws aimed at tackling hunger in the nation's 9th most food insecure state. Earlier this month, Governor Janet Mills signed two bills into law that will help combat food insecurity in Maine, which experiences the highest rate of food insecurity in New England. The first bill will provide $1 in matching funds for every $3 school districts spend on produce from Maine farms.

The second law renews the Mainers Feeding Mainers Program, providing up t o $1 million annually to non-profit food pantries to go towards purchasing locally raised produce; the majority of these funds go to Good Shepherd Food Bank, which distributes produce to 400 smaller food pantries, including Mid Coast Hunger Prevention Prog ram. Last year, Good Shepherd provided $750,000 to 71 Maine farms, distributing over two million pounds of local food to those in need.

These measures help provide Maine's food insecure population with quality, healthy produce, underscoring the importance of both nutrition and supporting local farms.

In late May, Mills signed a bill aimed at ending hunger in Maine by 2030 through collaboration between multiple agencies including the Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry, to develop a stra tegic, comprehensive plan. According to the bill, 37 percent of food insecure individuals in Maine do not qualify for public assistance, highlighting the importance of non-government assistance through organizations such as MCHPP.

A few weeks ago, Mills signed the Breakfast After the Bell legislation into law, providing free breakfast in public schools throughout the morning. Free or reduced-price breakfasts are underutilized in Maine, with over half of students qualifying but only 40% of eligible student s taking advantage of breakfast offerings. Providing breakfast in the classroom increases rates of participation among the neediest students, allowing students to achieve better attendance records, graduation rates, and to have better alertness and concent ration throughout the school day. The program is projected to provide over 45,000 students access to breakfast every day and bring an estimated $13,000,000 in federal dollars into Maine schools every year. These recent measured demonstrate the importance o f political action to address a problem that affects one in four Maine children.

These state-wide measures impact how MCHPP operates and serves its clients' needs. The renewal of the Mainers feeding Mainers program has the most direct impact, enabling us to receive more support from Good Shepherd Food Bank, reducing the need to purchase produce and freeing up funds to be used in other programs. Bills aimed at expanding meals to students in public schools help fill in gaps that our services aren't able to r each, such as school breakfasts and produce in free and reduced-price lunches.

Publicity garnered by recent legislative action has drawn attention to the prevalence of hunger in Maine, particularly among children, and the need for government action. This demonstrates the importance of political engagement- not just turning out to vote for legislators who have a track record of tackling hunger related issues, but also calling legislators who are likely to play a decisive role in votes on hunger related leg islation. If you're interested in learning more about our services and how to help, please visit www.mchpp.org .
Clare Murphy is a Bowdoin Summer Fellow at Mid Coast Hunger Prevention Program.

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Maine Legislature tackles food insecurity

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This summer, the Maine State Legislature has been busy passing laws aimed at tackling hunger in the nation's 9th most food insecure state. Earlier this month, Governor Janet Mills signed two bills into law that will help combat food insecurity in Maine, which experiences the highest rate of food insecurity in New England.

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Video:  Food Insecurity in Portland Schools

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Video:  Food Insecurity in Portland Schools

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PORTLAND, Maine - Food insecurity is a major problem statewide, and communities around Maine are finding ways to feed their kids.
RELATED: Feed Maine helps fight hunger in Maine
Food Fuels Learning is driving that effort in Portland schools.

The group presented their quarterly summary to Superintendent Xavier Botano at Rowe Elementary in Portland on Monday, April 29.

When it comes to expanding food access for Portland Public School kids, Food Fuels learning says the progress report is positive.

The community-based organization founded the initiative with Portland Public Schools a year and a half ago.

That partnership is facilitated by the Cumberland County Food Security Council.

"Over half of the kids in Portland public schools' households qualify for free meals," said council director Jim Hanna.

One recommendation in the group's original assessment was to implement a healthy meal at the end of the school day.

"We had already worked with them with snack, and we just ramped it up to super-snack," said Portland Schools food service director Jane McLucas.

Parent Adam Burk said the super snack has been a game changer for his kindergarten-aged son.

"Food is vital to all of us, and I watch in my kid everyday -- how he learns, how he behaves is effected by what he's had."

The next steps for the group are to create food access even when school is out of session.

"School pantries, backpack programs -- to make sure that kids can take adequate home food over the weekend."

As for when school is in session, the group looks forward to upgrading the available food selections by adding a vegan menu and sourcing local ingredients when possible.

It's a goal that will take money, time, and support all things that Burk encourages fellow parents to donate, if they can. He believes no child should have to bear the weight of an empty stomach.

"It's just kind of a non-negotiable, that has to be in place for everyone."
RELATED: Feed Maine Telethon, May 2
Learn more about Food Fuels Learning here.

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Fighting food insecurity in Portland schools

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PORTLAND, Maine - Food insecurity is a major problem statewide, and communities around Maine are finding ways to feed their kids. RELATED: Feed Maine helps fight hunger in Maine Food Fuels Learning is driving that effort in Portland schools. The group presented their quarterly summary to Superintendent Xavier Botano at Rowe Elementary in Portland on Monday, April 29.

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Campaign to End Hunger In Maine (by Maine's Credit Unions)

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Campaign to End Hunger In Maine (by Maine's Credit Unions)

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People Helping People since 1990 with over $9.4 million raised to combat hunger in Maine.

Cooperation Works

$832,332.62 raised in 2019 - a new record.

100% of all funds raised stay in Maine, and go directly to ending hunger.

Largest, non-hunger organization-based, philanthropic fundraising effort to end hunger in Maine.

303 non-profit hunger-related organizations in the state supported in 2019!

Signature social responsibility campaign for Maine's credit unions.

The Maine Credit Unions' Campaign for Ending Hunger is a 501(c)(3), which means all contributions are tax-deductible! 2020 marks the 30th year of the Campaign. For more information contact Tim Brooks at 800.442.6715, ext. 298 or Jen Burke at ext. 295.

2019 Campaign Highlights

Over $20,000 in food donations were collected

Our 18th Annual Ending Hunger Walking & Awareness Tour resulted in $10,500 being donated to hunger organizations statewide

We held our 18th annual Portland Sea Dogs and Maine Credit Unions Food Drive to benefit Good Shepherd Food Bank

Maine's credit unions gave $457,000 to food pantries around the state and provided $132,800 to meal programs

$68,612 donated to the Good Shepherd Food Bank

School backpack programs received $47,900 from Maine credit unions and $27,500 to University programs

Other programs supporting schools received $13,000

While every credit union in Maine contributed financially to the Campaign in 2019, the top seven credit unions in terms of dollars raised and per member contributions are annually recognized. Maine State Credit Union was the top credit union fundraiser with over $90,000. Gardiner Federal Credit Union had the highest per member contributions at $4.03 per member.

2019 Top 7 by Category
Total Dollars Raised

1st Place - Maine State Credit Union

2nd Place - Atlantic Federal Credit Union

3rd Place - Dirigo Federal Credit Union

4th Place - Maine Savings Federal Credit Union

5th Place - Bangor Federal Credit Union

6th Place - NorState Federal Credit Union

7th Place - University Credit Union

Total Dollars Raised Per Member

1st Place - Gardiner Federal Credit Union

2nd Place - Sabattus Regional Credit Union

3rd Place - Maine State Credit Union

4th Place - Monmouth Federal Credit Union

5th Place - Changing Seasons Federal Credit Union

6th Place - TIE - Bangor Federal Credit Union and Katahdin Federal Credit Union

7th Place - Maine Highlands Federal Credit Union

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Campaign for Ending Hunger | Maine Credit Union League

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The Maine CUs' Campaign for Ending Hunger People Helping People since 1990 with over $9.4 million raised to combat hunger in Maine. Cooperation Works $832,332.62 raised in 2019 - a new record. 100% of all funds raised stay in Maine, and go directly to ending hunger.

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Psychology Today article; video at end

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Kids are are still on their enviable, long winter break, and most of them will end up spending some extra time in front of screens.

This raises the question: How much screen time is too much? I cover this topic in the most recent episode of Tech Happy Life on my YouTube channel (below) and will tackle it here for those who prefer the written word. The irony that I blog and have a YouTube channel doesn't escape me. Just to be clear, I'm not against screens or tech, I just want to promote that elusive healthy balance. So just where do we need to draw the line? Or do we need to even bother?

In my previous post, I cover the issue of whether we are making too much of the risks posed by screens. My position is that there are legitimate concerns about how we are being affected by our screens, but the sky isn't falling. When we use our screens mindfully and strategically, we can get more of the benefits and reduce some of the negatives.

Just How Much Time Are We Spending With Our Screens?

According to the market-research group Nielsen, adults are spending over 11 hours per day interacting with media. That's up from 9 hours and 32 minutes from four years ago. Of that 11 hours, 4 hours and 46 minutes are spent watching TV. According to an oft-cited 2016 report by Common Sense Media, teens spend an average of 9 hours per day interacting with media, not including time spent for school or homework. For kids ages 8-12, the same Common Sense media survey report found they were spending 6 hours per day interacting with media. Kids ages 2-5 spend around 32 hours per week in front of a screen (e.g., watching TV, videos, gaming).

Limitations of the Research

It's clear that a lot of time is being spent with screens, yet there are problems with even gathering these data. Most researchers rely on self-reports, which are notoriously unreliable. Just as people have trouble remembering what they had for lunch yesterday and how much food they consumed, estimating media consumption across multiple formats and devices is extremely difficult.

Moreover, in some research, the time spent on media is double counted (or even triple counted), as it is in the Common Sense Media report. That is, if a teen has the TV on while he or she has a smartphone in hand, the screen time is counted twice. While the teen might spend 2 clock hours watching a movie, 4 hours of media time are counted because he or she was interacting periodically with a smartphone while the movie was playing. This can lead to a deceptively high number of total hours spent per day interacting with media.

What's the Metric?

Another important limitation of the research involves well- or ill-being. How would we even know if too much time is spent on the screen? What would that look like? There would have to be negative effects in some form or another. But we would have to agree upon the metric for well-being. Are we measuring depression, anxiety, stress, happiness, sleep quality/quantity, grades, or satisfaction with friends? Depending upon what metric one is using for positive or negative outcomes, we would find different answers for how much screen time is too much.

The Many Variables Involved

Experts are never going to be able to be able to provide a definitive answer for how much screen time is too much. Simply put, life and people are extremely complicated. There are so many variables involved that, at best, we can only say, "It depends on ______." Let's take a look at some of these variables that might influence how our screens affect us:

Characteristics of the person - e.g., age of the person, sex, personality variables

Characteristics of the context - e.g., playing a video game alone vs. online with strangers vs. in-person with friends

Format of the media - e.g., tablet, Xbox, smartphone, VR headset

Type of media - e.g., social media, video games, Netflix, blogs, YouTube tutorials

Characteristics of the media - e.g., violent movies and video games, pornography, sexting, high action vs. low action, strategy vs. action

Consuming vs. creating - e.g., watching YouTube videos of people being slimed vs. how to play chess, playing a video game vs. programming/developing a video game

Time/frequency involved - e.g., 2 hours per day vs. 10 hours per day, checking a phone 30 times per day vs. 200 times per day

Timing - e.g., Snapchatting at home while sitting on the couch or while driving down the freeway at 70 m.p.h., a college student texting friends between classes or during class lectures

You can see where "it depends" is the best answer when it comes to how much screen time is too much. How much is too much pornography for a young child to watch? How much Snapchatting is too much if a teen is driving on the freeway? For such scenarios, anything above zero is too much! How about an adult who is using a word processor to write a book (or blog post!) or developing an app to help make it easier for people to donate to charities? Well, that's much more difficult to answer. Assuming that person is still meeting basic needs (e.g., sleep, exercise, movement, in-person social interactions), perhaps he or she could spend 10-12 hours per day engaged in such screen time and experience positive effects without any noteworthy ill-effects.

What Happens When the Amount of Screen Time Crosses the Line?

Most typical screen use would be categorized as beneficial or at least benign. Still, just as we can eat too much of a healthy food, we can use screen time so much that the cons start to outweigh the pros. Even so, there's not some magical line that is crossed, where the person experiences a steep drop-off. It could be a gradual shift such that the cons start to outweigh the pros on certain metrics of well-being.

My view is that, for many (most?) of us, screen use can slowly and quietly leech away some of our well-being and productivity. We have a hard time setting limits with our screens because they are so compelling. Technology companies use persuasive design to get and keep our eyes on the screens. Like companies peddling unhealthy food products, tech companies will use every trick they can to get our attention because that's how they make money. Thus, we end up on our screens a bit too much (and/or check them too frequently) to the detriment of our overall well-being. Still, there is some controversy about this, and the negative effects from typical overuse may be subtle and mild.

When Do Negative Effects from Typical Screen Use Kick In?

Barring extremes in screen usage, the negative effects would start to outweigh the positives when they interfere too much with our basic needs. Thus, even if a teen is learning to program, if she is only getting 4 hours of sleep per night because of that, then she will suffer. Chronic sleep deprivation contributes to significant problems in physical and psychological well-being.

So, How Much Is Too Much Screen Time?

With a huge qualifier-it depends"-when it comes to recreational screen time for kids and teens, I would say 1-2 hours on school days is a reasonable amount. On weekends and holidays, perhaps 3-4 hours of recreational screen time is a reasonable amount. These are more like guidelines than limits, and there would be many exceptions. Still, it is helpful to have some general guidelines in mind.

Reframing this question slightly, I might say that too much screen time might interfere with opportunities to gain greater benefits that experiencing a larger variety of activities offers. For instance, no matter how many benefits Johnny gains from playing Minecraft with his friends, at some point, they would receive different and/or greater benefits from playing hide-and-seek outside or building an actual fort with their hands.

For teens, parents will need to back off on trying to enforce too many limits. It's very difficult to police teens' screen time and it can often backfire. At this point, we might just ensure that they have screens out their rooms by a certain time of night, especially school nights, so they are getting enough sleep. Also, we might still enforce family smartphone usage policies such as barring phones during meals. Of course, we need to model a balanced use of screens ourselves.

For the holidays, it's okay to binge some on screens. Like overeating on the holidays, though, we just don't want to make it a habit. Remember that there are so many other wonderful activities to do with our families that don't involve screens. We aren't making a sacrifice by limiting our screen time when we engage in these other enjoyable, need-satisfying activities. Anyone up for a board game?

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Kids are are still on their enviable, long winter break, and most of them will end up spending some extra time in front of screens. This raises the question: How much screen time is too much?

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Today's children have grown up with a vast array of electronic devices at their fingertips. They can't imagine a world without smartphones, tablets, and the internet.

The advances in technology mean today's parents are the first generation who have to figure out how to limit screen time for children. While digital devices can provide endless hours of entertainment and they can offer educational content, unlimited screen time can be harmful.﻿﻿

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends parents place a reasonable limit on entertainment media. Despite those recommendations, children between the ages of 8 and 18 average 7½ hours of entertainment media per day, according to a 2010 study by the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. But it's not just kids who are getting too much screen time.

Many parents struggle to impose healthy limits on themselves too. The average adult spends over 11 hours per day behind a screen, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.

It's important to understand how too much screen time could be harming everyone in the whole family.

The Negative Effects of Too Much Screen Time

Whether you keep the TV on all the time or the whole family sits around staring at their smartphones, too much screen time could be harmful. Here's what some of the research says:

Behavior problems: Elementary school-age children who watch TV or use a computer more than 2 hours per day are more likely to have emotional, social, and attention problems.

Educational problems: Elementary school-age children who have televisions in their bedrooms do worse on academic testing.

Obesity: Too much time engaging in sedentary activity, such as watching TV and playing video games, can be a risk factor for becoming overweight.﻿﻿

Sleep problems: Although many parents use TV to wind down before bed, screen time before bed can backfire. The light emitted from screens interferes with the sleep cycle in the brain and can lead to insomnia.﻿﻿

Violence: Exposure to violent TV shows, movies, music, and video games can cause children to become desensitized to it. Eventually, they may use violence to solve problems and may imitate what they see on TV, according to the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

Digital Devices Can Harm Family Relationships

Most of the conversations about the dangers of screen time focus on children. But, it's important to recognize that adults may experience many of the same harmful effects as well, like obesity and sleep problems.

But even if you aren't experiencing any tangible health problems stemming from your digital device use, there's a good chance your electronics could be harming your relationship with your child.

In a 2015 survey by AVG Technologies, one-third of children reported feeling unimportant when their parents looked at their smartphones during meals or when playing together.

Even replying to a quick text message could be sending your child another message-that your phone is more important than he is.

Giving your child interrupted care-by repeatedly checking your smartphone-could also affect his development and his mental health. A 2016 study suggests looking at your digital devices could increase your child's chances of developing mental health problems, like depression.

Establishing Family Rules With Electronics

Telling your child to turn off his video games while you're sitting in front of the TV won't do anyone any good. It's important for you to set healthy limits on your electronics use for your own sake, as well as your child's sake.

Here are a few household rules you might want to establish to curb screen time:

No digital devices during family meals.

No electronics use during family fun nights.

No screen time in the car.

No screens allowed in bedrooms.

In addition, consider an occasional digital detox for the whole family. Create a screen-free night once a week or commit to unplugging one weekend a month. It could be good for everyone's physical and emotional health, as well as your family's relationships.

Additional Reading

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How Too Much Screen Time Can Hurt Kids and Their Families

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Many of the conversations about screen time focus on the dangers toward children. But, too much time on digital devices hurts parents too.

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3 Risks of Overusing Screen Time among Teens

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3 Risks of Overusing Screen Time among Teens

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Three Risks of Too Much Screen Time for Teens

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You probably know that technology overuse may be damaging. But do you know why?

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Local Maine doctors say screen time can affect children's hearts  

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Local Maine doctors say screen time can affect children's hearts  

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a video

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Hide Transcript Show Transcript

WEBVTT HEALTH. TRACY: THE USE OF SMARTPHONES AND OTHER DEVICES HAS BECOME A WAY OF LIFE FOR MOST OF US. AND WHILE HAVING TECH AT THE TIP OF OUR HANDS CAN BE CONVENIENT, IT CAN ALSO HAVE SOME NEGATIVE CONSEQUENCES, ESPECIALLY FOR KIDS. >> IF YOU ARE SENDING ANYWHERE NOT ENGAGED IN OTHE ACTIVITIES, YOU ARE NOT WALKING, YOU'RE NOT PLAYING SPORTS, YOU ARE JUST BEING SEDENTARY, THAT IS THE FIRST THING THAT IS GOING TO INCREASE YOUR RISK OF OBESITY AND CARDIOVASCULAR PROBLEMS. TRACY: DR. STEPHEN MEISTER IS DEVELOPMENTAL BEHAVIORAL PEDIATRICIAN. HE SAYS WHEN IT COMES TO SCREEN TIME TOO MUCH OF A GOOD THING CAN END UP BEING BAD >> WHEN TEENAGERS HAVE MORE THAN TWO HOURS OF SCREEN TIME A DAY, THEY HAVE A RISK OF OBESITY. AND THAT OBESITY RISK GOES UP DRAMATICALLY. TRACY: THAT'S BECAUSE HE SAYS NOT ONLY ARE KIDS NOT MOVING THEIR BODIES AS MUCH THEY ARE ALSO TYPICALLY EATING BETWEEN MEALS AND SNACKING ON UNHEALTHY FOODS. BUT OVEREATING ISN'T THE ONLY ISSU >> WHAT WE'RE FINDING IS THAT CHILDREN WHO ARE WATCHING VIDEOS IN THEIR BEDROOMS WHERE THE TV OR THE VIDEO GAMES, OR THE VIDEO SCREEN I ON, THEY ACTUALLY HAVE LESS MELATONIN. IT IS HARDER FOR THEM TO FALL ASLEEP. TRACY: AND WHEN THEY DO FOLLOW SLEEP, THAT SLEEP IS OFTEN DISRUPTED, LEADING TO IRRITABILTY, AGGRESSION AND INCREASE IN OBESIT SO WHAT CAN BE DONE? DR. MEISTER SAYS SET LIMITS ON SCREEN TIME FOR ALL KIDS, KEEP DIGITAL MEDIA OUT OF T BEDROOM, ESPECIALLY AT BED TIME, ENCOURAGE UNSTRUCTURED AND FRE PLAY, AND USE SCREEN TIME AS A REWARDS NOT AS A BABYSITTER. >> WE NEED TO MAKE SURE THAT WE ARE USING THE SCREEN TIME TO ACCENTUATE OUR FAMILY ACTIVITIES, OUR FAMILY TOGETHERNESS, AND FUN. AND NOT ALLOW IT TO AFFECT US A NEGATIVE WAY. TRACY: FOR THIS MONTH'S HEART HEALTH 8, I'M TRACY SABOL, WMTW NEWS 8. STEVE: -- LAUREN: FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT SETTING HEALTHY SCREEN TIME LIMITS FOR KIDS CHECK OUT THE AMERICAN HEART ASSOCIATIONS WEBSITE, HEART.ORG. THERE YOU WILL FIND MORE INFO ABOUT APPROPRIATE SCREEN TIME LIMITS FOR EACH AGE GROUP AND ENCOURAGING HEART HEAL

Local doctors say screen time should be used as a reward, not a babysitter.

Local doctors say screen time should be used as a reward, not a babysitter.

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Too much screen time can be bad for young hearts

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Hide Transcript Show Transcript WEBVTT HEALTH. TRACY: THE USE OF SMARTPHONES AND OTHER DEVICES HAS BECOME A WAY OF LIFE FOR MOST OF US. AND WHILE HAVING TECH AT THE TIP OF OUR HANDS CAN BE CONVENIENT, IT CAN ALSO HAVE SOME NEGATIVE CONSEQUENCES, ESPECIALLY FOR KIDS.

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What Screen Time can do to Children's Brains

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What Screen Time can do to Children's Brains

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by Psychology Today

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Key points

The US Department of Health and Human Services estimates that American children spend seven hours a day in front of electronic media.

Online interactions stimulate dopamine in a child's brain, which is addictive and could lead them to prefer virtual interactions over reality.

Children need to power off their devices regularly to clearly understand the boundaries between the virtual world and the real one.

Screen time is an inescapable reality of modern childhood, with kids of every age spending hours upon hours in front of iPads, smartphones, and televisions.

That's not always a bad thing: Educational apps and TV shows can be great ways for children to sharpen their communication skills-not to mention the break these gadgets provide harried parents. But tread carefully. The US Department of Health and Human Services estimates that American children spend a whopping seven hours a day in front of electronic media. Other statistics reveal that kids as young as two regularly play iPad games and have playroom toys that involve touch screens.

Saturation and long-term consequences

When very small children get hooked on tablets and smartphones, says Aric Sigman, an associate fellow of the British Psychological Society and a Fellow of Britain's Royal Society of Medicine, they may unintentionally hinder their still-developing brains. Too much screen time too soon, he says, "is the very thing impeding the development of the abilities that parents are so eager to foster through the tablets. The ability to focus, to concentrate, to lend attention, to sense other people's attitudes and communicate with them, to build a large vocabulary-all those abilities are harmed."

Put more simply, parents who jump to screen time in a bid to give their kids an educational edge may actually be doing more harm than good-and they need to dole out future screen time in an age-appropriate matter. Between birth and age three, for example, our brains develop quickly and are particularly sensitive to the environment around us. In medical circles, this is called the critical period, because the changes that happen in the brain during these first tender years become the permanent foundation upon which all later brain function is built. In order for the brain's neural networks to develop normally during the critical period, a child needs specific stimuli from the outside environment. These are rules that have evolved over centuries of human evolution, but-not surprisingly-these essential stimuli are not found on today's tablet screens.

Much of the issue lies with the fact that what makes tablets and iPhones so great-dozens of stimuli at your fingertips, and the ability to process multiple actions simultaneously-is exactly what young brains do not need.

Tablets are the ultimate shortcut tools: Unlike a mother reading a story to a child, for example, a smartphone-told story spoon-feeds images, words, and pictures all at once to a young reader. Rather than having to take the time to process a mother's voice into words, visualize complete pictures and exert a mental effort to follow a storyline, kids who follow stories on their smartphones may get lazy. The device does much of the thinking for them.

Social development

The brain's frontal lobe is involved in decoding and comprehending social interactions. It is in this corner of the mind that we empathize with others, take in nonverbal cues while talking to friends and colleagues, and learn how to read the hundreds of unspoken signs-facial expression, tone of voice, and more-that add color and depth to real-world relationships.

So how and when does the brain's frontal lobe develop? Not surprisingly, the most crucial stage is in early childhood, during that same critical period, and it's dependent on authentic human interactions. So if your young child is spending all of his time in front of an iPad instead of chatting and playing with teachers and other children, his empathetic abilities-the near-instinctive way you and I can read situations and get a feel for other people-could potentially be dulled.

Life has no on/off switch

Have you ever seen a mother chuckle as her baby tries to "swipe" a real photograph, or punch their fingers onto a poster or book as if it were a touchscreen? It may seem cute, but it points to something much deeper in the child's brain-an internalization that all actions have an immediate effect, and all stimuli elicit a quick response.

This is true in the on-screen world, but not elsewhere. When every finger swipe brings about a response of colors and shapes and sounds, a child's brain responds gleefully with the neurotransmitter dopamine, the key component in our reward system that is associated with feelings of pleasure. Dopamine hits in the brain can feel almost addictive, and when a child gets too used to an immediate stimuli response, he may learn to prefer smartphone-style interaction-that is, immediate gratification and response-over a real-world connection.

Don't trash those tablets for good

Despite the risks, there are a lot of benefits to letting little ones use technology. Once a child is over the age of two, feel free to allow limited screen time-think an hour, max, of playing with tablets and iPhones each day-to help develop coordination, hone quick reactions, and even sharpen language skills. As with all the other toys and tools available to your developing child, smartphone use should stay in moderation, and never stand in for human interaction or real-world face time.

The bottom line? Power off regularly to help your child understand the clear boundaries between the virtual world and the real one.

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What Screen Time Can Really Do to Kids' Brains

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Too much at the worst possible age may have negative consequences.

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List of Resources in Maine for Domestic Abuse

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List of Resources in Maine for Domestic Abuse

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by counties

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Maine Coalition to End Domestic Violence

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Are you worried about how your spouse, your partner, or someone you used to date is treating you?

Are you concerned that a friend, a family member, a coworker, or someone else in your life is possibly being controlled or hurt by their partner?

Are you struggling with the impacts of an abusive partner and need some support, even if it is years later?

If you answered "yes" to any of the above, our member advocates are here for you. Reach out directly to one of the resources listed below, or call the statewide domestic violence helpline to be connected with support near you: 1-866-834-HELP.

MCEDV Member Organizations

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Get Help for Domestic Violence | MCEDV | Augusta, Maine

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Are you worried about how your spouse, your partner, or someone you used to date is treating you? Are you concerned that a friend, a family member, a coworker, or someone else in your life is possibly being controlled or hurt by their partner?

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Maine Laws around Screen time for Child Care

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Maine Laws around Screen time for Child Care

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No

Does the state licensing regulation have a requirement for the provider to review screen time content?
Child Care Facilities
Television, video viewing and/or use of the computer shall be educational and age appropriate. 32 Me. Code R. § 15.2.4.
Family Child Care Providers
Television, video viewing or use of the computer must be educational and age appropriate. 33 Me. Code R. § 11.2.3.
Nursery Schools
Television, video viewing and/or use of the computer shall be educational and age appropriate. 36 Me. Code R. § 17(B)(2).

Does the state licensing regulation have time restrictions on screen time?
Child Care Facilities
Television viewing shall be limited to one (1) hour or less per classroom per day. 32 Me. Code R. § 15.2.4.
Nursery Schools
Television viewing shall be limited to one (1) hour or less per classroom per day. 36 Me. Code R. § 17(B)(2).

Does the state licensing regulation limit screen time during sleep or naptime?

No

Does the state licensing regulation require a written policy and/ or parent notification of screen time standards?

No

Does the state licensing regulation limit screen time during mealtimes?

No

Are there any other state licensing regulations relating to screen time?
Family Child Care Providers
Alternative activities for children must be made available during television, video viewing or use of the computer times. 33 Me. Code R. § 11.2.3.
Regulations current through May 2017. For a PDF of the 50-state dataset, click here (this is a large document - you may need to use the zoom function in order to read it). If you would like the spreadsheet version of the dataset, please email Natasha Frost at Natasha.Frost@mitchellhamline.edu.

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Child Care Screen Time Regulations - Maine

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Does the state licensing regulation have a definition for screen time? No Does the state licensing regulation have a requirement for the provider to review screen time content? Child Care Facilities Television, video viewing and/or use of the computer shall be educational and age appropriate. 32 Me. Code R. § 15.2.4.

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Includes video from WCSH6

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PORTLAND, Maine - Elizabeth Valentine is a nurse practitioner in Scarborough. Her husband is a physician assistant in Portland. Their son, William, is 9 and a half months old. They never considered the cost of child care when they were planning on starting a family.

"We started looking for day care when I was about 11 weeks pregnant," Valentine said. "We started to panic a little bit."

The couple was placed on five wait lists at Portland area day cares. In fact, Valentine said they tried to get on as many waiting lists as possible and most required an in-person tour before signing up. They are still waiting for some to open up.

In 2018, the cost of day care at a center ranged from over $5,000 per year for school-aged children to over $11,000 for infants. A family care facility averaged about $7,000. To put it in perspective, tuition for an in-state student taking 15 credit hours at the University of Maine is $5,585 a semester - or $11,170 a year.

"I didn't factor it in at all," Valentine said. "If I had, I think I would have taken one or two years extra before getting pregnant just to save up money to pay for day care."

Many families would get help from relatives, but in Valentine's case, her closest family members are in New Hampshire. "Not working was not an option," she said.

Even though the cost of child care is high, according to the Maine Children's Alliance, many providers aren't even charging what they should be to maintain a business.

"A lot of people do this because they love working with children, but at some point, they have to pay their bills," said Rita Furlow, a senior policy analyst at Maine Children's Alliance. "This is a field predominantly served by women and many have other options to go into other fields. In terms of pay for this field, it is significantly low. The average pay for child care workers is about $24,000 a year."
Maine Children's Alliance has three potential solutions for Maine's child care issues
On Jan. 1, 2019, Maine's minimum wage increase kicked in. For those providing child care, it means more overhead cost in a dwindling worker talent pool.
RELATED: Minimum wage increases from $10 to $11 an hour
Judy Defelice operates a small, 12-child family child care center out of her Waterville home. She told NEWS CENTER Maine, the rise in the minimum wage, and other costs associated with it may force her to raise prices by the fall.

"I would never close my day care, I enjoy it too much," Defelice said. "I have to raise the prices which are hurting the middle income more than anything and that is the majority of my families. Just watching these kids, they're like my kids, and watching them grow is hard to put words on."

It's affecting larger facilities as well. Family Focus in Brunswick cares for about 360 children. Executive Director Laura Larson said no one is denying the expensive cost of care and acknowledged parents already pay an exorbitant price.

"For us, it's trying to make sure all we give all of the quality services that we need to give and also still trying to be at a reasonable, affordable rate for parents to actually work," Larson said. "My biggest part of my budget, which is about 75 percent of my budget, is personnel costs. And we still don't pay our staff nearly what they should be paid."

Larson told NEWS CENTER Maine she is able to make it work because her families, already strained by costs, throw fundraisers to support her workers.

Family Focus center on Water Street is dealing with another issue plaguing the industry: a lack of staff. It can hold 48 children, but it is not at capacity because they can't fill positions or find substitutes.

Larson says these factors have been looming for about three years. She's afraid by the time solutions are implemented there could be a bigger dilemma across the state.

"If families can't work it's going to hit the labor force," she said. "It's not an early childhood education problem. If families can't bring their children to quality programs, they can't work."

Maine Children's Alliance said the situation could get worse before it gets better. Workers are retiring faster than their replacements are able to take their spots.

"If they can't afford to survive financially in this field, they are going to leave this field," Furlow said. "We are reaching a crisis in Maine. We have to help parents find and pay for infant care."

Both Family Focus and the Maine Children's Alliance say it's going to come down to more aid from the state and businesses in Maine to step in and support the child care field so they can get their workers to work.

If you are looking for child care, but don't know where to begin, Maine Children's Alliance suggests visiting Child Care Resources to assist with early child care needs.

You can join the ongoing conversation on Surviving Maine's Day Care Deserts on the NEWS CENTER Maine Facebook page.

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PORTLAND, Maine - Elizabeth Valentine is a nurse practitioner in Scarborough. Her husband is a physician assistant in Portland. Their son, William, is 9 and a half months old. They never considered the cost of child care when they were planning on starting a family.

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(This is part of a series of articles by Maine Public Radio)

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An infant sleeps at Parkside Children's Learning Center in Bangor in June 2019. (Kevin Bennett photo for Maine Public)

Finding quality, affordable child care is a problem across Maine. For some parents, it's a financial hardship. For others, it means forgoing education or a better job to stay home with the kids. Families aren't the only ones affected. Child care providers, workers and Maine employers are also feeling the pinch. Maine Public's Deep Dive explores the difficulty of accessing affordable, high-quality child care, as well as possible solutions.

By Maine Public staff June 24, 2019

Finding high-quality, affordable child care is a real struggle for parents throughout Maine. According to federal data from 2016, more than 68 percent of Maine kids younger than 6 live in households in which all parents are working. Even in parts of the state where there are more centers, getting a spot in one, and paying for it, create pressures that can influence when families decide to have children, how many to have or whether to have them at all.

Emilie and her partner, Ryan, who asked only to be identified by their first names, are attending a prenatal class in Portland. They and their classmates have come to learn more about giving birth - a process they will soon experience, as Emilie is due in five weeks.

With the help of the class, the couple has sorted out where and how they will welcome their child, but there's one glaring, unmet need.

"Thinking about the cost of child care is something that's pretty scary for us," Emilie says. "It is a huge expense and it will be a huge part of our budget and we'll have to make cuts in other places."

Child care stresses can have lasting effects on the careers of working parents and on the economy of Maine, and it's a problem parents, providers and policymakers have all been hard at work trying to solve.

Emilie and Ryan are currently on five child care waitlists. Both eventually plan to return to work while their child is still an infant.

After some research, the couple says full-time infant care in Greater Portland costs in excess of $1,000 per month. Along with Emilie's student loans, and the home the couple bought just a year ago, Ryan says he and Emilie have little choice but to maintain both incomes.

Away from Portland, child care doesn't get much more affordable. Two hours up the road in Bangor, Abbie Strout-Bentes has learned that a spot finally became available in March for her son Oscar, who is almost a year old. But she says she and her husband raided their savings and are putting their dreams of homeownership on a back burner.

Abbie says the family can't save for Oscar's college education. It's not the only sacrifice that might be required.

"Even with two incomes, we could not afford to have two kids in day care at the same time," she says. "Planning how many years to have the kids apart or whether or not we have a second child ... a lot of big decisions get made around the cost of child care."

Abbie says she's angry at being forced to make so many plans for her family around a single issue.

"People should be making decisions around their families based on what's right for their family and should be able to have access to resources needed to raise them," she says.

Providers say high child care costs are driven by expectations, both from parents and the state.

Many modern parents demand that their child care centers provide more than a graham cracker and a nap - they want their kids to learn and develop under the care of trained teachers. Jane Purdy, who owns and operates Little Friends Early Learning Center in Freeport, says it's good that parents are demanding quality childhood education and development for their pre-K kids. To deliver that, she needs to find quality teachers and assistants and pay them well enough stick around.

But payroll is only one part of the picture - Purdy says there are also state safety standards and regulations governing drinking water quality, among other cost drivers.

Annual price of care in Maine, 2018 (in dollars)

"Fire marshals, state expectations - those prices are going up. Insurance, worker's comp, and especially, most directly going up is the payroll." she says.

Another major cost driver is infant care, which comes with its own special set of demands. At Catherine Morrill Day Nursery in Portland, Executive Director Lori Moses says the center actually loses money on infant care, charging parents $323 a week for a service that costs closer to $450.

Under state law, providers must have at least one teacher for every four infants, compared with preschool rooms where two teachers can watch over 15-18 children. The tuition from those older children is used to offset the higher cost of infant care.

"If their budgets are tight, the first thing they're going to do most likely is lower the number of infants they're serving, or not have any infants in their program at all," she says.

Williams says there are no good data to know the extent of the deficit of infant care in Maine, but the state has seen nearly 600 home care providers close over the past decade. And she says those that do accept infants charge about $10,000 a year.

"The average cost of infant care if you're going to a child care center is currently more than a UMaine tuition," she says.

In Windham, expectant mom Sophia Cunningham and her boyfriend are preparing to spend a significant amount on child care.

"So basically, one of our incomes, which is mine, is going to be totally dedicated to child care," she says.

According to DHHS, the average single parent in Maine pays 45% of their total income to put one infant in a child care center, and the average married couple 14% - those figures are slightly smaller for home-based providers.

Cunningham says she needs to keep her job to retain health insurance. But she also likes her work as a pastry chef. She decided the benefits of paying for child care outweigh the drawbacks. Now she just needs to find it.

"I don't like leaving things to chance. I like to have a game plan," she says, "especially when it comes to child care. When you're on your own, you can let some things slide. But this is another human being you're responsible for. I can't leave it in limbo."

With no family close by to fall back on, Cunningham says one plan might be for her and her boyfriend to adjust their schedules so they work opposite shifts.

We hear from Maine Public News editors and reporters, as well as from Tara Williams, executive director of the Maine Association for the Education of Young Children, about the issues covered in our Deep Dive on child care in Maine.

Some scholars say that the child care costs will have major societal effects if left unaddressed. Susan Gardner, director of women's gender and sexuality studies at the University of Maine, says that for the most part, solving the child care puzzle has been left up to families, and that has to change.

"We know our younger population is declining, we are the oldest state in the United States, and if we want to continue to bring in and maintain younger people in this area, we have to address this systematically and systemically," she says.

The big question is - how?
Maine Public reporters Jennifer Mitchell and Patty Wight contributed to this story. Maine Public Deep Dive Child Care debuted with an interview first aired in Morning Edition Friday, June 21. The broadcast version of Mitchell's piece first aired in Morning Edition Monday, June 24. The broadcast version of Wight's piece first aired in All Things Considered Monday, June 24.

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Out of Reach: Maine's Child Care Affordability Problem - Maine Public Digital

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An infant sleeps at Parkside Children's Learning Center in Bangor in June 2019. (Kevin Bennett photo for Maine Public) Finding quality, affordable child care is a problem across Maine. For some parents, it's a financial hardship. For others, it means forgoing education or a better job to stay home with the kids.

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Daycares close due to coronavirus; some stay open for working parents

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Daycares close due to coronavirus; some stay open for working parents

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Hundreds of Maine day cares close due to COVID-19; others stay open for working parents

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PORTLAND (WGME) -- While schools were ordered to close this week due to the coronavirus pandemic, child care providers were not, and some are choosing to remain open. Portside Learning Center in Portland is one of them. Director Nicole Hoglund said only about half of kids are showing up, but she feels it's crucial they be there as an option.

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Portland School Board approves budget, with theme of equity

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Portland School Board approves budget, with theme of equity

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An early proposed budget for Portland schools includes new investments in pre-K, English language learning and special education, as well as a plan to reconfigure the district's eight mainland elementary schools.

The Board of Public Education voted unanimously to accept the $122.3 million budget presented by Superintendent Xavier Botana and advance the proposal to the finance committee for the next step in a months-long budget approval process.

The proposed budget includes an overall increase of 4.2 percent and an increase of 3 percent, or 35 cents, on the school tax rate, bringing it to $12.04 per $1,000 of value. That would increase the school portion of the annual tax bill for a home valued at $250,000 by $88 a year.

The theme of this year's budget is "Addressing the Opportunity Gap," Botana said Tuesday. It is focused on achieving the district's equity goals through investments that would reduce gaps for economically disadvantaged students, students of color and English language learners.

"When we compare the data of our students who are not disadvantaged with the data of our least advantaged students, we see great disparities," Botana said.

"I believe that as a community, we need to step up to the plate and live those values in our budget by continuing to invest in equity-focused programs, services and initiatives to reduce the persistent opportunity gaps between students."

Those investments include $300,000 to expand the district's pre-K program with two additional classrooms and transportation; $441,000 for new teachers for English language learners; and $390,000 to enhance special education services.

Also included is about $165,000 for investments in core instruction areas of math and phonics.

In total new investments aimed at creating greater equity would total $1.3 million, which would in turn require adjustments and reductions in other areas.

The budget includes an across-the-board reduction of 3 percent to the district's supplies budget; a 2 percent reduction to the athletics and co-curricular budget; and the elimination of fourth- and fifth-grade Spanish for a savings of about $250,000.

Botana said the elimination of the Spanish program is "not ideal," but is necessary in order to invest in the equity goals.

The budget also includes the enrollment-based reductions of three high school teachers, one at Portland High School and two at Deering High School; and central office adjustments.

And it calls for a reconfiguration of the district's eight mainland elementary schools, a proposal the board began looking at in January as a cost-savings measure aimed at addressing long-term trends of increasing operating costs and declining state funding.

The plan would reorganize the eight schools into four primary schools for students in pre-K through second grade and four intermediate schools serving grades 3-5 for a savings of about $1 million. It also would mean the elimination of 20 classroom teacher positions in the elementary schools. Botana said it is too early to say how those eliminations would be made.

Other costs associated with the reconfiguration include a projected loss of $300,000 in National School Lunch funding due to a shift in the numbers of students who qualify at each school. There would also be transportation implications with more students needing transportation and buses having to travel farther each day.

Public comment Tuesday night was intended to be focused on the process of referring the budget to the finance committee, while opportunities for comment on the content of the budget will take place at future public hearings.

However, some board members and members of the public opposed to the elementary school reconfiguration did weigh in on the budget proposal.

"I think most people in this room want to seriously address equity," said resident John Thibodeau, an organizer for the advocacy group Equity in Portland Schools. "We want that to happen. This proposal for reconfiguration sidetracks, confuses and conflates that issue. It makes it more difficult. It's a massive undertaking and not founded on solid ground."

Resident Emily Chaleff said the proposal was "rammed down our throats" and that "our kids will suffer and our teachers will suffer."

There are still several steps before the budget would be up for a vote before the board and before the city council would send it to referendum, currently scheduled for June 9.

In the immediate future the school finance committee is scheduled to review the budget Thursday and a public hearing will be held at a school finance committee meeting Monday.

"I have confidence the budget presented tonight is a viable option, although one that has considerable change associated with it," Botana said. "I feel very strongly we need to advance our work in closing achievement gaps. We can't stand pat on that."

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Proposed Portland school budget includes equity investments, elementary reconfiguration

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An early proposed budget for Portland schools includes new investments in pre-K, English language learning and special education, as well as a plan to reconfigure the district's eight mainland elementary schools. The Board of Public Education voted unanimously to accept the $122.3 million budget presented by Superintendent Xavier Botana and advance the proposal to the finance committee for the next step in a months-long budget approval process.

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Facebook page: "Equity in Portland Schools"

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Facebook page: "Equity in Portland Schools"

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You probably need Facebook for this one

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"It's really saddening to see," said Ladislas Nzeyimana, a senior at Deering High School in Portland and the student body president. "I was hoping we would have one last month to regroup with all the teachers and for all the seniors to be together for one last moment."

"The majority of plans we have for the senior class - all these little events that seniors do every year that we've seen throughout our years in high school that we can't do - it's kind of a bummer to have all that taken away," said a classmate, Gabriel M'Bambi. "But I guess the most important thing is to graduate and move on. There's nothing we can really do about that."

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"It's really saddening to see," said Ladislas Nzeyimana, a senior at Deering High School in Portland and the student body president. "I was hoping we would have one last month to regroup with all the teachers and for all the seniors to be together for one last moment."

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Edutopia article

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Steps that leaders can take within their schools in order to serve all students equitably and close the achievement gap.

©Shutterstock/Iakov Filimonov

When I served as a mentor to new teachers, one of the greatest challenges I faced was trying to help other white teachers recognize and adapt to cultural differences in their new classrooms. This was especially difficult because for many white educators, race is an uncomfortable subject they'd rather not acknowledge.

I've heard several white educators say, "I treat all my kids the same." While this may come from a sincere place of wanting to promote equality, a color-blind perspective can diminish and undermine a child's culture and identity and the validity of painful experiences they may have had with racism and bias.

Likewise, refusing to discuss race frankly and openly can stymie a school's growth and keep us from building a shared understanding of how our assumptions might advantage some students over others. These issues can be painful to tease apart, but the process of building a shared, open dialogue around race, expectations, and assumptions is critical if we seek to close achievement gaps.

Here are some steps leaders might take toward reducing bias in their schools and increasing equity to meet the needs of all students.

Ground Your School in a Simple, Student-Centered Mission

Having a mission that focuses teachers and administrators on meeting the needs of all students can go miles in promoting a positive school culture and helping adults prioritize the needs of their students over their own needs.

One of my colleagues always sings the praises of a former principal who did this well. She says that whenever a teacher would vent to the principal about a concern, he would let the teacher say their piece and then pose the question, "We just have to ask ourselves, what's best for students in this situation?"

Difficult conversations may be easier if we keep them focused on students rather than the other educators in the room. Each adult may more readily set aside their own comfort for the greater good-the shared goal of supporting all students' achievement at high levels.

Let the Data Be Your Guide

While data alone will not be enough to change our systems to be more equitable, looking at trends, both nationally and within your school or classroom, can serve as an objective starting point to having discussions about equity and bias.

Once achievement gaps are identified, schools can begin to analyze why there are gaps. There is research suggesting that teachers' racial biases negatively affect student achievement, and sharing this information with faculty can make starting conversations about racial bias in classrooms less personal and more objective, and help lower individual teachers' defenses.

Then, taking the Harvard Implicit Bias Test can help educators see their personal data and privately reflect on how their own assumptions and biases might be affecting students' performance.

Allow for Student Voice

If we allow students the freedom and a platform to address inequities or raise concerns without the threat of consequences for being disrespectful, we'll be able to move forward toward more equitable discipline and instruction.

Schools or classrooms can provide systems for students to report concerns, and individual teachers and administrators can respect students' dignity simply by listening and responding with genuine empathy to their concerns about equity and fairness.

Demonstrate Growth Mindset and Nurture Trust

When we're vulnerable enough to share how we have grown in our own understanding and to listen patiently to one another, we can rise together to overcome internalized assumptions or implicit biases. Reading the National Board's Equity Standards as a faculty and discussing frankly how accomplished teachers ensure student access in their classrooms can lead to deeper understanding and more intentional practice.

It's understandable that many teachers unconsciously re-create the classrooms they knew as students, the classrooms where they were successful. If we were teaching rooms full of carbon copies of ourselves this might be OK, but the truth is, all classrooms are heterogeneous. If we aren't intentional about creating systems in which all students can be successful, too many classrooms and schools will continue to show achievement gaps.

This is why raising awareness is so critical for closing such gaps. It starts with every individual educator thinking about their own expectations for and reactions to students and how these are communicated in subtle and not-so-subtle ways throughout the school day.

Throughout this process, it's important for administrators and teacher leaders to remember to be patient with those faculty members who may be demonstrating less sensitive assumptions. Just as we want teachers to communicate expectations that all students can learn at high levels, leaders must also communicate expectations that all teachers can grow, learn, and open their hearts and eyes to see the real potential sitting in the desks before them, ready to learn whatever we teach them.

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Steps that leaders can take within their schools in order to serve all students equitably and close the achievement gap. ©Shutterstock/Iakov Filimonov When I served as a mentor to new teachers, one of the greatest challenges I faced was trying to help other white teachers recognize and adapt to cultural differences in their new classrooms. This was especially difficult because for many white educators, race is an uncomfortable subject they'd rather not acknowledge.

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How is Climate Change impacting Casco Bay?

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How is Climate Change impacting Casco Bay?

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Hundreds of Scientists Gather in Portland to Discuss Climate Change

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Hundreds of Scientists Gather in Portland to Discuss Climate Change

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Several hundred scientists, conservationists and government leaders from New England and the Canadian Maritimes are gathering in Portland to discuss the rapid ecological changes in the Gulf of Maine and how the region should respond.

The Gulf of Maine 2050 International Symposium will focus on the science of sea level rise, ocean acidification and warming ocean waters, as well as how those climate-related changes will affect the regional economy, environment and population over the next three decades.

"Preparing for 2050 is a major challenge, but it is one that we won't face alone," said Theresa Torrent of the Maine Department of Marine Resources Maine Coastal Program and the state's coordinator on the international Gulf of Maine Council on the Marine Environment. "The purpose of Gulf of Maine 2050 is to activate the talents of people around the Gulf of Maine and build a safe and productive future."

The conference - hosted by the Gulf of Maine Council, the Portland-based Gulf of Maine Research Institute and the Huntsman Marine Science Centre in St. Andrews, New Brunswick - comes at a time when New England's waters and forests are already experiencing dramatic changes.

Another goal of the gathering, however, is to foster collaboration among states and provinces at a time when President Trump is increasingly isolating the United States from the international community on climate issues.

As scientists gathered at the Westin Harborview Hotel in Portland on Monday, the Trump administration followed through on its pledge to withdraw the United States from the Paris climate accord. By notifying the United Nations of the its plans to withdraw from the agreement, the Trump administration is walking away from the international goals set to avoid an additional global temperature rise of 2 degrees Celsius.

Speaking hours before the Trump administration's announcement, Maine Gov. Janet Mills recalled how earlier this year her administration joined the U.S. Climate Alliance coalition of 24 states that are committed to the goals of the Paris climate accord "no matter what happens in Washington."

Mills, who made action on climate change a cornerstone of her 2018 gubernatorial campaign, has set a goal of achieving carbon neutrality in Maine by 2045 and of reducing Maine's greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent from 1990 levels by 2050.

"Our administration believes in science," Mills said during the conference's opening remarks. "We share a love of our great state's natural resources, outdoor recreation and coastal communities, all of which are threatened by climate change."

While the political debate over climate change continues in some sectors, the Gulf of Maine is already experiencing significant changes.

The Gulf of Maine is warming faster than almost every other area of ocean around the globe, according research by the Gulf of Maine Research Institute and other scientists. And those changes have major ecological implications.

Colder-water species such as cod are moving north or into deeper waters while warmer-water species, such as black bass, are moving into the gulf. The gulf also is becoming increasingly acidic as the ocean absorbs more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, which can impede shell formation by lobsters, scallops, clams and other shellfish.

Last week, Maine fisheries regulators announced that lobster landings were down 40 percent this year compared to 2018 and down 38 percent from the five-year average. During her speech, Mills said a long-predicted end to the so-called "lobster boom" would have a "devastating" impact on Maine's commercial fishing industry and that other Maine fisheries are threatened by acidification or invasive species.

"The antidote to this lies in climate, ocean and ocean-species science - which so many of you bring to this conference today and tomorrow - which will better form the basis of public policy that is driven by reason and research, and not rhetoric," Mills said.

Globally, sea levels rose 3 inches between 1993 and 2017 and continue to rise at a rate of roughly one-eighth of an inch annually as glaciers melt and seawater expands thermally as it warms, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. That is roughly double the rate for much of the 20th century.

Additionally, global temperatures already have risen roughly 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit or 1 degree Celsius since pre-industrial levels. The Paris climate agreement called on member nations to work toward goals of holding future temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius, a level that reports from the United Nations' International Panel on Climate Change have suggested could avoid some of the more catastrophic impacts of climate change.

Ko Barrett, a deputy assistant administrator at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration who has served as vice chair of International Panel on Climate Change, told Monday's conference that the world is projected to hit that 1.5-degree mark between 2030 and 2052 at the current pace. But Barrett said "the good news is we are not yet committed to a 1.5-degree world."

"While not impossible, limiting warming to 1.5 degrees is a monumental task that would require rapid, unprecedented transitions in all aspects of society - transitions like we are seeing in the energy sector, only faster and in many different sectors simultaneously," Barrett said.

Over the next three days, conference attendees will share their scientific research into sea level rise, ocean acidification and ocean temperature rise in the Gulf of Maine. Organizers also will be awarding "mini-grants" to research proposals that spring from conversations at the conference.

Rachel Cleetus, policy director for climate and energy at the Union of Concerned Scientists, told attendees that scientists must do a better job of communicating how a changing climate affects the health, lives and economics of everyday people.

Cleetus also said state action on climate change has become "a beacon of hope" amid federal inaction on the climate crisis. Addressing the bigger issues will require dramatic changes to cleaner sources in electricity generation and the transportation sector as well as protecting the "carbon sinks," such as forests, that lock up carbon dioxide.

"It's going to require some pretty fundamental shifts in how we make our investments in the power sector," Cleetus said. "And the important part here is that Maine is setting a course that will work not just for Maine, but could be an example elsewhere in the nation and globally."

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Hundreds of scientists gather in Portland to address climate change in the Gulf of Maine

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Several hundred scientists, conservationists and government leaders from New England and the Canadian Maritimes are gathering in Portland to discuss the rapid ecological changes in the Gulf of Maine and how the region should respond.

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compiled by NASA

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Climate Change: Vital Signs of the Planet

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Our Trajectory

Earth Will Continue to Warm and the Effects Will Be Profound

The potential future effects of global climate change include more frequent wildfires, longer periods of drought in some regions, and an increase in the wind intensity and rainfall from tropical cyclones. Credit: left - Mike McMillan/USFS, center - Tomas Castelazo / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0, right - NASA.

Global climate change is not a future problem. Changes to Earth's climate driven by increased human emissions of heat-trapping greenhouse gases are already having widespread effects on the environment: glaciers and ice sheets are shrinking, river and lake ice is breaking up earlier, plant and animal geographic ranges are shifting, and plants and trees are blooming sooner.

Effects that scientists had long predicted would result from global climate change are now occurring, such as sea ice loss, accelerated sea level rise, and longer, more intense heat waves.

" The magnitude and rate of climate change and associated risks depend strongly on near-term mitigation and adaptation actions, and projected adverse impacts and related losses and damages escalate with every increment of global warming."

- Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

Some changes (such as droughts, wildfires, and extreme rainfall) are happening faster than scientists previously assessed. In fact, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) - the United Nations body established to assess the science related to climate change - modern humans have never before seen the observed changes in our global climate, and some of these changes are irreversible over the next hundreds to thousands of years.

Scientists have high confidence that global temperatures will continue to rise for many decades, mainly due to greenhouse gases produced by human activities.

A Degree of Difference

So, the Earth's average temperature has increased about 2 degrees Fahrenheit during the 20th century. What's the big deal?

Read more

The IPCC's Sixth Assessment report, published in 2021, found that human emissions of heat-trapping gases have already warmed the climate by nearly 2 degrees Fahrenheit (1.1 degrees Celsius) since 1850-1900. The global average temperature is expected to reach or exceed 1.5 degrees C (about 3 degrees F) within the next few decades. These changes will affect all regions of Earth.

What's the difference between climate change and global warming?

"Global warming" refers to the long-term warming of the planet. "Climate change" encompasses global warming, but refers to the broader range of changes that are happening to our planet, including rising sea levels; shrinking mountain glaciers; accelerating ice melt in Greenland, Antarctica and the Arctic; and shifts in flower/plant blooming times.

detailed answer

The severity of effects caused by climate change will depend on the path of future human activities. More greenhouse gas emissions will lead to more climate extremes and widespread damaging effects across our planet. However, those future effects depend on the total amount of carbon dioxide we emit. So, if we can reduce emissions, we may avoid some of the worst effects.

" The scientific evidence is unequivocal: climate change is a threat to human wellbeing and the health of the planet. Any further delay in concerted global action will miss the brief, rapidly closing window to secure a liveable future." ²

- Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

Future Effects in the U.S.

U.S. Regional Effects

U.S. Regional Effects

Climate change is bringing different types of challenges to each region of the country. Some of the current and future impacts are summarized below. These findings are from the Third and Fourth National Climate Assessment Reports, released by the U.S. Global Change Research Program.

Is it too late to prevent climate change?

Humans have caused major climate changes to happen already, and we have set in motion more changes still. However, if we stopped emitting greenhouse gases today, the rise in global temperatures would begin to flatten within a few years. Temperatures would then plateau but remain well-elevated for many, many centuries.

detailed answer

Northeast. Heat waves, heavy downpours, and sea level rise pose increasing challenges to many aspects of life in the Northeast. Infrastructure, agriculture, fisheries, and ecosystems will be increasingly compromised. Farmers can explore new crop options, but these adaptations are not cost- or risk-free. Moreover, adaptive capacity, which varies throughout the region, could be overwhelmed by a changing climate. Many states and cities are beginning to incorporate climate change into their planning.

Northwest. Changes in the timing of peak flows in rivers and streams are reducing water supplies and worsening competing demands for water. Sea level rise, erosion, flooding, risks to infrastructure, and increasing ocean acidity pose major threats. Increasing wildfire incidence and severity, heat waves, insect outbreaks, and tree diseases are causing widespread forest die-off.

Southeast. Sea level rise poses widespread and continuing threats to the region's economy and environment. Extreme heat will affect health, energy, agriculture, and more. Decreased water availability will have economic and environmental impacts.

Midwest. Extreme heat, heavy downpours, and flooding will affect infrastructure, health, agriculture, forestry, transportation, air and water quality, and more. Climate change will also worsen a range of risks to the Great Lakes.

Southwest. Climate change has caused increased heat, drought, and insect outbreaks. In turn, these changes have made wildfires more numerous and severe. The warming climate has also caused a decline in water supplies, reduced agricultural yields, and triggered heat-related health impacts in cities. In coastal areas, flooding and erosion are additional concerns.

References
References
Header image shows cracked mud stretches across sections of the Panamint Valley. Credit: NPS/Kurt Moses; A degree of concern thermometer image credit: Pixabay/geralt

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intergovernmental panel on climate change

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Vital Signs of the Planet: Global Climate Change and Global Warming. Long-term effects of global climate change in the United States.

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Homelessness in Maine and state by state

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Homelessness in Maine and state by state

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As of January 2019, Maine had an estimated 2106 experiencing homelessness on any given day, as reported by Continuums of Care to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Of that Total, 283 were family households, 116 were Veterans, 125 were unaccompanied young adults (aged 18-24), and 226 were individuals experiencing chronic homelessness.

Public school data reported to the U.S. Department of Education during the 2017-2018 school year shows that an estimated 2443 public school students experienced homelessness over the course of the year. Of that total, 74 students were unsheltered, 596 were in shelters, 295 were inhotels/motels, and 1478 were doubled up.

Use our map to compare Maine homeless statistics with other states and filter statistics by the data source. You can also find contact information for each state under the map.

If you are experiencing homelessness, please contact the Continuum of Care in your local area for assistance.
Need to update your state's contact information?

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As of January 2019, Maine had an estimated 2106 experiencing homelessness on any given day, as reported by Continuums of Care to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Of that Total, 283 were family households, 116 were Veterans, 125 were unaccompanied young adults (aged 18-24), and 226 were individuals experiencing chronic homelessness.

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Ages

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Homelessness is not simply an issue that pertains to single men and women, but is experienced by thousands of families a year, and one of the fastest growing homeless populations is families with children.

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Issues - National Coalition for the Homeless

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Homelessness is not simply an issue that pertains to single men and women, but is experienced by thousands of families a year, and one of the fastest growing homeless populations is families with children. Read more>>

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Are there any special laws regarding homelessness?

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Are there any special laws regarding homelessness?

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There are two branches of law when it comes to homelessness in America: laws designed to help the homeless get aid, shelter, and food to improve their quality of life, and laws designed to criminalize homelessness and begging in order to force the homeless into shelter. Unfortunately, according to the National Coalition for the Homeless, the trend over recent years has favored criminalizing homelessness.

Proponents of the criminalized homelessness approach believe that punishment will deter people from choosing to be homeless. This view, of course, assumes that homeless is always a choice. Cities and states that have adopted this approach have begun outlawing activities like sleeping, eating, sitting, and begging in public spaces. They also tend to selectively enforce more neutral laws, like open container laws and anti-loitering provisions, against people who appear to be homeless. Those arrested on charges of violating any of these laws face not only jail time, but also fines and other penalties. It also leaves the homeless person with an arrest record, making the possibility of future employment even more difficult.

Fortunately, the courts have begun to respond to the criminalization of homelessness. In Jones v. City of Los Angeles, a United States Court of Appeals held that the Eighth Amendment to the US Constitution prohibits cities from punishing involuntary sitting, lying, or sleeping in public spaces when it is an unavoidable consequence of homelessness. Unfortunately, the case was later settled out of court and the decision was vacated, meaning its precedential value on American law may be rather limited.

Another approach to criminalizing homelessness has been to attack those who seek to help the homeless. Aid workers dispensing food to homeless people have been subject to fine or arrest in some cities. Other cities have outlawed giving money to panhandlers. Violators can be ticketed. This, too, has led to challenges in court with mixed results.
Unlike other groups in American culture that enjoy special protections against discrimination, the homeless are not considered a protected class. Thus, legislation that specifically targets the homeless can be enforced and upheld so long as it does not deny the homeless of other constitutional rights and the law is applied uniformly without bias toward one of the classes that are protected (such as racial, ethnic, or religious minorities).

As a result, various communities have taken ridiculous steps to discourage or criminalize homelessness. Examples include changing sprinkler schedules to prevent sleeping in public parks, removing benches, creating permits that require the payment of a fee in order to panhandle, creating designated panhandling areas, etc. Because none of these laws or activities specifically target a group other than homeless people, they often remain enforceable.
If you are concerned about the plight of the homeless in America, you can take action. Contributing to organizations that support helping the homeless is an excellent option. You can also become involved in political organizations that seek to change laws affecting the homeless. Of course, if you are homeless or know someone who is, you may also need to take legal action to protect yourself or that person from the legal consequences of being homeless. To find an attorney in your area, visit HG.org and use the attorney search feature. You may also visit your local bar association and ask for a list of attorneys that provide pro bono services or if there are any legal aid organizations that could assist you free of charge or at a significantly reduced fee.
Provided by HG.org

Disclaimer: While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of this publication, it is not intended to provide legal advice as individual situations will differ and should be discussed with an expert and/or lawyer.

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are there any special laws regarding homeless people

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Are There Any Special Laws Regarding Homeless People

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There are two branches of law when it comes to homelessness in America: laws designed to help the homeless get aid, shelter, and food to improve their quality of life, and laws designed to criminalize homelessness and begging in order to force the homeless into shelter.

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, MN, ARNP-CNS, PHCNS-BC, FCNS, Vice President

Health inequities-defined by the World Health Organization as systematic differences in the health status of different population groups-have been in the national spotlight for years, which isn't surprising given that the U.S. ranks last on measures of health equity compared to other industrialized countries.

Health inequity is a multiple-industry issue with significant impacts (health, social, economic, etc.) on people and communities. Racial health disparities alone are projected to cost health insurers $337 billion between 2009 and 2018.

Healthcare organizations are increasingly making health equity a strategic priority, with varying degrees of success.

How can we tell if health equity has been achieved? "When everyone has the opportunity to attain full health potential, and no one is disadvantaged from achieving this potential because of social position or any other socially defined circumstance," according to a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF)-commissioned Communities in Action: Pathways to Health Equity report (a year-long analysis by a 19-member committee of experts in national public health, healthcare, civil rights, social science, education, research, and business).

Many healthcare organizations, such as Allina Health, have initiated efforts to improve health equity by making it a systemwide strategic priority and investing in the right resources, infrastructure, and programs, which we'll outline in this article. Other systems, however, are still largely unaware of the inequities and disparities within their walls.

Healthcare has a long way to go to effectively address health inequity, but there are evidence-based approaches to start tackling-or continue the battle against-health inequities. This article explores approaches, both simple and complex, health systems can implement to work toward restoring health equity.

Health Inequities and Disparities: Understanding the Problem

Why are racial and ethnic minorities in the U.S. disproportionately affected by poor quality of healthcare? Why are African American infants 3.2 times as likely to die from complications related to low birthweight than non-Hispanic white infants? Why is there a 25-year difference in life expectancy for babies who live just a few miles apart from each other in New Orleans (Figure 1)?
Figure 1: Life expectancy of babies varies by neighborhood in New Orleans
We can start to answer these questions by understanding what causes health inequity, as described in RWJF's Communities in Action report:

1. Intrapersonal, interpersonal, institutional, and systemic mechanisms (i.e., structural inequities) that organize the distribution of power and resources differently across lines of race, gender, class, sexual orientation, gender expression, and other dimensions of individual and group identify.

2. Unequal allocation of power and resources-including goods, services, and societal attention-which manifests itself in unequal social, economic, and environmental conditions (i.e., determinants of health).

Health inequities are the result of more than individual choice or random occurrence; they are the result of poverty, structural racism, and discrimination. Health systems are just one cog in the wheel of the health inequity issue, but the role they play in the problem is a big one.

Healthcare's Role in Disparities

Looking at race- and ethnicity-related disparities, for example, differences in access to care, receipt of needed medical care, and receipt of life-saving technologies for certain populations "may be the result of system-level factors or may be due to individual physician behavior" according to an NCBI article. The article states that "patient race/ethnicity has been shown to influence physician interpretation of patients' complaints and, ultimately, clinical decision making."

The literature shows that clinicians have biases toward certain populations that impede their ability to provide effective care. Over time, these biases become institutionalized and harder to eliminate. Given that the perceived quality of healthcare (or lack thereof) can significantly impact health outcomes (e.g., adherence to medical advice, cancer screening recommendations, and medication regiments), many health systems find themselves in a self-perpetuating cycle of health inequities and poor health outcomes. Health systems exacerbate their health inequity problems when they don't have the required data (e.g., socioeconomic) or healthcare delivery structure to discover and correct disparities.

Given that health disparities are shaped by multiple determinants of health (social, economic, environmental, structural, etc.), achieving health equity requires engagement from not just healthcare, but also education, transportation, housing, planning, public health, and many other industries and businesses. Achieving health equity is a communitywide effort.

How to Make Health Equity a Strategic Priority

IHI says "health care professionals can-and should-play a major role in seeking to improve health outcomes for disadvantaged populations." Healthcare organizations committed to outcomes improvement must also be committed to health equity, and their first step is making it a systemwide, leadership-driven priority.

The Health Equity Must Be a Strategic Priority article outlines five ways health systems can make health equity a core strategy:

1. Make health equity a leader-driven priority (healthcare leaders must articulate, act on, and build the vision into all decisions).

2. Develop structures and processes that support equity (health systems must dedicate resources and establish a governance structure to oversee the health equity work).

3. Take specific actions that address the social determinants of health (health systems must identify their health disparities and the needs and assets of people who face disparities, and then act to close the gaps). Some patient populations need additional support to achieve the same health outcomes as other patient populations (e.g., they need someone to drive them to appointments, they need home visits, etc.).

4. Confront institutional racism within the organization (health systems must identify, address, and dismantle the structures, policies, and norms that perpetuate race-based advantage).

5. Partner with community organizations.

Making health equity a strategic priority is the first step. Next, healthcare organizations need to tackle the disparities with proven interventions designed for their disadvantaged populations. The RWJF outlines specific steps health systems can take to address disparities:

Adopt new vital signs to screen for the nonmedical factors influencing health.

Commit to helping low-income and non-English-speaking patients get the care they need.

Guard against the potential for bias to influence medical care.

Make sure elderly, women, and racial/ethnic minorities are adequately represented in clinical trials.

Understand the effects of adverse childhood experiences and use trauma-informed care.

Address the Socioeconomic Determinants of Health

Let's take a closer look at how health systems can incorporate nonmedical vital signs into their health assessment processes to paint a more detailed picture of their patients' health. RWJF's Time to Act: Investing in the Health of Our Children and Communities report states that adding nonmedical vital signs (employment, education, food insecurity, safe housing, exposure to discrimination or violence, etc.) to existing ones (heart rate, blood pressure, weight, etc.) can help clinicians make better-informed decisions about treatment and care.

The article notes that new vital signs should be objective, readily comparable to population-level data, and actionable.

Adding nonmedical vital signs to health assessments facilitates healthcare and community collaboration by prompting patient referrals to community resources and improving clinician understanding of patients' lives outside of the hospital or clinic. It's this blurring of the lines between health systems and community organizations that will ultimately bridge the health inequity gap.

Health System-Community Collaboration Is Critical

A recurring theme in recommendations to improve health equity is community collaboration. One organization tackling health inequity with a community-based mindset is Health Share of Oregon, a local coordinated care organization (CCO) serving more than 240,000 Oregon Health Plan members. Its community-based approach connects its members with the services they need to be healthy:

Training and education

Support groups

Care coordination

Home improvement (i.e., home environment items, such as air conditioning or athletic shoes to improve mobility, access, hygiene, etc.)

Transportation

Community health programs (e.g., farmers markets in food deserts)

Housing supports (e.g., shelter, utilities, and critical repairs)

Resource assistance (e.g., referral to job training or social services)

Other services that address social determinants of health (e.g., cell phones, gift cards to purchase supplies, etc.)

Health Share's The Power of Together: Five Years of Health Transformation, 2012-2017 report details its health equity progress and how its "local communities come together to improve the health and health outcomes of Oregon Health Plan members, while simultaneously contributing cost savings to the system." Another health system, Allina Health, is also working to restore health equity for its underserved patients.

How One Health System Is Tackling Health Inequity-And Achieving Results

Illness, disability, and death are more prevalent and more severe for minority groups in the U.S., and Minnesota is no exception to this problematic trend:

In Minnesota, African-American and American Indian babies die in the first year of life at twice the rate of white babies.

In Minnesota, the rate of HIV/AIDS among African-born persons is nearly 16 times higher than among white, non-Hispanic persons.

In 2011, Minnesota started requiring healthcare providers to collect race, ethnicity, and language (REAL) data. The inequities revealed by this data motivated Allina Health, a not-for-profit healthcare system serving communities throughout Minnesota and western Wisconsin, to take targeted actions to reduce inequities for some of its racial/ethnic minority patient populations.

Allina Health's approach to tackling its health inequities involved analytics, research, and targeted interventions. Allina Health used analytics to identify opportunities to reduce inequities, including improving colorectal cancer screening rates among its minority populations. Allina Health recognized that, despite having REAL data, its understanding of patient needs and perceptions regarding colorectal cancer screening was incomplete.

To complete the picture of its patients' health, Allina Health conducted research and focus groups to understand values, beliefs, and barriers impeding certain patient populations from completing the recommended colorectal cancer (CRC) screenings (e.g., concerns about discomfort with the procedure, based on prior healthcare experiences in a patient's home country where pain medication wasn't used, a lack of familiarity with the word screening, basic needs, such as food, housing, and bills, may take priority over preventive health treatment).

With an improved understanding of its patients' health beliefs and needs, Allina Health developed targeted interventions:

Mails patients home testing/screening kits.

Uses culturally tailored education materials, instructions, and FAQ documents written in the patient's primary language.

Allina Health-employed care guides connect with patients to address barriers, including non-medical challenges (e.g., lack of transportation), to increase patient understanding of screening goals and options.

Harnesses the power of community (e.g., social media campaigns that better engage African-American and Spanish-speaking patients).

Uses analytics to monitor effectiveness of interventions on populations at highest risk for poorest screening rates.

Allina Health's data-driven approach to reducing health inequities is beginning to make a difference: it has achieved a three percent relative improvement in CRC screening rates for targeted populations. And with REAL data embedded in its dashboards and workflow, it can identify and address additional disparities. Allina Health is one of many health systems making progress toward health equity by making it a strategic priority and implementing evidence-based, analytics-driven, community-informed, targeted interventions.

Beyond Patient Outcomes: Broadening Equity's Scope

Healthcare organizations can broaden equity's scope to include more than the health outcomes of the patients they serve; they can use their resources and status as employers to address equity in myriad other ways:

Develop a diverse workforce by improving hiring practices.

Provide training and growth opportunities for all employees:

Train employees to ensure they can provide culturally and linguistically appropriate care.

Train employees to support their career growth.

Provide pathways and financial support for employees in entry level positions so they can progress to higher wage positions (nursing, administration, etc.).

Pay employees living wages:

Build facilities in underserved communities:
Many healthcare organizations have moved out of poor neighborhoods to capture market share, increasingly building new hospitals in more affluent areas. These organizations can positively impact health inequity by building in deprived areas, making healthcare available to underserved patient populations.

Use a diverse pool of contractors and suppliers:

Supplier diversity efforts can positively improve the economic health of communities. Kaiser Permanente's supplier diversity initiative provides minority-owned, women-owned, veteran-owned, and small businesses the opportunity to participate in contracting and subcontracting activities. With the goal of spending $1 billion on goods and services, Kaiser Permanente fuels the economic growth of its communities, providing training internally and externally, attending and promoting supplier outreach events, and researching opportunities to engage diverse suppliers.

Henry Ford Health System's supplier diversity process includes more than 300 active minority- and women-owned businesses. Its transparent sourcing policy requires that all bids for more than $20,000 include one or more women- or minority-owned firms in the bid process (when available). The request for proposals process includes preference points for certified women- or minority-owned business and those that have supplier diversity processes in place.

Make healthcare investments beyond the required community benefit and invest back into the community:

Provide monetary support to increase the number of community spaces (e.g., parks, walkable trails, etc.).

Invest in high school education programs that prepare students for healthcare careers and provide them with high school and college credit. Higher education translates to higher wages.

Achieving Health Equity is a Collaborative Effort and Industrywide Imperative

Success in healthcare requires organizations to improve quality and clinical effectiveness while decreasing costs. Healthcare organizations must include health equity as a strategic priority, broaden health equity's scope, invest in the structures and processes that improve health equity, and dismantle institutionalized racism.

In pursuit of health equity, organizations must also provide culturally competent care to many different patient populations who need clinicians to understand their lives, address their population-specific healthcare needs, change practices to be inclusive, collect data in a non-judgmental way, and build trusting relationships that enable them to openly participate in care-improvement strategies that are driven by a commitment to health equity.

Although the systemic root causes of health inequities and disparities in the U.S. will take time and hard work to eliminate, health systems can start now by making health equity a strategic priority championed by C-suites. Systems can tackle their data-exposed inequities with interventions of varying degrees of complexity, from adding nonmedical vital signs (e.g., employment) to health assessments, to forging and fostering community partnerships.

The statistics speak for themselves: U.S. Healthcare isn't equitable. Health systems must act promptly and strategically to remedy this nationwide underperformance and demonstrate their commitment to not only health equity, but also healthcare quality and outcomes improvement.

Additional Reading

Would you like to learn more about this topic? Here are some articles we suggest:
Would you like to use or share these concepts? Download this presentation highlighting the key main points.

1. Advancing Health Equity - Data Driven Strategies Reduce Health Inequities

2. How Texas Children's Turned Child Diabetes Management into a Community Cause

3. Diversity in the Workplace: A Principle-Driven Approach to Broadening the Talent Pool

4. Population Health in Three Paragraphs (Executive Report)

5. Population Health Management: One Example That Shows Why It Really Matters

Powerpoint Slides

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Health Equity: Why it Matters and How to Achieve it

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MN, ARNP-CNS, PHCNS-BC, FCNS, Vice President Health inequities-defined by the World Health Organization as systematic differences in the health status of different population groups-have been in the national spotlight for years, which isn't surprising given that the U.S. ranks last on measures of health equity compared to other industrialized countries.

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Maine schools waste 7 million tons of food/year

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Maine schools waste 7 million tons of food/year

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A project at King Middle School

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Students at King Middle School who recently sought to find out how much food isn't being eaten in their cafeteria learned that even with efforts in place to reduce waste, a lot is still being thrown out.

Thirty-four percent of the food on students' lunch trays isn't consumed, according to research they did analyzing the weight of the trays before and after students were done eating.

That number is not unique to King. Between 30 and 40 percent of the food supply in the United States gets wasted every year, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Whether through food waste audits, legislation or the increasing use of food waste separation systems, schools in Maine are among those working to lower that number.

Diverting food from landfills helps cut down on the production of methane, a greenhouse gas and contributor to climate change.

Composting is better, though sustainability experts say the best way to cut down on waste is to produce and prepare less and to feed hungry people and animals before looking to dispose of unwanted food.

The Maine Department of Education doesn't track food waste in schools, but the Natural Resources Council of Maine estimates K-12 schools in the state may be wasting more than 7 million pounds of food each year.

"In the cafeteria, the default is to send things into the trash or to the landfill, so it's a problem in schools as well as everywhere," said Chrissy Adamowicz, Sustainable Maine outreach coordinator for the council.

"The challenge schools face and that a lot of places face setting up (waste separation) stations is making sure the messaging is clear and the student body can effectively manage waste in a time-efficient manner."

Students at King seem to have their five-part waste separation system down to a science. Their cafeteria sorts unwanted food into five categories that will determine where it ends up. The categories include a "share table" where students can leave good food they don't plan on eating for others, as well as separate receptacles for liquids, recyclables, trash and compost.

The system relies on voluntary "compost guardians" who help their fellow students sort their leftovers at the end of a lunch period.

Eighth-graders Shamus Colson and Ezekial Iraoya took on the task on a recent afternoon, pulling on plastic gloves and standing in the middle of the two lines of trash cans that make up the waste separation system.

"It helps protect the environment," said Colson, who isn't grossed out by the job and enjoys it.

Staff in the cafeteria estimate that since they started the system, they've gone from generating more than a dozen 40-gallon bags of trash per day to two.

Waste separation systems like the one at King are becoming more common in Maine schools, Adamowicz said, though many schools are still perfecting and learning from them.

When the seventh-graders at King did their study this winter, they picked up on the fact that a lot of what makes up the trash is plastic cutlery. As a result, they've started a push to explore the use of silverware. Portland Public Schools is currently running a silverware pilot program at two schools, Ocean Avenue School and Rowe Elementary.

Students also said waste could be further reduced if they had more say over what they get to eat.

Federal guidelines currently require students to take a fruit or vegetable with each entree, although new regulations proposed last month seek to offer schools more flexibility with types of vegetables and the ability to offer entrees à la carte. That potential change, however, has also opened the door to concerns that more freedom could mean less healthy food being served.

The King students found that, on average, 22 percent of entrees are wasted, along with 60 percent of fruit served and 28 percent of vegetables.

"We're required to take a vegetable or fruit, and most kids take a fruit because it's usually an apple or orange, and they're easier to throw away," said Kevin Thomas, a seventh-grader.

The audit the King students conducted is one example of the work going on in Maine schools, and nationally, to reduce food waste.

The University of Southern Maine has also been working on the effort over the last decade. Since 2012, the university has increased the amount of food scraps it composts from about 60 tons to 118 tons, according to Aaron Witham, assistant director of facilities management for sustainability.

They also started a program about two years ago called Green Wave, which provides students and staff with the opportunity to purchase reusable containers for takeout food with the option to have the containers washed and returned by their food service provider.

USM's sustainability office works with K-12 schools on food waste and other issues related to sustainability, and Witham said schools face some of the same challenges regardless of the age of their students.

"In both higher ed and K-12, you have a population coming in, and they're only there a certain number of years," he said. "You have a great opportunity to educate them and tell them how to reduce food waste and compost, but then they graduate and you have a fresh batch of people with no knowledge of that previous education."

The costs of ongoing education as well as other food waste reduction efforts - such as audits, changes in food packaging and investments in new equipment - are one reason U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-Maine, said she is sponsoring federal legislation that would provide grants to schools to fund the study and reduction of food waste.

"Some Maine schools have been working on this issue, but it's also a national issue that applies to schools all over the country," Pingree said.

Implementing ideas to reduce waste, such as investing in new kitchen equipment or setting up composting programs, can represent added expenses for schools, she said, but it is also a way to address an issue an increasing number of young people are interested in: climate change.

"This is something students will need to know," Adamowicz said. "This is a life skill that's important for combating climate change. They see how important (reducing waste) is, and they're taking it on and implementing a culture change. That's actually really big when you think about the number of people in a school, the amount of waste and how fast a lunch period can be."

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Each year, Maine's K-12 schools waste about 7 million pounds of food

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Students at King Middle School who recently sought to find out how much food isn't being eaten in their cafeteria learned that even with efforts in place to reduce waste, a lot is still being thrown out.

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Interview with Troy Moon, Sustainability director, Portland

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Interview with Troy Moon, Sustainability director, Portland

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Can listen to audio, or read script

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Disposing of waste is complicated, and cities often bear the brunt of the cost. NPR's Leila Fadel talks with the sustainability coordinator for Portland about a proposal to change that.

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

Disposing of waste can be complicated. Does it go in the recycling bin or the trash? And who pays for it? That's become a hot button issue for cities across the country because those cities bear the brunt of the cost. So now lawmakers in several states, including Maine, are considering laws that would shift the recycling and disposal costs of products back to the companies that make them. It's called extended producer responsibility, or EPR. Troy Moon, the sustainability coordinator in Portland, Maine, joins us now to explain.

Good morning.

TROY MOON: Good morning.

FADEL: So walk us through some of the problems that Portland's having with this - with recycling.

MOON: Right. Well, a lot of people are aware that recycling markets have been challenged in the last few years, basically because of some changes in the international market, with China, you know, shutting the door for most products. Some places are experiencing difficulty, even moving products to the market. So costs for municipalities are rising rapidly. In some communities, the price that they have to pay to the recycling plant is more than they have to pay to dispose of their trash.

FADEL: How much does this all cost the city?

MOON: So in our case, our recycling costs have risen over $200,000 in the past year. So it's - you know, it's a pretty significant jump from zero, which - we used to be in agreement with our recycling facility that we didn't make any revenue, but we didn't have to pay any costs.

FADEL: I mean, I buy things that are packaged in plastic and cardboard. And parts of it are clean. Parts of it are dirty. And it's kind of hard to figure out how to throw it away properly. But also, how did it become the responsibility of the consumer to not only throw it out, really, but basically pay for it?

MOON: Yeah, no, that's exactly the point, I think, that, you know, Portland and the communities who are supporting the extended producer responsibility law here in Maine are trying to make. We have city employees and vehicles that go and pick it up and take it to the recycling plant and the waste energy facility. But that's - the cost is borne entirely by the local taxpayers, despite the fact that, you know, the goods that are being disposed of are produced and packaged by some of the largest brands in the world.

FADEL: Are these companies supportive of a bill like this that would put the cost on them?

MOON: No (laughter). I think, you know, it's a change here in the United States particularly. But if you look at other parts of the world, you know, all of Europe has EPR. You know, we're maybe the first state in the U.S. really pushing hard at this.

FADEL: So is the goal to get the manufacturer to change the way it packages, as well?

MOON: Absolutely. Currently, the producers, you know, lack any real incentive to make sure that the products they make are, you know, fully recyclable. They, you know, are thoughtful about the amount and type of packaging they use. You know, and if they're going to be responsible for the costs of them, they're more apt to make the cost of handling and disposing them less expensive.

FADEL: Now, Portland's the biggest city in Maine, but what about smaller cities or towns that don't have the resources Portland might have? How does it work there?

MOON: Actually, I think this type of legislation will benefit rural communities, especially on a percentage basis. A small community spends more on solid waste and recycling costs than we do. In many small communities, trash and handling waste and recycling and trash is, you know, the second-most expensive line item in their budget after, you know, the schools. So it would be a great benefit for small communities, as well.

FADEL: That was Troy Moon, sustainability coordinator of the city of Portland, Maine. Thank you so much.

MOON: Yeah, you're welcome.

(SOUNDBITE OF BON IVER SONG, "HOLOCENE")

Copyright © 2020 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by Verb8tm, Inc., an NPR contractor, and produced using a proprietary transcription process developed with NPR. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR's programming is the audio record.

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Maine Among Several States Looking To Shift Recycling Costs Back To Manufacturers

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Disposing of waste is complicated, and cities often bear the brunt of the cost. NPR's Leila Fadel talks with the sustainability coordinator for Portland about a proposal to change that. LEILA FADEL, HOST: Disposing of waste can be complicated. Does it go in the recycling bin or the trash?

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with several interactive maps

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A map that shows voter participation

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People vote at a Los Angeles lifeguard station in Venice Beach on November 8, 2016. (Getty/David McNew)

Introduction and summary

Implementing automatic voter registration (AVR) in all 50 states and the District of Columbia could result in more than 22 million newly registered voters in just the first year of implementation.

This report examines the problem of low voter participation in America, which includes structural barriers that keep Americans from having their voices heard as well as widespread disillusionment with the political process. As this report shows, obstacles to voting and distrust in government have repercussions for representational democracy, leading to participation gaps across demographics as well as elected bodies that are unrepresentative of the broader population of American citizens.

To increase voter participation and expand voting opportunities for eligible voters, states have a number of tools available, including those detailed in this report. Taken together, the policies and practices explored in the sections below are proven to increase voter participation and make voting more convenient. The success of these programs depends largely on states' commitment-as well as that of campaigns and grassroots organizations-to inform eligible voters of their availability, how to use them, and why exercising their power as voters can make a difference in their lives. In addition to analyzing the contributing factors to low voter turnout and the effectiveness of pro-voter policies in increasing participation, this report examines the impact of civics education and voter engagement work.

This report also outlines the following recommendations to drive voter participation and make the process of voting more convenient for eligible Americans:

1. Streamline voter registration with automatic voter registration, same-day voter registration (SDR),¹¹ preregistration of 16- and 17-year-olds, and online voter registration

2. Make voting more convenient with in-person early voting, no-excuse absentee voting, and vote-at-home with vote centers

3. Provide sufficient resources in elections and ensure voting is accessible

4. Restore rights for formerly incarcerated people

5. Strengthen civics education in schools

6. Invest in integrated voter engagement (IVE) and outreach

This report also highlights the success of these policies based on existing literature. Where possible, gains in voter participation were projected using current impact data. Of course, demographics and voting cultures differ across states and even by jurisdiction, so these projections are not exact. However, they do provide an idea of how many of America's missing voters could be engaged through these policies. There were some policies for which the authors were unable to project gains because key data points were unavailable. For these policies, more research must be done to determine their potential impact on voter participation in future elections. (See Methodology for a more detailed explanation)

Early voting: One study found that early voting can increase participation by about 2 to 4 percent.¹⁶ Eliminating early voting has also been found to decrease turnout in communities of color.¹⁷ According to the authors' calculations, if all states had early voting in place during the 2016 elections, there could have been at least 789,500 more voters.

The policies examined in this report-registration modernizations, convenience voting, sufficient resources, and rights restoration-have shown success in increasing voter participation and in making voting more convenient, particularly among historically underrepresented groups. Along with ensuring strong civics education and carrying out robust integrated voter engagement, these policies have the potential to reshape and reinvigorate the electorate. Through them, the 92 million eligible voters who did not vote in the 2016 elections will find or regain their voices, resulting in a more representative and responsive government that works for all Americans.

Status of pro-voter reforms in the states

Table 1 lists the states in which each of the pro-voter policy reforms assessed in this report have been adopted-although, in some instances, implementation is still underway.

Voter participation rates and demographic gaps

America's representative government is warped by low voter participation, and, of those who do vote, the group is not representative of the broader population of eligible American citizens. Research shows that communities of color, young people, and low-income Americans are disproportionately burdened by registration barriers, inflexible voting hours, and polling place closures, making it more difficult for these groups to vote. Participation gaps persist along racial, educational, and income-level differences. (see Figure 1)

These participation gaps matter for who we elect and who holds public power. Although the 115th Congress is the most diverse in history, communities of color are still underrepresented.³²

Eligible voters are clear about the barriers tthat keep them from voting. For example, a 2017 Pew study examined why registered voters refrained from voting in the 2016 elections and found the most common reason among respondents-25 percent-to be that they "Didn't like candidates or campaign issues," followed by "Not interested, felt vote wouldn't make difference," at 15 percent; "Too busy or conflicting schedule," 14 percent; "Illness or disability," 12 percent; "Out of town or away from home," 8 percent; "Registration problems," 4 percent; "Forgot to vote," 3 percent; "Transportation problems," 3 percent; and "inconvenient hours or polling place," 2 percent."³⁶

America's representative government is warped by low voter participation, and, of those who do vote, the group is not representative of the broader population of eligible American citizens.

There are a number of challenges associated with analyzing the effectiveness of pro-voter policies in boosting voter participation-including diverging research methodologies, uniqueness of state and local policy models, and difficulty distinguishing between correlation and causation in election settings. However, the policies discussed in this report have been shown to improve voter participation and help make the process of voting more convenient by eliminating many of the barriers keeping millions of Americans from exercising their civic duty.³⁷ Additionally, strong civics education and integrated voter engagement programs can help to address widespread alienation by connecting voting to the issues that affect people's lives, by demystifying government, and by educating people on the electoral process and inviting them to participate. If properly implemented, these policies and practices have the potential to expand the electorate and to elect representatives that are more reflective of and responsive to the American population.

The utility and impact of the pro-voter structural policies described in this report depend largely on people knowing that they exist and how to use them. As described by voting expert Tova Wang:

"For election reforms to work, people have to know about them. People don't even know about the options available to them. They need to be provided with this information in very simple straightforward terms."³⁸

How to increase voter participation and make voting more convenient

The sections that follow describe pro-voter tools that states can adopt in order to increase voter participation and provide more voting opportunities for eligible Americans. By adopting the following recommendations, states can diversify and expand the electorate, resulting in a government that is more representative of the American populace and in policy outcomes that better reflect public will.

Streamline voter registration

In 2016, approximately 1 in 7 American citizens who were of voting age self-reported that they were not registered to vote.

Simply registering more people to vote would increase participation, as registered individuals are more likely to cast a ballot in elections. For example, in 2016, 61 percent of U.S. citizens reported voting, compared with 87 percent of people registered to vote.

Certain groups are less likely to be registered to vote; these include communities of color, low-income Americans, those with disabilities, and young people.⁵⁰ In 2016, 69 percent of black and 57 percent of Hispanic Americans were registered to vote, compared with 72 percent of whites.⁵¹ Asian Americans were 16 percent less likely to be registered to vote than whites.⁵² Furthermore, in 2012, only 66 percent of American Indians and Alaska Natives were registered-7 percentage points lower than their white counterparts.⁵³ A shocking 20-point gap exists in registration rates between Americans making less than $25,000 per year and individuals making $100,000 or more per year.⁵⁴ Eligible Americans with disabilities are also less likely to be registered to vote-by about 2 percentage points-than people without disabilities.⁵⁵ And in 2012, 735,000 potential voters were prevented from having their names added to the voter rolls because of language barriers in the registration process.⁵⁶

To streamline voter registration, states should implement the following pro-voter policies, all of which have been shown to increase voter participation and make it more convenient to get registered and keep one's registration up-to-date:

1. Automatic voter registration

2. Same-day voter registration

3. Preregistration of 16- and 17-year-olds

4. Online voter registration

Automatic voter registration

AVR encourages voter participation by realigning incentives and shifting the burden of voter registration onto the state.⁷¹ Through AVR, eligible citizens are automatically registered to vote using voter eligibility information that the state already receives-unless the individual chooses to decline registration. One of the major benefits of AVR is that voters' registrations follow them and are updated automatically if and when they move. In this way, AVR offers a secure, modern way to use data efficiently to enhance the integrity of voter rolls and facilitate voter participation for all.

Due to the many benefits that automatic voter registration offers election administrators and eligible voters, AVR programs are being adopted across the country. In 2018, three states-Washington, Maryland, and New Jersey-have already adopted AVR. These states followed on the heels of Rhode Island and Illinois, both of which enacted AVR in 2017, and Alaska, whose voters adopted AVR at the ballot in 2016. And beginning in 2018, California will become the second state after Oregon to implement AVR. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, AVR has been passed by 12 states and the District of Columbia, with varying processes and implementation models.⁷⁹

Oregon's experience provides a road map to project how voter registration and participation could increase if each state adopted AVR. For example, roughly one-third of the 272,702 individuals registered to vote through AVR within the first year of its implementation in Oregon voted in the 2016 election. Similarly, of those registered, some 42.5 percent, or 116,000, were unlikely to have registered without AVR, and approximately one-third of the 40,000 previously disengaged people turned out to vote. CAP research finds that, if every state implemented AVR, more than 22 million registered voters could be added to state voter rolls in just the first year. All else being equal, if every state adopted the Oregon model of AVR, within just the first year of implementation, one could expect more than 7.9 million new voters nationwide-including 3.2 million previously disengaged voters.

In adopting AVR, states should abide by Oregon's postal notification opt-out system, whereby eligible voters receive a notice of their right, via mail, to decline automatic registration. This model is structured to include as many eligible Americans as possible and is the best option for voters in states that are equipped with databases that are secure and efficient. Additionally, states should ensure that designated AVR agencies extend beyond state DMVs to include social services agencies, universities, and departments of correction, where they are technologically prepared to collect and share information to confirm voter eligibility. Doing so will help guarantee that AVR has the greatest impact on the largest number of eligible voters.

Same-day voter registration

In the 2016 election, nationwide, more than 1.2 million voter registrations took place on voting days.

Same-day voter registration has proven effective in increasing voter participation.⁸² States implementing SDR have seen increases in voter participation of between 3 and 7 percent, with an average of 5 percent.⁸³ Furthermore, in states with SDR during the 2012 election, voter participation was, on average, more than 10 percent higher than in other states.⁸⁴ The three states with the highest voter participation in the 2014 midterms-Maine, Wisconsin, and Colorado-all allow SDR, while 6 of the 7 states with the highest voter participation in the 2012 elections allowed SDR.⁸⁵ Minnesota, which has led the country in voter participation for the last two presidential elections, has same-day registration, with more than 17 percent of voters having registered to vote through the SDR process during the 2012 elections.⁸⁶ A 2002 study by the Caltech/MIT Project found that, during the 2000 election, voter participation in states with SDR was 8 percent higher than in states without the policy.⁸⁷

According to estimates, if implemented nationally, SDR could boost participation for young people-ages 18 to 25-by 12 percent as well as by 7.5 percent and 11 percent for African Americans and Latinos, respectively.⁹⁰

In addition to increasing participation, the majority of election officials in jurisdictions with SDR have found implementation costs to be minimal, and roughly half of respondents said that it reduced the burden of voter registration surges that occur before traditional registration deadlines.⁹¹

All else being equal, if projections are based on the 5-percent average increase in voter turnout that was experienced by states with SDR, had all states that do not have SDR passed and implemented the policy, there likely could have been more than 4.8 million additional voters in the 2016 elections.

Same-day voter registration is a common-sense policy proven to increase voter participation and close participation gaps. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, 16 states and the District of Columbia currently offer SDR, including election day registration.⁹² Two additional states-Maryland and North Carolina-permit SDR, but only during early voting periods. States enacting it must be sure that the policy includes Election Day registration, as opposed to only allowing SDR during early voting periods. To ensure that the policy is carried out effectively, voting locations must be adequately staffed to handle large numbers of same-day registrations, as the policy has proven popular in the states that use it.

Preregistration of 16- and 17-year-olds

One way to improve voter participation for young people is to welcome them into the democratic process early, preregistering them to vote at a time when they are more likely to begin interacting with government agencies where voter registration services are offered. One benefit of this is that, once a person registers to vote, that individual becomes part of a state's voter file and is more likely to be contacted by campaign and grassroots efforts, which increase voter participation.⁹³

In adopting preregistration policies, states should offer preregistration services through not just the DMV, but other sites and services that are frequented and used by young people, such as schools, hair salons, movie theaters, community days of action, volunteer programs geared toward young people, and naturalization ceremonies.⁹⁹ Preregistration programs that target 16-year-olds tend to be more effective than those that target 17-year-olds since the former age group is beginning to interact with government agencies for the first time-particularly the DMV. States without preregistration keep young people from using a common method of voter registration until they reach their early- to mid-20s, given that state driver's licenses can take several years to expire before renewal is required.

Online voter registration

Online voter registration makes the voter registration process more convenient and drives voter participation, particularly for young people. It eliminates the hassle of locating where to register, securing time off work, and finding transportation to DMVs or other voter registration locations in order to register in person. Online voter registration is particularly useful for eligible voters who are highly transient as well as those with inflexible schedules.

All else being equal, if states without online voter registration were to have implemented a policy such as Georgia's in 2016, a total of more than 536,000 additional voters could have been expected to participate in that year's elections.

It is likely that the popularity of online voter registration with young people in particular is due, at least in part, to that group's familiarity with the internet. And, as new generations become more accustomed to using web-based services, reliance on online voter registration may increase in the future.

A study of California's online voter registration system found that people registering online were almost 8 percentage points more likely to participate in the 2012 elections than those registering through other more traditional means.

Jurisdictions must adhere to the National Voter Registration Act

In addition to implementing those policies mentioned above, states must meet their obligations under the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA), which requires DMVs, social service agencies, and other government offices to offer voter registration services to eligible people during transactions.¹¹² The NVRA, which was passed in 1992 in order to improve voter registration nationwide, also requires states to accept voter registration forms by mail. In just its first year of implementation, the NVRA helped facilitate voter registration applications and updates for more than 30 million people.¹¹³ The popularity of registering through methods authorized by the NVRA continues today: Between 2014 and the 2016 election, more than 25 million voter registrations were received through DMVs, making up 32.7 percent of all voter registration applications during that period.¹¹⁴ As noted by Demos, the NVRA has been particularly beneficial for low-income Americans. In 1992, when the NVRA was enacted, only 43.5 percent of the lowest-income Americans were registered to vote.¹¹⁵ By 2012, 52.7 percent of this group was registered to vote. One study found that the NVRA's motor-voter provision has helped increase voter participation by between 4.7 and 8.7 percent.¹¹⁶

Unfortunately, in some places, compliance with the NVRA is lacking. A 2017 Pew survey found that only 16 percent of unregistered respondents were asked to register to vote by an official at a motor vehicle department, social services agency, or other government office.¹¹⁷ A 2016 study found that 12 states failed to include the option to register to vote on driver's license change-of-address applications.¹¹⁸ And a survey of Native American interactions with NVRA agencies found that only 29 percent of respondents from New Mexico reported being asked about voter registration at DMVs or social service agencies.¹¹⁹ Advocates have also raised concerns about the lack of voter registration services at state agencies that provide services to Americans with disabilities.¹²⁰

Make voting more convenient

Eligible voters should be provided ample opportunity to exercise their civic duty and have their voice heard in our democracy. Affirmative voting policies-including in-person early voting, no-excuse absentee voting, and vote-at-home with vote centers-aim to make the voting process more convenient for voters, particularly for those with scheduling and transportation challenges. Some convenience-based voting policies, like vote-at-home, have shown to be more effective in driving participation than others.¹²⁶ And while the effects of early voting and no-excuse absentee voting on participation are less clear, these policies have an important role to play in improving the voting experience by helping to ensure that voters who want to participate in elections have the opportunities to do so.

States should implement the following pro-voter policies in order to expand voting opportunities for eligible Americans and drive participation:

1. In-person early voting

2. No-excuse absentee voting

3. Vote-at-home with vote centers

In-person early voting

It is also worth noting that cuts to early voting can have a detrimental impact on voter participation. A 2016 study by The Atlantic found that, in North Carolina counties with polling place closures and reductions in voting hours, during the first week of early voting, black voter participation reached only 60 percent of the cumulative participation at the same point in 2012. And while participation increased some in the weeks leading up to the election, black participation never reached more than 90 percent of the cumulative participation in 2012.¹³⁴ At the same time, in 2012, after the Florida Legislature cut the state's early voting period from 14 days to 8 days and eliminated voting on the last Sunday before Election Day, early voting participation for African Americans dropped by 4.1 percent relative to 2008, while participation for Latinos dropped by 4.6 percent.¹³⁵

All else being equal, if states that currently do not have early voting had it in place during the 2016 elections, one could have expected at least 789,500 more voters that year based on conservative 2 percent estimates.

No-excuse absentee voting and vote-at-home with vote centers

"No-excuse absentee" and "vote-at-home" are two affirmative voting policies that can make the process of voting more convenient. As noted in previous sections of this report, the act of voting can be a burdensome process for many eligible Americans who otherwise want to participate. It may involve taking time away from work, child care costs, and mobility and transportation challenges as well as long lines and complications at polling places. No-excuse absentee voting and vote-at-home policies help voters avoid these altogether, allowing eligible voters to cast ballots at their convenience, often in the comfort of their own homes.

In adopting or updating absentee voting policies, states should allow any eligible voter to vote absentee for any reason whatsoever, no excuse needed. This would ensure that all eligible Americans could cast their votes no matter what, even if they were simply out of town or unable to make it to the polls on Election Day but did not fit under one of the limited set of exemptions.

Vote-at-home, which is sometimes called "vote-by-mail," is another convenience-based voting policy that improves the voting experience and can increase voter participation. Two states-Washington and Oregon-conduct all elections through vote-at-home, while Colorado has an exemplary model that combines vote-at-home with community vote centers where people can still cast their ballots in person.¹⁴³ Vote-at-home differs from no-excuse absentee voting in that registered voters need not file a request to receive their ballots; ahead of election day, paper ballots are distributed by mail to all registered voters. Voters can take their time examining and researching the candidates and issues, and they can vote in the comfort of their own home before placing their voted ballot in the mail or dropping it off at a vote center or collection box.

How does Colorado's vote-at-home with vote centers model work?

Colorado is revolutionizing election administration by putting voters first and giving them more opportunities to become registered and vote. Colorado is a vote-at-home state but operates under a model that provides voters many options to cast their ballots. Once voters receive their ballot, which is sent to them automatically by the state, they can:

Vote by returning the ballot by mail

Vote by dropping the ballot in one of the conveniently located 24-hour drop boxes located across their county

Vote by dropping off the ballot or voting in person at a county vote center, where eligible voters can register at the same time as voting

In the city of Denver, vote by dropping a ballot off or vote in person at the city's mobile vote center, which travels to different communities within the city.¹⁴⁴

Colorado's model increased voter participation in the state by about 2 to 5 percent, according to one study.¹⁴⁵ Notably, after the state implemented vote-at-home, participation increased by 9 percent for Coloradans ages 18 to 34.¹⁴⁶ Meanwhile, after Denver implemented its vote-at-home program in 2001, it experienced a significant increase in voter participation among Latinos.¹⁴⁷ While the city as a whole saw participation increase by 17.2 percent compared with the 1999 local elections, the 19 precincts with the highest Latino populations experienced an increase of 55.5 percent, and the precinct with the highest Latino population saw participation rise by 82 percent.¹⁴⁸ One of the reasons that Colorado's model is so successful is that it works in tandem with the state's same-day registration policy.¹⁴⁹ By combining these two policies, Colorado has removed significant barriers to registration and provided more options for voting, thus driving participation.

Colorado's vote-at-home system is unique because of its expansive incorporation of vote centers, which are required statewide and open on Election Day. Colorado vote centers are open Monday through Saturday, for 15 days during general elections and 8 days in primary and off-year elections. Vote centers are conveniently located within and across counties; their precise location is determined through a public selection process whereby the public can provide feedback on proposed locations, including concerns over accessibility and convenience. In Denver, the city's Ballot TRACE program allows voters returning voted ballots by mail to track their delivery to and receipt by election officials. Voters who sign up for this free service receive regular updates-via email, text message, or an online portal-about the status of their ballot as well as when it is delivered to the elections division.¹⁵⁰ In designing the city's elections, Denver Elections Director Amber McReynolds focuses on the voter experience: "We have a voter-centered approach to election administration-one that respects voters and focuses on improving their voter experience."¹⁵¹ The state's prioritization of voters' needs and convenience has paid off: In 2016, voter participation in Colorado was more than 12 percentage points higher than nationwide turnout.¹⁵²

During the 2016 elections, voter participation in states allowing vote-at-home was 10 percentage points higher, on average, than it was in other states. However, research has been mixed regarding vote-at-home's effectiveness at increasing voter participation. A 2017 analysis of vote-at-home's impact on some California counties found that participation in general elections was lower in jurisdictions using vote-at-home.¹⁵³ The authors of that study, Thad Kousser and Megan Mullin, posited that, during general elections, when there is constant flow of information and reminders about voting, changes in election processes are unlikely to influence voter participation.¹⁵⁴ The authors also noted complaints by some voters living in jurisdictions with vote-at-home who were unfamiliar with how it worked. Voters cannot engage in the voting process if they do not understand how it operates or are skeptical of its utility; this could offer, at least in part, an explanation for lower turnout.¹⁵⁵ A comprehensive literature review carried out by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) in 2016 examined vote-at-home's impact on voter participation and found that most research showed a positive correlation between voter participation and vote-at-home policies.¹⁵⁶ Similar findings have been reported elsewhere. A 2018 report examining voting behavior in Utah during the 2016 elections found that voter participation increased by 5 to 7 percentage points in the 21 counties using vote-at-home rather than traditional polling places.¹⁵⁷ During the April 2018 elections, Anchorage, Alaska, experienced the highest voter participation in the city's history after rolling out a new vote-at-home system, which included some vote centers and ballot drop boxes.¹⁵⁸ And in Washington, which carries out all elections by mail, researchers found that vote-at-home increases voter participation by between 2 and 4 percent.¹⁵⁹

Provide sufficient resources in elections and ensure voting is accessible

Even with the passage of affirmative policies, implementation matters. It is particularly important to make sure that enough resources are available to administer elections effectively. Poll closures, lack of voting machines, and insufficiently trained poll workers can contribute to long lines during voting periods and prevent eligible Americans from voting.

Lack of convenient polling places and registrar offices also has been a problem for Native American would-be voters. Thirty-two percent of unregistered Native Americans in South Dakota and 26 percent in Nevada cited long distances from voter registrar's offices as one of the reasons that they decided not to register. Additionally, 29 percent and 27 percent of respondents in South Dakota and Nevada, respectively, reported difficulty traveling to designated polling places to vote.¹⁸⁰

Voters should not be forced to wait in line for hours to exercise their civic duty and for their voice to be heard in our democracy. Nor should certain groups have less access and fewer opportunities to register to vote and cast ballots. Recognizing funding constraints on election administration, officials must provide enough polling places and poll workers to serve all communities equally. Leading researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) developed a resource allocation calculator to help election administrators across the country determine how many polling places, workers, or voting machines a jurisdiction needs based on a variety of factors, including the number of registered or eligible voters within a particular area.¹⁸¹ Additionally, in order to prevent problems in future elections, officials should conduct assessments of Election Day readiness after each election to evaluate issues such as wait times, difficulties during voter check-in, and bottlenecks in the voting process.

Another way to reduce long lines is to adopt voter registration modernization reforms such as automatic voter registration, which ensures that voter lists are kept up-to-date, as inaccuracies or errors in voter registration databases can cause significant delays at polling places. Automating the registration process with information the state already has on hand eliminates clerical errors and helps prevent unnecessary confusion during voting periods. Ensuring that jurisdictions have an adequate number of accessible polling locations and hours-as well as poll workers and voting equipment-to accommodate the communities they serve will help to ensure that the right to vote is fully realized.

All eligible Americans must have equal opportunity to vote, including access to ballots and election materials that facilitate their ability to do so. With help from local advocacy groups, covered jurisdictions should work closely with federal entities in order to ensure that they abide by federal law in providing language assistance to those who need it. And even if they are not covered by Section 203 of the Voting Rights Act, any jurisdiction with a large population of limited English-proficient speakers should ensure that polling places are staffed with bilingual poll workers.

Restore rights for formerly incarcerated people

Beyond this, studies have found that a negative relationship exists between voter disenfranchisement and black participation, even among those not directly involved in the criminal justice system. For example, in communities with high percentages of disenfranchised black voters, eligible black voters are less likely to vote.²⁰⁰ This negative relationship exists even when there are pro-voter reforms such as early voting and same-day registration.

Based on Virginia's experience, all else being equal, if all ineligible formerly incarcerated people had their rights restored, there could have been approximately 914,728 more voters during the 2016 elections; and this figure would increase to 1.3 million if projections were based on the 22.2 percent average turnout observed in formerly incarcerated people during the 2008 elections. Here, it is worth repeating that demographics and voting cultures differ across states and even by jurisdiction, particularly in terms of outreach to and engagement of formerly incarcerated people whose voting rights are restored. Moreover, it is important to consider the 22.2 percent average turnout rate in the context of the historic 2008 elections, during which voter participation surged nationwide.²¹¹ Although these projections are not exact, they do provide a snapshot of how many more Americans could participate in the electoral process if their rights were restored.

Jurisdictions must stop suppressing voters

This report focuses on pro-voter policies to expand the electorate and improve the voter experience. Part of this involves protecting the right of all eligible Americans to have their voices heard, which means dismantling voter suppression. It is an attack on the integrity of our democracy when the voices of eligible Americans are silenced as individuals are turned away at the polls or removed from state voter registration rolls because of restrictive laws and burdensome practices.

Each election cycle, countless eligible Americans are prevented from voting because of voter suppression measures, including strict voter ID laws, voter purges, and documentary proof of citizenship requirements for voter registration.²¹⁷ These voter suppression measures, which have arisen across the country, are often justified by false claims of voter fraud but are actually aimed at making the voting process more difficult for certain groups, particularly for communities of color.²¹⁸

Before they even get to the polls, eligible voters are being removed from voter registration lists, which can result in them being turned away on Election Day. A 2017 report by the bipartisan U.S. Election Assistance Commission found that there was a 12.8 percent increase-equal to 1.9 million people-in the number of voters purged from state voter rolls between 2014 and 2016, compared with between 2012 and 2014.²¹⁹ People of color are more likely to be targeted by state voter purges than whites. For example, in the lead-up to the 2016 election, Ohio removed thousands of people-846,000, according to some estimates-from its state voter rolls for failing to vote in previous elections.²²⁰ Between 2012 and 2016, more than 10 percent of voter registrants were purged in "heavily African-American" neighborhoods near downtown Cincinnati, compared with only 4 percent of those living in the surrounding suburb of Indian Hill.²²¹ On June 11, in a 5-4 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court validated Ohio's voter purging process, giving Ohio and other states its stamp of approval to manipulate voter rolls and keep eligible Americans, especially people of color, from participating in elections.²²² Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach's infamous Interstate Crosscheck System, widely criticized for being discriminatory and unreliable, is another purging tool that uses minimal search criteria to identify potentially ineligible voters, resulting in eligible Americans being misidentified as potential illegal voters.²²³ African Americans living in states that rely on Crosscheck have a 1 in 9 chance of being flagged as potentially ineligible. And for Hispanics and Asian Americans, those chances increase to 1 in 6 and 1 in 7, respectively.²²⁴

Communities of color, young people, and low-income Americans are also disproportionately affected by discriminatory voter registration requirements such as documentary proof of citizenship laws. These laws require eligible Americans to provide proof of citizenship in the form of a passport, birth certificate, or naturalization papers before they are added to the voter rolls.²²⁵ From 2013 to 2016, Kobach's documentary proof of citizenship prevented more than 35,000 Kansans from registering to vote.²²⁶ People under the age of 30 made up 44 percent of those whose voter registrations were slated for removal from the state voter rolls due to failure to provide documentary proof of citizenship.²²⁷ This is striking, as people in this age group make up only 15 percent of all registered voters in Kansas.²²⁸ Documentary proof of citizenship requirements also have a discriminatory effect on communities of color since nearly 9 percent of voting-age African Americans lack access to birth certificates or passports, compared with 5.5 percent of whites.²²⁹ Furthermore, Americans earning less than $25,000 per year are nearly twice as likely to lack citizenship documentation, such as passports and birth certificates, as those who earn more than $25,000.²³⁰

Even if eligible Americans are successfully added to and remain on state voter rolls, they face other obstacles to casting a ballot. In seven states, strict voter ID laws require eligible voters to present certain forms of government identification before voting.²³¹ Eleven percent of all Americans lack the kind of government-issued photo identification required by these laws. People of color are even less likely to have IDs than whites.²³² Texas' voter ID law, which was struck down in 2017 for being intentionally discriminatory, required eligible voters to present a driver's license, passport, military identification, or gun permit prior to voting; yet student IDs were not accepted-even from state schools.²³³ A 2018 analysis found that 608,470 registered voters lacked the necessary ID to vote in Texas.²³⁴ The GAO has found that voter ID laws can reduce participation in elections by between 2 and 3 percent.²³⁵ For example, voting-eligible Native Americans in North Dakota were more than 7 percent less likely than non-Native Americans to have a qualifying voter ID under the state's voter ID law.²³⁶ In April 2018, after finding that North Dakota's law had a disproportionate effect on the state's Native American population, a federal judge ordered the state to accept tribal documents as valid forms of ID and do away with requirements for residential street addresses.²³⁷ Furthermore, some states do not allow transgender people to change the gender marker on their driver's license unless they meet burdensome requirements, such as proof of transition-related surgery, a court order, or an amended birth certificate.²³⁸ When a transgender person is unable to change the gender marker on their ID, poll workers and election officials may decide that the ID does not match the voter and wrongfully deny them their right to vote.²³⁹ In September 2016, the Williams Institute estimated that, in eight states with strict photo ID laws, 30 percent of transgender people who were eligible to vote were likely to be disenfranchised or face substantial barriers to vote in the November 2016 election.²⁴⁰ Americans with disabilities are also disproportionately affected by voter ID laws.²⁴¹

To have truly free, fair, accessible, and secure elections, discriminatory strict voter ID laws, documentary proof of citizenship requirements, and other unnecessary barriers to voter participation must be repealed. When carrying out voter list maintenance, states must strictly abide by the remaining provisions of the Voting Rights Act and the NVRA, which place limits on how states may remove people from state voter rolls.²⁴² Additionally, states should cease using Interstate Crosscheck and should instead sign on as members to the Electronic Registration Information Center.²⁴³ ERIC's data-matching criteria are much more comprehensive than the Interstate Crosscheck System; they consider names, addresses, birthdates, and other points of comparison using official data from voter registration rolls, motor vehicle records, postal addresses, and Social Security death records. ERIC keeps state voter rolls up-to-date without compromising the privacy and security of citizens' right to vote.

Strengthen civics education in schools

Invest in integrated voter engagement and outreach

IVE groups do not just register and engage eligible voters during election seasons; their work continues year-round, long before Election Day and well after election results are certified. IVE groups work within communities-including with young people, low-income Americans, communities of color, limited English-proficient speakers, and people focused on specific issue areas such as environmental or racial justice-building trust through face-to-face interactions and helping eligible people to navigate the voter registration and voting process.²⁶⁵ Rather than discarding voter registration lists after Election Day, these groups retain and continually update them for the purposes of ongoing outreach, communications, and relationship building.

Make the Road, an IVE group focused on immigrant rights in New York, has registered more than 30,000 voters since 2011 and spearheaded a number of successful campaigns, including passage of an anti-wage theft law to protect immigrant workers.²⁶⁶ Advocacy by another IVE group, the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR), led to passage of the "We Want to Learn English" initiative, which has helped thousands of immigrants and refugees receive vocational English training and obtain other resources administered through nonprofit organizations and state agencies.²⁶⁷ Since 2004, the ICIRR has been responsible for registering almost 200,000 eligible voters and for mobilizing more than 600,000 to vote.²⁶⁸ In another example, Emgage, an IVE group focused on building political power for American Muslim communities, conducts civic trainings and candidate forums for Muslim voters and holds voter registration drives and voter outreach at mosques.²⁶⁹ Through mobilization and advocacy, Emgage has helped to elect Muslim lawmakers and defeat racist anti-Sharia bills.²⁷⁰ From 2012 to 2016, Muslim American voter participation increased by an average of 17.2 percent in states where Emgage engaged.²⁷¹ And in 2016, an IVE group based in Los Angeles, Strategic Concepts in Organizing and Policy Education (SCOPE), played an integral role in passing two ballot measures that addressed issues of homelessness and affordable housing in L.A. communities.²⁷² SCOPE's efforts were found to increase voter participation by 6.6 percent in some targeted communities.²⁷³

All else being equal, had every registered and unregistered eligible but nonvoting American been contacted by canvassers, there could have been approximately 6.2 million more voters during the 2016 elections.

Conclusion

Our elected bodies are more representative and our laws are fairer when all eligible Americans are able to have their voices heard and to participate in elections. For voters who are disengaged and disenchanted with the political process, robust civics education programs and integrated voter engagement initiatives can drive participation by re-energizing voters and providing them with reasons and opportunities to cast ballots on the issues that matter most to them and their communities. Furthermore, states must have in place affirmative voter registration and voting policies in order to ensure that eligible voters who want to vote are able to and are not blocked by unnecessary and overly burdensome obstacles such as arbitrary voter registration deadlines and inflexible voting hours. By adopting the policies discussed in this report, America can find its 92 million missing voters and improve the voting experience for all eligible voters.

Methodology

The estimates for this report relied on a variety of sources. The authors used data from the United States Elections Project for calculations using the voting-eligible population (VEP) of each state, state-level turnout rates, and ballots counted in each state for the relevant years. In cases where the Elections Project did not have turnout data for a certain election, the authors relied on self-reported data from the voting and registration supplement to the Current Population Survey, which is conducted every two years by the U.S. Census Bureau. This supplement also provided turnout by demographic and registration rates for each state. The authors relied on the Sentencing Project for numbers of disenfranchised formerly incarcerated people in each state. Of course, demographics and voting cultures differ across states, and trends in voter registration rates and participation do not remain stagnant over time. However, while these estimates are not exact, they do provide an idea of how many potential voters could be engaged through the affirmative voting policies explored in previous sections of this report. The authors were unable to add up all of the individual increments to get a total effect if a state adopted all of the above policies and recommendations. This is due to concerns over double-counting, as some projected additional voters resulting from AVR may overlap with projected voters from policies such as preregistration and SDR.

These numbers are conservative since people who simply updated their registration online were not taken into account in this projection. For simplicity's sake, the authors only used the number of new registrations in each state. This analysis assumes that, between 2014 and 2016, every state would see the same rates of online registration and online registrant voter turnout as Georgia. It also assumes that those newly registering to vote will use the online registration tools as often as those simply updating their registration. The authors understand that this may not be the case, as it could be possible that online registration is used more often for quick registration updates rather than new registrations.

Early voting: In order to estimate the additional 789,527 people that would have voted in 2016 if every state had in-person early voting in place, the authors relied on the finding that early voting increases voter participation by 2 to 4 percent. 2016 turnout was calculated by dividing the number of ballots cast by the state's VEP. 2016 turnout was then multiplied by 1.02, thereby increasing it by 2 percent in order to find the projected higher turnout had the state implemented early voting. Multiplying this projected turnout by each state's VEP resulted in the projected total ballots cast if all states had early voting. From there, the number of ballots cast in 2016 was subtracted from the higher projected ballots in the case of early voting to arrive at the number of additional voters in the 2016 election if every state had early voting in 2016.

Vote-by-mail: The authors were not able to project how many additional voters would have turned out to vote in 2016 had every state conducted elections using a vote-at-home model. The success of these programs depends largely on geographic and voting habit determinants that vary widely across states and jurisdictions. As such, it is nearly impossible to quantify the success that such programs would have across different states.

Ex-offender re-enfranchisement: The authors' analysis projects that between 914,728 and 1,355,605 formerly incarcerated people would have voted in 2016 had every state restored individuals with the right to vote after being incarcerated. To arrive at the floor projection, the authors used Virginia's recent experience with ex-offender re-enfranchisement. In Virginia, 25,941 of the 173,166 formerly incarcerated people who had their voting rights restored by McAuliffe voted in 2016, amounting to a 14.98 percent turnout rate for the group.²⁸⁰ From there, the number of each state's ineligible formerly incarcerated people-found at the Sentencing Project-was multiplied by 14.98 percent to arrive at 914,728 potential additional votes from formerly incarcerated people in 2016.²⁸¹

To arrive at the higher projection, the authors used political scientist Traci Burch's estimate that, on average, 22.2 percent of voting-eligible formerly incarcerated people in five states turned out to vote in 2008. All else being equal, and assuming that this 22.2 percent turnout rate held true in 2016, from there, the number of each state's ineligible formerly incarcerated people was multiplied by 22.2 percent to arrive at 1,355,605 potential additional votes from formerly incarcerated people in 2016.

Despite the finding that, in majority-African American neighborhoods, participation increases by at least 7 percent when individuals are contacted by canvassers, the authors were unable to further project how many African Americans could have been activated and turn out to vote. This is largely due to the inability to assume that an African American neighborhood only includes African Americans.

About the authors

Danielle Root is the voting rights manager for Democracy and Government at the Center for American Progress.

Liz Kennedy is the senior director of Democracy and Government Reform at the Center.

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the following people for their contributions to this report: Tova Wang, Ruy Teixeira, Amber McReynolds, Elena Nunez, Jenny Flanagan, and Phil Keisling.

Danielle Root

Director, Voting Rights and Access to Justice

Liz Kennedy

Senior Fellow

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Increasing Voter Participation in America

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Introduction and summary Implementing automatic voter registration (AVR) in all 50 states and the District of Columbia could result in more than 22 million newly registered voters in just the first year of implementation. This report examines the problem of low voter participation in America, which includes structural barriers that keep Americans from having their voices heard as well as widespread disillusionment with the political process.

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For half a century, Maine has had a relatively high voter turnout in presidential elections. In every presidential election from 1960 to 2008, Maine's turnout, based on its voting age population, has exceeded the national average, frequently by 10% or more. In 2012 it was again ranked second (to perennial rival Minnesota by 0.4%) as it was in 2000 and 2008.

Explaining Maine's high turnout, the Christian Science Monitor noted,

Maine was the first state to institute same-day registration in 1973, which is a main reason for its 62.1 percent average turnout. But not all politicians support the policy.

Republicans in the state legislature amended the state's voter registration laws, requiring that new voters register two business days before the election. Gov. Paul LePage approved the amendment in June 2011.

But opponents of the amendment - forming the Protect Maine Votes coalition - worked to put a question on the 2011 referendum ballot, gathering more than 70,000 signatures in less than a month, according to the Bangor Daily News.

Question 1 on the referendum election ballot asked: "Do you want to reject the section of Chapter 399 of the Public Laws of 2011 that requires new voters to register to vote at least two business days prior to an election?" Mainers voted 60 percent in favor of repealing the amendment, restoring the state's same-day registration system.

In the 2016 election, Maine ranked 2nd among the states in the percent of voter eligible people who ballots were counted. Rival Minnesota was 1st at 74.7% and New Hampshire was 3rd at 72.6%. Maine's 72.9% delivered second place.

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1 Unless otherwise noted, "Prepared by Democracy North Carolina" (Carrboro, NC 4/2003) from Election Data Services, Washington DC [202-789-2004] for 1980 through 1996, and from the US Census and Federal Elections Commission for 2000. Internet site accessed February 19, 2004: http://www.democracy-nc.org/improving/voterturnout.pdf

² Federal Election Commission. Internet site accessed February 19, 2004: http://www.fec.gov/pages/reg&to98.htm

³ Center for Voting and Democracy. Internet site accessed February 19, 2004: http://www.fairvote.org/dubdem/turnout.htm (50 states, District of Columbia not included)
Additional resources
Hill, David Lee. American Voter Vurnout: An Institutional Perspective. Boulder, Co. Westview Press c2006. [University of Southern Maine (Portland). The Albert Brenner Glickman Family Library]

McDonald, Michael P. United States Election Project. "2016 November General Election Turnout Rates." http://www.electproject.org/2016g (accessed January 13, 2017)

Potholm, Christian P. Maine Election Outcomes and Anlysis: 1900-2008. Maine. Christian P. Potholm. c2010. [University of Maine, Raymond H. Fogler Library, Special Collections]

Terry, Alison. "Voter turnout: the 6 states that rank highest, and why." Christian Science Monitor. http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Elections/2012/1106/Voter-turnout-the-6-states-that-rank-highest-and-why/Maine (accessed December 18, 2012)

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For half a century, Maine has had a relatively high voter turnout in presidential elections. In every presidential election from 1960 to 2008, Maine's turnout, based on its voting age population, has exceeded the national average, frequently by 10% or more.

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In my senior year of high school, I was sitting in my government class as my teacher begged us to vote. He had to know that he and I would never vote the same way. He used to call me a "dang hippie" instead of using my name. But he met my eyes along with those of every other student in that class. His voice quavered as he implored us - for the sake of our country - to vote.

My teacher was begging because millions of people who can vote, don't. Voter turnout in the United States is incredibly low compared to similar countries, notes Donald Green. He's a political scientist at Columbia University in New York City. In fact, U.S. voter turnout ranks 31 out of 35 developed countries - nations with advanced economies and a heavy use of technology. That's according to a Pew Research Center study released this past summer.

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It's a little surprising that so many Americans don't vote. Most are fairly interested in politics, notes Mert Moral. He's a political scientist at the State University of New York at Binghamton. "If you look at survey data, you find more Americans are equally, if not more, engaged than their counterparts [in other countries]," he says. "They have bumper stickers. They talk about politics. They are interested in political topics at the local level."

So why don't people vote? Scientists have been looking into this. Below are four reasons they offer to explain why many people do not show up at the polls.

Why don't people vote?

1) Registration takes work In many countries, being registered to vote is automatic. If you are a citizen, you are signed up to vote. Not so in the United States. It is up to each person there to sign up, notes Barry Burden. He's a political scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. To register, someone must go to an official site, such as a library or a government office, then fill out paperwork. A 2012 Pew Research Center study reported that 51 million citizens - nearly one-in-four eligible to vote - had not registered.

Easier registration could mean more voting. Burden and his colleagues showed that during the 2004 and 2008 presidential elections, a "one-stop shop" where people could register and vote at the same time increased voter turnout. By contrast, making it easier for people to vote by letting them vote before Election Day (known as early voting), actually lowered the voting rate. The researchers published their findings in 2013 in the American Journal of Political Science.

2) Education Data show that the single biggest predictor of whether someone will vote is whether they hold a college degree, Burden notes. College graduates make more money, on average. They are more likely to look for information about politics. And they are more likely to have friends who vote. People without a college degree, he says, are less likely to seek out political information. They also are less likely to have friends who care about politics or talk about voting.

3) Two parties may not be enough The United States has two main political parties: Republicans and Democrats. Other political parties exist, such as the Green party and the Libertarians. Few people, however, vote for candidates of those "other" parties. This is because U.S. elections only reward what is known as "first past the post." The one who gets the most votes wins.

In many other countries, such as the United Kingdom, people don't vote for individuals. They vote for parties to sit in a Parliament. The party that dominates the Parliament gets to pick the Prime Minister. But even a non-dominant party can get one or more members in Parliament - if that party gets enough votes. "A party that got 25 percent of the vote could get 25 percent of the seats," Burden says. "That's very encouraging."

In contrast, it wouldn't matter if the presidential candidate for the Green party or the Libertarian party got 25 percent of the U.S. vote. If 25 percent wasn't the highest percentage of votes, their candidate wouldn't become president. No one else from their party would automatically get a seat in Congress either. Americans vote for candidates for particular, individual seats.

Katie Hargrave/Flickr (CC-BY-2.0)

Americans also vote for Congressional candidates only in their particular geographical area. So a candidate from a third party would have to win the majority of votes from their particular area to get the seat in Congress. And many candidates from that party would have to win in many different areas to get enough seats in Congress to pass laws that reflect their party's values.

Such minor-party candidates seldom raise much money to campaign. Meanwhile, the two big political parties tend to raise lots of money to help their candidates. So third or fourth parties can't get organized and don't put forward many (or sometimes any) candidates. After all, what's the point of putting in a lot of effort if you have little chance of winning?

This promotes a system where candidates tend to be members of only the major political parties. And in a two-party system, voters might not find that either candidate represents their views. And where they don't, Moral says, voters might just stay home.

"A third-party candidate can't win an election here," he says. So where they don't like the Republican or Democrat running for office, Moral says, people may just not bother to vote at all.

4) Apathy and burnout Who your friends are can affect whether you vote. "We use voting as a tool to transmit to others who we are," explains Eyal Winter. An economist, he works at the University of Leicester in England and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Israel. Voting - and then telling others that you did, or publicly stating that you plan to - is a way to show loyalty to your social group and its values, he says.

But some people just don't care about politics, which can lead to voter apathy. And if a social group doesn't regard politics as very important, its members may not bother to vote, Winter notes. In fact, he says, one might argue that in terms of any one citizen, "it makes no sense to vote." Only very rarely has a single vote changed the outcome of an election. And where that happened, it usually was only in very small, local elections.

Not only that, where elections occur often, people may experience voter burnout. "One of the things that makes the U.S. strange is that there's a lot of elections," says Burden. "We ask voters to make a lot of decisions." Getting out to the polls can be a hassle. What's more, learning about every single issue takes time. If people are asked to vote too often, or choose a position on too many subjects, they might just opt out of the whole process. "We have a complicated system and I think that produces fatigue," Burden says.

There are many other reasons people might not vote - from anger at the government to concern that being a registered voter will make the government more likely to call them up for jury duty. What could change their minds? Read Part 2 to learn about four ways backed by science that can drive more people to the polls.

Power Words
More About Power Words

apathy A flat mood, where one is indifferent to people, opportunities and the environment around them. It's marked by a lack of enthusiasm for things, for not caring any more.

behavior The way a person or other organism acts towards others, or conducts itself.

colleague Someone who works with another; a co-worker or team member.

Congress The part of the U.S. federal government charged with writing laws, setting the U.S. budget, and confirming many presidential appointments to the courts, to represent the U.S. government interests overseas and to run administrative agencies. The U.S. Congress is made of two parts: the Senate, consisting of two members from each state, and the House of Representatives, which consists of a total of 435 members, with at least one from each state (and dozens more for the states with the biggest populations).

developed country Sometimes called an industrialized country, this is a nation that tends to be relatively wealthy on the basis of having substantial commercial and industrial activity. Today, developed countries also tend to be among the more technologically advanced nations.

high school A designation for grades nine through twelve in the U.S. system of compulsory public education. High-school graduates may apply to colleges for further, advanced education.

journal (in science) A publication in which scientists share their research findings with the public. Some journals publish papers from all fields of science, technology, engineering and math, while others are specific to a single subject. The best journals are peer-reviewed: They send out all submitted articles to outside experts to be read and critiqued. The goal, here, is to prevent the publication of mistakes, fraud or sloppy work.

media (in the social sciences) A term for the ways information is delivered and shared within a society. It encompasses not only the traditional media - newspapers, magazines, radio and television - but also Internet- and smartphone-based outlets, such as blogs, Twitter, Facebook and more. The newer, digital media are sometimes referred to as social media. The singular form of this term is medium.

network A group of interconnected people or things.

peer Someone who is an equal, based on age, education, status, training or some other features.

political science A social science that deals with the governing of people, largely by elected officials and governments.

political scientist Someone who studies or deals with the governing of people, largely by elected officials and governments.

poll (adj. polling) To sample the opinions of people and tally the total with a survey or vote.

social (adj.) Relating to gatherings of people; a term for animals (or people) that prefer to exist in groups. (noun) A gathering of people, for instance those who belong to a club or other organization, for the purpose of enjoying each other's company.

social media Internet-based media, such as Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr, that allow people to connect with each other (often anonymously) and to share information.

social science The scientific study of people and their relationships to each other.

survey (v.) To ask questions that glean data on the opinions, practices (such as dining or sleeping habits), knowledge or skills of a broad range of people. Researchers select the number and types of people questioned in hopes that the answers these individuals give will be representative of others who are their age, belong to the same ethnic group or live in the same region. (n.) The list of questions that will be offered to glean those data.

transmit To send or pass along

Bethany Brookshire was a longtime staff writer at Science News for Students. She has a Ph.D. in physiology and pharmacology and likes to write about neuroscience, biology, climate and more. She thinks Porgs are an invasive species.

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In my senior year of high school, I was sitting in my government class as my teacher begged us to vote. He had to know that he and I would never vote the same way. He used to call me a "dang hippie" instead of using my name.

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Much legislation passed in 2019

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Overview

More election bills were enacted in 2019 than any year going back to at least 2011. Lawmakers enacted 367 election-related bills last year, up slightly from the 336 bills enacted in 2019. All but four states enacted election legislation in 2019. These numbers track with the growth in attention to elections as the nation heads into 2020.

NCSL's Elections Legislation Database contains exact numbers for 2019 and previous years, as well as bills introduced in 2020.

Voter registration was the most common topic, with 46 enactments, followed by pre-Election Day voting (40), election security (18) and voting equipment and vote-by-mail (15 each).

This webpage provides highlights on key 2019 election-related enactments. For additional information or questions, please contact NCSL's elections team.

Key 2019 Election-Related Enactments

Voter Registration

Voter registration represented the number one topic in election administration legislation, with 46 bills enacted in 28 states. Notable enactments included:

Maryland enacted Election Day voter registration for those who can demonstrate proof of residency.

Montana will now allow military and overseas voters to use a digital signature when registering to vote.

New Mexico enacted an automatic voter registration system and established same-day registration.

Hawaii established Election Day registration.

New York will now require all public universities to enact programs to register students to vote.

Arizona will now require counties to report to the Secretary of State any individuals registering to vote without providing citizenship data.

Pre-Election Day Voting

Twenty-two states passed 40 bills on Pre-Election Day voting (early in-person voting and no-excuse absentee voting combined), representing one of the most prominent trends in 2019. Some notable enactments included:

Hawaii repealed a requirement that deemed absentee or military overseas votes invalid if the voter died prior to Election Day.

New Hampshire now permits unrelated caregivers to deliver absentee ballots on behalf of voters who reside in nursing homes or assisted living facilities.

Virginia now requires that an applicant who is in line for in-person absentee voting when the polling place closes will be permitted to cast a ballot.

Alabama authorized the Secretary of State to create a permanent absentee voter list upon voter showing proof of a permanent disability.

Montana now allows a voter who registers late to return their absentee ballot to a polling place on Election Day.

Delaware established early in-person voting which will go into effect Jan. 1, 2022.

New York now allows early in-person voting beginning the 10th day prior to any election and ending on, and including, the second day prior to the election.

Election Security

Election security was on the forefront of legislator's minds across the country, as 18 bills were enacted in 14 states. Some notable enactments included:

Ohio created the Civilian Cyber Security Reserve to be staffed by volunteer citizen cybersecurity experts and required the appointment of a state Chief Information Security Officer.

Indiana now requires two-factor authentication to access the statewide voter file, along with establishing other security measures.

California now requires those who will receive voter information to take a training course on data security.

Texas now requires the secretary of state to define classes of protected election data and establish best practices for election security, as well as provide training to appropriate personnel in their office and county officials. The bill also requires that county officials notify the secretary of any election system breach, and the secretary is then required to notify the legislature.

Iowa required the state registrar to prescribe rules for election security training requirements, technology safeguards, and breach incident response requirements.

Arkansas will now require the State Board of Elections to conduct risk-limiting audits.

Indiana permits the secretary of state to select counties for a risk-limiting audit pilot program, and to designate certain elections to be subject to risk-limiting audits.

Oklahoma will now permit the State Board of Elections to direct counties to conduct post-election audits. The bill also requires counties to implement cyber and physical security measures around elections, and to notify the State Board of any breaches of election systems.

Mail Voting

The movement toward more all-mail elections continued in 2019 with 15 bills on mail voting being enacted in 10 states. Notable enactments included:

Hawaii established all-mail voting for all elections statewide. It joins Colorado, Oregon, Utah and Washington in using all-mail elections statewide.

New Jersey established a permanent absentee list to allow voters to request mail ballots for all elections.

Oregon will now require the state to pay for ballot return envelopes that can be returned by business reply mail in each election.

Washington will now require the state to reimburse counties for the cost of return postage on voted mail ballots for all elections.

California prohibited employers from requiring or requesting that employees bring their mail ballot to work or vote their mail ballot at work.

Voting Equipment

Concerns over election security and attacks by malicious actors spurred activity around voting equipment in 2019, with 15 bills enacted in 14 states. Notable enactments included:

Pennsylvania provided requirements for the disapproval or decertification of voting apparatuses.

Montana specified that an approved ballot-marking device with accessible voting features for disabled individuals must be available at every polling place.

New Hampshire will now require the Ballot Law Commission to approve a new secure electronic ballot counting device at regular intervals.

Wyoming created an Election Readiness Account to pay for future replacement and maintenance of voting systems.

Delaware made necessary changes to state election laws based on the purchase of new voting devices, and established auditing requirements for the new devices.

Voting Rights of Formerly Incarcerated Citizens

Seven states continued the nationwide shift towards restoring voting rights for formerly incarcerated citizens, with eight bills enacted. Notable enactments included:

Illinois established a program to facilitate voting for eligible voters confined in county jails, and to provide education on voting rights for incarcerated individuals prior to their release.

Nevada provided for the immediate restoration of voting rights upon release from prison.

New Jersey removed a prohibition on voting for convicted felons who are on probation or parole.

Washington will now require the Department of Corrections to notify inmates of the process to restore their voting rights prior to release from prison.

Colorado removed a prohibition on voting for individuals on parole.

Electoral College/National Popular Vote

The movement to adopt the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact continued in 2019, with four states joining the compact. (While a handful of bills to remove states from the compact were introduced, none of those were enacted.) Notable enactments included:

Colorado, Oregon, Delaware, and New Mexico enacted bills joining the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact.

Washington enacted the "Uniform Faithful Presidential Electors Act," seeking to bind the electoral votes of its presidential electors following its "faithless" elector controversy in 2016. The U.S. Supreme Court is now set to hear a case this year involving lawsuits brought by Washington and Colorado electors to challenge their states' ability to bind their votes.

Georgia amended its provisions for certification by the governor of presidential electors for independent candidates.

Other Topics

Youth Pollworkers: Alabama, Arkansas, Maryland and Virginia now will allow teens to help in polling places.

Precincting and Geographic Information: North Carolina is participating with the Census Bureau's 2020 Voting District Verification Project, and New Jersey and Virginia will have local jurisdictions provide current electoral, jurisdictional and precinct maps to the state, where they'll be made available to the public.

Study Groups: Maine will study post-election audits and recounts; New Hampshire will study ways to improve civic engagement; and Tennessee will study "convenience voting."

One of a Kind: Utah established Utah Women's Voter Registration Day; Washington created a Native American Voting Rights Act; and Texas allows "Register to Vote" license plates.

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national conference of state legislatures

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2019 Election Legislation Enacted by State Legislatures

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More election bills were enacted in 2019 than any year going back to at least 2011. Lawmakers enacted 367 election-related bills last year, up slightly from the 336 bills enacted in 2019. All but four states enacted election legislation in 2019. These numbers track with the growth in attention to elections as the nation heads into 2020.

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Data is derived from the Local Area Unemployment Statistics (LAUS) program. LAUS is a Federal-State cooperative program that develops monthly estimates of the labor force, employment, unemployment, and unemployment rates for the state, counties, labor market areas, metropolitan and micropolitan statistical areas, and cities and towns (minor civil divisions).

If you've come to this page looking to file for unemployment benefits, plase click here.

Unemployment Rate (seasonally adjusted)

Latest News Release | Data Release Schedule

Interactive Data

Tables

Monthly Labor Force Estimates

Monthly Seasonally Adjusted Statewide Estimates, 1976-2020 (Excel)

Monthly Seasonally Adjusted Metropolitan Area Estimates

Monthly Not Seasonally Adjusted Statewide Estimates, 1976-2020 (Excel)

Monthly Not Seasonally Adjusted Labor Market Area Estimates (Excel)

Monthly Not Seasonally Adjusted County Estimates (Excel)

Annual Average Labor Force Estimates

Maps

Links

FAQs

Are substate unemployment and labor force estimates prior to 2010 comparable with current estimates?

In 2015, the Bureau of Labor Statistics revised the method used to calculate employment and unemployment estimates for counties, cities/towns, and labor market areas. Estimates from 2010 forward were re-calculated using the new methodology along with data inputs from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey. Hence, many areas can be expected to display breaks in series between 2009 and 2010. Detailed information is available here.

Contact Information

Maine Department of Labor
Center for Workforce Research & Information
118 SHS
Augusta, ME 04333-0118

Phone: (207) 623-7900
TTY: Maine Relay 711
Fax: (207) 287-2947
Email: mdol@maine.gov

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seasonally adjusted civilian labor force estimates

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Data is derived from the Local Area Unemployment Statistics (LAUS) program. LAUS is a Federal-State cooperative program that develops monthly estimates of the labor force, employment, unemployment, and unemployment rates for the state, counties, labor market areas, metropolitan and micropolitan statistical areas, and cities and towns (minor civil divisions).

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Unemployment due to  coronavirus pandemic

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Unemployment due to  coronavirus pandemic

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Map

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The novel coronavirus outbreak has led to a shutdown of large swaths of the US economy, as cities and states across the country adopt stay-at-home orders and shutter social gatherings and businesses.

The economic impact of the outbreak is already being felt in labor markets, as the number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits has shattered historical records and strained the resources of state offices.

Those record-high numbers coincided with states and cities across the US adopting various social-distancing measures, closing nonessential businesses and directing Americans to stay at home in most circumstances. While these measures are likely needed to slow the spread of the coronavirus, the sudden pause in much of the country's economic activity has led to massive furloughs and layoffs.

Every Thursday, the Labor Department releases the number of Americans who have newly filed for unemployment benefits in the previous week. Over the last three weeks, those numbers have been extremely dire - a cumulative total of roughly 16.8 million Americans filed for benefits over that period.

The weekly release includes the state-by-state breakdown of those initial unemployment claims. This map shows the total cumulative number of claims for each state over the last three releases, covering the period from March 15 through April 4.

We also included the total number as a percent share of the state's February 2020 workforce, the most recent figures available, to give a sense of how much the coronavirus has affected large and small states alike.

The numbers are stark. Over 2 million Californians and over 1 million Pennsylvanians have filed for unemployment since the middle of March. In 20 states, over 10% of the February workforce filed for unemployment over those three weeks:

Business Insider/Andy Kiersz, data from US Labor Department

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The US states where the most jobs have been destroyed by the coronavirus crisis, in one map

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The novel coronavirus outbreak has led to a shutdown of large swaths of the US economy, as cities and states across the country adopt stay-at-home orders and shutter social gatherings and businesses. The economic impact of the outbreak is already being felt in labor markets, as the number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits has shattered historical records and strained the resources of state offices.

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Positive and Negative Effects of Unemployment

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Positive and Negative Effects of Unemployment

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Unemployment is a real concern in all areas of the world. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, as of February 2018, there are 6.7 million individuals in the United States who are unemployed. Some of these people might not want to work, but many wish they had a job. The negative effects of unemployment on society outweigh the positive effects.

The only positive effects of unemployment are individual effects.

Avoiding Morning Commute: Many people despise rush hour traffic on their commute to work. Being unemployed means no more getting up early to deal with heavy traffic.

More Time With Family and Friends: This is a strong positive effect of unemployment for an individual. They can spend time with their children, family and friends. Without a job, there is more time to participate in family or school events.

The negative effects far outweigh the positive effects when it comes to the impact unemployment has on society and the individual as well.

Not Enough Money: This is one of the adverse effects on the individual. Everything in the world costs money. If there is no source of income, you're going to have to settle and go without. If an unemployed individual has a family, it's difficult. Sure, there are unemployment benefits, but they aren't going to pay for extra things to do with your family and travel to new places.

Health Issues: This is another individual negative effect, but an important one. Being unemployed can lead to depression, low self-esteem, anxiety and other mental health issues, especially if an individual truly wants a job but can't find employment. Tension can occur, causing stress and strain on the body.

Economic Issues: During unemployment, there is no income, which leads to poverty. The burden of debt will increase, leading to economic problems. When there is unemployment, the state and the federal governments have to step in and pay unemployment benefits. By needing to pay more of these benefits, the government must borrow money to pay the benefits or reduce spending in other areas.

Social Issues: Many crimes are committed by individuals who are unemployed and living in poverty. When unemployment rates increase, crime rates tend to rise. According to the study in the Journal of Quantitative Criminology in 2016, individuals who are unemployed for socially unacceptable reasons and don't wish to seek out job opportunities are more likely to engage in burglary or robbery.

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The Positive & Negative Effects of Unemployment

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Unemployment has a negative impact on the economy. It's not just the economy, though. Some individuals really strive to find employment but instead find themselves depressed as a result of not being able to work. The negative effects far outweigh the positive effects of unemployment.

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Economists paint long-term picture of coronavirus driven recession, in Maine

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Economists paint long-term picture of coronavirus driven recession, in Maine

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Troy R. Bennett | BDN

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Click here for the latest coronavirus news, which the BDN has made free for the public. You can support our critical reporting on the coronavirus by purchasing a digital subscription [Our COVID-19 tracker contains the most recent information on Maine cases by county] or How bad could things get before the economy starts to turn around? donating directly to the newsroom.
A group of economists told the Bangor Daily News on Thursday that the coronavirus has caused an unprecedented economic shock with no clear roadmap for recovery, with one calling the situation particularly "dire" for Maine.

The economists agreed the near-stoppage of most economic activities was necessary in order to stop the spread of the virus. One in 10 workers in Maine filed for unemployment during three straight weeks of record jobless claims and the panel said the economic slowdown could have lasting effects for Maine's economy with declines in spending exacerbating the problems posed by government-mandated closures.

Michael Donihue is an economics professor at Colby College. Daniel Innis is a professor of marketing and hospitality management at the University of New Hampshire and former dean of the University of Maine Graduate School of Business. James McConnon is an extension business and economics specialist and economics professor at the University of Maine. Sheena Bunnell is a professor of business and economics at the University of Maine at Farmington and director of the Maine Health Research Institute.

Innis: We essentially shut down 30 percent of the economy by government order. It's the restaurants, it's the hotels, but it's also the food service suppliers, the linen suppliers and so on. I don't think it's inconceivable - and I've heard this number thrown around - that we get into the 20 to 30 percent unemployment range before we reopen. That is huge. Those numbers exceed what we saw in the Great Depression.
Is it possible to get any sense of how quickly jobs can bounce back once the economy opens up?
Donihue: The numbers are so strikingly large, none of our models are going to work very well. So we need to rethink outside the box on the models. In this instance, we've already passed the worst of the recession as we saw it in Maine during the 2007 to 2009 period in terms of new unemployment claims.

Then, the industries that are being hit the hardest are the ones that really form much of the core of the Maine economy, namely the hospitality and tourism industries. With the related effects on things like the fisheries in Maine, the lobster industry in particular, there are real concerns about not just how deep this is going to go for them, but how are they going to recover from this? That's where I think that's where people have the right to be really concerned.

McConnon: These unemployment numbers are extremely high and troubling, and the impact that has on consumer spending is likely to continue to impact other sectors of the economy and in turn have additional impacts on employment.

I don't know exactly what those numbers are going to be, but everything is just so interrelated. When you start having declines in overall consumer spending like we've had across many sectors of the economy, businesses have a hard time maintaining their revenues. They're being forced to cut their costs and they're unable, many of them, to maintain their level of employment.

That contributes to additional declines in spending, because generally people who are unemployed don't spend as much as they do if they were employed. And that also impacts business investment. The longer this goes on, the more impact it is going to have.

Bunnell: The partial opening is dependent on the availability of testing, surveillance systems and contact tracing, so that businesses and individuals have the confidence that they can return to work.

Mainers have been generally very compliant, and they are adhering to the social distancing measures. They're doing a very good job at that. That's really working and hopefully should start flattening the curve. The unemployment rate really depends on what Mainers are doing to stay healthy. The healthier we stay, the higher probability we can start phasing in people going back to work and going out.

Innis: We don't go back to normal life right away. ... For instance, we're not going to be able to go to baseball games yet. Look at Portland and the Sea Dogs, and think of the impact of not having those games on that economy. It's a big one.
Watch: What does returning to normal look like?
That is going to play out all over the country. There won't be concerts at first and who knows when we'll be cleared to do those things again in large groups. All of that has an economic impact that is very substantial.

Can recoveries from previous economic downturns tell us anything about how the economy could bounce back this time?

McConnon: I think this is very unique and a very exceptional situation. It is so unique that it's really hard to look at other economic cycles and see what we can glean for that. I would say it really depends on the duration of this.

Donihue: This is the first recession we've ever seen that started in the consumer service sector, and mainly in the tourism and hospitality industries. We've never seen a recession that started there before. So it requires a different kind of policy response as a result.

If you think about Maine's economy, we do have a healthy manufacturing sector, but it's nowhere near what it was historically, and it certainly isn't the most important driver. And as we look to the summer months, as normally we get that boom in tourism that many businesses depend on for the entire year. It's unlikely we're going to have the same traffic to Maine. So the outlook for the economy in Maine is pretty dire, I would say.

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Economists paint 'dire' picture for Maine in potentially long coronavirus recession

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A group of economists told the Bangor Daily News on Thursday that the coronavirus has caused an unprecedented economic shock with no clear roadmap for recovery, with one calling the situation particularly "dire" for Maine.. Maine news, sports, politics, election results, and obituaries from the Bangor Daily News.

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Lack of affordable housing in Maine and US

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Lack of affordable housing in Maine and US

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For every 100 extremely low-income households in Maine, only 52 homes are affordable and available. (larissal1234/Twenty20)

PORTLAND, Maine - There's a severe shortage of affordable rental housing for extremely low-income households across the United States, and according to a new report, Maine is no exception.

The National Low-Income Housing Coalition defines "extremely low" incomes as those at or below the poverty level, or 30 percent of their area's median income.

Greg Payne, director of the Maine Affordable Housing Coalition, described the problem in Maine.

"For every 100 extremely low-income households, we have 52 homes that are affordable and available to them," he said, "and just looking at it at that level, I think, helps to put it in some perspective, and you just realize its mass."

According to the report, there are nearly 42,000 extremely low-income households in Maine. Almost one-third are senior citizens. Another 30 percent are people with disabilities, and 28 percent are households where people work full-time.

Payne said entries on the waiting lists for affordable housing in the state can number in the tens of thousands. To shorten the lists, the Maine Affordable Housing Coalition is advocating in the Legislature for creating more affordable housing units.

"We are putting forth a proposal that would double our annual production of affordable housing in Maine through a state affordable-housing tax credit," Payne said.

The bill number hasn't been released yet, but Payne said it would leverage federal low-income housing tax credits, and lower some taxes for developers who build affordable housing. The report said Maine is doing a little better than the nation as a whole. On average, for every 100 households across the country that need affordable rental homes, only 37 homes are available.

The report is online here, and Maine statistics are here.

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Report: Serious Affordable-Housing Shortage in Maine, U.S.

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PORTLAND, Maine - There's a severe shortage of affordable rental housing for extremely low-income households across the United States, and according to a new report, Maine is no exception. The National Low-Income Housing Coalition defines "extremely low" incomes as those at or below the poverty level, or 30 percent of their area's median income.

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Lots of charts and statistics (2016)

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Portland Planning Board plans to slash low-income housing

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Portland Planning Board plans to slash low-income housing

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Plans to convert Bayside Village, one of the few remaining properties on the Portland peninsula offering low-priced housing, are underway after a proposal by Port Property was approved by the city's Planning Board in early August. The move raises concerns about the fate of the neighborhood's low-income residents.

"Bayside was the first place I looked at that seemed affordable in the city, that you could get into easily, for working people," said Peter Gunn, a Bayside Village resident who works as a line cook in the Old Port. "It's hundreds of units of affordable housing that will just be gone."

The new proposal breaks up four-bedroom units that low-income tenants can rent by the room into one- and two-bedroom units that will likely be rented out at higher rates. The 100 four-bedroom units at Bayside, which are currently rented per room at $659 a month, will be converted into 141 one-bedroom and 10 four-bedroom units.

Twenty of the new units proposed will be considered workforce housing, according to the Portland city website. Those units, meant to be more affordable, will be available to households earning up to 100 percent of the HUD Area Median Income, or $65,100 for one person in Portland.

Port Property apartments in other areas of the city have rental rates that range from $1,100 for a studio to $2,000 for a three-bedroom apartment.

In May, Greg Payne of the Maine Affordable Housing Coalition testified before the legislature that the state is facing an "overwhelming and unacceptable" unmet need for affordable homes, with tens of thousands of families on wait lists for federal housing assistance and access to affordable apartments.

"Maine is experiencing a fundamental mismatch between the housing it has and the housing it needs, and that mismatch is creating enormous problems for both our families and our state's economic well-being," said Payne.

Tenants rights advocates are expected to raise the issue before the city council on Wednesday night and a Bayside Village Tenants organizing meeting is planned for Sep. 11 at 7 p.m. on the fourth floor of Bayside Village.
(Bayside Village official photo)

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Portland approves plan to slash low income housing in Bayside neighborhood

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Plans to convert Bayside Village, one of the few remaining properties on the Portland peninsula offering low-priced housing, are underway after a proposal by Port Property was approved by the city's Planning Board in early August. The move raises concerns about the fate of the neighborhood's low-inc

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High priced market squeezing low-income renters; Portland

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High priced market squeezing low-income renters; Portland

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Michelle Rand's anxiety has consumed her since she and more than two dozen other low-income families at The Woodwinds received notices from their new landlord that they would have to leave their homes by the end of the year.

While the notices were rescinded more than two weeks later, Rand and her neighbors expect to be forced to move anyway because of impending rent hikes.

Rand, who struggles with anxiety and bipolar disorder, knows what that means. She and her 22-year-old daughter moved into their current apartment at The Woodwinds after being priced out of their previous apartment in Parkside, also after it was sold and renovated by a new owner.

Rand needed the full 60-day notice provided by her previous landlord, plus another two and a half months spent couch-surfing in friends' homes, to find another apartment in Portland that would accept a Section 8 voucher for payment.

"It was stressful and emotional, especially when you have a kid and you can't provide for them or assure them what the future is going to be," Rand said, as she began to cry. "A lot of times, we weren't able to stay at the same place, so we had to stay separated. I worry about going though all of that (again)."

About half of the 61 units at The Woodwinds are rented to low-income tenants who, like Rand, rely on the federal subsidies that likely won't be enough to cover higher rents.

The Woodwinds' new owner, 240 Harvard Street, LLC, and its property manager, Chestnut Realty Management, LLC, said this week that the eviction notices were sent in error and families will not be forced to leave at the end of the year.

But tenants like Rand and 53-year-old Patty Galope, who lives with her daughter and three grandchildren, are not getting too comfortable. The landlord also gave notice that ongoing renovations will lead to rent increases.

"We're not stupid," said Galope, who has lived at Woodwinds for eight years. "It's kind of saying the same thing in a different way."

The upheaval highlights the difficulty people with Section 8 vouchers face when trying to find - and keep - housing in Greater Portland, which is undergoing a development boom of luxury condominiums and hotels. The same pressures face other low-income tenants, including thousands who are on waiting lists to get Section 8 vouchers or to secure units in public housing complexes.

High demand for a limited housing stock has pushed up rents to a point where landlords aren't willing to accept Section 8 tenants because there is more money to be made by getting a higher price from more affluent tenants. Tenants with the vouchers pay 30 to 40 percent of their income toward rent, while state or local housing authorities provide the federally-funded vouchers to cover the rest, though assistance is capped.

Qualifying tenants can either use a voucher to rent from a private landlord, or live in a unit that is owned and managed by a public housing authority.

It is illegal to discriminate against low-income tenants. However, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court ruled in 2014 that landlord participation in the Section 8 program must be voluntary because it comes with additional requirements regarding leases, building codes and inspections.

"It can create problems, but I've never found it to be insurmountable," said Carleton Winslow, a longtime Portland landlord who has divested many of the units he once owned or managed. "I never felt it was right to discriminate against Section 8 tenants. I have had good Section 8 tenants and some bad Section 8 tenants, just like the regular market."

While having a Section 8 voucher doesn't guarantee housing is available, it can take years to even qualify for one.

There are 19,700 people waiting for one of Maine's 12,000 Section 8 vouchers to become available, either because someone gives one up or loses one, sometimes because they haven't found housing that accepts it. Wait times range from three to five years, according to the Maine State Housing Authority. The list has grown by 4,700 people in the last four years, while the average wait time has doubled since 2010.

Nearly 300 affordable housing units are expected to come into the market in the next year or so in response to the demand. But some housing officials expect the situation to get worse for low-income tenants before it gets better. That's because the U.S. Housing and Urban Development Department has announced it will decrease the maximum Section 8 rent allowance for the coming year, giving voucher holders fewer options.

Mark Adelson, the outgoing director of the Portland Housing Authority, which has issued 16 Section 8 vouchers to tenants at The Woodwinds, said the planned $81-a-month reduction is based on outdated rental market information from the U.S. Census Bureau. Portland's housing agency, along with agencies in South Portland and Westbrook, are in the process of appealing the reduction, just like they did successfully in 2017.

Adelson said about 1,000 people are waiting for units to become available in housing owned and managed by the housing authority in Portland, while an estimated 2,800 people in Portland are waiting for a Section 8 housing voucher to pay rent to a private landlord.

"It's definitely squeezing (the market)," Adelson said. "There's more need and there's more competition for all of those units."

Maximum rents set by HUD for Section 8 participants are $989 for a studio, $1,339 for a two-bedroom unit, $1,538 for a three-bedroom and $1,696 for a four-bedroom, according to MaineHousing.

Adelson said that the existing voucher amounts appear to be enough to cover the average rents based on the city's 2018 landlord survey, which said the average rent for a two-bedroom apartment was $1,360 and $1,565 for a three-bedroom.

However, those average rents are based in part on what long-term tenants are paying and do not reflect the higher prices that are charged when new units come onto the market, especially if they have been newly renovated. When Section 8 voucher holders search for apartments on the open market, they have few choices, according to public housing directors.

"I would say it's out of whack," said Leanna Bruce, South Portland Housing Authority's housing program director. "We have a lot of landlords not able to rent to us because those (Section 8) maximums are too low."

Bruce said some landlords are willing to forgo higher market-based rents and negotiate reduced rents to help low-income tenants with housing vouchers. But that's not always the case.

"They have a lot of (non-subsidized) applicants where they don't have to go through those extra steps for Section 8," Bruce said. "It's much easier to grab someone off the street who they know can afford it."

The hundreds of new affordable housing units currently planned or under construction in greater Portland are seen as helping down the road, but won't expand the inventory enough to resolve the shortage in the next few years, said Chris LaRoche, the director of the Westbrook Housing Authority.

That's what concerns tenants like 37-year-old Larisa McGill, who has lived at The Woodwinds with her two children for the last seven years. McGill said she suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and the upheaval has worsened her condition and affected her children, one of whom is autistic.

"It's a lot," McGill said.

She had been looking for a new apartment for months, long before receiving the eviction notice, and has yet to find a place. She considered moving to a two-bedroom unit in Westbrook - until they were told the building was going to be sold in a few months. "I don't want to go through that again," she said.

Now, she fears that her search will be even more difficult given that so many of her neighbors also are looking for new homes.

"It was hard enough when it was just one person looking, but now we have 16 families all scrambling to look for the same apartments," she said. "I have a feeling we won't find anything in Portland, so moving out of Portland may be our only option."

Meanwhile, Rand, who works as a part-time bookkeeper at a supermarket, has found three apartments within her budget, although none was in Portland. She looked at an apartment in Gray, but the landlord had other people interested and had never taken a housing voucher.

Rand said she has no choice but to continue her search, even though she no longer faces outright eviction.

"It's a very emotional and a hard time," she said. "We've all been thrown into turmoil."
This article was updated Nov. 12 to correct the number of Section 8 vouchers issued statewide.

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High-priced housing market is squeezing low-income renters

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Michelle Rand's anxiety has consumed her since she and more than two dozen other low-income families at The Woodwinds received notices from their new landlord that they would have to leave their homes by the end of the year.

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Progress in Portland, but gap in affordability

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Progress in Portland, but gap in affordability

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Years of policy changes and public financing have produced more housing in Portland, but rents and home prices remain unaffordable for about half the city's residents.

A new city report shows that most new construction approved in the last five years is reserved for low-income residents, or caters to those who can pay for high-end rental apartments and condominiums.

What isn't being built is housing for the "missing middle" - young families looking for their first home or rental apartments for low-wage workers in the city's large food service, administration and retail sectors.

"Housing is the biggest asset of most families, and that asset is more and more unachievable for most people here," said at-large Councilor Jill Duson, who chairs the City Council's housing subcommittee.

"It is a vicious cycle," she added. "This report is not a declaration of victory; it is an assessment of where we are in a very long race."
CONSTRUCTION DELAYS
In the last six years, the planning board has approved 2,300 new housing units. That is about 383 units a year, 100 more a year than the goal outlined in the city's 2017 comprehensive plan.

But more than half that housing has been condominiums or market-rate apartments, according to the report. The median condo sale price was $325,000 this year, according to broker Maine Home Connection. Less than a quarter is subsidized, low-income homes.

Construction of new housing also lags behind. Less than half of the housing units approved since 2014 are finished, according to the city. Only 45 new units were created in 2018, and none had been completed as of August this year.

A delay from city approval to construction is an expected part of the building cycle, said Mary Davis, the city housing director.

"We recognize that it takes time; the planning board process is at the very beginning," she said.

"I still see it as a positive. People are still willing to look at the possibility of building housing and putting financing together," she added. "The more projects are approved, the more that will be built."
INCOME-HOUSING GAP
This is the second biennial report on Portland's housing situation. In recent years, city politics have focused on a housing crisis, including rents and home prices too expensive for many.

The median household income in Portland is about $51,800 a year, nearly half what is needed to afford the median home price of $316,000. Almost half the city's renters are paying about a third or more of their income on housing, a standard benchmark of affordability.

Rents have stabilized in recent years, according to a 2018 survey by the city. The median rent for a two-bedroom apartment in Portland was about $1,380 last year, but it's more expensive in desirable neighborhoods like the East and West Ends.

The housing burden falls the hardest on office, sales and food workers, the city's three biggest employment blocks and some of the lowest-paid positions in Portland, according to the new report.

City officials have made policy changes to encourage new housing construction. Those changes include requiring new developments to build a certain number of housing units for workforce housing, amending zoning rules to boost housing construction, putting restrictions on short-term rentals and financing projects with tax breaks, federal grants and the city's housing trust fund.

Low-income housing typically means apartments and homes built with government subsidies and reserved for poor families and individuals that meet income standards. Affordable housing, on the other hand, means that costs do not exceed 30 percent of household income.

"There is no silver bullet; there is not one specific thing that is going to solve the housing issues we have," Davis said. "We are trying to address it from a variety of different avenues."
LAGGING WAGES
Portland has made all the right housing policy moves, said Greg Payne, director of the Maine Affordable Housing Coalition and an executive at Avesta, a low-income housing development company.

But officials face a persistent problem confronting booming cities in the U.S. and abroad, Payne said - basic wages have not kept pace with soaring housing costs. Rents in the U.S. increased 13 percent from 2001 to 2018, while inflation-adjusted median wages went up just half a percent in the same time, according to the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities.

The report "clearly indicates a city that is doing its best to look under every rock and nook and cranny to address the problems," he said.

"I think there is that workforce issue," he added. "Just the fact the jobs that are available for people don't pay an adequate wage to afford what the rents are."

Modest increases in Portland's housing inventory and complicated policy amendments aren't enough for people who have nowhere to live, said Jessica Falero, co-founder of the People's Housing Coalition.

Falero understands there are limits to what city policy can accomplish but believes the problem is not being taken seriously enough. Portland's homeless resources are overstretched, and the region is facing a surge of homeless youth, Falero said.

"I am honestly appalled by people's lack of urgency around the lack of affordable housing in Portland," she said.

The city should be collaborating more with people who want to provide affordable housing and finding creative solutions, not focusing on the barriers to creating more homes, Falero added.

"If the City Council doesn't move and doesn't realize the urgency that is here now, we are going to have more homeless youth, more people on the streets panhandling. It is going to get worse," she said.
MAKING THE NUMBERS WORK
Developers don't always set out to build luxury homes, but it is frequently the only way to finance new construction without public subsidies.

That is especially true in recent years, as a critical skilled labor shortage in Maine has sent building costs soaring.

"The first thing developers try to do is build workforce housing," said Brit Vitalius, a residential real estate broker and president of the Southern Maine Landlord Association.

"When that fails, what they have to choose is condos or higher-end rentals just to make the numbers work," sometimes just to prove there will be enough return to get a bank loan, he said.

Developers are looking for engagement with city government, in the form of tax breaks or other incentives, to make workforce housing projects, Vitalius added.

The report makes no conclusions or policy recommendations, but Councilor Duson favors a plan to make city-owned land available for housing development.

"What is on the list for the last year is to develop a project for the city to provide city-owned land at practically nothing or at very low cost to incentivize development for affordable and mixed-income housing," she said.

"They may not be the units that provide the highest economic return, but a real boost to the housing in the city."

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Portland housing report shows progress, but gap in affordability persists

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Years of policy changes and public financing have produced more housing in Portland, but rents and home prices remain unaffordable for about half the city's residents.

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Roads matter a lot to Stephen Hanington -- without them, he wouldn't be able to make a living."The road surface is not flat," Hanington said from the lot at his Macwahoc, Maine, business off Route 2. "That road surface is either crowned -- in your own lane it's crowned."Miles mean money for Hanington. Every minute on the road fuels his logging business."Roads have an impact on the driver, but the bigger cost to this is the whole rural economy," Hanington said.It takes about a half-hour to get to Macwahoc from Interstate 95. The Aroostook County plantation has a population of 79, according to the most recent census.Hanington's contracting business hauls timber from stump to mill. He employs many of his neighbors and blames the area's poor roads for damaging his trucks and his way of life.Parts, like springs, take a beating -- what should last 8-10 years are lasting three, he said."What they're doing is they wait until the pavement goes and then they pave, and then they pave, and then they pave, when it gets to the point where they can't patch it with a patch," Hanington said. "They need to be rebuilt."The average Maine contractor will spend 150 miles on the road per round trip. Most of the driving is on secondary roads off the interstate, connecting the woods to the mills.It's gotten so bad, some drivers are choosing to work for companies that avoid the bad roads and take I-95 instead. But the highway does not go everywhere, and sometimes state roads are the only option."You have a crown and virtually no shoulder," said Dana Doran, standing at the intersection of two state roads in Prentiss, Maine, a bumpy ride from Hanington's garage.Doran is the executive director of the Professional Logging Contractors of Maine. The organization represents 190 members. The logging economy employs more than 4,600 people and is responsible for an additional 2,700 indirect jobs, according to the association. That pumps nearly $1 billion into Maine's economy.The tight roads -- the arteries of this economy -- are old, worn out and forgotten, Doran said."If your costs are going up because of whether it's maintenance or the inability to move products, you're going to have to cut jobs -- that's the bottom line," Doran said. "We're not casting blame on anyone. What I think we need to do is come up with that solution, and part of that is funding."So what's the fix? The Legislature created a bipartisan Blue Ribbon Commission to find a solution to a funding gap."These roads need to be rebuilt. You need to take a section of miles, tear them up and change the base," commission co-chair State Sen. Bill Diamond, D-Windham, said.But rebuilding is costly. Redoing 1 mile of road from top to bottom can cost anywhere from $3 million to $5 million, according to MaineDOT. MaineDOT needs more than $100 million in bonds, along with matching funds from the federal government, to complete its projects next year. Those projects are just to maintain what road network Maine already has."We need to find a number of options that the commission can look at and say, 'You know what -- all these together make a fair approach,'" Diamond said.Ideas include raising the gas tax, which has seen declining revenue as more electric vehicles have hit the road. Raising the tax by a penny would bring in an additional $7 million a year, Diamond said."That's a lot of pennies to get up to $160 million. We can't do that," Diamond said.Logging contractors contribute via an excise tax and other fees. Without more money coming in and new roads, Hanington worries his business and his way of life will disappear."What's wrong with rural life?" Hanington said. "I think people can enjoy rural life is they have a job, but you can't have a job without roads and bridges."Until something is done, time will make the roads and bridges even worse.The Blue Ribbon Commission met for the first time earlier this month. It will meet again Oct. 1.

Roads matter a lot to Stephen Hanington -- without them, he wouldn't be able to make a living.

"The road surface is not flat," Hanington said from the lot at his Macwahoc, Maine, business off Route 2. "That road surface is either crowned -- in your own lane it's crowned."

Miles mean money for Hanington. Every minute on the road fuels his logging business.

"Roads have an impact on the driver, but the bigger cost to this is the whole rural economy," Hanington said.

It takes about a half-hour to get to Macwahoc from Interstate 95. The Aroostook County plantation has a population of 79, according to the most recent census.

Hanington's contracting business hauls timber from stump to mill. He employs many of his neighbors and blames the area's poor roads for damaging his trucks and his way of life.

Parts, like springs, take a beating -- what should last 8-10 years are lasting three, he said.

"What they're doing is they wait until the pavement goes and then they pave, and then they pave, and then they pave, when it gets to the point where they can't patch it with a patch," Hanington said. "They need to be rebuilt."

The average Maine contractor will spend 150 miles on the road per round trip. Most of the driving is on secondary roads off the interstate, connecting the woods to the mills.

It's gotten so bad, some drivers are choosing to work for companies that avoid the bad roads and take I-95 instead. But the highway does not go everywhere, and sometimes state roads are the only option.

"You have a crown and virtually no shoulder," said Dana Doran, standing at the intersection of two state roads in Prentiss, Maine, a bumpy ride from Hanington's garage.

Doran is the executive director of the Professional Logging Contractors of Maine. The organization represents 190 members. The logging economy employs more than 4,600 people and is responsible for an additional 2,700 indirect jobs, according to the association. That pumps nearly $1 billion into Maine's economy.

The tight roads -- the arteries of this economy -- are old, worn out and forgotten, Doran said.

"If your costs are going up because of whether it's maintenance or the inability to move products, you're going to have to cut jobs -- that's the bottom line," Doran said. "We're not casting blame on anyone. What I think we need to do is come up with that solution, and part of that is funding."

So what's the fix? The Legislature created a bipartisan Blue Ribbon Commission to find a solution to a funding gap.

"These roads need to be rebuilt. You need to take a section of miles, tear them up and change the base," commission co-chair State Sen. Bill Diamond, D-Windham, said.

But rebuilding is costly. Redoing 1 mile of road from top to bottom can cost anywhere from $3 million to $5 million, according to MaineDOT.

"Roads have an impact on the driver, but the bigger cost to this is the whole rural economy." -Stephen Hanington

MaineDOT needs more than $100 million in bonds, along with matching funds from the federal government, to complete its projects next year. Those projects are just to maintain what road network Maine already has.

"We need to find a number of options that the commission can look at and say, 'You know what -- all these together make a fair approach,'" Diamond said.

Ideas include raising the gas tax, which has seen declining revenue as more electric vehicles have hit the road. Raising the tax by a penny would bring in an additional $7 million a year, Diamond said.

"That's a lot of pennies to get up to $160 million. We can't do that," Diamond said.

Logging contractors contribute via an excise tax and other fees. Without more money coming in and new roads, Hanington worries his business and his way of life will disappear.

"What's wrong with rural life?" Hanington said. "I think people can enjoy rural life is they have a job, but you can't have a job without roads and bridges."

Until something is done, time will make the roads and bridges even worse.

The Blue Ribbon Commission met for the first time earlier this month. It will meet again Oct. 1.

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The need to rebuild: Finding a solution to Maine's infrastructure problem

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Roads matter a lot to Stephen Hanington -- without them, he wouldn't be able to make a living."The road surface is not flat," Hanington said from the lot at his Macwahoc, Maine, business off Route 2. "That road surface is either crowned -- in your own lane it's crowned."Miles mean money for Hanington.

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Federal gov't gives Maine 73 million for infrastructure

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Federal gov't gives Maine 73 million for infrastructure

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Maine will be receiving almost $73 million from the federal government for transportation and water infrastructure projects across the state.

U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, chairman of the Transportation Appropriations Subcommittee, announced this week that Maine will receive $26.6 million through the federal BUILD program (formerly known as TIGER) to fund three transportation projects:

Western Gateways Project: The Maine Department of Transportation will receive an almost $11.03 million grant for a $22 million project to repair, resurface, improve drainage, and enhance pedestrian safety to a network of three key roadways in three rural towns: Kingfield, Woodstock and Fryeburg. MDOT will increase the safety of these roads for motorists, bicyclists and pedestrians and provide access to rural retail, commerce, employment centers, shipping routes and recreation points critical to the economy. The proposal will meet Americans with Disabilities Act and MDOT's standards for sidewalk, crossing and bike lane safety.

Waterville Main Street Revitalization Project: The city of Waterville will receive an almost $7.4 million grant for a $9.2 million project to make infrastructure improvements in the city's downtown area. The project includes: Changing traffic direction from one-way to two-way on two downtown roads, making improvements to intersections, and updating sidewalks, plantings, and benches. In addition, the funding will allow the city to complete its Riverwalk project.

Traffic Mobility Improvements Project: MDOT will receive an $8.24 million grant for a $16.5 million project to replace and enhance 104 of the 804 traffic signals statewide with updated technology. This includes traffic signal systems; infrared camera vehicle detection at intersections; emergency pre-emption devices to improve fire, safety, and law enforcement navigation through signals; and infrastructure to support autonomous vehicles. MDOT said in a news release that these upgrades "will help maintain safe and efficient traffic flow and proposes to maintain all traffic signal detection, rather than leaving it to municipalities."

This is the 10th funding round of TIGER/BUILD grants. The U.S. Department of Transportation received a total of $11 billion in requests from more than 800 applications this round.

Since the program's inception as TIGER in 2009, Collins has secured more than $160 million for key transportation investments throughout Maine, including bridges, seaports, and rail projects.

$46M for water infrastructure projects

In a separate announcement, Collins and U.S. Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, reported that the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Rural Development office is investing $46.12 million to upgrade water infrastructure in Southwest Harbor, Bridgton and Rockland.

USDA is providing financing through the Water and Waste Disposal Loan and Grant program, which can be used for drinking water, stormwater drainage, and waste disposal systems for rural communities with 10,000 or fewer residents, the senators reported.

Here is what's being funded:
Southwest Harbor Water and Sewer District, $15.68 million:
Southwest Harbor was awarded an $8 million loan and a $7.68 million grant to upgrade its wastewater treatment facility and pump stations. The project will remove processing equipment that has exceeded its useful life, replace and expand existing structures, and improve overall efficiencies of the treatment process. The improvements include building upgrades, pump station upgrades, new blowers, sludge pumps, a dumping station, sludge dewatering, and clarifiers.

The town's wastewater treatment facility provides essential wastewater services to its 539 residential and 128 commercial and governmental customers. Upon completion of the project, the district will be in compliance with its Maine Department of Environmental Protection discharge permit.

Modernization of this circa-1973 wastewater treatment plant will minimize and/or eliminate the potential for discharge of untreated sewage into the Atlantic Ocean, the senators stated, adding that the project is expected to create and save approximately 378 jobs.

"Upgrades to the sewer system play an important role in preserving Southwest Harbor as a working waterfront that relies on tourism, eco-tourism, recreational and commercial boating, and commercial fishing in order to maintain a viable economy," the senators stated. "This means that preserving the water quality of nearby Somes Sound, a coastal waterway in the Gulf of Maine, is of the utmost importance as the Atlantic Ocean is the lifeblood of this rural community."
Town of Bridgton, $20.4 million:
Bridgton was awarded a $10.437 million loan and a $10 million grant to rehabilitate its wastewater treatment system. The proposed project is to construct a new wastewater treatment facility, upgrade some aging sewer collection infrastructure, and to expand the system which will enable additional users in the greater downtown area to have access to public wastewater services.

The expansion portion of the project is expected to add 448 new users, increasing the total number of users on the system from 207 to 655.

The proposed project will focus on the wastewater facility as it is in need of immediate upgrades. Some of the plant's original equipment and processes are upwards of 35 years old, and the overall facility is well beyond the 20-year useful life for which it was originally designed. Additional funding includes $2 million from the Clean Water State Revolving Fund and $443,000 from the Town of Bridgton.
City of Rockland, $10 million:
Rockland was awarded an almost $8.03 million loan and a $1.97 million grant to rehabilitate the city's wastewater treatment facility, upgrade some aging sewer collection infrastructure, and correct some combined sewer overflow abatement issues. The proposed project will focus on immediate upgrades of the wastewater system, which has some original equipment and processes that are upwards of 40 years old.

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Feds pump $73M into Maine for infrastructure projects

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Maine will be receiving almost $73 million from the federal government for transportation and water infrastructure projects across the state. U.S. Sen.

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Roads, schools, internet, airports

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america's infrastructure is crumbling and these people are suffering because of it. - cnn

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America's infrastructure is crumbling and these people are suffering because of it

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The fabric of America is crumbling. The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) gives the nation's infrastructure a D+ grade -- that's the roads and bridges we drive on every day, the airports we use for business and vacation travel, and the schools where we send our children to learn.

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10 States that Have biggest infrastructure needs

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10 States that Have biggest infrastructure needs

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Spoiler alert: Maine is on this list

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America relies on a vast network of infrastructure - airports, roads, bridges, freight rail, ports and electric grids - to keep the $18 trillion economy humming. But many of the systems currently in place were built decades ago, and economists say delays and rising maintenance and safety costs are now inhibiting our nation's economic performance. It's an issue that President Donald Trump has set his sights on with a $1.5 trillion infrastructure plan to address the crisis. He believes infrastructure modernization would have a multiplier effect. Global consulting firm McKinsey estimates that increasing U.S. infrastructure spending by 1 percent of GDP would add 1.5 million jobs to the economy.

"Today every American family is losing about $3,400 a year in disposable income due to poor infrastructure," said Greg DiLoreto, past president of the American Society of Civil Engineers. He is talking about auto repairs, gasoline for the time you spend stuck in traffic, bottled water during an outage - the list goes on.

Infrastructure is important to business, too, which is why it is among the most important categories in CNBC's exclusive America's Top States for Business study, worth 400 out of 2,500 points. We use government data to evaluate each state's roads, bridges, ports, airports, rail networks and utilities.

While some states are finding ways around the crisis, others can only shrug each time a White House Infrastructure Week comes and goes.

Here are America's 10 worst trouble spots.

If ever there was a state that could benefit from better infrastructure, it is the Magnolia State. The state has one of the most important stretches of its namesake river, as well as a key Gulf Coast port. Its roads and rails provide key links to the rest of the South. But as it does in so many measures of competitiveness, Mississippi falls short here. The state lags its Gulf Coast neighbors in the value of commodities shipped. Roads and bridges are in bad shape, and air travel options are limited.

2018 Infrastructure score: 172 out of 400 points (Top States Grade: D+)

Deficient bridges: 11.8 percent

Average commute to work: 24.3 minutes (U.S. Average: 25.7 minutes)

Roads in poor or mediocre condition: 51 percent

20-year water-system needs: $4.8 billion

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America in crisis: The 10 states with the worst infrastructure

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America relies on a vast network of infrastructure - airports, roads, bridges, freight rail, ports and electric grids - to keep the $18 trillion economy humming. But many of the systems currently in place were built decades ago, and economists say delays and rising maintenance and safety costs are now inhibiting our nation's economic performance.

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By: Claire McCarthy, MD, FAAP

When pediatricians take care of children, we aren't just thinking about their health and safety now-we are thinking about their health and safety in the future, too.

When we talk with parents about healthy diet and exercise, we aren't just thinking about good growth and energy now, we are thinking about making sure that children grow into healthy adults. When we talk with parents about tobacco exposure, we aren't just thinking about avoiding asthma attacks, we are thinking about the risk of future lung cancer. When we talk with parents about helping their children with homework, we aren't just thinking about passing first grade or getting into college, we are thinking about their ability to earn a living wage when they grow up.

That's why pediatricians care about climate change, and why the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) issued the policy statement entitled "Global Climate Change and Children's Health." Climate change not only affects the lives of children now, it has everything to do with their future.

Here's how climate change affects our children now

Children are more vulnerable to heat waves, especially infants and athletes.

Extreme weather events, such as severe storms, floods or wildfires, not only directly threaten the lives and safety of children, they put them at risk of mental health problems-and can also cause lasting effects when they destroy their communities and their schools.

Poor air quality from climate change can cause breathing problems, especially in children with asthma.

Climate change has led to increases in infections such as Lyme disease, diarrhea, and parasites, which are often more dangerous to children than adults.

In some parts of the world, climate change has led to less food-and less healthy food.

If climate change continues

But if climate change continues, so will the effects on our children as they grow into adults. They will live in a world with:

Unhealthier air

Fewer species of plants and animals

Less land, as the seas rise

Mass migration, as people try to find a safe and healthy place to live

More instability, as people and governments argue over limited resources

Let's work together to leave the world a better, healthier, safer place-and give our children a better, healthier, safer future.

Talk with your pediatrician

If you're concerned about carbon monoxide, talk with your pediatrician. Your regional Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Unit (PEHSU) have staff who can also talk with parents about concerns over environmental toxins.

More information

About Dr. McCarthy

Claire McCarthy, MD, FAAP is a primary care pediatrician at Boston Children's Hospital, an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School, a senior editor for Harvard Health Publications, and an official spokesperson for the American Academy of Pediatrics. She writes about health and parenting for the Harvard Health Blog, Huffington Post and many other online and print publications.

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global warming~ heat stroke~ climate change~ mccarthy~ dr. claire~ policy statement~ disasters~ enviroment~ extreme weather~ landfills~ pollution~ recycle~ do your part~ asthma and air quality

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How Climate Change Affects Children: AAP Policy Explained

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By: Claire McCarthy, MD, FAAP When pediatricians take care of children, we aren't just thinking about their health and safety now-we are thinking about their health and safety in the future, too. When we talk with parents about healthy diet and exercise, we aren't just thinking about good growth and energy now, we are thinking about making sure that children grow into healthy adults.

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Barely a cloud in the sky and Portland, Maine, is flooding

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The Gulf of Maine is one of the fastest-warming bodies of saltwater on the planet. In Portland, Maine, sea levels are expected to rise 10 to 17 inches by 2030 from the levels in 2000. Christopher Booker reports on how the city is trying to adapt to climate change as flooding from sea level rise incr…

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In the criminal justice system in Maine, Domestic Violence in and of itself is not a criminal statute, but used as language with other crimes (ie: assault, criminal threatening, terrorizing, etc.) to define the relationship involved between the defendant and the victim.

Examples

Common domestic violence offenses include:

Assault

Criminal Mischief

Criminal Threatening

Kidnapping

Sexual Assault

Stalking

Terrorizing

Violation of a Protection from Abuse Order

Defining Domestic Violence

Domestic violence is a crime committed between family or household members. By law, family or household members are defined as:

". . . spouses or domestic partners or former spouses or former domestic partners, individuals presently or formerly living as spouses, natural parents of the same child, [related] adult household members . . . or minor children of any household member when the offender is an adult household member. . ."

Domestic violence and substance abuse are often intimately linked and occur simultaneously. In fact, according to the American Society of Addiction Medicine, substance abuse is involved in approximately half of all intimate partner violence.

Who Does Domestic Violence Affect?

Domestic abuse is the single major cause of injury to women - more than automobile accidents, stranger rape, and muggings.

Any woman can be abused regardless of her race, educational background, religion, income level, or marital status.

Why Victims Stay

People often wonder, "Why does she stay?" The short answer is that leaving is the most dangerous time for a domestic abuse victim. The long answer includes:

Isolation

Language barriers

Embarrassment

Threats of physical violence

Children

Lack of financial independence

Culture

Pride

The list goes on.

If you are a victim you should know it is not your fault. No matter what excuse an abuser may use, no one deserves to be beaten or threatened. There are laws to protect you. There are places to get help.

The important thing to know is women do leave. Survivors of domestic abuse do build new lives. If you are a victim of domestic violence, get more information on what you can do.

Gender and Domestic Violence

Please note that abusers are often referred to as "he" because most often the abuser is male. Please be aware that abuse can be - and is - perpetrated by women against men, or in same sex relationships.

The common element is one person in a domestic relationship uses power and control to emotionally, financially, and/or physically keep the other in a powerless position. While substance abuse can make the violence worse, it is not the underlying cause of domestic violence.

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In the criminal justice system in Maine, Domestic Violence in and of itself is not a criminal statute, but used as language with other crimes (ie: assault, criminal threatening, terrorizing, etc.) to define the relationship involved between the defendant and the victim.

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In Maine, an allegation of domestic violence can result in the filing of criminal charges, a complaint for a protective order, or both. Both have the potential to result in serious sanctions.

Domestic Violence Offenses

Maine law identifies several domestic violence offenses: domestic violence assault, domestic violence criminal threatening, domestic violence terrorizing, domestic violence stalking, and domestic violence reckless conduct (all explained in detail below). A conviction for any of these offenses is punished as a Class D crime, which carries up to 364 days in jail and a $2,000 fine.

If a defendant is convicted of a domestic violence offense but has a prior conviction for any of the domestic violence offenses identified in the preceding paragraph, the new conviction is punished as a Class C crime, which is punishable by up to five years in jail and a $5,000 fine. A new conviction is also a Class C crime if the defendant has one or more prior convictions for violating a condition of bail that requires the defendant to avoid contact with the victim or a potential witness to the domestic violence, or a bail condition that prohibits possession of firearms and dangerous weapons.

Assaults. A person who commits an assault against a family or household member is guilty of domestic violence assault. An assault occurs when one person intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly causes bodily injury or makes offensive physical contact with another person.

(Me. Rev. Stat. § § 17-A-207, 17-A-207A)

Domestic violence criminal threatening. This offense occurs where a person places a family or household member in fear of receiving an imminent bodily injury.

(Me. Rev. Stat. § § 17-A-209, 17-A-209A)

Domestic violence terrorizing. A person commits domestic violence terrorizing by communicating to a family or household member a threat to commit a violent crime dangerous to human life against the family or household member or against another person. In order for a person to be guilty of domestic violence terrorizing, the threat must be such that either the person to whom the threat is communicated (or the person who is threatened) reasonably fears that the crime will be committed, or the threat causes the evacuation of a building, facility, or public transportation.

(Me. Rev. Stat. § 17-A-210, 17-A-210B)

Domestic violence stalking. This offense occurs where a person commits the crime of stalking against a family or household member. Stalking is intentionally engaging in a course of conduct directed at a certain person that would cause a reasonable person to suffer serious inconvenience or emotional distress, to fear bodily injury or death, to fear the bodily injury or death of a close relation, to fear damage or destruction of property, or to fear injury or death to an animal owned by or in the possession of the victim.

(Me. Rev. Stat. § § 17-A-210A, 17-A-210C)

Violence reckless conduct. A person who recklessly creates a risk of bodily injury to a family or household member is guilty of domestic violence reckless conduct.

(Me. Rev. Stat. § § 17-A-211, 17-A-211A)

Protective Orders

A victim of domestic violence may file a petition requesting that the court issue a protective order. The court must hold a hearing on the petition within 21 days of the petition being filed. If the person (referred to as the plaintiff) seeks an emergency or temporary protective order, the court must hold a hearing as soon as practicable, and it may be held without the defendant being present. If the court finds that the plaintiff or a minor child is in immediate danger of abuse, the court may enter a temporary protective order that remains in effect until a hearing can be held where the defendant is notified and afforded the opportunity to participate.

(Me. Rev. Stat. § 19-A-4006)

If, after conducting a hearing, the court finds sufficient evidence that the defendant committed abuse, the court may grant a protective order containing a number of provisions, including but not limited to provisions that prohibit the defendant from:

threatening, harassing, attacking, or otherwise abusing the plaintiff or any minor child living in the home

possessing a firearm

entering the premises of the plaintiff's home

following or stalking the plaintiff, or being at or near the plaintiff's home, school, business, or workplace, and

having any direct or indirect contact with the plaintiff.

In granting the protective order, the court may also:

divide personal property between the parties as well as order that either party not take, sell, or damage certain property

with respect to any minor children, award some or all temporary parental rights and responsibilities

require the defendant to obtain professional counseling

order temporary financial support for a party or a minor child in the party's custody, and

require the defendant to pay the plaintiff for lost income, medical expenses, property damage, and moving expenses incurred as a result of the defendant's abuse.

(Me. Rev. Stat. § 19-A-4007)

Violating a Protective Order

Defendants can be held in contempt of court if they violate a term of a temporary, interim, emergency, or final protective order that pertains to to the division of property, the defendant's maintenance of a life insurance policy insuring the plaintiff, the defendant receiving counseling services, temporary support of the dependent party and/or children in the dependent party's care, monetary compensation for losses resulting from the defendant's abuse, court costs or attorney's fees assessed against a party, or a provision pertaining to the custody of an animal.

If the violation concerns a provision other than one of the preceding provisions that are punishable by contempt, it is a Class D crime, unless the violation is reckless and creates a substantial risk of death or serious bodily injury to the plaintiff or the defendant assaults the plaintiff, in which case the violation is a Class C crime.

(Me. Rev. Stat. § 19-A-4011)

Consult with an Attorney

If you are charged with committing a domestic violence offense, or if you are accused of domestic abuse in a complaint seeking a protective order, you should consult with an attorney as soon as possible. An attorney can evaluate your case and provide valuable guidance while your case remains unresolved. Criminal charges can carry serious penalties, including substantial fines and jail time, and a protective order can have profound effects on your rights as a parent and a property owner. An experienced lawyer is essential to protecting your liberty and rights when you are accused of domestic violence.

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In Maine, an allegation of domestic violence can result in the filing of criminal charges, a complaint for a protective order, or both. Both have the potential to result in serious sanctions. Maine law identifies several domestic violence offenses: domestic violence assault, domestic violence criminal threatening, domestic violence terrorizing, domestic violence stalking, and domestic violence reckless conduct (all explained in detail below).

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The National Equity Project is a nonprofit, social impact organization committed to increasing the capacity of people to achieve thriving, self-determining, educated and just communities.

Our mission is to transform the experiences, outcomes, and life options for children and families who have been historically underserved by our institutions and systems.

Our approach focuses on systemic change through leadership development. We support leaders across systems to build culture, conditions, and competencies for excellence and equity in school districts, organizations, foundations, and communities.

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Through consulting and coaching, National Equity Project supports leaders in transforming their systems into equitable, resilient, and liberating environments.

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Maine Lawmakers asked to end food insecurity by 2030

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Maine Lawmakers asked to end food insecurity by 2030

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A new report, 'Everyone At The Table,' details a plan to end hunger in Maine by 2030 and says this goal 'is very well within reach.'

AUGUSTA, Maine -

A new state report says Maine continues to have a real problem with hunger, and households not having enough food. The study was ordered by the Maine Legislature and led by the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation, and Forestry.

It says food insecurity is more severe among single parents, immigrants, and people of color. And it calls for strong action to end hunger over the next eight years.

"When most recently measured, one in eight Mainers and one in five Maine children were hungry or at risk for hunger," the report said. "That is a breathtaking level of suffering."

Now, the state legislature is being asked to get the plan started to eradicate food insecurity and achieve a rate of only 4% low food security.

The report, " Everyone At The Table," has just been released in draft form. Calling hunger an "often invisible epidemic," the plan aims to end hunger in Maine by 2030 and said this goal "is very well within reach."

The first step is to make sure all Mainers "have easy, consistent access to healthy and culturally appropriate food" by ensuring the state maximizes the use of federal nutrition programs.

In the longer term, though, the plan calls on the state to "address the economic and cultural conditions" that sometimes trap people in poverty.

Rep. Bill Pluecker, I-Warren, is a farmer and a state legislator. He said he sees Maine's hunger problem through multiple perspectives and admitted that solving the problem will be a challenge.

Pluecker was one of many members of a task force, assembled by the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation, and Forestry, which worked for the past two years to develop a plan for eliminating hunger and food insecurity in Maine.

Pluecker has a bill in front of the committee to move the plan forward by assigning it to Gov. Janet Mills' Office of Policy, Innovation, and the Future for implementation.

A major conclusion of the study, according to Pluecker and Anna Korsen of the group Full Plates, Full Potential, is that hunger is a result of poverty, not simply a lack of available food. The economics of poverty, they said, cause multiple difficulties for low-income Mainers, many of which contribute to food insecurity.

"It's really getting at not only the immediate solutions to food insecurity across the state, like accessing food programs such as SNAP," Korsen said. "But also this big, important step of addressing the systemic root causes of food insecurity. Housing, employment, local food systems, and other factors that lead people to food insecurity."

"We know at Full Plates, Full Potential we are working to end childhood hunger in Maine," Korsen added. "But to truly end hunger in Maine you have to address the root causes of poverty and the narrative around poverty and food insecurity."

Korsen said it's important to remove blame from the equation and focus on addressing the systemic causes.

Pluecker agreed the full proposal represents major changes for how Maine addresses those problems.

"Trying to change the way the state works so everyone has the food they need would be changing fundamental things in our state," the lawmaker said.

But he also said it won't all need to happen at once.

"The resolve passed by the 129th Legislature did say the intent was to end hunger by 2030," Pluecker said. "At this moment that is still our intent to end hunger by 2030, and this bill is the first clear effort to move toward ending hunger by 2030."

The legislative committee is still reviewing the draft of the study report and indicated it will work over the coming two months of the session to develop clear guidelines for what the governor's staff should pursue to implement it.

At Tuesday's public hearing on Pluecker's bill, lawmakers heard from representatives of many advocacy groups who were also involved in the study, each saying how important the issue is to their constituency.

NEWS CENTER Maine STORIES

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Maine lawmakers asked to take first steps to end hunger by 2030

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A new report, 'Everyone At The Table,' details a plan to end hunger in Maine by 2030 and says this goal 'is very well within reach.' AUGUSTA, Maine - A new state report says Maine continues to have a real problem with hunger, and households not having enough food.

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How Maine is Trying to Take food insecurity off Kids' Plates

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How Maine is Trying to Take food insecurity off Kids' Plates

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How Maine is trying to take food insecurity off kids’ plates

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Recent constraints on food supply and rising costs have also stretched school districts thin -- another reminder of the way that COVID has contributed to food insecurity.

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Some Statistics on Food Insecurity in Maine

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Some Statistics on Food Insecurity in Maine

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What Hunger Looks Like in

In , people are facing hunger - and of them are children.

people

face hunger.

People facing hunger in are estimated to report needing more per year to meet their food needs.

The average cost of a meal in is . Data from Feeding America's Map the Meal Gap study. Learn more ›

Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) in

Charitable programs are unable to fully support those facing hunger. The combination of charity and government assistance programs are necessary to help bridge the meal gap.

SNAP, formerly food stamps, provides temporary help for people going through hard times - providing supplemental money to buy food until they can get back on their feet.

In ,

33.2% of households receiving SNAP benefits have children

$203,630,527
distributed through 346,171,896 in economic activity*.
SNAP generated

*Economists estimate that every dollar a household redeems through SNAP generates about $1.70 in economic activity.

Make a Difference in

The Feeding America network is able to reach 40 million people, largely thanks to the commitment of volunteers. Our communities are stronger when we join together - help give your neighbors a hand up by volunteering at your local food bank.
Pledge to volunteer ›
To make progress toward ending hunger in , we need to make sure our lawmakers in Washington are fighting for those struggling back home. You can help make sure they see how great the need is in - call on lawmakers to make ending hunger a priority.
Contact your member of Congress today ›

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In , people are facing hunger - and of them are children. people face hunger. People facing hunger in are estimated to report needing more per year to meet their food needs. The average cost of a meal in is . Data from Feeding America's Map the Meal Gap study.

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PORTLAND, Maine - Leaders from across MaineHealth, northern New England's largest health system, said today that they expect capacity challenges for the region's health care industry to persist in the months ahead and asked for understanding from patients and support from the community and policy makers.

Andrew Mueller, MD, chief executive of MaineHealth, said much of the challenge can be traced to a workforce shortage that has been building for some time, and he talked at length about the need to train more clinical professionals. He also said other factors are making it harder for health care providers to keep up with demand at this time.

"We're still battling, just a really hot pandemic. We're seeing the largest numbers of hospitalized patients since the pandemic began, right now," said Mueller.

In addition, Mueller said, many patients who understandably delayed care are now arriving at MaineHealth hospitals much sicker, putting greater demand on the organization's care team. Mueller also noted that the ongoing labor shortage is not just impacting MaineHealth, but health care organizations across the region. That in turn is making it hard to transition patients out of the hospital to skilled nursing facilities and to behavioral health facilities.

Mueller said that, while departures from the health care workforce over the state of Maine requirement to be vaccinated against COVID-19 will have some impact in the short-term, the real challenge is with overall long term trends in the labor market. Mueller presented data that showed that infections and quarantines related to COVID-19 have been a significant challenge for the health care system and that vaccination was the right way to keep care team members, patients and communities safe.

"It's very clear to us that the vaccine mandate really helps to protect and preserve our work force.," said Mueller, who added that having the full care team at MaineHealth vaccinated is not only consistent with what is best for patients and the community, but supports the organization's vision of 'Working together so our communities are the healthiest in America.'

During the Tuesday virtual press conference, Joel Botler, MD, chief medical officer of Maine Medical Center, shared that the state's largest hospital is seeing unprecedented demand. This is resulting in ongoing evaluation of, and rescheduling of some, non-emergent procedures at the hospital. Also, the MMC emergency department has been on frequent "diversion" in recent weeks, meaning that only life-threatening and other critical cases are taken in and others are directed elsewhere for care.

Cindy Wade, R.N., president of LincolnHealth in Damariscotta and Boothbay Harbor, said her rural hospital network is straining under the increased demand and the shortage of workers. She said in her hospital there is a particular challenge with patients who need care in a nursing home but can't find a space due to the labor shortage impacting skilled nursing services.

Wade also urged people with non-life-threatening concerns to use LincolnHealth's urgent care center in Boothbay Harbor rather than the hospital emergency department in Damariscotta. She said that even if someone has to drive a bit to get to Boothbay Harbor, they are likely to get care and be home sooner than if they sought similar care in the emergency department.

The health system leaders asked patients and communities to do their part in mitigating the capacity challenges for providers.

Mueller urged people to get vaccinated against COVID-19, noting that the sickest COVID patients are those who are not vaccinated.

The leaders also stressed the importance of seeking out the best venue for care. Across the health system, hours have been extended for walk-in care, urgent care and at doctor's offices to help take the pressure off emergency departments.

MaineHealth is taking a number of steps in response to the capacity issues, including:

Forming a work group specifically targeting capacity. The work group uses a "capacity dashboard" that enables them to see on a daily basis where beds are available across the health system and where patients can be appropriately transferred to receive the best possible care.

Reducing non-emergent procedures, evaluating them day-to-day depending on capacity.

Expansion by the MaineHealth Medical Group of outpatient access, including extending primary care, walk-in, urgent care and telehealth hours to help reduce the strain on emergency departments.

Placing an emphasis on supply chain efforts to ensure the health system has the right equipment to keep everyone safe.

Creating incentives to add staff, including a $61 million market adjustment to pay across the system in August and still higher increases for some of the most difficult positions to fill, making sure that wages are competitive. The system also significantly increased the employee referral bonus.

Continued investment in training programs for critical positions, working both internally and with community partners to promote these opportunities. Longer term, the health system will be investing nearly $5 million next year in partnership with community colleges and institutions of higher learning to build a workforce pipeline into the future.

The leaders also touched on other steps that can be taken to help alleviate the capacity challenges.

Mark Fourre, MD, president of Pen Bay Medical Center and Waldo County General Hospital in Rockland and Belfast, noted there were three important priorities for the community and policy makers that would help improve the situation. One of those is reimbursements and programing for behavioral health, which is being felt today in the form of patients who are having a mental health crisis filling emergency department beds over many days. "That is a long standing problem made worse today," said Fourre.

Fourre also noted that investment in local EMS companies and other patient transport services as well as reimbursements for long-term care services at nursing homes have also lagged, and the failure to invest in those services is making the current situation much worse.

Additionally, Mueller said the investments in supporting training and education for health care workers announced by Maine Gov. Janet Mills on Monday were positive steps forward, and he said hoped that the initiative will be followed by a permanent investment in expanding the state's capacity for training nurses and other health care professionals.

Mueller also had one additional ask of the community on behalf of the entire MaineHealth care team, which is to continue to appreciate and respect the difficult job health care workers are doing.

"One of the other things that we need you to do is just be patient, and recognize we are all working hard to ensure we get everyone cared for in a timely manner. I can't say it enough; we have the most amazing care team," said Mueller. "We have true heroes on the front lines."

###
Editors, reporters producers please note:
The recording of the news conference can be found here: https://vimeo.com/639191738/4cef5efbcb

Also, there were two charts presented during the news conference. One showing COVID-19 absences among MaineHealth care team members over time and another showing the number of vacancies among the MaineHealth care team over time. Copies of those charts as well as spread sheets showing the data points used to make them are available here: https://assets.mainehealth.org/share/B87C425A-BB89-4B30-AE405F6DBA362B67/

About MaineHealth
MaineHealth is a not-for-profit integrated health system consisting of nine local hospital systems, a comprehensive behavioral health care network, diagnostic services, home health agencies and nearly 1,700 employed physicians working together through the MaineHealth Medical Group. With more than 23,000 employees, MaineHealth is the largest health system in northern New England and provides preventive care, diagnosis and treatment to 1.1 million residents in Maine and New Hampshire. It includes Franklin Memorial Hospital/Franklin Community Health Network in Farmington, LincolnHealth in Damariscotta and Boothbay Harbor, Maine Behavioral Healthcare in South Portland, MaineHealth Care at Home in Saco, Maine Medical Center in Portland, Memorial Hospital in North Conway, N.H., Mid Coast-Parkview Health in Brunswick, NorDx in Scarborough, Pen Bay Medical Center and Waldo County Hospital in Rockport and Belfast, Southern Maine Health Care in Biddeford and Sanford, Spring Harbor Hospital in Westbrook and Stephens Memorial Hospital/Western Maine Health Care in Norway. MaineHealth Affiliates include Maine General Health in Augusta and Waterville, New England Rehabilitation Hospital in Portland and St. Mary's Regional Medical Center in Lewiston. It is also a significant stakeholder in the MaineHealth Accountable Care Organization in Portland.

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MaineHealth signals capacity challenges for health care system likely to continue in the months ahead

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PORTLAND, Maine - Leaders from across MaineHealth, northern New England's largest health system, said today that they expect capacity challenges for the region's health care industry to persist in the months ahead and asked for understanding from patients and support from the community and policy makers.

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The confusion of medical billing in Maine

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The confusion of medical billing in Maine

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Bill Bartlett received an $813 bill for a routine cardiac stress test that he had been told would cost him $45. Sean Dundon was charged $800 for having his sliced thumb examined and bandaged.

Both patients faced unexpectedly huge expenses for simple medical care because so-called "facility fees" were tacked onto their bills. The fees are just one example of the arcane and complex world of medical billing that so often frustrates and confuses patients.

Patients receive bills bloated by health care providers that overcharge for services and insurance companies that deny claims without explanation. And with little clout to fight back or even negotiate, feeling helpless, they often give up and pay, worn down by a system that is as time-consuming as it is obtuse.

A public, high-stakes battle between Maine's largest hospital and its dominant insurance carrier has opened a window into the opaque world of medical billing and insurance claims, and it underscores just how powerless consumers are.

The dispute was settled last week, but the disagreement was over money. Maine Medical Center in Portland said Anthem owes it millions of dollars in overdue and unpaid claims, while Anthem contended that Maine Med has overcharged the insurer by millions of dollars. If the standoff had not been resolved, Maine Med would have left Anthem's provider network in January, upending Maine's entire health insurance market.

The Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram spent more than three months investigating the byzantine system of medical billing in Maine. The newspaper spoke with dozens of patients who have had billing problems, reviewed their invoices and explanations of benefits, interviewed health care executives and consulted experts in the field. The reporting reveals systemic shortcomings that are not limited to any one medical provider or insurer but are pervasive across the landscape. The Press Herald found that:

* Medical bills are confusing and opaque, and sometimes carry arbitrary and hidden costs, including a common surcharge that hospitals call a "facility fee," charging hundreds of dollars simply for getting treatment in a hospital.

* Insurance companies deny some claims for reasons that aren't clear and may never be explained, forcing patients to choose between waging drawn-out fights or paying hefty bills.

* Costs for procedures and insurance coverage vary so widely that even patients who carefully compare prices beforehand can wind up with bills far larger than expected.

* Even though Americans' access to insurance expanded through the Affordable Care Act, many are still underinsured and subject to massive medical bills they don't expect and may not be able to pay.

The practice of assessing facility fees - sometimes hiding such fees in other charges - increasingly contributes to some patients' surprisingly large bills.

It has long been standard practice for hospitals to shift uncompensated costs, such as care for uninsured patients who can't afford to pay their bills, to patients with insurance.

But with more patients on high-deductible plans - and insurers sometimes refusing to pay or paying only a fraction of their bills - individuals are picking up more of the tab and bearing more of the financial burden.

"The system is broken and is really in need of a major overhaul," said Dr. Julie Keller Pease, a founding member of Maine AllCare, which advocates for single-payer systems like those in Canada and the United Kingdom.

Still, any efforts to reform or overhaul the system, especially in one small state like Maine, face huge barriers.
HIDDEN FEES
Maine patients are paying hundreds of dollars extra for routine medical tests or procedures simply because the tests are occurring at hospitals. And they may have no idea, because the "facility fees" are not clearly explained and sometimes hidden on their bills.

Bill Bartlett of Kennebunkport said he called his insurance company to check on the price before getting his routine cardiac stress test last November. A few weeks later, the 60-year-old got a bill from York Hospital for the $45 he expected plus $813 for a "facility fee."

Bartlett only discovered the facility fee because he demanded an explanation. And before he spent months complaining and appealing, his insurance company tried to deny coverage and stick him with the bill.

"This shouldn't be my problem," said Bartlett, who appealed the denial. "I did due diligence to determine the cost ahead of time."

After Bartlett refused for months to pay the bill, Harvard Pilgrim finally paid most of it a few weeks ago, without explanation.

Jean Kolak, a spokeswoman for York Hospital, said that "when a patient receives services at York Hospital, their invoice will include a facility fee."

"The amount of this fee is created, based on a variety of factors, such as the cost of staff, equipment, technology, medications utilized, supplies and in some clinical care areas, the acuity of the patient," Kolak said in a statement.

Ann Woloson, executive director of Consumers for Affordable Health Care, a Maine-based advocacy group, said the organization is receiving increasing numbers of complaints about facility fees and may seek legislation to limit when they can be charged and require that patients be warned ahead of time.

"If facility fees are charged, the brunt of those fees should not be on the consumer," Woloson said.

Al Swallow, chief financial officer for MaineHealth, the hospital network that includes Maine Medical Center and seven other Maine hospitals, said facility fees are an industry standard. They reflect the need for hospitals to cover higher expenses than other medical providers incur, he said.

"Hospital settings have more costs than (outpatient) settings, including the fact that many of the services delivered by hospitals go uncompensated, either because of charitable care or the fact that Medicare and Medicaid do not cover the full cost of care delivered in a hospital," Swallow said in an email response to questions. "Hospital settings are also more highly regulated, and meeting those standards can add costs to delivering care in those settings."
DENIED CLAIMS
Patients can be at the mercy of insurance companies that deny claims for services they thought would be covered, and some fight their bills for years, believing that they should not be responsible.

Others just give up and pay, even though they share that belief.

Doni Gallinger of Portland did not give up, despite having claims denied by two insurance companies. But it took years for the 70-year-old to get coverage for mental health therapy.

"There was a very clear intent ... to withhold services," Gallinger said. "That was a very clear objective for them."

The system is a perplexing mess, even for health care professionals.

Jill Copeland, a mental health therapist in Yarmouth, said she had to learn the ins and outs of how seven insurance companies conduct business in order to get properly reimbursed. If she didn't have to spend so much time navigating the system, she said she could see 15% to 20% more patients.

"I have waited a very long time to get paid," Copeland said. "And I am very persistent."

Getting insurance companies to fix problems related to reimbursements is often difficult.

"My experience has been in general if they get things set up right the first time, it's likely to keep going right," Copeland said. "But if something doesn't go right the first time, it feels like you might as well just give up. You can spend hours and hours and hours on the phone and be given all kinds of promises that it's fixed and then it still isn't fixed."
UNPREDICTABLE PRICES
Patients trying to navigate the health care market find dramatically different prices among medical providers. Many learn the hard way.

In 2021, Alex St. Hilaire of Westbrook got a CT scan on his abdomen at Shields Imaging Center in Brunswick; it cost about $750. The next year he had the same exact scan at Northern Light Mercy Hospital - and it cost him nearly $3,000. With a high-deductible insurance plan, Hilaire is on the hook to pay most of that total. He had no idea charges for the same service could vary so much.

"I was literally in the machine 40 seconds tops, and it cost $3,000," St. Hilaire said.

High charges are sometimes the result of a hospital rolling in other costs and services, said Christy Jolliff, Northern Light Health's vice president of enterprise revenue cycle, who was speaking generally, not about St. Hilaire's bill. If a bill shows $25 for a bottle of aspirin, that fee may actually cover other materials and services.

"We don't charge for every piece of gauze, every Q-tip that's being used," Jolliff said. "Oftentimes, it covers things that don't get listed at all."

Why do hospitals charge so much? "Because they can," said Jim Ward, president and principal of Patient Advocates, a Gray company that works with self-insured employers to lower health care costs.

Large organizations and insurance networks have the power to negotiate with hospitals, Ward said. Individual patients don't.

Unlike neighborhood restaurants, hospitals generally don't compete for business with customers. Rather, they are looking to cover many running costs.

"Hospital pricing is not the same as pricing for goods in a retail store in that it is not done looking strictly at what other providers charge," said Swallow, the MaineHealth executive. "Rather, hospitals start with the premise that they must cover their operating costs - including free care and costs not fully covered by Medicare and Medicaid - and leave enough of an operating margin to weather future adverse events and invest in new technology and infrastructure."
SHOPPING AROUND
There are ways to reduce the odds of an unexpected bill, but they don't offer perfect protection.

The state's seven-year-old CompareMaine website, launched by the Maine Health Data Organization, a state agency, allows patients to compare the costs of procedures like a colonoscopy or a knee replacement. The site reveals widely varying costs across the state - a hip replacement can cost anywhere from $23,000 to $57,000.

But the site doesn't tell patients what facilities are in network for their insurance companies - information that can dramatically affect their share of costs. And it doesn't help patients understand how to navigate their coverage plans to control costs. It won't tell you, for example, that it is sometimes better for patients to meet their annual deductibles before scheduling elective surgery.

In an effort to increase price transparency, the federal government has mandated that hospitals publish the "chargemaster" prices, or list prices, on their websites.

But the chargemaster prices often have little to do with what patients get charged. The list price of repairing a broken wrist may be far different than what the various insurance companies, negotiating with hospitals, have agreed to pay for that surgery.

The bill a patient receives in the mail may be a full three steps removed from the chargemaster prices.

Stephanie DuBois, a spokeswoman for Anthem, said the company encourages its patients to shop around for health care services and call to find out what Anthem will pay.

"We all know a hospital setting can be one of the most expensive places to receive care, which is why at Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield we invest a lot of time and resources into educating consumers about the various choices they have available to them," DuBois said in a written statement. "Services such as imaging, labs, or prescription drug infusion are available at many non-hospital based facilities that offer consumers a convenient location, a much lower cost, and equal, if not greater, quality."
INSURANCE GAPS PERSIST
More Americans have health insurance now than ever before because of the Affordable Care Act, which took effect in 2013. Still, about 8 percent of Mainers remain uninsured. And many others are underinsured, with high deductibles or cost-sharing arrangements that shift more of the financial burden onto them.

The proliferation of high-deductible health plans - designed to keep premiums down - means patients are paying a higher share of the bills that come in when they get sick.

While medical bankruptcy is rarer than before the ACA took effect, many patients are saddled with thousands of dollars in bills that they are unable to pay.

Valerie Lawson, 65, of Calais said she was shocked by the $20,000 bill she received when she was temporarily uninsured last winter. She had dropped her insurance because the premiums were so high, and during that lapse she had to go to the emergency room because of hemorrhaging in her colon.

She learned what she owed when she was still weak and recovering at home. "I felt like the floor opened up beneath me, and I fell through," she said. "I thought, 'You have to be kidding me.' I was really gobsmacked."

Lawson said she gave up fighting what she believed were unfair charges and paid $14,000 to settle the bill because the fight took too much energy, and being uninsured she was in a poor negotiating position with Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical Center. She is now insured again.

But it's not only people without insurance getting large bills. People who are underinsured - often with high-deductible health plans to keep monthly premium costs low - end up paying high-cost bills.

The large number of underinsured people does more than land them with massive bills. It also contributes to inefficiencies in the health care system. The higher costs can make people reluctant to use their health care plans, delaying health services even when they need care, experts say.

"We focus on spending a lot of money later in the development of disease, when we should be focusing on prevention, early diagnosis and treatment," said Reggie Williams, vice president of the International Health Policy and Practice Innovations program at the Commonwealth Fund, a foundation in New York City that supports health care reforms.

That increases the overall cost of health care and leads to worse health outcomes, such as higher rates of infant and maternal mortality, Williams said.

"The lack of investment we have in the United States before people give birth really impacts the quality of care people have while they are pregnant and postpartum," Williams said.
REFORMS RESISTED
At the root of the problem is the way health care is financed in the United States. It is a system that is hard to defend, even for hospital administrators and insurance executives.

Yet it persists.

MaineHealth's president, Dr. Andy Mueller, said the system needs to change, and he wants to enact meaningful reforms that would move payment models away from charging fees for services to paying health care providers for keeping people healthy. Mueller said the financial incentives need to move from volume charging for services to prevention and management of chronic conditions, early diagnosis and treatment - in other words, keeping people out of the hospital.

"We can't accept the status quo," said Mueller, who became the leader of Maine's largest hospital network in 2021. "We need to fundamentally change the way we get paid."

Mueller agreed that massive reforms would be daunting. But he said MaineHealth expects to launch some pilot programs later this year that could begin to make a difference. Details of the programs - which will require a waiver from the federal Medicaid program - will be released this fall.

"Rest assured, we are working on lots of reforms that will change how we deliver care while increasing affordability," Mueller said.

But Jim Ward, the Patient Advocates president, said the headwinds against meaningful change are strong.

Any change has the potential to benefit one sector of the industry at the expense of another, and would face powerful resistance. "There's a very strong established and vested interest in maintaining the status quo," Ward said.

Some see the solution in a single-payer system - where the government pays for medical care, financed through taxes, eliminating much of the market for insurance companies. It would force hospital networks and other medical providers to accept prices set by the government - as they do with Medicare and Medicaid.

Other countries, such as Canada, the United Kingdom, France and Spain, and much of the developed world, have instituted single-payer systems or universal coverage.

Liberal politicians and advocates in the United States, such as Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, have long called for a single-payer model, which Sanders describes as "Medicare for all." Conservatives have opposed the idea, calling it socialized medicine.

Other substantial but less sweeping reforms that are often discussed include lowering the age eligibility for Medicare from 65 to 55 or 50 and giving people a "public option" for health insurance. But action on such fronts does not seem to be on the horizon, and much narrower changes are hard fought.

Even a modest reform that attracted bipartisan support - letting Medicare negotiate prices with drug manufacturers - took decades of advocacy. The Medicare reform, which finally cleared Congress and was signed into law by President Biden last week as part of the Inflation Reduction Act, will also limit annual out-of-pocket prescription costs for Medicare patients to $2,000.

A proposal championed by U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, would have capped insulin copays at $35 per month. The Inflation Reduction Act that passed Congress included this copay limit for Medicare patients, but not for the rest of the population. Collins and other advocates hope to bring forward a separate bill to pass a broader insulin cap.

Woloson, executive director of Consumers for Affordable Health Care, said it's difficult to enact reforms that benefit patients given the competing interests of the major players in the market, such as hospitals, insurance companies and drug manufacturers.

"When you adjust something over here, you have to adjust over there," Woloson said. "The consumer is always left holding the bag. What works best for hospitals or insurance companies might not work for patients."

Some have tried to reform the system at the state level. Massachusetts launched a system that sharply reduced the rates of the uninsured and inspired the federal Affordable Care Act. In recent years, the state established a health care cost commission, but it has little regulatory power.

Maryland has worked for decades to regulate costs and reduce incentives to over-treat patients. The state regulates and sets hospital prices and places all the hospitals under a single "global budget," which means the finances for hospitals in Maryland are all lumped into one budget.

But Maryland's efforts have yielded mixed results, according to recent studies.

Woloson said such efforts are important incremental steps, but they don't represent substantial progress. "They're not there yet," she said.

Maine continues to study the feasibility of reforms. Last year, the state approved the Office of Affordable Health Care, which is studying a number of reform possibilities, including allowing people to "buy" Medicaid coverage, expanding Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program and further increasing subsidies for ACA plans using state dollars.

The reforms, like the Affordable Care Act, tend to focus on expanding access to insurance rather than addressing problems with pricing and out-of-pocket costs.
SINGLE-PAYER A TOUGH SELL
Pease, of Maine AllCare, the advocate for single-payer systems, said anything short of single-payer will always be lacking.

"In single-payer systems like Canada, the doctor sends off the bill for services to the government, and they get paid a few days or few weeks later," Pease said. "It's very automatic and removes inefficiencies. Insurance companies just add another layer of bureaucracy, denying payments, requiring prior approval of services. They're the middleman."

But no state has enacted a single-payer system, and the political climate does not appear conducive to a national single-payer system. Proposals in recent years to establish single-payer in Maine have stalled out on numerous occasions.

Vermont came close in the early 2010s, but ultimately abandoned it over the complexity of a small state going it alone and the difficulties in a state financing the system.

California is considering a single-payer system, but a bill to create one failed to get a vote in the state assembly this February.

Single-payer also may not be a panacea.

Mueller, the MaineHealth CEO, said that a single-payer system would not necessarily be an improvement. If the government did not put enough money into the system, there could be massive cuts to health care services.

The way it is now, if there are cuts in government-funded Medicare and Medicaid, health care systemshave the flexibility to make up for lost revenue by increasing costs to private insurers.

Health care systems would potentially lose that ability under a single-payer system, Mueller said.So, if public funding for a single-payer system was insufficient or inconsistent, it could result in cost-cutting and ultimately a declining quality of health care, he said.

Dan Colacino, vice president of the Maine Association of Health Underwriters, which represents brokers that sell insurance, said the success of a single-payer system would be subject to the push and pull of state budget negotiations.

"It moves the cost of health care from individuals and employers onto the state," Colacino said. "The increase in taxes would be huge."

Without meaningful change, Maine patients are largely left to navigate the medical billing maze on their own, learning one painful lesson at a time.

Sean Dundon's teaching moment came on Christmas Day, when he sliced off a portion of his thumb peeling potatoes. The trip to Northern Light Mercy Hospital for an assessment and a bandage - he didn't even need stitches - cost him about $300 for the actual treatment and another $500 for a hospital facility fee he had to use his deductible to pay.

Dundon said the system is "intentionally obfuscating and confusing" and it shouldn't be. "If there had been a sign on the wall that said there was a facility fee, I would have gone home, dressed it myself and gone (somewhere else) the next day."

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Hidden charges, denied claims: Medical bills leave patients confused, frustrated, helpless

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Bill Bartlett received an $813 bill for a routine cardiac stress test that he had been told would cost him $45. Sean Dundon was charged $800 for having his sliced thumb examined and bandaged. Both patients faced unexpectedly huge expenses for simple medical care because so-called "facility fees" were tacked onto their bills.

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Cases of Lyme disease are rebounding in Maine, with the number of cases so far this year on pace to exceed the totals for 2020 and 2021.

Maine recorded 1,433 Lyme cases through Aug. 14 this year, compared with 1,127 in all of 2020 and 1,510 in all of 2021, according to the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention. And the deer ticks that cause Lyme will actively search for hosts well into the autumn before becoming less active and burrowing beneath leaf litter for the winter.

The increase in cases this year comes despite the dry summer in much of the state. Warm, humid and rainy weather brings out ticks, while dry weather is not as favorable for the arachnids.

Griffin Dill, integrated pest management professional for the University of Maine Cooperative Extension's tick lab, said it's difficult to determine what is causing the increase in Lyme cases this year, but several factors may be at work.

A rainy late spring and early summer may have contributed. Dill said even with mostly dry conditions in July and August, the ticks may have been better poised to survive a dry spell after the near-ideal weather conditions earlier this year.

"The adult ticks in spring and early summer were highly active," Dill said. "It started to tail off at the end of June, early July."

Dill said another factor may be that a higher percentage of deer ticks are carrying the bacteria that causes Lyme disease. The lab accepts tick samples from all over the state to test for infectious diseases, and the percentage of ticks found to be carrying the bacteria increased from 38 percent in 2019 to 45 percent so far this year.

"We have more ticks testing positive for the pathogens than in previous years," Dill said.

The range of deer ticks also keeps expanding into new parts of the state, he said.

"We are starting to see more of an increase in Down East, in Washington County, as far east as Calais," Dill said. "The habitat along the coast is more conducive to ticks."

Cases of another tick-borne disease called anaplasmosis also are tracking higher this year, with 610 cases through Aug. 14, compared to 841 for all of 2021. Maine has reported 97 cases of babesiosis, the other disease most commonly associated with deer ticks, so far this year.

Lyme disease peaked in Maine in 2019, with 2,167 total cases, before falling off to 1,127 cases in 2020. Dill said it's difficult to tell why cases were so much lower in 2020, but it may be that there were many undiagnosed cases during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Many people were not seeking medical attention in 2020," he said.
VACCINE IN THE WORKS
Meanwhile, scientists, including some in Maine, are testing a Lyme vaccine that soon could be approved. Pfizer is currently conducting human clinical trials for a Lyme vaccine, and Brewer-based Northern Light Health in Maine is the site of one of the trials.

Kris Currier, a Northern Light Health spokeswoman, said the health care system "will soon share more information about a Lyme disease vaccine trial that was recently addressed in the news. We anticipate approval to begin enrollment in September and will send out information including dates and the process for enrollment when details are confirmed."

Lyme can be treated with a course of antibiotics. But many cases go undetected, especially if people are bitten by ticks in the nymphal stage, which are so tiny they can be hard to spot. Symptoms of Lyme disease can include fatigue, joint pain, headache and fever. If untreated, Lyme disease can cause heart and nervous system conditions.

Dill said the tick lab is studying the role of the white-footed mouse as a reservoir for Lyme disease. The white-footed mouse is more prevalent in southern Maine but may be expanding its habitat. Dill said it's unknown if the deer mouse, a more common mouse in northern Maine, is less likely to be a reservoir for Lyme than the white-footed mouse. He said it's also unclear if the white-footed mouse is expanding its habitat farther north and displacing the deer mouse.

Meanwhile, the Maine Medical Center Research Institute is conducting several research projects, including "investigating ways to eliminate Lyme disease at its source by preventing ticks from spreading the Lyme bacteria in the wild" and also studying how temperature and humidity impact the survivability of deer ticks.

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Lyme disease rebounding in Maine this year

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Cases of Lyme disease are rebounding in Maine, with the number of cases so far this year on pace to exceed the totals for 2020 and 2021. Maine recorded 1,433 Lyme cases through Aug. 14 this year, compared with 1,127 in all of 2020 and 1,510 in all of 2021, according to the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

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Portland Cracking Down on Homeless Encampments

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Portland Cracking Down on Homeless Encampments

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Portland is stepping up enforcement of existing state and local laws banning unauthorized campsites on public property.On Tuesday morning, police ordered the disbursement of dozens of homeless people who were sleeping in tents in the city's largest park, Deering Oaks. The action follows a July 1 staff memo from Interim City Manager Danielle West directing a coordinated response to the uptick in homelessness and encampments.West wrote, "Unauthorized campsites on public property may have significant public health and safety consequences, and so enforcement of various ordinances is a necessary preventative tool."Patty Ordway was among the homeless campers ordered to leave Deering Oaks.Patty Ordway, 34, was among the homeless campers ordered to leave Deering Oaks. Portland police officers issued a warning Monday night and returned at 8:30 a.m."We already asked them how long we had? And they said, 'Now! Right now!'" Ordway said.She described herself as a lifelong Portland resident and recovering heroin addict who is jobless and has been homeless on and off for two years."I'm tired of living outside, it's wrong. I can't shower. I can't eat when I want to. I can't do anything I want to," Ordway said.But like numerous other homeless campers we encountered in the park, she doesn't want to sleep in the city's largest shelter on Oxford Street, which has 154 beds, with 40 currently available."First of all, I have a lot of stuff, and if you go there, everything gets stolen, and not everyone is good. I just can't do it, can't do it," Ordway said.We encountered her with a large suitcase and three full shopping carts of belongings on a grassy patch next to an I-295 on-ramp off of Forest Avenue. All of this was a couple of hundred yards from the park.The city hopes to entice the unhoused off the streets by arranging free storage of their belongings through the social services agency Amistad.One Portland business owner directly affected by the encampments is Victoria Thayer, who four days ago opened Queenie's Castle, serving breakfast and lunch inside Deering Oaks."I hope they find a solution and a place for these folks to go," Thayer said. "Some folks came and stole my patio set."Police found it in a homeless person's tent yesterday - but that's not all."A woman defecated on my building and ruined my grand opening. There's been some of the folks trying to push their way through to use the bathroom just under the influence," Thayer said.Deering Oaks is not the only encampment, there are smaller ones in other wooded areas and parks, behind fences and under trees.The city is building a new 200-bed shelter in the Riverton neighborhood, but it won't be ready until next spring.Preble Street, the social service agency, is building a new 40-bed shelter scheduled to open this fall. The city is currently housing 1,479 people, both individuals and families, in hotels and motels and shelters, said Jessica Grondin, a City Hall spokeswoman.Roughly two-thirds are asylum seekers from abroad, but more than 500 are local homeless.Statewide, according to an annual survey conducted by Maine Housing, 3,455 people in Maine were homeless earlier this year, one-third of whom resided in Cumberland and York Counties.

Portland is stepping up enforcement of existing state and local laws banning unauthorized campsites on public property.

On Tuesday morning, police ordered the disbursement of dozens of homeless people who were sleeping in tents in the city's largest park, Deering Oaks.

The action follows a July 1 staff memo from Interim City Manager Danielle West directing a coordinated response to the uptick in homelessness and encampments.

West wrote, "Unauthorized campsites on public property may have significant public health and safety consequences, and so enforcement of various ordinances is a necessary preventative tool."Patty Ordway was among the homeless campers ordered to leave Deering Oaks.

Patty Ordway, 34, was among the homeless campers ordered to leave Deering Oaks. Portland police officers issued a warning Monday night and returned at 8:30 a.m.

"We already asked them how long we had? And they said, 'Now! Right now!'" Ordway said.

She described herself as a lifelong Portland resident and recovering heroin addict who is jobless and has been homeless on and off for two years.

"I'm tired of living outside, it's wrong. I can't shower. I can't eat when I want to. I can't do anything I want to," Ordway said.

But like numerous other homeless campers we encountered in the park, she doesn't want to sleep in the city's largest shelter on Oxford Street, which has 154 beds, with 40 currently available.

"First of all, I have a lot of stuff, and if you go there, everything gets stolen, and not everyone is good. I just can't do it, can't do it," Ordway said.

We encountered her with a large suitcase and three full shopping carts of belongings on a grassy patch next to an I-295 on-ramp off of Forest Avenue. All of this was a couple of hundred yards from the park.

The city hopes to entice the unhoused off the streets by arranging free storage of their belongings through the social services agency Amistad.

One Portland business owner directly affected by the encampments is Victoria Thayer, who four days ago opened Queenie's Castle, serving breakfast and lunch inside Deering Oaks.

"I hope they find a solution and a place for these folks to go," Thayer said. "Some folks came and stole my patio set."

Police found it in a homeless person's tent yesterday - but that's not all.

"A woman defecated on my building and ruined my grand opening. There's been some of the folks trying to push their way through to use the bathroom just under the influence," Thayer said.

Deering Oaks is not the only encampment, there are smaller ones in other wooded areas and parks, behind fences and under trees.

The city is building a new 200-bed shelter in the Riverton neighborhood, but it won't be ready until next spring.

Preble Street, the social service agency, is building a new 40-bed shelter scheduled to open this fall.

The city is currently housing 1,479 people, both individuals and families, in hotels and motels and shelters, said Jessica Grondin, a City Hall spokeswoman.

Roughly two-thirds are asylum seekers from abroad, but more than 500 are local homeless.

Statewide, according to an annual survey conducted by Maine Housing, 3,455 people in Maine were homeless earlier this year, one-third of whom resided in Cumberland and York Counties.

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Portland begins cracking down on homeless encampments in city parks

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Portland is stepping up enforcement of existing state and local laws banning unauthorized campsites on public property.On Tuesday morning, police ordered the disbursement of dozens of homeless people who were sleeping in tents in the city's largest park, Deering Oaks.

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A new report from MaineHousing released Monday finds the number of people in Maine experiencing homelessness is growing.The annual Point in Time Survey conducted on Jan. 25, 2022 found 4,411 people experiencing homelessness. That is a significant increase from the 2021 report that counted 2,204 people. In 2020, that number was 2,097 and in 2019 it was 2,106.However, this year's report does include those living in motels and hotels through federally funded pandemic rent relief programs that did not previously exist. It also includes people in transitional housing, counting them as currently experiencing homeless, a group not previously included.People living in emergency shelter hotels and motels, funded by either the Emergency Rental Assistance Program or state and locally funded General Assistance programs, account for 2,476 individuals tallied in the 2022 count.MaineHousing said the new survey likely also reflects a surge in people seeking asylum coming to Maine.Of the people who were counted as being homeless during this survey, 3,276 were sheltered, either in an emergency shelter, including hotels and motels, while 164 were unsheltered, staying in cars, tents, abandoned buildings, outside or in other places not suitable for habitation. Another 956 individuals in the count were in transitional housing.The 2022 count reflects 1,073 children under the age of 18, while 1,734 people self-identified as having behavioral health issues, including serious mental illness and/or a substance use disorder.The report noted that the overall number of people experiencing homelessness at any point throughout the year is considerably higher than the Point in Time survey shows. Last year's unduplicated count for the year ending June 30, 2021 was 5,485, and that was considered to be an undercount due to not including people in emergency hotel placements. People working in the homeless arena expect the number to be only higher this year, based on what they are seeing in shelters, hotels, and outside. "We expected to see a sharp increase in the number of people experiencing homelessness this year from this count. We've been able to serve so many people in hotels with emergency rental assistance. However, these aren't just numbers. Each number represents our fellow Mainers and many people fleeing to Maine for a safe second chance at life for themselves and their families." said MaineHousing Director Daniel Brennan. Cullen Ryan, who serves currently as president of the Maine Continuum of Care Board of Directors, said the biggest concern people serving this population are seeing is the lack of places for them to go. "Shelters are full and overflowing into hotels, and that is compounded by a lack of housing placements," Ryan said. "People are becoming stuck. The affordable housing crisis is clearly affecting people experiencing homelessness. And no one is better for not having housing."Ryan said he hopes recent actions by the Legislature will help provide MaineHousing with resources to address the problem. "We just can't allow Maine to become a state where people try to live outside because they can't afford or find places to go," Ryan said. "We must set the bar higher with adequate shelter and housing to solve this problem."

A new report from MaineHousing released Monday finds the number of people in Maine experiencing homelessness is growing.

The annual Point in Time Survey conducted on Jan. 25, 2022 found 4,411 people experiencing homelessness. That is a significant increase from the 2021 report that counted 2,204 people. In 2020, that number was 2,097 and in 2019 it was 2,106.

However, this year's report does include those living in motels and hotels through federally funded pandemic rent relief programs that did not previously exist. It also includes people in transitional housing, counting them as currently experiencing homeless, a group not previously included.

People living in emergency shelter hotels and motels, funded by either the Emergency Rental Assistance Program or state and locally funded General Assistance programs, account for 2,476 individuals tallied in the 2022 count.

MaineHousing said the new survey likely also reflects a surge in people seeking asylum coming to Maine.

Of the people who were counted as being homeless during this survey, 3,276 were sheltered, either in an emergency shelter, including hotels and motels, while 164 were unsheltered, staying in cars, tents, abandoned buildings, outside or in other places not suitable for habitation. Another 956 individuals in the count were in transitional housing.

The 2022 count reflects 1,073 children under the age of 18, while 1,734 people self-identified as having behavioral health issues, including serious mental illness and/or a substance use disorder.

The report noted that the overall number of people experiencing homelessness at any point throughout the year is considerably higher than the Point in Time survey shows. Last year's unduplicated count for the year ending June 30, 2021 was 5,485, and that was considered to be an undercount due to not including people in emergency hotel placements. People working in the homeless arena expect the number to be only higher this year, based on what they are seeing in shelters, hotels, and outside.

"We expected to see a sharp increase in the number of people experiencing homelessness this year from this count. We've been able to serve so many people in hotels with emergency rental assistance. However, these aren't just numbers. Each number represents our fellow Mainers and many people fleeing to Maine for a safe second chance at life for themselves and their families." said MaineHousing Director Daniel Brennan.

Cullen Ryan, who serves currently as president of the Maine Continuum of Care Board of Directors, said the biggest concern people serving this population are seeing is the lack of places for them to go. "Shelters are full and overflowing into hotels, and that is compounded by a lack of housing placements," Ryan said. "People are becoming stuck. The affordable housing crisis is clearly affecting people experiencing homelessness. And no one is better for not having housing."

Ryan said he hopes recent actions by the Legislature will help provide MaineHousing with resources to address the problem.

"We just can't allow Maine to become a state where people try to live outside because they can't afford or find places to go," Ryan said. "We must set the bar higher with adequate shelter and housing to solve this problem."

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'People are becoming stuck': Survey finds Maine's homeless population is growing

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A new report from MaineHousing released Monday finds the number of people in Maine experiencing homelessness is growing.The annual Point in Time Survey conducted on Jan. 25, 2022 found 4,411 people experiencing homelessness. That is a significant increase from the 2021 report that counted 2,204 people.

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Maine's Homeless Spikes: Lack of Available Housing

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Maine's Homeless Spikes: Lack of Available Housing

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MaineHousing has released its annual Point in Time survey, which this year suggests 4,411 people were experiencing homelessness in our state on January 25, 2022.

PORTLAND, Maine - A new report is shedding light on the number of people in Maine experiencing homelessness, indicating 2022 has seen a "sharp increase" from just a year ago.

On Monday, MaineHousing released its annual Point in Time Survey, a one-day snapshot from January 25, 2022, of our state's homeless population.

This year, it found 4,411 people were experiencing homelessness in total in Maine on the day of the count, and experts anticipate the number for the entire year is higher.

Last year's Point in Time Survey counted 2,204 people who were homeless in January, far fewer than the 5,485 people tallied in June of that year.

"We know that through the pandemic, homelessness has been increasing," Dan Brennan, the director of the Maine State Housing Authority, said, adding, "I think the problem has gotten worse. The availability of places for people to live seems to be shrinking and shrinking."

George Mcquillar has been in his Portland apartment for almost a year, thanks to @PrebleStreet's Rapid Re-housing program. A @Maine_Housing snapshot of homelessness numbers released this week looks bleak, though. That story on @newscentermaine at 5 p.m. pic.twitter.com/GBmm8r24p5
- Chloe Teboe (@ChloeTeboe) May 18, 2022

Brennan explained part of the reason for the spike in homelessness numbers is due to the including this year of about 956 people who are served by federally-funded pandemic rent relief programs and are living in motels and hotels as transitionary housing.

"Numbers of people who are battling mental illness and substance abuse have always battled with housing stability," Brennan said. "Now, more and more people [are affected who] have just lost their job because of the pandemic, or can't get the number of hours, or, as we've seen recently, [are facing] increasing rents from real estate transactions."

Cullen Ryan, executive director of Community Housing of Maine, also worked on the report through Maine's Continuum of Care. He said people are "getting stuck" in homelessness because there's no way out.

"We have people who have no place to go," Ryan said. "They don't have really complicated issues underlying their homelessness. They simply can't find housing."

Ryan said the general public doesn't understand how expensive it is to keep people in homelessness.

"We're spending a great deal of money to keep people homeless," Ryan said. "It costs more for somebody to be homeless, so we're educating decision-makers so they will invest resources."

Preble Street's " Rapid Re-Housing" program is designed to change that. The nonprofit has helped save the emergency services system in Maine more than $1 million since it was started in October 2020 in response to the pandemic, according to a release. In that time, Rapid Re-Housing has worked with about 100 people and helped 80 find permanent housing. About 90% of them are still in place.

"At any given time, we're typically serving about 60 households," Erin Kelly, director of Rapid Re-Housing, said. "Each case manager is working with about 15 households at a time."

Kelly said there are more than 100 people currently on the waiting list, and that number continues to grow. At the same time, they're experiencing another problem.

"A lot of the landlords that we've historically worked with have seen buildings sold," Kelly said. "[In some] buildings, all of their rent in every unit [has] increased by $100 to $200."

For people like George McQuillar, the program has proven successful. He has been in his apartment on Danforth Street for about a year.

"I get up every morning, and I pray," McQuillar said. "I thank God for opening the doors to meeting people who could get me into this place."

McQuillar became homeless three years ago after he was evicted from his apartment. He said he hopes all people experiencing homelessness can get out of that situation.

"It's scary not knowing where you're going to lay your head at night," McQuillar said.

Brennan said MaineHousing has 24 properties around the state under construction as a long-term solution to provide more affordable housing. He said the organization is undergoing a redesign to try to better serve people experiencing homelessness with more accurate data.

Kelly landlords are eligible for incentives if they work with Rapid Re-Housing. You can learn more here.

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Maine's 2022 homeless numbers spike as experts point to lack of available housing

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MaineHousing has released its annual Point in Time survey, which this year suggests 4,411 people were experiencing homelessness in our state on January 25, 2022. PORTLAND, Maine - A new report is shedding light on the number of people in Maine experiencing homelessness, indicating 2022 has seen a "sharp increase" from just a year ago.

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The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act will Deliver for Maine

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The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act will Deliver for Maine

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Midcoast sees increasing number of homeless teens

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BATH (WGME) - The number of teens without a place to live is on the rise, including on the Midcoast. Also read:Farmington woman works to fight teen homelessnessIt’s a problem that’s quickly getting worse in Bath, and advocates are worried they’ll see a record number of youths experiencing homelessness before the end of the school year.

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Affordable Housing Units Open in Portland

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Affordable Housing Units Open in Portland

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Twenty-three affordable housing developments being financed by MaineHousing are under construction in Maine.

PORTLAND, Maine - The housing authority in Maine, MaineHousing, estimates that Maine is between 20,000 and 25,000 affordable units short of what we need. That estimate is based on a couple of things, including the waiting list for Housing Choice Voucher (Section 8) tenants and an annual survey of the National Low Income Housing Coalition, which does a state-by-state breakdown.

A celebration will take place Wednesday, June 22, at the new Deering Place in downtown Portland. The development will bring 75 new homes to the city in response to the growing affordable housing crisis.

The event is free and open to the public. The grand opening celebration will be held at 510 Cumberland Ave. and will feature guest speakers, refreshments, giveaways, and more.

A mix of affordable and market-rate units, Deering Place consists of three apartment buildings located on contiguous lots in the historic Parkside neighborhood: 63 Deering St., a new building; 61 Deering St., a renovated apartment building; and 510 Cumberland Ave., an adaptive reuse of an existing building with a new addition and enclosed parking. Construction on all three buildings utilized sustainable design practices for maximum energy efficiency.

"At a time when housing costs are soaring to record heights in Maine, we are proud to provide safe, quality, affordable homes in the heart of the state's largest city to a diverse population," Dana Totman, Avesta Housing president and CEO, said. "Deering Place exemplifies our mission that everyone deserves a place to call home."

Specific Maine Housing details can be found on this website.

Twenty-three affordable housing developments being financed by MaineHousing are under construction in Maine.

MaineHousing communications director Scott Thistle said this represents 570 new affordable units that are being built with an additional 187 affordable units being preserved.

These developments include work in Hancock, Penobscot, Somerset, Franklin Kennebec, Androscoggin, Cumberland, and York counties.

The current MaineHousing development pipeline, which includes projects under construction and being underwritten, includes 57 developments and 1,396 new affordable units, and 653 affordable units preserved.

Here is a link to MaineHousing's available rental programs.

Mark Wiesendanger, MaineHousing's development director, said Maine Housing has a historic amount of affordable units in its development pipeline, the largest number in the past 30 years. He said COVID-19 and new people coming to live and work in Maine have contributed to the housing crisis Maine is seeing.

Amanda Gilliam is the director of property management for Avesta Housing. She said Avesta is working on multiple projects throughout the state to help alleviate the housing crunch in the state. Avesta Housing is making sure to develop affordable housing units within the projects they have in the works.

Avesta reports applications for affordable housing rose significantly from 2020 to 2021, with more than a third coming from people who identified as being homeless.

* Total applications for affordable housing increased by 32 percent (6,231 vs. 4,715)

* More than a third of all applicants (34 percent) identified as being homeless

* Avesta added 179 new homes to its property portfolio, but it was able to house just 7.8 percent of all applicants, a decrease from 9.2 percent in 2020

To address the growing crisis, Totman urged the Maine Legislature to pass LD 2003, a new bill that would reduce barriers to more affordable housing in the state.

More NEWS CENTER Maine stories

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Affordable housing units open in heart of Portland

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Twenty-three affordable housing developments being financed by MaineHousing are under construction in Maine. PORTLAND, Maine - The housing authority in Maine, MaineHousing, estimates that Maine is between 20,000 and 25,000 affordable units short of what we need.

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Schools Under-Identify Number of Homeless Students

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Schools Under-Identify Number of Homeless Students

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Some Midcoast school districts have under-identified homeless students over the past two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Nearly 123 homeless students were enrolled under the federal McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act in 2021 across four school local districts, contributing to 9.2% of the total 1,335 homeless students enrolled across the state.

During the 2019-20 school year, the Brunswick School Department had 59 homeless students enrolled under McKinney-Vento. The 2020-21 and 2021-22 enrollment decreased to 46 and 32 students, respectively.

"In 2019-20, Brunswick had an influx of families whose housing did not meet the definition of reliable, and so they qualified for McKinney-Vento," said Brunswick School Department Assistant Superintendent Shawn Lambert. "In 2020-21, those families' housing situations changed, and their housing was determined to be reliable, and so they did not qualify for McKinney-Vento."

Lambert said that in 2020-21, the pandemic and remote learning made it difficult for Brunswick to identify families who were experiencing homelessness.

"Many communities in Maine experienced this," said Lambert. "We suspect this reduction did not mean there were fewer families experiencing homelessness."

The McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act provides students who lack a fixed, regular and adequate nighttime residence with the right to free, appropriate public education that other students receive. Services include immediate enrollment, even if that student is lacking documents normally required for enrollment, and transportation to and from school even if they are currently residing outside of the district.

The Maine Department of Education attributes the decline in homeless student enrollment to schools not knowing students' housing situations due to disruptions caused by the pandemic, following a national trend.

Bath-based Regional School Unit 1 saw homeless enrollment in the last three years range between 23 and 44. Lisbon School Department saw an increase in homeless students in the 2021-22 school year compared to 24 homeless students in 2020-21.

However, Topsham-based Maine School Administrative District 75 saw a steady decline in the enrollment rate with 40 homeless students identified in 2018-19 and only 28 and 26 homeless students identified under the Act in 2019-20 and 2021-22, respectively.

"The decline in numbers is clearly related to the pandemic," said MSAD 75 School District McKinney Vento Coordinator Mary Booth. "If you look at our trend data through 2003, we average between 40 and 50 cases a year and that will hold until you get to those two years. During the pandemic, a lot of students were not coming to school, and people were stressed and were just in survival mode."

Booth added: "You are talking about people that are under a tremendous amount of stress and trauma, so they were not identifying and getting into a routine. The thing with identifying and coming to school is that now you are committing to make school a routine part of your life."

The state average of homeless students over the past 10 years is 1,587, ranging between 0.46%-1.36% of the total student population, according to the Maine Department of Education.

Nearly 929 students identified as homeless in 2020 doubled up with others, while 177 stayed at motels or hotels, 370 stayed at shelters, and 61% stayed in unsheltered situations.

The national average assumes homeless students make up at least 3% of the entire student population, and Maine is very likely 'under' identifying students who qualify as McKinney-Vento.

"This could be due to families not feeling safe or comfortable disclosing their homelessness status, concerns about Department of Health and Human Services involvement, a lack of understanding of the Act, and the rural nature of the state," according to a statement from Maine DOE. "Majority of the students qualify because they are 'doubled up' or sharing housing."

Last year, the state received more than $2.6 million in federal funding for homeless student programs, such as connecting with community organizations, receiving mental health support, and getting tutoring services.

"The department has contracted with several community-based organizations to increase McKinney-Vento Act awareness statewide," according to a statement from Maine DOE. "We have also developed quick videos, materials, and presentations that have been shared throughout the state, and our state coordinator has been presenting to groups statewide about basic eligibility and rights of students who qualify."
This story was updated at 11:45 a.m. Feb. 10 to correctly attribute the acronym for the Maine Department of Education.

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Schools under-identify number of homeless students due to pandemic

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Some Midcoast school districts have under-identified homeless students over the past two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Nearly 123 homeless students were enrolled under the federal McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act in 2021 across four school local districts, contributing to 9.2% of the total 1,335 homeless students enrolled across the state.

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Legislators address housing shortage, but way more to be done

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Legislators address housing shortage, but way more to be done

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For seven years, off and on, Cheryl Harkins lived out of her car and in a homeless encampment in Portland. Harkins, who is 100% disabled related to degenerative conditions, said her legs would swell from sleeping in her Subaru.

One time she woke up with 15 ticks on her. Another time her face "swelled shut" from mosquito bites.

Harkins, who now serves on the statewide homeless council, said she still gets emotional when recalling that time in her life. People experiencing homelessness are called names, judged and excluded from family gatherings, she said.

"I firmly believe that homelessness creates mental health issues," Harkins said.

Even after getting into housing, Harkins' health continued to suffer. Her blood tested for high levels of carbon monoxide that she said was due to her apartment's faulty furnace. Other places she lived had asbestos, flooding and leaking toilets.

Legislation moving ahead in Augusta this month aims to address some of the state's stubborn affordable housing problem, but there's still much more to be done.

The repercussions extend beyond housing. The conditions where people live and function affect their health outcomes and quality of life - what experts call a "social determinant of health.''

The air you breathe, the water you drink and where you live all impacts your health. So does access to childcare, transportation and broadband, said Deborah Deatrick, a retired senior vice president for community health improvements at MaineHealth.

"(These factors) are more profound influences, frankly, on healthcare outcomes than things like the number of doctors we have or the number of hospitals," said Deatrick, now a public health consultant.

Mainers with a history of homelessness over the last 13 months were up to 19 times more likely to spend time in a hospital when they were without housing than when they had a place to live.

Long waiting lists for affordable housing add to the stress, which also affects health. Before the pandemic, 26,000 Maine households were on waiting lists for federal rental assistance - and that's only gotten worse.

Experts estimate Maine lacks 19,000 affordable housing units and builds only about 250 annually.

Building more units is important but not the whole solution, Deatrick said. It's also important to take into account where the housing is in relation to public transportation, schools, hospitals, childcare and good jobs.

"All these things are really part of health," Deatrick said. "It took the pandemic to have us realize that all this stuff is interconnected."

Rising rents

Part of the problem is that material and maintenance costs have increased in recent years, contributing to rising rents, said Jeff Levine, interim director of the Maine Affordable Housing Coalition.

"Portland always had a bit of an affordability challenge," Levine said. "What you've seen over the last 10 years is that challenge sort of becoming statewide. There's very few places in Maine now where the median household income can pay for the median apartment."

Paying more than 30% of income on rent is considered "rent burdened." One in five Mainers spend more than half their income on rent.

This leaves little room for healthcare and emergencies, and contributes to stress, which can impact health outcomes, said Tom McLaughlin, a professor in the School of Social Work at the University of New England.

Debate about high rents seems cyclical, resurfacing over the decades as the economy ebbs and flows, McLaughlin said. But what feels different this time is that units in Portland appear to be getting displaced by more hotels.

In recent years, Maine created the state affordable housing tax credit and set aside COVID-19 relief funds for housing, Levine said.

"It's going to be important for Maine to realize that this problem doesn't fix itself," Levine said. "If we care about the health of our residents and the economy of the state, which is directly related to the health of our residents, this is a problem we're going to have to tackle and it's not going to be a one-time solution."

The 'battle' for housing

The measure passed both the House and Senate.

The original version of the bill, introduced by House Speaker Ryan Fecteau (D-Biddeford), contained many of the recommendations from an affordable housing commission formed last year.

Housing advocates applauded the passage of LD 2003 as progress toward expanding available housing.

But even passing the stripped-down legislation was "such a battle," said Deb Ibonwa, policy and legal advocate with Maine Equal Justice, a nonprofit civil Legal Aid and economic justice organization.

"It's always been a fight getting people to care and prioritize, and understand that housing is healthcare, and housing is a human right," she said.

It's important to continue adjusting zoning restrictions to allow and encourage development of affordable housing, Ibonwa said. Zoning laws that only allow single-family dwellings in wealthier neighborhoods make it difficult for lower income families to afford to live there.

Mainers of color, who are historically more economically disadvantaged, end up renting in parts of the state that are higher density, where there's already a housing crunch, Ibonwa said. They make up a disproportionate portion of renters and often face discrimination in the housing market.

"They're over-represented in that low-income population," Ibonwa said. "(It) also ends up that they're going to be disproportionately represented in the homeless population. And they're going to face health disparities as well."

Quality housing

The state affordable housing tax credit, enacted two years ago, is the "best thing (Maine lawmakers) have ever done on housing," said Lado Lodoka, who represents the Maine Immigrant Housing Coalition, which is part of Justice Housing Maine.

But it's important to ensure that affordable housing is also quality housing, Lodoka said. New immigrants often come in at the bottom of the economic ladder and may have to accept cramped or crumbling living situations.

The pandemic underscored this problem, Lodoka said. Larger families who could only afford to rent one- or two-bedroom apartments had difficulty quarantining after exposure to the virus.

Communities like Lewiston and Auburn have received grants to address homes with lead paint, but mitigation is expensive and time-consuming. In 2020, MaineHousing abated 145 units through its program, but more than 313,000 units in the state could date before 1978.

"The quality (of the housing) is a bigger problem than we as a community would like to accept," Lodoka said. "If we accept it as a problem, then we are obligated to find a solution to it."

'Ricocheting' through systems

Mainers with a history of homelessness were, on average, 10 times more likely to end up hospitalized over the past year when they were unhoused compared to when they had housing. At one point in December, they were 19 times more likely to be in a hospital.

These findings come from a committee of 18 organizations that tracked the state's group of "long-term stayers" - Mainers who were homeless for 180 days or more over the past year.

Last month, four of the 125 unhoused long stayers were in the hospital. None of the 349 in housing were hospitalized.

Living outside makes it difficult to perform normal bodily functions and can exacerbate existing mental health challenges, said Cullen Ryan, executive director of Community Housing of Maine, which provides supportive housing and advocacy.

Symptoms of serious and persistent mental illness are exacerbated by stress, Ryan said. "And arguably the most stressful situation you can be in is chronic homelessness."

When people are housed, the symptoms decrease dramatically, Ryan said.

And once people are housed, they tend to stay housed, Ryan said. Over the past seven years, 388 long stayers found housing, with 92% staying in housing.

"This small population of people ... are ricocheting through our most expensive emergency systems all the time and costing us a great deal of money," Ryan said. "And when they're housed they stop ricocheting."

There's a backlog of adequate housing supply dating back decades, which creates "mushrooming" problems as housing stock crumbles, Ryan said. Maine needs to simultaneously increase its overall housing stock, affordable housing and supportive housing, and build them all to last.

"When we move people to nice places, they tend to keep them up and take good care of them," Ryan said. "They tend to be proud to live there and they tend to really want to make it work. And they tend to feel better about themselves."

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Legislators address Maine's housing shortage, but advocates say so much more needs to be done

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For seven years, off and on, Cheryl Harkins lived out of her car and in a homeless encampment in Portland. Harkins, who is 100% disabled related to degenerative conditions, said her legs would swell from sleeping in her Subaru. One time she woke up with 15 ticks on her.

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Youth Experiencing Homelessness Face Many Problems

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Youth Experiencing Homelessness Face Many Problems

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On the streets of cities and towns across the United States, many young people find themselves in a position where they are without a home and left to fend for themselves. According to studies on national characteristics of runaway children, there are nearly 1.7 million of these young people, under the age of 18, who lack parental, foster, or institutional care. This number is a conservative estimate because it does not include young adults between the ages of 18 and 24. Additionally, there are many young people who do not seek help, cannot be tracked, or disappear.

There is no one reason for why youth experience homelessness. Their stories and situations vary from person to person. As information on youth and homelessness from the National Coalition for the Homeless shows, some young people lack housing because they ran away from an abusive household, relationship, or foster home. Some are homeless because despite employment, they cannot afford rent and end up living on the street. There are some youth who were kicked out of their homes after they come out to their families as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, or questioning (LGBTQ). While their personal stories are different, the fact remains that these are still youth on the street who need help. As such, providers should be aware of the challenges faced by young people experiencing homelessness.

According to reports from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS), youth experiencing homelessness have a higher risk of being in a gang, using heroin, feeling depressed, attempting suicide, or experiencing trauma and violence than their housed counterparts. School can also be a challenge for many such youth. For a student experiencing homelessness, who the night before was rushing to get across town to get to a shelter before all the beds are full, getting to class the next day and staying awake during class would be a challenge. Often homeless youth change schools so frequently that it impacts their ability to achieve a quality education.

School breaks for many homeless youth are a period of uncertainty and stress. For some youth, school is a place to go for a few hours that is sure to be more peaceful than the streets. Yet during school breaks, youth can be put in a very tough situation. For some youth, what should be a leisurely break quickly becomes one of stress and fear. While many of their classmates are home on break, many homeless youth are looking for a safe place to sleep, childcare, employment, and a meal.

Young people experiencing homelessness also face challenges while accessing housing services, particularly at adult shelters. They sometimes avoid going to adult shelters because they contain the many vices homeless youth try to avoid: drugs, alcohol, violence, fighting, and even sexual assault.

Additionally, youth experiencing homelessness often struggle to secure adequate employment. Not only is their education limited, accessing showers, hygiene products, and interview attire is often difficult. When they do get a job, the positions often pay minimum wage, which is not a living wage for many. Many such youth find unreported employment ("under the table" work) and some resort to illegal activities to survive.

Given the challenges these youth face, it's important for providers to understand their unique needs. The following videos provide guidance for providers working with youth experiencing homelessness:

Access more behavioral health and homelessness resources.

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Youth Experiencing Homelessness Face Many Challenges

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On the streets of cities and towns across the United States, many young people find themselves in a position where they are without a home and left to fend for themselves. According to studies on national characteristics of runaway children, there are nearly 1.7 million of these young people, under the age of 18, who lack parental, foster, or institutional care.

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Food Insecurity in America Is Cutting Childhoods Short

Across America, boys and girls are experiencing childhood differently. Some are getting the love, care and protection they need to develop to their full potential. But far too many others are not. And the disparities are shocking.

Today, 1 in 6 children in America struggles with hunger. Hunger is robbing too many children of the childhood they deserve. Among the nation's poorest counties, alarmingly large numbers of children miss meals and go to bed hungry on a regular basis.

And while we know this is unacceptable, rates of child food insecurity in America remain high. 17% of all children are living in food-insecure households that lack access to nutrition sometime during the year - households that don't have enough nutritious food for every family member.

What Is the Definition of Food Insecurity?

Food insecurity is defined as limited or uncertain access to food. Food insecurity is a household-level economic and social condition of limited access to adequate food. It is distinct from hunger, an individual-level physiological condition that may result from food insecurity.[i]

How Many Children in the U.S. Are Food Insecure?

The USDA estimates that more than 11 million children in the United States live in food-insecure households as of 2018. That means that 1 in 6 children may not have consistent access to enough food for an active, healthy life. [ii]

Where in America Are Children Most and Least Protected from Food Insecurity?

Save the Children has examined data from more than 2,600 counties and county-equivalents in all 50 states to create a first-ever ranking of counties where children are most and least prioritized and protected from the factors that end childhood, including food insecurity.

In nearly every state, there are big gaps between the best and worst counties for children. Children living in the most disadvantaged counties are 3 times as likely to lack healthy food and consistent meals.

Over 1.6 million children in California and nearly 1.7 million children in Texas were at risk of hunger in 2017. New Mexico and Arkansas were the states with the highest child food insecurity rates: 24.1% and 23.6% respectively. This is more than twice the rates in Massachusetts and North Dakota.

What Are Food Insecurity Rates by County?

Across America, 84% of the counties where the most children struggle with hunger are rural and high poverty. Among the more than 2,600 counties examined, counties that ranked the lowest overall (in the bottom 50) are mostly rural, poor, concentrated in the south and are communities of color.

The highest food insecurity rate in the nation is in East Carroll Parish, Louisiana, where 40% of children struggle with hunger. This is comparable to child food insecurity rates in Bangladesh and Peru, and higher than the rates in Egypt and Mali. Slope County, North Dakota has the lowest child hunger rate in the country - 6%.

To compare food insecurity rates by county, visit our U.S Childhood Report Comparison Tool.

[i] Feeding America. Map the Meal Gap 2019: A Report on County and Congressional District Food
[ii]2020 U.S. Complement to the Global Childhood Report
[iii] The Brookings Institute

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Food Insecurity in America is Cutting Childhoods Short

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Children in America are struggling with food insecurity. Learn which states struggle to protect children the most and how COVID-19 is magnifying hunger.

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WESTBROOK - On a quiet street in Westbrook, Mysette Misenga wedged food boxes and bags of potatoes into her car, checked her list and headed out for her first delivery. By the next day, she would drop boxes of food to a dozen women in the Portland area.

"To receive this food is a gift," said Mauriceth Walez, a New Mainer who moved to an apartment in Westbrook six months ago and received a delivery from Misenga. "To get fish and African foods is very helpful."

The deliveries have become a familiar routine for volunteers with In Her Presence who distribute boxes of food that is chosen especially for people who need help, but aren't familiar or comfortable with the items available in traditional food pantries around the state. It is one piece of a growing effort to address inequities around hunger and food security in Maine that have been revealed and worsened by the pandemic.

"The need was tremendous," said Claudette Ndayininahaze, the executive director of In Her Presence.

The pandemic laid bare the reality that the existing emergency food structure in Maine was not meeting the needs of people of color who experience food insecurity at higher rates than others, a situation exacerbated by the spread of a virus that also disproportionately impacts Black, indigenous and people of color. People most vulnerable to struggling with hunger didn't always access existing food programs and when they did, they rarely found food that fit their cultural and dietary restrictions and preferences, such as palm oil, Jasmine rice, dried fish and pork-free products.

Ndayininahaze said she was motivated to help by the obvious need in the community and stories of New Mainers leaving food behind at food pantries or distributions because the items - often canned or boxed processed food - were just not things the families would use.

"The decision we made is we are not going to stop, even if the COVID ends," Ndayininahaze said.

Nationally, the food insecurity rate is 11.1 percent, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Economic Research Service. In Maine, 13.6 percent of households are food-insecure, the highest rate in New England. Food insecurity is measured by how many families don't have consistent access to an adequate supply of nutritious food.

But the rates are much higher for people of color in Maine, with 28 percent experiencing food insecurity. The number of Black families considered food-insecure is even higher at 40 percent.

"It's a staggering difference," said Kristen Miale, who leads Good Shepherd Food Bank, the state's largest food bank with a network of partners across Maine. "We do know that communities of color are disproportionately impacted by hunger because they are disproportionately impacted by poverty. We know that Black households have nearly triple the poverty rate of white Mainers and it's similar with our tribal communities. It's not surprising they have much higher rates of hunger."

Nationally, 21 percent of Black households and 16 percent of Latino households are food-insecure, according to Feeding America, a national nonprofit with a network of 200 food banks. That network of food banks serves 1 in 4 Black and 1 in 6 Latino households, compared to 1 in 10 white households.

During the COVID-19 crisis, food insecurity rates among households with children has been sharply elevated, particularly among Black and Hispanic families, according to a July 2020 report from Northwestern. Black households with children experience food insecurity at a rate nearly twice as high as white households with children, while the rate among Hispanic families is 60 percent higher, according to the report.

"When the pandemic came around, the disparity was clear in the eyes of everybody," said Nsiona Nguizani, president of the Angolan Community of Maine.

In the early days of the pandemic - when Mainers were dealing with stay-at-home orders, closed businesses and unexpected layoffs - leaders from hunger prevention organizations and community groups knew more families would face food insecurity. To meet the growing need, grassroots organizations that previously referred community members to existing food pantries or meal programs stepped in to take on the work of distributing emergency food boxes and bring meals to families in quarantine.

While stepping in to work with hunger relief organizations like Good Shepherd and Wayside Food Programs, the leaders of community organizations and Maine's tribal communities have advocated for better access to culturally appropriate food that people experiencing hunger couldn't get from existing food pantries.

"The food pantries that quickly sprung up around the Greater Portland area had been doing a good job in terms of providing (emergency food) baskets," said Mufalo Chitam, executive director of the Maine Immigrants' Rights Coalition. "What was challenging in those food baskets was the food that was being put in."

While the pandemic highlighted the disparity and inequity that already existed with food insecurity in Maine, it also made clear that smaller nonprofits led by people of color and tribal communities were not getting the funding support needed, Miale said.

"I think what COVID really highlighted is that while we have an amazing network of partners doing amazing work, we realized that we were not adequately reaching these communities," she said. "If we were reaching them, we weren't always providing them the support they needed and the food they needed, particularly our New Mainer communities."
A GROWING NEED
It didn't take Nguizani and others from the Angolan Community of Maine to see the growing need in their community. The governor's stay-at-home order had just started, children were out of school and people were being laid off from jobs. Single parents had trouble getting food for themselves and struggled with the logistics of getting to a food pantry and transporting boxes of food when they couldn't leave their children alone.

The leaders of the nonprofit organization knew what they had to do: start a program to deliver food right to people's doors. The organization relied on grant money available because of the pandemic to pay for rental trucks, insurance, gas and stipends for delivery drivers.

"We knew there was a need in the community, but there wasn't funding out there until the pandemic," Nguizani said.

Beginning in April, volunteers and staff delivered food boxes to 30 families in Androscoggin, Cumberland and York counties. That number grew quickly and now totals 170 families, with an average of four people per family, receiving food boxes every two weeks. The boxes from Wayside include African food items requested by the group, including dried salt fish, cassava leaves and potatoes.

"When we put all these things together, people are really happy," Nguizani said. "They have something they can relate to."

At the beginning of the pandemic, Wayside Food Programs in Portland had to immediately pivot away from its usual direct programs, including weekly community meals, to focus on emergency services that met CDC guidelines. What emerged was a program to pack up to 700 boxes of emergency food per week for community partners to deliver to people's homes, including members of communities disproportionately impacted by COVID-19.

As the staff at Wayside packed those emergency food boxes - relying heavily on food provided by the USDA - it was clear that some of the food wasn't going to be used by the people receiving it because of dietary and cultural restrictions and preferences. Muslims, for example, can't eat pork products.

"That problem wasn't new," said Mary Zwolinski, executive director of Wayside.

When groups that were receiving extra financial support because of COVID began reaching out to Wayside about accessing food boxes, the organization decided it would be best to find out what people wanted in their boxes and find sources to secure it, Zwolinski said. That meant finding suppliers for things like cassava leaves and salt fish, which can be expensive and hard to find in Maine grocery stores. Asian community groups have requested Jasmine rice because that can be hard to find at food pantries.

Wayside is now packing an average of 449 boxes a month for groups including Unified Asian Communities, the Angolan Community of Maine, In Her Presence, Congolese Community of Maine and Portland Public Schools. The Portland-based organization is currently studying how and if to continue distributing the boxes post-pandemic, Zwolinski said.

In Maine's tribal communities, hunger and access to clean drinking water were issues that existed before COVID, said Lisa Sockabasin, a Passamaquoddy tribal member who serves as director of Wabanaki Public Health and Wabanaki Healing and Recovery.

"It certainly deepened the issue during this pandemic. What we're hoping for is we're able to not only simultaneously serve during crisis, but we're really thinking about the future and how we can address hunger," she said. "We know there is stigma related to poverty, to being hungry. We want to provide food and have a celebration of our culture, a celebration of each other and a celebration of being able to serve each other through serving food."

In the past year, the organization has established a Traditional Foods Mobile Pantry to distribute thousands of pounds of traditional food to the five tribal communities. Volunteers have hauled and handed out 2,500 pounds of apples, 9,000 pounds of potatoes and 6,000 pounds of cucumbers and green beans. The produce was divided evenly among the tribal communities.

Each tribal community has its own food pantry, but one of the biggest challenges they faced was capacity to store food. Using grant money allocated during the pandemic, the tribes have built extra storage and added refrigerators and freezers. Wabanaki Health and Wellness also used grant funding to buy a truck to distribute food so volunteers could stop using their personal cars and rented vehicles to deliver food. Donations and grants are also being used to provide clean drinking water.

Andrea Sockabasin, the nutrition/physical activity manager for Wabanaki Health and Wellness and a Penobscot tribal member, said that while working to get food to tribal members, the organization also focused on incorporating education about nutrition, wellness, gardening and traditional knowledge.

"This was a catalyst in terms of thinking of connecting our culture and building resiliency," she said. "Even though we're providing food security, we're also providing the education, knowledge and culture to sustain that for the future."
FINANCIAL SUPPORT ARRIVES
As grassroots organizations scrambled to get new programs up and running to deliver food, it was clear that funding would be needed to sustain them. Both the Maine Community Foundation and Good Shepherd focused on getting money to grassroots organizations to build storage capacity or buy food and other supplies.

The Maine Community Foundation used its COVID-19 Emergency Response Fund to address the racial inequities and the urgent need for food assistance, giving grants to such organizations as the Angolan community, tribal communities and programs in rural areas that were delivering meals for the first time.

So far, the foundation has awarded 107 grants for food totaling $749,500. It plans to award another $195,000 for food security in the next week to the tribes and organizations in six counties that have especially high rates of food insecurity.

"The most heartwarming part of this horrible experience is seeing how people have pivoted to address food insecurity. They've been creative and tenacious in making sure people are getting food," said Lelia DeAndrade, vice president of community impact.

At Good Shepherd Food Bank, donations from philanthropic organizations and individuals were pouring in last year because of the pandemic.

"What became evident was smaller nonprofits, particularly those led by communities of color or our tribal communities, were not getting that kind of funding support," Miale said. "We really saw how in some ways, even with the food bank receiving such an inordinate amount of those philanthropic dollars, that in effect was white privilege happening right in amongst us and right before our eyes."

The food bank set up a Community Redistribution Fund to provide funding directly to organizations led by and serving communities of color. Three rounds of grants have now been awarded to dozens of organizations, including In Her Presence, Presente Maine, the New England Arab American Organization and Wabanaki Health and Wellness. Many of the groups were not doing food access work before the pandemic and needed financial support to set up programs to reach people most vulnerable to food insecurity.

"What I learned is when we redistribute funding, we are shifting power. We are creating room in what has normally been dominant white spaces for people of color to be at those tables," Miale said. "We are just scratching the surface of the work we need to do in that space. I keep saying I'm sorry it took a pandemic for the food bank to realize we were falling short."

Chitam, from the Maine Immigrants' Rights Coalition, said it is critical that the programs started by existing grassroots organizations during the pandemic to address food insecurity become permanent because the issue of hunger will not disappear when the COVID crisis is over.

"To become permanent, they need to have a steady flow of financial investment into them so that post-pandemic, the support doesn't dry up," Chitam said.

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Pandemic reveals race disparities around hunger in Maine

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WESTBROOK - On a quiet street in Westbrook, Mysette Misenga wedged food boxes and bags of potatoes into her car, checked her list and headed out for her first delivery. By the next day, she would drop boxes of food to a dozen women in the Portland area.

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Learn More about Food Insecurity in Maine

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Learn More about Food Insecurity in Maine

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Cooperative Extension in Cumberland County

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Learn More About Food Insecurity in Maine

"There's no good reason for people in Maine to go hungry. There's plenty of food. The problem has always been overcoming the economic and political obstacles that prevent food from reaching those who need it. Ending hunger means solving these more systemic problems while, at the same time, doing everything we can on a daily basis to feed hungry people..." - Good Shepard Food Bank of Maine

"One-third of food-insecure Mainers reside in just two counties: Cumberland County is home to 20.1% and Penobscot County to 12.6%." - Hunger Pains: Widespread Food Insecurity Threatens Maine's future (PDF), research report by the Good Shepard Food Bank of Maine and Preble Street.

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Learn More About Food Insecurity in Maine - Cooperative Extension in Cumberland County - University of Maine Cooperative Extension

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"There's no good reason for people in Maine to go hungry. There's plenty of food. The problem has always been overcoming the economic and political obstacles that prevent food from reaching those who need it. Ending hunger means solving these more systemic problems while, at the same time, doing everything we can on a daily ...

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The Environmental Depot in Lewiston and the Riverside Recycling Facility in Portland serve as collection sites for household hazardous waste from all Maine residents. Check their web sites for hours and charges. Many towns offer special one-day collection events for HHW; please contact your Town Office to find out if your town is holding one and how you can participate. Below is information about how you can safely handle and recycle or dispose of common household hazardous wastes.
What is Household Hazardous Waste?
Many common household items contain chemicals that can create environmental hazards if not handled properly. These wastes include: TVs, computer monitors and other electronic devices, waste oil or gasoline, antifreeze, Pool chemicals, fluorescent lights, thermometers and thermostats, batteries, old paint, and pesticides.
What's so hazardous about my TV and computer?
TVs and computer monitors may contain mercury paste and gas along with the leaded glass. The circuit boards in the computer may also have hazardous levels of lead and cadmium. Your local municipal solid waste facility may accept these devices for recycling but check with them first. If not, try viewing the map at Help ME Recycle to find sites near you for recycling and disposal of electronic wastes. By recycling these products, valuable materials can be reclaimed, and the release of toxics into the environment can be reduced.
What about old gas and used oil?
If you don't use all of the gas in your lawn mower or other gas-powered tools, you can buy an additive that will allow you to leave gas in these tools for an extended length of time. You can also add small amounts (no more than 1-2 gallons) of old gas to your automobile gas tank.

Waste oil collection is offered by some towns at their transfer station or landfill. Also, local garages often collect waste oil as a service to their customers; check with your favorite mechanic to see if they will do this for you.

Old antifreeze is readily processed into clean antifreeze. Many larger auto service shops have their own machine to create high-quality antifreeze from your used or unwanted antifreeze.
What are mercury-containing wastes?
Mercury is an essential component in fluorescent lamps, and may be found in thermometers and thermostats. If these items are broken or not recycled, they can release harmful levels of mercury into the environment. Many transfer stations and retailers accept used fluorescent lamps for recycling. Consider replacing your fluorescent lightbulbs with LEDs, and be sure to take your unwanted mercury-containing bulbs to one of the many free collection sites. When you upgrade to a modern thermostat, you can receive a $5 in-store coupon for turning your mercury thermostat in for recycling to your local hardware store, or you can ask your heating contractor to take your old mercury thermostat for recycling and they will receive a $5 reward.
How about batteries?
There are several different kinds of batteries which can cause pollution if not handled properly. When you buy a new automotive lead acid battery, bring your old one to the store where you are buying your battery to avoid paying a $10 'core' fee and your old battery will be recycled. For rechargeable batteries, check www.call2recycle.org to find a free collection site that will accept and recycle your rechargeable batteries (many retailers who sell rechargeable batteries offer this collection service). As far as 'single use batteries' are concerned, once these are 'used up', they may be safely disposed of in your regular household trash, or you can purchase a recycling box on-line.
My town's solid waste facility won't take paint because it's liquid...what do I do?
If the paint is still usable, you may be able to find a school or non-profit organization that can use the old paint for art or theater productions. Through Maine's paint stewardship program and PaintCare, a paint manufacturer non-profit organization, the option is available for the collection and recycling of latex and oil based paints at various retailers and transfer stations across the state. To learn more and find a collection site near you, visit PaintCare's Maine Program site. Some restrictions apply, for example, aerosol containers and marine paints are not accepted.
Pesticides and other household chemicals...
To dispose of unwanted pesticides, call the Board of Pesticide Control at 207-287-2731 to find out when they will be holding a collection in your area. You may also be able to dispose of pesticides at household hazardous waste collection programs. If your town is not planning one, you may legally dispose of these items in your regular household trash or store them until your town schedules a collection program. Check the container for any special disposal instructions.

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maine dep's bureau of remediation and waste management's publications

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How Can I Safely Dispose of My Waste, Bureau of Remediation and Waste Management, Maine Department of Environmental Protection

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The Environmental Depot in Lewiston and the Riverside Recycling Facility in Portland serve as collection sites for household hazardous waste from all Maine residents. Check their web sites for hours and charges. Many towns offer special one-day collection events for HHW; please contact your Town Office to find out if your town is holding one and how you can participate.

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Governor Signs Waste Reduction Bill Into Law

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Governor Signs Waste Reduction Bill Into Law

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Bans on Plastic Bags and Styrofoam food containers take place

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Bans on Plastic Bags and Styrofoam food containers take place

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Two material bans take effect in Maine on July 1

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As of July 1, 2021, Maine retailers are no longer allowed to give out single-use plastic bags or polystyrene foam disposable food containers in most cases.

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As far as Maine elections go, voter participation for Tuesday's primaries was pretty lackluster.

With few high-profile races on the ballot other than the Republican contest for the 2 nd Congressional District, the vast majority of voters stayed home.

Official figures won't be known for a few weeks, but Secretary of State Shenna Bellows said some small towns reported zero votes cast. And even in Maine's third-largest city, Lewiston, just 8% of registered Republicans voted, despite the 2 nd District primary.

"We know that it was extraordinarily low across the state," Bellows said.

But is there anything that can be gleaned - or teased - from Tuesday's elections as Maine heads toward potentially fierce campaigns for governor, the 2nd District and control of the State House?

First off, the Republicans who turned out in Maine's sprawling 2 nd District obviously preferred the known quantity that is former Congressman Bruce Poliquin over newcomer Liz Caruso. Poliquin ended up with a comfortable 60% of the vote despite speculation (and a last-second plug by Fox News' Tucker Carlson) that Caruso's low-budget campaign was surging.

The district is once again on the national parties' respective radar screens, so expect a deluge of spending as Poliquin tries to retake his old seat from two-term Democratic incumbent Rep. Jared Golden. Sparking further flashbacks to 2018, independent Tiffany Bond has qualified for the ballot again this November, setting up the potential for another ranked-choice runoff.

One of the other races that was being closely watched by Maine politicos wasn't a primary, but was an unusually expensive head-to-head contest between the political parties.

Whether Democratic Rep. Nicole Grohoski's victory over Republican Brian Langley in Hancock County means anything for November on a statewide level depends, not surprisingly, on which party you ask.

"The Senate District 7 race was a big deal for us," Drew Gattine, chairman of the Maine Democratic Party, said in an interview. "We were really excited about the results. I think it says a lot about the current atmosphere and it tells us a lot about where we are headed going into November."

Jason Savage, executive director of the Maine Republican Party, had a different take on the outcome.

"Democrats spent nearly $250,000 - nine times more than Republicans, according to the Bangor Daily News - to hang on to a Democrat seat for someone who will never vote on a single bill in Augusta," Savage said in a statement. "That's pretty consistent with their fiscal policies. Spend a lot for nothing in return."

Big margin following big-time spending

Grohoski captured roughly 64% of the vote compared with 35% for Langley and just 1% for Green Independent Benjamin Meiklejohn. The margin of Grohoski's victory over Langley - a well-known business owner who represented the region for 10 years at the State House - certainly caught many people by surprise.

"That's pretty big margin in a district (Langley) held not too long ago," University of Maine political scientist Mark Brewer told the Portland Press Herald. "Everybody thought that was going to be a close race, myself included."

The Democratic party and their allies in outside groups shelled out more than $235,000 to elect Grohoski compared to about $28,000 spent by Republican groups in support of Langley, according to campaign finance reports filed with the Maine Ethics Commission.

Republicans spent months on social media attacking Grohoski - who is wrapping up her second term representing Ellsworth and Trenton in the Maine House - over her co-sponsorship of a bill that proposed a carbon tax on fuel distributors in Maine. She ultimately joined others on her committee in opposing the bill but was still labeled as "Gas Tax Grohoski" by the Maine GOP.

Gattine accused his Republican counterparts of smear tactics and of "tagging her with these ugly and inaccurate nicknames." And he expects to see more of it headed into the November elections.

"I think that we learned a lot in [Senate District 7] about what works for us," Gattine said. "And I think we learned what we are going see from them. And frankly, so far, it doesn't seem to be working."

Sen. Jeff Timberlake, who heads the Republican caucus in the Maine Senate, said the GOP knew it was "going to be tough sledding" heading into the special election because independents don't typically vote during primary elections.

Republicans were upset that the Secretary of State's office scheduled the special election for June 14 - on primary election day - even though the seat has been vacant since January. And while any registered voter could cast a ballot in the special election, both candidates said they were hearing from independents who didn't realize they could participate.

"In that seat we needed independents to turn out, and we all see the outcome of very low turnout all the way around on both sides," Timberlake said on Thursday afternoon. "I don't think it has any bearing at all (on November) at this time . . . Our goal is to work towards November. That's what we built our team around."

And Senate District 7 voters will get another chance in November, when Grohoski and Langley compete against each other again for the same seat (although with slightly different boundaries because of redistricting.)

He won a ranked-choice election - but still hates it

Timberlake was in Augusta on Thursday to find out who would be the Republican nominee this November in another Maine Senate seat.

There were three Republicans on the ballot on Tuesday in Senate District 16 in the Waterville area: Rep. Michael Perkins, Kevin Kitchin and Mark Andre. None of the three received more than 50% of the vote after the first tally, so the race went to a ranked-choice runoff.

In the end, Perkins held onto his lead and ended up beating Kitchen 52% to 48% after the second-choice preferences of Andre's supporters were crunched by the specialized software. So he'll face off against Democrat David LaFountain in the fall.

A majority of Maine voters have endorsed the ranked-choice process twice at the ballot box - first during the original referendum in 2016 and then again two years later when they rejected Republicans' attempts to block the process.

Many Republicans remain opposed to it, including Perkins, despite Thursday's outcome.

"They did a good job. They did a phenomenal job, very transparent and all very well done," Perkins said of local and state elections staff in a brief interview with Maine Public. "But I don't like ranked-choice voting. I think it's wrong. I'll say it today and I'm not going to sugarcoat it: it's wrong. When you watch a basketball game, the team with the most points wins the game. This is garbage, but that's the way it is."

Ranked-choice confusion

Just as a quick refresher on the complicated RCV rules in Maine:

Republicans in the primary for Senate District 16 were able to rank the three candidates because it was a primary. That won't be the case in November in any State House race or the gubernatorial contest, even if they have three or more candidates. That's because Maine's Constitution only allows the ranked-choice process in party primaries for state offices.

But, as noted earlier, voters in Maine's 2 nd Congressional District will get to rank the three candidates (Golden, Poliquin and Bond) in November because RCV is allowed during general elections in Maine for federal offices. As of right now, that's the only ranked-choice election this fall for a state office.

A majority of Maine voters have endorsed the ranked-choice process twice at the ballot box - first during the original referendum in 2016 and then again two years later when they rejected the Legislature's attempt to delay and potentially shelve the process.

Wabanaki bill advances in Congress

And speaking of Golden . . . a bill sponsored by the Democrat that would affect the four Wabanaki tribes in Maine took a step forward this week.

The House Natural Resources Committee endorsed, along bipartisan lines, the bill that would allow the tribes in Maine to benefit from future federal laws that apply to other federally recognized tribes. Tribal leaders in Maine sought the change because, right now, the 1980 Maine Indian Claims Settlement Act puts them on a different footing than other tribal nations across the country.

A yearslong effort to overhaul that 1980 agreement once again failed in the Maine Legislature this year in the face of opposition from Gov. Janet Mills. But the bill introduced by Golden and co-sponsored by 1st District Rep. Chellie Pingree was strongly supported by leaders of the Penobscot Nation, the Passamaquoddy Tribe, the Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians and the Mi'kmaq Nation in Aroostook County.

The bill's prospects remain unclear, however. A committee endorsement could help the bill get a vote on the floor of the House, but that's not a guarantee. And there is no timeline for any action yet.
Maine's Political Pulse was written this week political correspondent Kevin Miller and produced by digital reporter Esta Pratt-Kielley. Read past editions or listen to the Political Pulse podcast at mainepublic.org/pulse.

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What's next after lackluster voter turnout in Tuesday's primary

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As far as Maine elections go, voter participation for Tuesday's primaries was pretty lackluster. With few high-profile races on the ballot other than the Republican contest for the 2 nd Congressional District, the vast majority of voters stayed home.

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The Costs of Unemployment on the Economy

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The Costs of Unemployment on the Economy

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While economists and academics make convincing arguments that a certain natural level of unemployment cannot be erased, elevated unemployment imposes high costs on the individual, society, and the country.

Worse yet, most of the costs are of the dead loss variety, where there are no offsetting gains to the costs that everyone must bear. Depending on how it's measured, the unemployment rate is open to interpretation. In addition, underemployment can be extremely detrimental to the economy of society as well. Unemployment numbers include people who are working at low-paying or low-skill jobs that do not provide enough full-time hours for benefits or enough to earn a living wage.

Global and national emergencies can trigger both unemployment and underemployment. For example, when the Covid-19 pandemic hit, it left more than 10 million Americans jobless in its first two weeks. The situation was so serious that the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act expanded unemployment benefits to self-employed and part-time workers through Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Assistance and provided up to 39 weeks of benefits beginning on or after Jan. 27, 2020, and ending on or before Dec. 31, 2020.

Key Takeaways

Costs to the Individual

The costs of unemployment to the individual are not hard to imagine. When a person loses their job, there is often an immediate impact on their standard of living. Before the Great Recession, the average savings rate in the U.S. had been drifting down toward zero (and sometimes below). There are anecdotal reports that the average person is only a few weeks away from serious financial trouble without a paying job.

Even those eligible for unemployment benefits and other forms of government assistance find it is not enough as these benefits often only replace 50% or less of their regular income. That means these people are consuming far less than usual. However, the economic consequences can go beyond just less consumption. Many people will turn to retirement savings in a pinch, and draining these savings has long-term ramifications.

Prolonged unemployment may lead to an erosion of skills, basically robbing the economy of otherwise useful talents. At the same time, the experience of unemployment (either direct or indirect) may alter how workers plan for their futures-prolonged unemployment can lead to greater skepticism and pessimism. On a similar note, the absence of income created by unemployment can force families to deny educational opportunities to their children and deprive the economy of those future skills.

Last but not least, there are other costs to the individual. Studies have shown that prolonged unemployment harms workers' mental health and can worsen physical health, and shorten lifespans.

Costs to Society

The social costs of unemployment are difficult to calculate but no less real. When unemployment becomes a pervasive problem, there are often increased calls for protectionism and severe restrictions on immigration.

Protectionism can not only lead to destructive tit-for-tat retaliation among countries but reductions in trade harm the economic well-being of all trading partners.

Other social costs include how people interact with each other. Studies have shown that times of elevated unemployment may correlate both with less volunteerism and higher crime.

Costs to the Country

The economic costs of unemployment are probably more obvious when viewed through the lens of the national checkbook. Unemployment may lead to higher payments from state and federal governments for unemployment benefits, food assistance, and Medicaid.

Unemployment is also a dangerous state for the U.S. economy. Almost 70% of what the U.S. economy produces goes to personal consumption and unemployed workers.

Even those receiving government support cannot spend at prior levels. The production of those workers leaves the economy, which reduces the gross domestic product (GDP) and moves the country away from the efficient allocation of its resources. For those who subscribe to Jean-Baptiste Say's theory that the production of goods creates its own demand, that is a serious issue.

It is also worth noting that companies pay a price for high unemployment as well. Unemployment benefits are financed largely by taxes assessed on businesses.

How Does a High Unemployment Rate Affect the Economy?

A high unemployment rate affects the economy in many ways. Unemployed people tend to spend less, may accrue more debt, and unemployment may lead to higher payments from state and federal governments for things like food stamps.

How Do I Get Unemployment Benefits?

You have to apply for unemployment benefits through your state. You can find your state's guidelines via the U.S. Department of Labor website, CareerOneStop. Some states will allow you to file a claim over the phone or online, other states make you file a claim in person. Make sure to have your contact information, like your social security number and information about your former employer on hand.

Should I Use My Retirement Savings if I Am Unemployed?

If you find your unemployment benefits running out or your benefits don't stretch enough to pay the bills, you could be tempted to pull money out of a retirement account. However, it isn't always the best idea. If you withdraw early, you will be hit with a 10% percent penalty tax, plus state and federal taxes, unless you meet certain eligibility requirements to waive the penalty tax. You could consider a loan from your retirement account, which does not incur penalities.

The Bottom Line

Governments worry about the consequences of inflation, but unemployment is likewise a serious issue. Apart from the social unrest and disgruntlement that unemployment can produce in the electorate, high unemployment can have a self-perpetuating negative impact on businesses and the country's economic health.

Worse still, some of the more pernicious effects of unemployment are subtle and long-lasting. Consumer and business confidence are key to economic recoveries, and workers must feel confident in their future to invest in developing the skills-and building the savings -that the economy needs to grow in the future. The unemployment costs go far beyond the accumulated sums handed out as unemployment insurance benefits.

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While economists and academics make convincing arguments that a certain natural level of unemployment cannot be erased, elevated unemployment imposes high costs on the individual, society, and the country. Worse yet, most of the costs are of the dead loss variety, where there are no offsetting gains to the costs that everyone must bear.

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How Maine's Workforce has Changed since the Pandemic

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How Maine's Workforce has Changed since the Pandemic

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Maine’s Workforce Shifted Due to the Pandemic. Here’s How

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The state has recovered nearly all jobs lost early during the COVID-19 pandemic, but there has been a distinct change in the job landscape, which has caused near record-high job openings across Maine.

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COVID-19 has forced many Maine childcare providers to shut their doors, leaving working families out on a limb.

Across the state, 187 licensed childcare centers shut down between April 2020 and September 2021, taking with them many childcare slots for kids who need care while their parents are working.

"It is extremely difficult to find places open for families who have early morning or evening work. Prices are constantly rising, and availability for weekends and holidays have decreased over the years," said Monica Carter-Jipson, a parent and Lisbon resident who works full-time.

One of the major reasons for the closure of these centers is a widespread worker shortage, according to the National Association for the Education of Young Children.

Alyse Hinkley, one of the owners of A Place to Grow, a childcare center with locations in Topsham and North Yarmouth said they had to keep the North Yarmouth center closed one day a week for the last few weeks due to the staff shortage.

Both centers are licensed for 30 kids.

"Truly, the biggest challenge is finding qualified staffing," said Hinkley. "We have the fear every week about if we will have enough staff to open our center or not. We are concerned about staff burnout. We have a handful of parents who volunteer to keep their child home on other days when we don't have enough staff so we can remain open for those who do need to work and can't stay home."

Hinkley added that they had spent over $2,000 advertising for job openings. However, most of the applications they received were from candidates who did not have sufficient qualifications.

"Those who attended the interview would tell us they attended interviews at other places where they were offering jobs on the spot," said Hinkley. "Small centers cannot compete with a pay wage that larger centers can offer."

Childcare workers in the U.S. are paid an average of $10.72 an hour, which is less than 98% of what other U.S. workers earn hourly, according to the Institute for Research on Labor and Employment.

Six staff members are currently working at each center with barely any room for sick leaves or medical appointments.

Hinkley said it was challenging to navigate the pandemic initially, considering there was very little guidance for childcare.

"We were four months into the pandemic, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention hit us with pages of guidelines and rules. The frequent closure and kids being kept at home has taken a huge financial hit to our business," added Hinkley.

Their Topsham center was closed for about five weeks when the pandemic had first hit, and it took almost four months for them to get most of their kids back at the center, said Hinkley.

There are 1,616 licensed childcare providers in the state as of Sept 2021. Of which, there are 800 childcare facilities - such as daycares - 37 nursery schools, and 779 family childcare providers, according to the Maine Department of Health and Human Services.

While there were 50 licensed childcare providers in Brunswick and Topsham in April 2020, that number reduced to 46 by September 2021.

Maine DHHS has also received nearly 250 new applicants for childcare licenses since April 2020, according to Jackie Farwell, the agency's communications director.

Bright Start Childcare, a private nonprofit organization in Topsham that has provided services to children and families in the Topsham-Brunswick area for over a decade, re-opened last month after it was closed in late March 2020 due to pandemic-related concerns.

Eileen Twiddy, the organization's director, said that though the center is licensed for 40 children, they only have five.

"It's been slow getting started again, after having been closed," said Twiddy. "We are starting everything from scratch. We are trying to recruit children again as they have moved on into the school age. It's hard when you do not have any base to draw from."

While the organization is actively looking to recruit children, Twiddy said there are various reasons why families are reluctant to send their kids to daycare centers.

"I think some people are still working from home, so they are having their children stay home with them. I also think some people are worried about putting their children in a group situation. People are struggling with ways to make daycare work for their family," said Twiddy.

While there were six staff members before the pandemic at the center, there are four now, but Twiddy said they don't need to have any more staff right now, considering there are a smaller number of children.

Farwell said that the department had supported childcare providers in maintaining the majority of Maine's childcare capacity despite the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"The department is in the process of awarding $73 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds to Maine childcare providers to help them increase the pay for staff and cover costs related to COVID-19," said Farwell. "As of September 2021, childcare centers in Maine were operating at 99 percent capacity as compared to April 2020."

Childcare providers who receive grants must use a portion of the funds to pay bonuses of $200 per month to staff who directly care for children. Facilities can also use these funds to pay for expenses including rent and utilities, reducing fees for families, loss of revenue, personal protective equipment, and testing, and mental health services for children and employees.

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Maine childcare providers struggle to keep doors open amid worker shortage

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COVID-19 has forced many Maine childcare providers to shut their doors, leaving working families out on a limb. Across the state, 187 licensed childcare centers shut down between April 2020 and September 2021, taking with them many childcare slots for kids who need care while their parents are working.

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Lawmakers Pass Bill to Support Maine Day Care

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Lawmakers Pass Bill to Support Maine Day Care

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Legislature passes law to support Maine's child care workforce

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AUGUSTA (WGME) -- A new law in Maine is aimed at boosting the state's childcare industry. The Maine Legislature passed a bill last week from Representative Ryan Fecteau to invest $12 million into ongoing funding to support Maine's child care workforce. The law would increase pay.

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Maine Day Cares Have to Turn Away Families

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Maine Day Cares Have to Turn Away Families

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Heidi McDonald, owner of Heidi's House Child Care in Scarborough, said subsidizing child care for families would allow them to create more openings.

SCARBOROUGH, Maine - Maine families are facing a challenge in returning to work: a lack of openings to enroll their children in child care.

That lack of openings is due, in part, to a shortage of child care workers. It is a symbiotic and direct relationship causing economic problems not only for families trying to return to work, but child care facility owners trying to pay bills to keep their businesses operating above a deficit.

Heidi MacAllister McDonald, the owner of Heidi's House Child Care in Scarborough, said she has 21 open spots for children to enroll at her facility, but she has to turn families away because she does not have enough staff.

"I think the need is strong because the availability is so down," McDonald said. "So many child care centers and homes have shut their doors that there's less for parents to find."

McDonald said she has been operating at a deficit: $13,000 a month in the red since the pandemic began.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Heidi's House enrolled 128 kids. 10 weeks into the pandemic, more than 100 families pulled their kids from child care due to fears around the virus, slashing Heidi's revenue. She raised wages to retain valuable staff, and did not increase costs for families.
UNSCRIPTED | Full Interview with Heidi MacAllister McDonald
"It's all about employment. It all comes down to employment. Employment comes all down to what we will pay them," McDonald said.

McDonald is one of 950 owners that applied for grants through Maine's Department of Health and Human Services to help them stabilize. The money comes from the American Rescue Plan, and comes with the condition that employees who work directly with children get paid $200 per month in bonuses. Owners can also use the money to pay for rent, utilities, reducing fees for families, and more.

McDonald will start getting that money in October. It lasts for 12 months.

"Without consistent, stable federal funds, child care is going to go away because what parents are going to have to pay to keep these wages in place and benefits in place for all the staff, I mean, infant care is going to go over $400 a week. I wouldn't want to go back in a year and say, 'hey I know you love that $17-$18, I'm going to have to cut you back to $16 because the money evaporated,'" said McDonald.

Congress is currently weighing two different infrastructure packages, the more expensive of which includes money to subsidize child care: including universal preschool for kids ages three and four, and money to make sure no family spends more than seven percent of its income on child care.

Senator Angus King sees that portion of the package as necessary.

"Child care is not some sort of luxury or semi-vacation, it's part of what you have to have in order to go to work," said King. "I view this as a straightforward investment that's going to pay us back in terms of productive citizens, citizen to grow up in work and pay their taxes."

Tara Williams, executive director of the Maine Association for the Education of Young Children is also calling for long-lasting federal funding for child care. She said long-lasting federal funds that allow child care facility owners to hire more staff at more competitive wages means more openings for families at a more reasonable cost.

"It's the scale of investment that's been needed this whole year to really stabilize and shore up our childcare programs who've really suffered a lot of financial losses. These are really good changes changes that I'm sure in a couple of years we'll see families of young children and those who work in childcare advocating for those changes to stick because they've been so wonderful for the childcare sector," said Williams.

McDonald said those federal funds would benefit families, too.

"People aren't going to go back to work if there isn't child care. Every day we turn away people. Every day," she said. "I mean childcare is literally going to go away without federal funds. We can't operate like this, it's not worth it."

Heidi's House Child Care is getting #ARP funds, which Heidi says is a huge help, but adds that the funds only last 12 months. She hopes Congress will pass the more expensive #InfrastructureBill that includes subsidizing child care @newscentermaine #maine @maineaeyc pic.twitter.com/6oFWb0EaGw
- Chris Costa (@ChrisCostaTV) October 1, 2021

NEWS CENTER Maine UNSCRIPTED YOUTUBE

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'We can't operate like this,'| Maine child care providers forced to turn families away due to staffing shortage are begging for federal funds

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Heidi McDonald, owner of Heidi's House Child Care in Scarborough, said subsidizing child care for families would allow them to create more openings. SCARBOROUGH, Maine - Maine families are facing a challenge in returning to work: a lack of openings to enroll their children in child care.

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10% of Maine's Day Cares Closed During Pandemic

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10% of Maine's Day Cares Closed During Pandemic

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With 175 day care operations in Maine permanently closed since the start of the pandemic, and almost one-third of the surviving day cares operating at a financial deficit, advocates say Maine's child care facilities are struggling - and the result is hurting working parents and the economy.

And with schools opening with in-person instruction soon, growing demand for day care services will put further pressure on the industry, they say.

"Parents used to call around and find a center that was a good fit, coming in and meeting the staff and doing a tour and asking lots of questions, but now it's kind of like, if they can find a spot, they're going to take it," said Tina Jennings, director of community and youth engagement at the YMCA in Auburn. "Some of them don't even want to tour. They're like, 'Yep! I'll take it!' because finding a spot has been so difficult."

As of June 1, 10 percent of all of Maine's child care centers - 175 - had closed since March 2, 2020, with five closing in the Lewiston-Auburn area, according to information from the Maine Department of Health and Human Services. Of those 175, 64 were child care facilities, 10 were nursery schools and 101 were family child cares. In Lewiston-Auburn, three were child care facilities and two were family child cares.

Another indication of the decline: The number of licensed child care providers in the state declined by 112 from March 2, 2020, to June 7, 2021, according to DHHS Communications Director Jackie Farwell, though programs now being licensed will bolster the number by about 50.

The shortage of providers is putting more pressure on existing day care operations. Forty-three percent of child care program operators surveyed by the Maine Association for the Education of Young Children in the spring noted the challenge of growing waitlists, while about one-third said they were still under-enrolled as the pandemic's effects lingered.

Steve Wallace, CEO at the YMCA of Auburn-Lewiston in Auburn, said that on the "macro level," he has seen a huge demand for child care. "I see the demand to be high, and part of that reason has to do with the number of child care centers that have shut down," Wallace said.

Jennifer Merrill, association director of early childhood education at the YMCA, agreed. "I have multiple families that are on every single waiting list in the Lewiston-Auburn area and whoever calls them first, they're going to take that spot because they can't go to work until we can provide care."

Both Merrill and Jennings warned that slots are going to fill up quickly as kids go back to school.

The shortage is creating a financial strain on day cares, as well as on parents who need child care in order to work, which is having a dampening effect on the economy in Maine and the nation, advocates say.

The combined data portrays a clear trend: Many centers are struggling to stay open. According to the Maine Association for the Education of Young Children's spring 2021 survey, 29 percent of providers said they have been operating at a financial deficit.

"My biggest issue right now is staffing," Wallace said. "When you're a parent, you want to leave your child in the best possible hands. Part of the problem right now is pay. Everybody wants the cheapest price for their child care, but everyone that works there wants $15 to $16 an hour, and those things don't work together - the business model doesn't work."

Tara Williams, executive director of the Maine Association for the Education of Young Children, agreed. "The economic model just doesn't work. It doesn't work well for most stakeholders. It is super expensive - parents are generally paying more than they can afford or they can't afford child care - while teachers and staff working in child care are generally making minimum wage or not much above."

Wallace said that the burnout and low pay has led some people to exit the field and become ed techs in schools, CNAs or desk clerks, or to seek work in banks and call centers.

"Since COVID began, another factor is kids' behaviors are elevating," Wallace said. "Makes sense when Mom and Dad are stressed and worrying about their day-to-day survival that some of those emotions will be picked up by kids. Again, this leads to burnout and questions about having a long-term career in early childhood education."

Williams noted that more people are recognizing the "folks who work in child care as the workforce behind the workforce."

Meg Helming, director of advocacy and impact at the YMCA Alliance of Northern New England, said the child care system was already vulnerable for many years before the pandemic. She agreed that one "silver lining" has been the "increased understanding across sectors about how important child care is to a functioning, healthy economy."

Kim Russell, state director for the Council for a Strong America, backed that up. "Child care in Maine has always been very fragile, and there was a bright spotlight shone on it during the pandemic, when it became obvious to everyone that parents not having child care is a workforce barrier."

Jennings, at the YMCA, said the child care shortage has directly affected women. "The lack of child care nationwide has an effect on the workforce, primarily with women. There's a reduction of women in the workforce due to lack of child care, unfortunately. It's a country problem, not just a Lewiston-Auburn problem."

State leaders have taken note. Last month, Gov. Janet Mills signed into law LD 1712, a bill that will expand access to quality and affordable child care in Maine. The measure includes investing $20 million through the Maine Jobs & Recovery Plan to help Maine communities build, expand, or repair new child care facilities and expand early childhood education programs, and features a Child Care Plan for Maine.

Also, during the most recent session of the Maine Legislature, House Speaker Ryan Fecteau, D-Biddeford, proposed a bill, LD 1652, to recruit and retain Maine's early childhood educators workforce through scholarships, apprenticeships, wage supplements and career pathways, while state Rep. Rebecca Millett, D-Cape Elizabeth, proposed LD 1678, a bill to support child care providers and school readiness through tax credits for programs, early educators and families.

Both pieces of legislation were carried over to the next session of the Legislature.

"A lot of what we're seeing pushed for in Maine and across the country right now - to help locally places like Lewiston and Auburn and then broader in our state - is more public funding and more public investment," Williams said.

"I'm hoping that (the pandemic) has allowed everyone in the community, period, to realize how important child care is," Merrill said. "When a child care center closes down and you serve 65 families, that's 65 families, sometimes double that, who can't go to work and that impacts everybody."

Williams said that federal and state efforts to support more and better child care give her hope for the future of child care. "I think we have much better momentum and commitment to real change this year and next year and in the coming years," she said.

"Of course, we will need commitment at multiple levels, meaning that for this to really change, we need to see leadership take this up as a core part of their work- federal government leadership is great, but we also need to see leadership at the state level, in town councils and city governments across the state."

She added, "I am continually amazed and impressed by the strong and resilient women who work in this field who will put everything they have into supporting young children and supporting young families. It takes my breath away, honestly."

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10% of Maine child care centers closed during the pandemic, threatening 'the workforce behind the workforce,' experts say

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With 175 day care operations in Maine permanently closed since the start of the pandemic, and almost one-third of the surviving day cares operating at a financial deficit, advocates say Maine's child care facilities are struggling - and the result is hurting working parents and the economy.

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2020:  Maine Gets a  C- for Infrastructure

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2020:  Maine Gets a  C- for Infrastructure

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For the fourth time in a dozen years, Maine's public infrastructure has received a middling assessment in an independent report from the American Society of Civil Engineers.

The group's Report Card for Maine's Infrastructure, produced every four years, covers 16 categories including transportation, water and sewer, education and energy infrastructure.

Overall, Maine was assigned a C- in the 2020 version, produced by dozens of volunteer members of the society's Maine chapter.

Even as the group urges more investment to deal with a backlog of hundreds of millions of dollars, some infrastructure priorities are shifting to meet greenhouse gas reduction goals and climate change mitigation outlined in a new action plan from Maine's Climate Council.

"Unfortunately, despite being essential to our lives and economy, we have allowed our infrastructure to languish," said Daniel Bouchard, president of the American Society of Civil Engineers Maine Chapter.

"We hope state policymakers look at the report and take it into account," he said. "It really all comes down to funding, and the investment in Maine's infrastructure."

Just two of the categories analyzed in the report - airports and ports - received a B rating, meaning the infrastructure is generally good but will require more investment. Ports and airports in Maine have received substantial federal and state investment in recent years.

Most of the categories - bridges, drinking water systems, energy, levees, parks, rail, schools, solid waste disposal and storm water drainage were graded in the C range. That means the network is mediocre. It is largely in fair to good condition, but shows general signs of deterioration.

Bridges in particular have been an issue for the state for decades. About 13 percent of Maine's 2,460 bridges spanning 20 feet or more are structurally deficient, far above the New England average of 8 percent and the 7 percent national average, according to a 2019 assessment.

Energy production has improved in Maine with new renewable power projects such as wind farms and a reduction of natural gas generation, but the state's power lines and power stations are in trouble, Bouchard said.

"Maine's transmission and distribution network is starting to reach the end of its useful life, (and) combined with extreme weather events is leading to widespread and prolonged power outages," Bouchard said.

Roads, dams, hazardous waste sites, public transit and wastewater systems all received grades in the D range, meaning they are in below standard condition, and at risk of failure with many elements reaching the end of their service life.

Maine's ranking is slightly better than the D+ national average assigned by the engineers society. The state report is not directly comparable to other New England states because it measures different variables and is produced in different years.

The state's roads and bridges were of similar condition to those in Vermont and New Hampshire, according to the most recent scorecards from those states.

Maine's sprawling, underfunded network of state and local roads has been in bad shape for years. Maine roads received a D grade in all four report cards since 2008.

"To be honest with you, we should be very concerned with any of our infrastructure that is graded a C or lower, because that just shows how precarious the situation is," said Irv Smith, president of the Maine Better Transportation Association, in a statement.

"So we hope that the new Maine Legislature is listening, that they read this report and that its members take its findings to heart and step up investment in transportation."

The budget for highway and bridge repair and construction is presently $233 million a year below what is needed, according to the Maine Department of Transportation. The state has not raised the 30 cent gas tax since 2011, despite soaring construction costs. State government has instead relied on borrowing hundreds of millions of dollars and relying on uncertain federal funding to pay for highway improvements, said DOT Commissioner Bruce Van Note.

"The years of chronic underfunding is clear to anyone who reads this report and drives on our roads, especially in the spring," Van Note said at the news conference.

"We are cutting it too close," he said of the highway budget. "None of us went to engineering school to manage assets this way. The Maine Department of Transportation is an efficient engine, but it is constantly at risk of running out of fuel."

Funding priorities are becoming more complicated as state government moves ahead with a four-year action plan in its effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 45 percent in the next 10 years.

Transportation makes up more than half the state's CO2 emissions. The climate plan to reduce miles traveled by conventional fossil fuel vehicles includes putting tens of thousands of electric cars on the roads, improving public transit, increasing fuel efficiency and encouraging development that helps reduce driving.

Ultimately, those goals will take funding, Joyce Taylor, chief engineer at the Maine DOT and co-chair of the transportation working group on the Maine Climate Council, said in an interview.

"We did not come to a place where we could all agree on funding options, but what we could agree on is these kind of climate initiatives have to be part of what we talk about when we talk about funding," Taylor said. "Electric vehicles need safe roads and bridges too, that is the challenge."

Climate change brings different infrastructure challenges for the department. It builds a 4-foot sea-level rise into its coastal bridges and has greatly widened culverts to avoid washouts as extreme weather becomes more common, Taylor said.

Now the department is starting a vulnerability assessment to find out what communities could be at risk of being cut off if a bridge or road is destroyed in particularly intense storms.

"Typically, as a department we say 'we have to look at that bridge or pave that road,' " Taylor said. "Now we have to look at the system and how it works, how it is going to perform with sea level rise and more extreme weather events."

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Maine's infrastructure gets a C- from civil engineers

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For the fourth time in a dozen years, Maine's public infrastructure has received a middling assessment in an independent report from the American Society of Civil Engineers. The group's Report Card for Maine's Infrastructure, produced every four years, covers 16 categories including transportation, water and sewer, education and energy infrastructure.

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Video:  How Maine Became the State with the Worst Infrastructure

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Video:  How Maine Became the State with the Worst Infrastructure

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How Maine became the state with the worst infrastructure

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https://www.wmtw.com/article/portland-commons-will-bring-11-acres-of-greenspace-to-downtown-portland/39590189

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Portland Parks Recreation and Facilities department is moving ahead with plans to create an 11-acre public park along the waterfront in downtown Portland. The final product will stretch from State Pier to Fore Points Marina. The endeavor will likely take around five years, but, phase one will be up and rolling soon and should only take about a year to complete. "I think it's a great testament to the history of the city that we fix this up for a gathering place," says Richard "Dick" Barringer, Professor Emeritus at Muskie School of Public Service. Barringer came up with the idea for the park and led a team that drafted the plans for the city pro bono. The plans for this park were born after the ferry that used to run out of Ocean Gateway to Yarmouth, Nova Scotia relocated to Bar Harbor in 2019. After that ferry moved, the old "queueing area" for the dock, became a temporary parking lot for Casco Bay island residents and visitors. Shortly after that, Barringer spoke with the former Portland City Manager about the parking lot. "I said to him, you know, you're not going to be able to keep that as a temporary parking lot, it's just too valuable a piece of land," Barringer said. "I think you should do something more creative." Phase one of the project will transform the temporary parking lot by Ocean Gateway into an open lawn space. The team is currently looking for contractors and landscape architects and hopes to break ground this year. The city has acknowledged that parking is in short supply in Portland and they plan to address that shortage during phase two. For now, they say that public green space is more important. "When you think about the highest and best use for a piece of land that's on the waterfront, that has these world-class views and gives people a connection to the water and history, do you really think a parking lot is the best possible use?" says Ethan Hipple, Portland director of parks, recreation and facilities. "I don't believe it is." Portland City Council has approved $150,000 in capital improvements funds for the endeavor. The rest will be funded by private donors and federal grants.

Portland Parks Recreation and Facilities department is moving ahead with plans to create an 11-acre public park along the waterfront in downtown Portland.

The final product will stretch from State Pier to Fore Points Marina. The endeavor will likely take around five years, but, phase one will be up and rolling soon and should only take about a year to complete.

"I think it's a great testament to the history of the city that we fix this up for a gathering place," says Richard "Dick" Barringer, Professor Emeritus at Muskie School of Public Service. Barringer came up with the idea for the park and led a team that drafted the plans for the city pro bono.

The plans for this park were born after the ferry that used to run out of Ocean Gateway to Yarmouth, Nova Scotia relocated to Bar Harbor in 2019. After that ferry moved, the old "queueing area" for the dock, became a temporary parking lot for Casco Bay island residents and visitors. Shortly after that, Barringer spoke with the former Portland City Manager about the parking lot.

"I said to him, you know, you're not going to be able to keep that as a temporary parking lot, it's just too valuable a piece of land," Barringer said. "I think you should do something more creative."

Phase one of the project will transform the temporary parking lot by Ocean Gateway into an open lawn space. The team is currently looking for contractors and landscape architects and hopes to break ground this year.

The city has acknowledged that parking is in short supply in Portland and they plan to address that shortage during phase two. For now, they say that public green space is more important.

"When you think about the highest and best use for a piece of land that's on the waterfront, that has these world-class views and gives people a connection to the water and history, do you really think a parking lot is the best possible use?" says Ethan Hipple, Portland director of parks, recreation and facilities. "I don't believe it is."

Portland City Council has approved $150,000 in capital improvements funds for the endeavor. The rest will be funded by private donors and federal grants.

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Portland Harbor Commons will bring 11 acres of green space to downtown Portland

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Portland Parks Recreation and Facilities department is moving ahead with plans to create an 11-acre public park along the waterfront in downtown Portland. The final product will stretch from State Pier to Fore Points Marina. The endeavor will likely take around five years, but, phase one will be up and rolling soon and should only take about a year to complete.

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https://trails.org/our-work/conservation/

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How does Portland Trails engage in conservation?

Portland Trails was founded as a land trust. We hold multiple land easements, own over 100 acres of land, and care for ecosystems throughout Greater Portland. However, as an urban land trust, we hold a unique place in the cityscape, and our conservation efforts are largely directed at impacting human behavior. We connect people with the natural world, and help reduce carbon footprints by providing active transportation options throughout Portland. These efforts lead to urban habitat preservation, pollution reduction, and improved public health.

We engage community members through our volunteer and stewardship program in hands-on, outdoor work. Our trails staff manage the most invasive species on our properties. We also regularly partner with developers, city planning, neighborhood organizations, and other land trusts and like minded organizations on projects that build or preserve public green spaces.

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How does Portland Trails engage in conservation? Portland Trails was founded as a land trust. We hold multiple land easements, own over 100 acres of land, and care for ecosystems throughout Greater Portland. However, as an urban land trust, we hold a unique place in the cityscape, and our conservation efforts are largely directed at impacting human behavior.

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https://www.portlandmaine.gov/642/Portland-Open-Space-Vision-Implementatiohttps://

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www.portlandparksconservancy.org/the-parks

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https://www.mainebiz.biz/article/portland-gets-400k-toward-creation-of-24-acre-park-in-fast-growing-neighborhood

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Plans are in the works to build a new park in Portland's fast-growing North Deering neighborhood.

The 24-acre park will be one of the largest in the city's park system.

The city received a $400,000 federal grant through the U.S. Department of Interior's Outdoor Recreation Legacy Partnership program to buy two properties to create the public greenspace, according to a news release. The exact locations were not disclosed.

"This is great news not only for the neighborhood surrounding the future North Deering Park, but for the entire region," said Portland Director of Parks, Recreation and Facilities Ethan Hipple. "Looking forward 100 years from now, the neighborhood and the city may grow and change. But thanks to this ORLP grant and the partnership of Trust for Public Land, this special place will still be wild, beautiful and open to all."

A national nonprofit, Trust for Public Land, has been working with the city to raise the funds to acquire the land and will work with residents to design the park that meets their needs.

"With this federal funding for the North Deering Park, Portland is one step closer to joining the few cities in America where 100% of residents have a park within a 10-minute walk of home," said Trust for Public Land Maine State Director Betsy Cook. "Protecting this land will ensure the North Deering community will have access to bike, walk, hike, play and explore the outdoors in their own backyard."

While most Portland residents live within a 10-minute walk of a greenspace, some in the North Deering neighborhood don't have such close-to-home access, the trust said.

North Deering Park will be near Lyseth Elementary School and Lyman Moore Middle School, opening opportunities for outdoor learning and offering a public place for children, according to the release.

The North Deering neighborhood, bordering the Maine Turnpike and historically an agricultural and residential area, has seen a steady growth of investment over recent years.

The boom has included the $11.75 million sale in 2021 of an office building at 5 Davis Farm Road, the sale earlier this year of a portfolio of three commercial buildings that sold for $8.7 million, the acquisition and planned $10 million renovation of an affordable housing complex called North Deering Gardens, and the planned $42.5 million construction of a nursing home called Fallbrook Care Center.

The Portland grant is part of a federal allocation of $61.1 million to 26 cities across the U.S. to create new parks and trails, or substantial renovations to existing parks.

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Portland gets $400K toward creation of 24-acre park in fast-growing neighborhood

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Plans are in the works to build a new park in Portland's fast-growing North Deering neighborhood. The 24-acre park will be one of the largest in the city's park system. The city received a $400,000 federal grant through the U.S.

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https://www.makemaineyourhome.com/explore-cities/portland-me/

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Portland is Maine's largest city, with nearly a third of the state's population encompassed in its metro area. With 20 diverse neighborhoods, extensive art and cultural centers, numerous historical sites, over 700 acres of public parks, and one of the largest ratios of restaurants and bars per capita, there is something for virtually everyone to love.

Portland hosts Maine's largest port, which has supported a thriving shipping and fishing industry for nearly 400 years. But modern Portland is much more than this, also boasting a robust service economy, including the headquarters for national corporations such as Unum Group and Federal Credit Union. The employment rate in Portland is one of the highest in the nation at 97%.

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What It's Like To Live In The Diverse City Of Portland, ME - Make Maine Your Home

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Portland is Maine's largest city, with nearly a third of the state's population encompassed in its metro area. With 20 diverse neighborhoods, extensive art and cultural centers, numerous historical sites, over 700 acres of public parks, and one of the largest ratios of restaurants and bars per capita, there is something for virtually everyone to love.

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https://bestneighborhood.org/race-in-portland-me/

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https://www.visitportland.com/blog/2020/03/11/community-life/

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Visit Portland | Travel Planning | Official Tourism Website

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welcome home to Maine

HISTORY, CULTURE, AND COMMUNITY THAT MAKES OUR REGION DIVERSE AND UNIQUE

Woven into the fabric of the Greater Portland community is the vibrant and preserved culture of our varied communities. Some have called Maine home for generations and have built businesses, raised families, and revitalized communities here in Greater Portland. While others are our new neighbors recently settled in, looking for a new beginning. We are excited to continue the tradition of celebrating the impact of other communities history and culture which helps shape the region's culture and make vital contributions to its economy.

immigrant communities

Entrepreneurs, workers, students and consumers, all immigrants are vital to Maine's economy. And, the richness and diversity they provide is recognized and valued by those who live and visit our region. Maine has long been a resettlement region for Somali and Sudanese immigrants escaping refugee camps and hardships in their countries. More recently, immigrants from Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East and other regions have come to Greater Portland by choice, citing it a welcoming place to live, work, or visit. Immigrants come to find opportunities, go to school, start a business, or bring their success as professionals in their home country to a new population.

Immigrant communities' voices are heard clearly through the non-profit organizations that support and advocate for them. One of these organizations is the The Greater Portland Immigrant Welcome Center which provides programming, classes, employment and case management, networking opportunities, and other services designed to help New Mainers, of all professions, overcome barriers to enter the US workforce.

Whether you are a member of an immigrant community looking to visit the Greater Portland area or if you are considering relocating, we recommend checking out our international language brochures.

LGBTQ+ COMMUNITIES

Greater Portland loves love. We know for many LGBTQ+ travelers taking a trip is foreign territory. It's hard to know what discrimination or safety issues may arise in a new city. However, you'll find stepping into the Greater Portland region is like stepping into a safe space. In Greater Portland, you'll be amongst LGBTQ+ owned businesses, advocacy organizations with an unwavering voice for equality, and plenty of fun events to keep you busy-but, more importantly you will be amongst friends. We were even voted one of the "Gayest Cities in America" by the Advocate.

"Energetic young businesses like fermented-honey booze-maker Maine Mead Works and the popular men's clothing label Rogues Gallery have established it as a harbor for creativity as well as tolerance."
Mike Albo, The Advocate

Every June, our community comes together for an annual parade and festival to celebrate and honor the accomplishments of the LGBTQ+ movement, raise awareness of the community's ongoing struggles, and foster an environment of inclusivity, accessibility and solidarity. This is the biggest celebration of the 10 Days of Pride, bringing thousands of people to march through the streets of Portland and celebrate in Deering Oaks Park. The Pride Portland! Festival, immediately following the Pride Parade, continues the spirit of the day with entertainment and community. Held in the scenic setting of Deering Oaks Park, the Festival is a unique blend of local talent, food, a beer garden, children's activities, marketplace, and more. People of all ages gather to celebrate and support harmony, persistence, and Pride.

Every year it gets bigger and better than ever, with live stage performances and a full schedule of diverse local talent. This event is family-friendly and inclusive to all. Visit Pride Portland's website for more information on this year's event.

Families + kid friendly

Your kiddos will squeal with glee when they dip their toes into the cool, refreshing waters of Casco Bay. So much aquatic life is unique to Maine and call Casco Bay home-whales, seals, and even Puffins can be found in the wild. So, whether it's on one of our sandy beaches or along the rocky shorelines, you'll be able to point out some friendly faces on the horizon to your little ones. We were even rated one of the top ten "Best Cities for Families" by Parenting Magazine.

"Portland is another small, northeastern city that lures parents with clean air, plenty of outdoor space for kids to play and a laidback lifestyle that encourages healthy, active family living."
Sara Vignerifor | Parenting Magazine

There are so many things to do with kids in Greater Portland. Portland itself is only 6.5 miles from one side to the other, so walk, bike, or stroller around the city. One of the best things about our region is how quickly you can go from being in the middle of the action to the middle of nature. You and your family can be downtown clapping along to a live street performance, or trying some local gelato, and in just a few minutes be exploring the grounds of one of our historic lighthouses.

LATEST POSTS

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Community Life | Maine Culture | Visit Portland

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Woven into the fabric of the Greater Portland community is the vibrant and preserved culture of our varied communities. Some have called Maine home for generations and have built businesses, raised families, and revitalized communities here in Greater Portland. While others are our new neighbors recently settled in, looking for a new beginning.

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https://mlc.portlandschools.org/about/demographic_data

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Over the years, Portland Public Schools' multilingual student population has grown exponentially and become increasingly more diverse. Currently, the district has over 2,300 students who come from homes where over 60 different languages are spoken. These students represent about 34% of Portland Public Schools' total enrollment. Over 1,400 of these students are identified as English Language Learners.

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Over the years, Portland Public Schools' multilingual student population has grown exponentially and become increasingly more diverse. Currently, the district has over 2,300 students who come from homes where over 60 different languages are spoken. These students represent about 34% of Portland Public Schools' total enrollment.

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https://theewgroup.com/us/blog/benefits-diversity-inclusion-workplace/

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Lisa Jobson is a specialist in talent management and management consulting and has extensive experience in supporting businesses to determine focus and the strategic importance of diversity.
Workplace diversity and inclusion is an increasing area of focus for many organisations, with more developing diversity strategies for effective success. In 2017, PwC's Global Diversity and Inclusion Survey of business and human resource leaders found that 87% of respondents had stated diversity was an area of priority of focus for their organisation. There are plenty of good reasons why businesses are focusing on the topic and training their workforces and leaders to be more inclusive, but some of the most significant are the benefits of diversity and inclusion in the workplace, of which there are many.

Benefit from a broader range of perspectives

By ensuring you have a diverse range of employees and leaders from different backgrounds within your team, your business will benefit from a broader range of perspectives, experiences, and opinions. This is crucial to being able to navigate tricky business challenges that impact many different types of people, as well as making sure business actions are properly critiqued by those with different viewpoints, thereby eliminating groupthink.

Recruit from a larger pool of talent

One of the greatest benefits of diversity and inclusion in the workplace affects recruitment. By eliminating discrimination and bias within hiring teams and the more senior levels of your organisation, you will ensure bright candidates won't get turned down by virtue of their gender, skin colour, or other attributes, despite having great skills and experience. This means an increased number of high-quality candidates your business can choose from when hiring.

Having a reputation for being more diverse also means your company won't be turned down by discerning candidates that are concerned about diversity and inclusion. A 2017 PwC survey of employees found that 45% of men and 54% of women researched prospective employers to see if they had diversity and inclusion policies, while 48% of men and 61% of women judged company leadership team diversity upon receiving a job offer. This number was higher in a 2018 Randstad study, which found 78% of employees valued equal workplaces, and these percentages are likely to grow as younger demographics enter the workforce: a 2015 PwC survey found 86% of millennial women considered workplace diversity and inclusion policies important.

Many businesses already understand the impact of diversity and inclusion on recruitment - a study by Glassdoor in 2017 found that 59% of hiring professionals thought poor investment into the approach harmed hiring efforts in their business.

Understand your customers better

Our society is incredibly diverse and all these people are active in the economy. However, a lack of workplace diversity and inclusion can lead to large groups of people not being represented due to a lack of understanding.

For example, in the UK, 13.9 million are disabled, and their spending power - the 'Purple Pound' - is worth £249 billion. Companies that understand and cater to disabled demographics can take advantage of this spending power, and the best way to do that is by hiring disabled people, of which only 3.7 million are employed. More importantly, this investment in hiring disabled individuals and catering for their needs is clearly beneficial on moral and ethical grounds, since it makes society work better for more people. This applies to any other underrepresented demographic.

Thankfully, this message is getting through to many businesses - 49% of those surveyed for LinkedIn's 2018 Global Recruiting Trends report focused on diversity to improve customer representation.

Improve business innovation

Businesses that boast diverse workforces are finding their capacity for innovation is being boosted. A 2019 survey by the HR Research Institute found that 66% of organisations believe diversity enhances innovation, and 83% of employees surveyed for a 2013 Deloitte report felt their ability to innovate increased when they believed they were listened to and thought their organisation was committed to and supportive of diversity. BCG's 2017 Diversity and Innovation Survey found companies with above-average diversity scores reported higher innovation revenues (revenues from products released in the previous three years).

These results are unsurprising. By feeling included and considered, employees feel less stressed and are less likely to have negative emotions towards their employer, and a greater diversity of voices are heard throughout an organisation - creating a melting pot of free-thinking that breeds blue-sky ideas.

Faster, better problem solving

Investing in diversity and inclusion has been shown to improve the speed of decision-making within teams. Research in 2017 found that cognitively diverse teams solved problems faster than those that were homogenous.

The quality of decisions made is also improved by diversity. A 2017 white paper by Cloverpop that diverse teams made decisions 60% faster than non-diverse teams, and that teams marked by age, gender, and geographic diversity made the right decision 87% of the time, compared to 58% for all-male teams.

Improve overall business performance

Diversity and inclusion also improve the general performance of a business. In 2012, a McKinsey study found that US companies with diverse executive boards had a 95% higher return on equity than those lacking diversity. In 2015, McKinsey found that the best-performing companies for gender diversity in management were 15% more likely to financially outperform the mean, and 35% more likely when it came to ethnic and racial managerial diversity.

Reports from the field concur. The HR Research Institute's 2019 survey saw 61% of respondents agree that diversity led to improved performance.

Improve your overall reputation

Diverse, inclusive companies make their employees feel welcomed and happy and help society function more effectively and fairly. This approach can enhance your business's reputation with customers, investors, and staff, bringing a whole raft of benefits, such as improved recruitment opportunities, business performance, and growth.

There are countless benefits to ensuring workplaces are diverse and inclusive. And the business case for D&I has never been so clear. Experience them within your organisation with diversity and inclusion training, better understand the diversity challenges facing your business or contact our team.

Get in touch for help ensuring your workplace is diverse and inclusive
Get in touch

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The benefits of diversity and inclusion in the workplace

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Lisa Jobson is a specialist in talent management and management consulting and has extensive experience in supporting businesses to determine focus and the strategic importance of diversity. Workplace diversity and inclusion is an increasing area of focus for many organisations, with more developing diversity strategies for effective success.

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https://www.mainepublic.org/arts-and-culture/2021-08-15/portland-arts-group-still-focused-on-its-multicultural-neighborhood-despite-pandemic-closure

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https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attractions-g40827-Activities-c40-Portland_Maine.html

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https://www.thekitchn.com/portland-maine-is-the-best-small-city-for-food-lovers-246341

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Kitchn’s Bite-Sized Guide to Portland, Maine

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And summer is the dreamiest time to go. Bring your appetite!

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https://www.pressherald.com/2021/04/29/how-portland-became-a-food-city-and-why-it-will-remain-one-post-pandemic/

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This is the last of five parts in our series on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Portland's restaurants.
On a damp but unseasonably warm Friday night in February, Bernard Cabrera, Jennifer Wolcott and the couple's wide-eyed 3½-month-old pandemic puppy, Coco, were arranged cozily around a fire pit in Oxbow's beer garden on Washington Avenue, the heart of Portland's normally flourishing food scene. The couple was sharing a burger, cornbread and collard greens, along with a couple of beers.

He works for a technology company. She writes, often about food. Food is, in no small measure, why they sold their big house in suburban Boston 2½ years ago and headed north, making a new home for themselves in Portland's East End.

Pre-pandemic, they dined out several times a week, and it was "hard to miss a good dinner or a good lunch in Portland," Cabrera said. "The food is always good." They've tried to keep it up, supporting the city's many restaurants through takeout and occasional outdoor meals. The food scene in Portland is, for their personal happiness, "huge, huge!" Wolcott said. And if the coronavirus were to cripple it?

"That would be catastrophic," Cabrera said.

For more than a decade, Portland has enjoyed a national reputation as a food town, a place to go for its impressive restaurants, expansive craft beer scene and independent groceries trading in local food sourced from nearby farms and the adjacent sea. Looking for a cider house, an upscale knife store, a well-stocked cheese shop, an Eritrean restaurant or a hummusiya? Portland's got those and much more. Its status as a bustling, walkable food town may be hardly a blip in the city's almost 400-year-old history, but to many of its residents today, its intertwined food, drinks and restaurant scene is a source of pride, jobs, community, entertainment - even a reason they moved here.

So what has it meant for the city's sense of identity that the coronavirus pandemic has tested its restaurants to the limit? It's shut down a handful permanently (the highly regarded Drifters Wife, Lio, Piccolo and Vinland among them), closed the remainder periodically, reconfigured layouts, reshaped menus, converted dine-in to takeout, closed dining rooms and opened patios, transformed service, sharply contracted staffs, vaporized profits - in short, forced cooks, servers, hosts and restaurateurs to swiftly reinvent themselves, and then do it again - in a business that has never been, even right here on beautiful Casco Bay, plain sailing.

Though Portland's restaurants have a loyal hometown following, they depend on the bounty of the summer tourism season to get them through the lean times of late fall to late spring. This year, many entered the winter already depleted, exhausted and reliant on government pandemic programs, and never benefited from the usual smaller boosts of Thanksgiving, Christmas parties, New Year's Eve and Valentine's Day. If their cupboards aren't bare, exactly - we are talking about restaurants after all - for many, their coffers are. Which could hurt even more this spring, when they need cash in order to restock and hire for the busy summer season ... assuming there is one.

Open-ended messages like this one, on the website of Back Bay Grill, abounded this past winter: "Unfortunately, due to COVID-19, we are currently closed for winter break. Thank you for your understanding."

Back Bay Grill reopened in early April, though just for three days a week; happily, so have many other Portland restaurants, both long-established and newcomers. And even after a very bleak year, the number of new dining spots scheduled to open soon (Cheese Louise, specializing in upscale grilled cheese; Salt Yard, the restaurant at the new Canopy Portland Waterfront hotel; and Mitr, serving grilled and charbroiled Thai food, to name a few) is impressive.

That neon "Hopeful" sign atop Speedwell Projects gallery on Forest Avenue? Along with its restaurant neighbors - eclectic taco spot Bird & Co. and Colombian street food eatery Maiz - it could be illuminating the city's food scene as it stands right now.

HOW DID WE GET HERE?

Setting aside fish chowder, fried clams and old-school Italian, Portland's history as a dining and drinking draw is a relatively recent development.

When Scott DeSimon graduated from Greely High School in Cumberland in 1986, there was little to keep him in the area, food-wise, or to induce him to return after college. Eventually, he moved to Brooklyn, where he spent five years near the top of the masthead, as deputy food editor, at Bon Appetit magazine. Things began to change for Portland food in the '90s, he recalls, crediting Sam Hayward of Fore Street and Dana Street of Street and Co. and Fore Street for sparking an eventual transformation.

Hayward himself recalls being introduced to Street in the late '80s, shortly before Street and Co. opened. Mutual friends had arranged for the two to meet. "They brought him to me to talk him out of it," Hayward said. ("Obviously, I'm grateful he went ahead and opened.") Though Hayward can name with affection a number of Portland restaurants that predated Street and Co. - Alberta's, Cafe Always, The Hollow Reed, Rafael's - it seemed to him from his perch at 22 Lincoln in Brunswick that Portland restaurants had "no legs."

"Portland didn't really impress me as a restaurant town," he says today. "There had been a number of restaurants with innovative elements starting back in the '70s, but my impression was good restaurants didn't last very long in Portland, at least restaurants that had culinary ambitions. They might make it for four or five years, get summer visitors, or a lot of attention, then suddenly fail."

A few years later, though he appreciated the city's vibrant arts scene, he was still hesitant about its dining potential. When Fore Street opened in 1996, "We were quite cautious with the food. We had a pretty small menu." Customer demand (and the eagerness of the cooks) soon drove its expansion, a small sign that culinary change was afoot.

About the same time, Jill Duson moved to Portland from Hallowell for a job with the gas company. Duson, who would eventually serve for 19 years as a city councilor, regretted that the move meant losing a beloved restaurant hangout. "I can remember thinking as I moved away, 'What would I find that was as good as Slates?'"

"There wasn't a lot of variety," she added. "It was nothing like today's food. (Portland) was a city, but it wasn't a foodie town."

But the underpinnings of Portland's thriving restaurant and food scene were being built. Artists, attracted by cheap rents, were remaking the city's gritty waterfront. New recruits to Portland law firms and large companies like Idexx and Unum were fueling demand for more and better places to dine. Nationally, America's food scene had also heated up, and ambitious young cooks had begun to leave established restaurant cities, like New York and San Francisco, for more livable cities with affordable rents, both for themselves and for the restaurants they dreamed of opening. Many of Portland's best-known chefs and restaurateurs today previously spent time at marquee restaurants in marquee cities, including, to give a very partial list, Ilma Lopez and Damian Sansonetti of Chaval (and the late Piccolo), who worked for Daniel Boulud in New York City; Rob Evans of Duckfat (and formerly Hugo's), who worked at The French Laundry in Yountville, California; and Chad Conley of Rose Food and Ramona's, a native Portlander who returned to Maine after working at Jean-Georges in New York City.

Count Michelle and Steve Corry, who opened Five Fifty-Five on Congress Street in 2003, among that group. (After a good long run, they had announced they were going to close the restaurant just before the pandemic shutdown. They still operate Petite Jacqueline.) The young couple came to Maine from California, where they'd worked at heavy hitters, Domaine Chandon (him) and The French Laundry (her). They moved east to be nearer to family, and picked Portland to start their own place in large part because "we could buy the building," Michelle Corry said. "This was something we could afford." For more than a year, they lived in the kitchen-less apartment above their new restaurant.

"We were a little nervous because it wasn't a great scene," she added. "We took a big chance on Congress Street because Congress Street at that time was extremely sketchy. There was the Oakleaf hotel, which I think rented by the hour. Our sous chef our first year was mugged right on Congress. There was no Nosh, no Empire, no Taco Escobarr. It was a chance, but it was cheap."

Like Hayward, the Corrys dialed down their opening menu, concerned that Portlanders' palates would lack the sophistication of Napa Valley diners. But the city surprised them. Gradually, more interesting, chef-driven restaurants began to open around them. Their own customers, too, quickly proved willing - eager - to eat foie gras, frogs' legs, escargot, unusual cheeses, "stuff we never thought we'd be able to do," Corry said. "And people wanted more."

Over at Back Bay Grill on Portland Street, a young Larry Matthews Jr. was watching the city's food scene change, too, a stroke of personal good fortune. Then in his early 20s, Matthews, a native Mainer, had had big plans to leave the state and "bump up my resume." Then he met a girl (now his wife of 23 years, Kristin Matthews). "I didn't want to bounce around. We said, 'Let's make Portland work.' It wasn't ideal because it wasn't the restaurant scene I wanted, but let's just make it work."

So he found himself a job as a weekend line cook at Back Bay Grill (less than a decade later, he'd buy the place), and then watched, pleased, as he got what he'd wished for. "I'd had the thought it would be really great if we could develop a community of great restaurants and then I'd be right where I wanted to be all along without my ever leaving home," Matthews said. He starts to list restaurants that contributed to Portland's early culinary blossoming (and, Matthews being Matthews, apologized for any he may have forgotten), ending his summary with Rob Evans taking over Hugo's (in 2000), Fore Street "exploding in popularity" and the Corrys opening the doors to Five Fifty-Five. "All of the sudden there was just a stable of great restaurants," Matthews said. "All of the sudden, we were starting to put some significant pins in the map."

Success begat success. As Portland's restaurants began to get national attention - a James Beard award here, a Food & Wine best new chef nod there - young cooks wanted to come here to work under Portland's own growing roster of name chefs. Talent trickled, then flooded in, Hayward recalled, allowing the city's restaurants to snap up cooks who'd spent time at starred, storied places like California's Chez Panisse and Zuni Café. In turn, many enterprising employees went on to open places of their own. Passing through the kitchen over the years at Back Bay Grill alone were, among others, Erik Desjarlais (who went on to open Bandol, Ladle, Evangeline), Harding Smith (who later opened the "Rooms" restaurants) and Jason Williams ( The Well at Jordan Farm). Now that others were opening restaurants and succeeding, young cooks could imagine Portland as a place they could succeed, too.

It wasn't just the restaurant scene that was flourishing, as Hayward takes pains to point out. Maine's back-to-the-land movement - the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association turns 50 this year - was nurturing a brigade of young, imaginative farmers, who inch by inch and Hakurei turnip by heirloom carrot, began to provide the "backbone of what made Maine food so incredibly special," Hayward said, "foragers and farmers and fishers, providing local food to restaurants. That might be the glue of the whole food and restaurant community in Maine."

CRITICAL MASS

Just what constitutes a 21st-century food town? Chefs, food writers, food tour operators, academics, local politicians, and city tourism and arts outreach organizations weighed in. In sum, sheer numbers of restaurants; variety of places - including cuisines, styles and price points; great raw ingredients; plenty of jobs; supportive city government; an engaged local population that talks food, blogs food, tweets food, is willing to drive for food and, of course, eats and drinks adventurously; voracious, checklist-carrying, food-selfie broadcasting tourists; a national reputation; and a close-knit community of chefs. Meld enough of these together, and bingo.

"You need some of that groundswell, a critical mass of food businesses doing interesting things at the same time, with the idea that the rising tide carries all boats," said Jessica Battilana, a cookbook author and food columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle who moved to Falmouth with her family last June.

On all counts, and more, Portland qualifies.

"The subtext" of the city's amazing culinary variety, said DeSimon, the former Bon Appetit editor, "is it's more of a welcoming place, not an insular place. Once you start having really good versions of other food informed by local ingredients, that puts Portland in a whole other category."

In ordinary times, the industry not only provides jobs and entrepreneurial opportunities, but it feeds - and not just literally - the city's creative scene, according to Dinah Minot, executive director of Creative Portland, attracting young artists to town "not just because of the variety of food but because there is work available," she said. "The day job. The bread and butter money." The city's food scene also provides work to artists in the form of branding, interior and graphic design, "and all of that is very much part of that creative life," she said. Local artists here design beer and wine labels for local beverages, and dishware and menus for local restaurants.

The frequent culinary collaborations are evidence that the city's food artisans are as creative as its visual artists, the number of times a pizza maker, a brewer and a baker have - no, not walked into a bar - rather worked together on, say, a pop-up or a new beer (often to benefit a good cause). This past pandemic year, that aspect has caught the eye of Sarah Hach, owner, with her husband, of Maine Food for Thought Tours. "Our restaurants are facing their greatest challenge," she said, "yet they are the ones making food to feed healthcare workers and food-insecure Mainers. The restaurant sector is really taking the lead in this. Maybe I am thinking of Mr. Rogers: 'Look for the helpers.'"

The city's food and drink scene has, no surprise, become a selling point, for real estate agents working with out-of-staters, recruiters seeking to attract job candidates, and tourism officials competing to bring visitors, and their dollars, here.

The food scene "is definitely one of the key drivers for Portland," said Lynn Tillotson, chief executive officer of Visit Portland, something she traces to 2009, the year Bon Appetit declared the city America's "foodiest small town." (The same magazine later named it the 2018 Restaurant City of the Year.) "It really kicked off a lot of our marketing about being a foodie destination," she said. "It's who we are. Outside of Maine, people view Portland as a very authentic place. Our working waterfront is unique and authentic, and tying that in, farm-to-table, fish-to-fork, really is a huge element of marketing Portland."

Or, as Duson, an enthusiastic hometown booster of all things food and an avid restaurant-goer herself, put it, the city's "connection with the waterfront! Made-in-Maine stuff like seafood and blueberries, stuff that grows around here! Farmers markets - oh my goodness! Golly! It's just ... what a town!"

CRYSTAL BALL

At different points over the course of the last year, trade groups and industry insiders predicted that as many as a whopping 85 percent of America's restaurants would be forced to close permanently because of the pandemic. It's great news that the experts got that wrong. Given Portland's long history, maybe the odds were always in the city's favor.

"In the 400 years since European settlement, Portland has survived the repeated ravages of war, invasion, pestilence, conflagration, and economic depression and recession," begins "Growing Portland," a 2017 report about the city's future.

Compared to many larger cities, lower restaurant rents are also on Portland's side. Lower labor costs than those faced by many big-city restaurants are an open question, as the $18 per hour hazard pay voters approved in November, which some restaurant owners say they can't afford, is being fought in court. Some other factors likewise remain in unknowable flux: the individual amounts of the latest federal aid program (Restaurant Revitalization Fund Grants, which accept applications starting Monday), how soon Mainers will return to restaurants - the dining rooms, not just the patios - and how quickly the tourists will come back, too.

On that last, Tillotson of Visit Portland is confident. Post-pandemic, her industry is predicting what it has termed "'revenge tourism.' People want to get out! They are tired of being in their homes," she said. "Basically, as soon people feel safe to travel and they can travel, they will for sure." As the pandemic recedes, if a flight to Europe still induces the jitters among American travelers, a drive to coastal Maine will let them test the waters by degrees.

Also going for Portland, several said: The scrappy, hardy, resilient nature of restaurant people in general - used to dealing with walk-in coolers that quit on a busy Saturday evening or fish orders that never show up - the scrappy, hardy, resilient nature of Mainers in particular, and the impressive imagination, adaptivity and resourcefulness that Portland's chefs and restaurateurs have shown in the past year. "Mainers in general are pretty crafty about staying in business and staying alive," chef Larry Matthews observed, noting that the city's restaurant scene came roaring back from downturns after 9/11 and during 2008.

Richard Barringer, a Muskie School of Public Service emeritus professor who co-wrote "Growing Portland," also is upbeat. He considers Portland's food sector a key part of the city's diversification, which itself is key to Portland's success. "The foodie sector is so established now, it will come back," he said. "The form it will come back (in) is not quite clear yet. The reputation is still there and so long as the reputation is still there, there will be demand, and there will be creative people who respond to that demand. I have great hopes that it will rebound."

About that question of form, many diners and restaurant insiders already are guessing: Winter outdoor dining may become a thing. Elegant takeout, cocktails-to-go and reservations may be here to stay (one can hope). Lavish restaurant dining could go the way of the passenger pigeon as post-pandemic customers reject formality and fuss and crave burgers and bistro food; or the reverse - maybe after a year in sweatpants, they'll be looking for a little elegance.

But let's give Duson the last word. She was feeling unwell during an interview last January, waiting for the results of a COVID-19 test (it was positive; Duson, and her son, came down with the coronavirus. She reports she was "exhausted" for six weeks, but both have recovered), but that didn't dampen her exuberance about the city's food sector. If Portland's restaurants fail in large numbers to make it to the other side of the pandemic, "We'd definitely lose part of our vibe, be diminished," she said.

"But I think, I hope, I am optimistic that we will take a few punches, and we will still have some closures, but we will bounce back because we have developed such a feel for good food. And I think many Portlanders like myself really love the food here and that love leads us to support these places, even on a budget. The restaurants are such a part of the community. It's been a tough time, but I think we will survive. It's part of who we are.

"Call me crazy," she said with a big laugh. "Or call me hungry."
Read Part 1: Threatened by coronavirus, Portland's restaurants turn the tables Read Part 2: On Middle Street, a culinary hub embodies an industry under siege Read Part 3: Restaurant closures ripple through local economy Read Part 4: Restaurants struggled with hiring. COVID made it worse.

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Portland's hard-won identity as a food city is here to stay

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This is the last of five parts in our series on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Portland's restaurants. On a damp but unseasonably warm Friday night in February, Bernard Cabrera, Jennifer Wolcott and the couple's wide-eyed 3½-month-old pandemic puppy, Coco, were arranged cozily around a fire pit in Oxbow's beer garden on Washington Avenue, the heart of Portland's normally flourishing food scene.

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Taste the sustainable food scene in Portland, Maine- Lonely Planet

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Maine Food for Thought walking tours give visitors a chance to experience Portland’s unique, sustainable culinary scene one bite at a time.

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https://www.visitportland.com/blog/2020/03/12/art-lovers-guide/

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Visit Portland | Travel Planning | Official Tourism Website

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AN ART LOVER'S GUIDE

8 THINGS YOU DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT THE GREATER PORTLAND MAINE ART & CULTURE SCENE

Greater Portland has officially experienced its cultural awakening. Our vibrant, year-round art + culture scene is now a hub for every kind of cultural experience you can imagine. So, let's pull back the curtain and step into a local's perspective on everything you may not know about our region's thriving art and entertainment calendar from hidden gems to highly-anticipated traditions.

FIRST FRIDAY ART WALK

The first Friday of every month (rain or snow or shine) Portland's galleries, museums, and art venues open their doors free of change for First Friday Art Walk. Put on by Portland's art + culture non-profit, Creative Portland, this event encourages local performers, musicians, and artists to fill the streets with their art by playing original songs and displaying their paintings and sculptures. Let this walk down Congress Street (and beyond) carry you through the twinkling lights and cobblestone streets as you feast your eyes on all our local talent has to offer.

SOMETHING FOR EVERY ART PALLETTE

Bri Lane at Hear Here, Photo Courtesy of Dave Wade and Creative Portland

Our entertainment calendar is expansive and diverse. Offerings range from classic to contemporary, so you're sure to find something you love. If the classics are your style, you'll find our line-up of everything from museums and historic sights to headlining concerts and selfie-worthy sculpture gardens-we've got your back! We really do have something for everyone here in Greater Portland. Even entertaining kiddos is a breeze when there are so many family-friendly things to do like the Children's Museum and Theatre where kids can explore Maine-themed interactive exhibits like a lobster boat or discovery forest.

VENUES IN CLOSE PROXIMITY

We haven't gotten to the best part yet. One of the highlights of our art scene, especially in downtown Portland, is how close in proximity the venues are to each other. Catch a burlesque show two doors down from a jazz club. Around the corner you'll find a historic venue like Merrill Auditorium or the State Theatre. Even better is sprinkled between these art institutions are our world-class breweries and neighborhood bars + pubs to duck into for a drink. Or, stay a while and grab dinner-find out what the buzz is about our foodie scene. Point is there is so much going on in this big, little city and you don't have to go far to find it.

EXPERIENCE OUR ART SCENE ANY TIME OF YEAR

Ballet Dancer over Portland Skyline, Photo Credit: Jonathan Reece

We keep the music on all year long. Over the warmer months, you can catch outdoor concerts across Greater Portland. L.L.Bean in Freeport brings in acts from all over the world for a free, concert series called "Summer in the Park". You can also get a little closer to our salty, sea air with waterfront concerts at one of Portland's hotspots, Thompson's Point.

BUT, OUR ART SCENE COMES ALIVE OVER THE HOLIDAYS

Our vibrant art scene stretches through all seasons, but it isn't until fall that our arts + entertainment calendar really kicks-off. Around the holiday season all our art organizations are in full swing working on their holiday-themed programming. Experience annual events like the Portland Symphony's "Magic of Christmas" or watch one of our local Ballet's version of the Nutcracker. If you're looking for some fun for the whole family, let your kiddos imagination run wild while they are told classic Christmas stories on the "The Holiday Express" by Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad Co. & Museum. Or bask in the twinkling lights, grab a hot chocolate or locally-made egg nog, and walk down the Old Port to gaze at intricate holiday window displays.

WE HAVE FAMOUS ARTISTS' PAINTINGS

Portland Museum of Art, Photo Credit: Capshore Photography

Another thing you may not know about us is that the Portland Museum of Art has over 18,000 works of art, ranging from Andy Warhol to Claude Monet. It would take nearly 10 years of constant gallery rotations to see everything the Portland Museum of Art has to offer. You can even view the home studio of famed oil and watercolor painter, Winslow Homer. Even if you don't recognize his name at first glance, there's no doubt you've seen one of his pieces in print or on display in Boston, New York, or beyond. Winslow Homer created many of his pieces right here in Maine and because of Portland Museum of Art you can visit the studio yourself and stand where he stood when he was crafting his masterpieces. The Portland Museum of Art offers free admission every Friday from 4pm-8pm.

WORLD CLASS LOCAL & NATIONAL TALENT

In Greater Portland you get the best of both worlds. We welcome a variety of national touring professionals as well as our own local talent into our art + entertainment scene. Want to see a Broadway show, but can't stomach the price tag? Here's an insider tip: many U.S tours make an appearance in the Greater Portland region. You can catch affordable rates during our fall and winter months. It's a win win-as the season slows, you'll find it easier to book award-winning accommodations and skip the wait times at the hottest restaurants in town.

THERE IS ART EVERYWHERE YOU LOOK

Around every corner you will stumble on more art eye candy. Sculptures nestled in our Portland squares depict important figures from Maine history. The statue in Lobsterman Park epitomizes the spirit of our region and honors our maritime history. You may even find the Lobsterman wearing a knitted hat and scarf in the colder months. Put on by one of our creative community members to keep him warm. Comb the narrow cobblestone streets in downtown Portland and you will find your eye pulled to curated street art and murals that flood the city with color. There is so much ground to cover, and so much art to see, you might need to come back again to make sure you catch it all.

Our Event Calendar is constantly adding to the line-up. For the full scoop on everything coming to Greater Portland, please visit our Events Calendar.

MORE ART + CULTURE

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Art Lover's Guide | Entertainment in Maine | Visit Portland

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Greater Portland has officially experienced its cultural awakening. Our vibrant, year-round art + culture scene is now a hub for every kind of cultural experience you can imagine. So, let's pull back the curtain and step into a local's perspective on everything you may not know about our region's thriving art and entertainment calendar from hidden gems to highly-anticipated traditions.