Early childhood and leadership organizations throughout Greater Portland received a boost from the Edward H. Daveis Benevolent Fund at the Maine Community Foundation (MaineCF). Twelve organizations were awarded a total of $82,500 for projects that ranged from music classes and bereavement support to workshops with performing artists and others.
The fund recognizes the critical roles parents and early childhood education providers play to ensure a child’s readiness to enter school and the importance of youth leadership programs that help develop aspirations and abilities of youth.
The Portland Public Library received $7,500 for early literacy programming geared toward children up to age 12. The Telling Room will expand its Young Writers & Leaders program to serve multilingual immigrant, refugee and first-generation teens with a $7,500 grant, while $10,000 went to the Boys & Girls Clubs of Southern Maine for its Torch/Keystone clubs that develop leadership and decision-making skills and build a culture of community service.
Proposals for 2022 grants will be accepted beginning in August. For more information about the fund and to see all the recent grantees, visit www.mainecf.org.