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2019-01-01
National Center for Healthy Housing, Inc.;
The Maine Legislature established the Lead Poisoning Prevention Fund (22 MRSA c. 252 §1322-E) in 2005. The bill was the outcome of an effort led by a coalition of environmental activists. It authorizes a fee of 25 cents per gallon on all paint sold in Maine. The fee is imposed on paint manufacturers or brand label owners. It provides a waiver for payment for those who sell low quantities. Revenue from the fees fluctuated between$700,000 and $800,000 in the initial years. Revenue decreased during the recession but is currently stable at around $650,000 annually.The Lead Poisoning Prevention Fund (LPPF) is administered with the help of an Advisory Board by the Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Unit (CLPPU) within the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) of the Maine Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). Resources from the LPPF are used to accelerate progress towards eliminating childhood lead poisoning in Maine through statewide and community-based activities that enable the public to identify lead hazards and take precautionary actions to prevent exposure to lead.
2018-10-01
Education Development Center;
Education Development Center (EDC) partnered with 10 districts in rural Maine that were in the process of implementing the state's requirement that students graduate with a proficiency-based diploma, to study students' exposure to student-centered, proficiency-based education and the relationship between exposure and student academic performance and engagement. Using Latent Profile Analysis, a statistical technique used to uncover hidden subgroups (i.e., latent profiles) based on the similarity with which a group of individuals responds to a set of survey questions, we found that three distinct proficiency-based education (PBE) exposure profiles existed, in similar proportions across all the participating schools and within every school. Analyses of district level administrative data showed that having an IEP was associated with higher exposure to PBE practices but that other student characteristics, including free and reduced-price lunch status and gender were not associated with more exposure to PBE practices. We also observed a positive relationship between exposure to PBE practices and increased levels of student engagement, and a negative association between exposure to PBE practices and SAT scores. Finally, qualitative analyses revealed that implementation to date has largely focused on identifying graduation standards and implementing new proficiency-based grading practices, with traditional classroom practices still fairly commonplace.
2017-07-25
Carsey School of Public Policy at The University of New Hampshire;
Founded in 1965, Head Start is designed to promote "school readiness of children under 5 from low-income families through education, health, social, and other services." Created in 1994, Early Head Start focuses specifically on the youngest children—those under age 3, and pregnant women—and provides "early, continuous, intensive, and comprehensive child development and family support services to low-income infants and toddlers, and their families, and pregnant women and their families." The Administration for Children and Families, housed within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, oversees and administers all Head Start programs through the federal Office of Head Start.
2017-05-23
Carsey School of Public Policy at The University of New Hampshire;
Policy makers and advocates nationwide recognize that funding for early childhood education is a crucial investment in the future. Critical foundational development occurs before age 5, and research consistently shows that high-quality early education for children leads to higher future educational attainment and lower likelihood of crime, and yields a return on investment of 7 to 13 percent.
2009-02-01
Williams Institute;
This research study estimates that same-sex marriage in Maine, if permitted, would have a positive impact on the state's economy and budget. The study finds that same-sex weddings and associated tourism would generate $60 million in additional spending in Maine over three years, creating 1,000 new jobs. Due to this spending, the state and Maine counties would see an increase of $3.6 million in revenues over the next three years; the result of an increase of sales tax revenues of approximately $3.1 million and new marriage license fees of $500,000. In calculating the net benefit to the State, the study approximates that half of Maine's 4,644 same-sex couples, or 2,316 couples, would marry in the first three years that marriage is extended to them. The study also estimates that approximately 15,657 same-sex couples from other states would come to Maine to marry.
2003-01-01
FSG;
Whether prompted by venture philanthropy, high engagement grantmaking, or a growing interest in nonprofit management, many foundations now have programs aimed at capacity building for their grantees. Grants from these programs are often highly targeted to meet the specific organizational needs of individual grantees. But how can a foundation get from the apples and oranges of individual grantee results to a succinct way of reporting overall program achievements? This was the question that the Maine Community Foundation (MCF) brought to FSG. Our analysis not only helped them evaluate their program, it also highlighted three basic lessons that can increase the likelihood of success for any capacity building initiative.
2001-09-10
Cato Institute;
Since 1873 Maine has financed the education of thousands of kindergarten through 12th grade students in private schools. In fact, the state pays tuition for 35 percent of all students enrolled in Maine's private schools. The tuition program enables parents in towns without a traditional public school to choose a school from a list of approved private and public schools, enroll their child, and have the town pay that child's tuition up to an authorized amount. The town then receives full or partial reimbursement from the state. In the fall of 1999, 5,614 students from 55 different communities attended private schools through this program, while 30,412 attended nearby public schools. Schools of choice ranged from regular public schools to local academies such as Waynflete School in Portland, Maine, to boarding schools ranging from Choate and Phillips Exeter in New England to Vail Valley Academy in Colorado. Data from the Maine Department of Education suggest that the tuition program costs roughly $6,000 per student, or 20 percent less than Maine's average per pupil expenditure for public education. Time and time again citizens have voted to keep this system that has been described as "the most valued attribute" of living in Maine. It's unfortunate that one of the best features of Maine's educational system is limited to students who live in the "right" towns. Maine's policymakers should seek to facilitate greater educational opportunities for all students, and policymakers nationwide should look to Maine's extensive experience with vouchers to inform their education reform efforts.
2009-04-09
Williams Institute;
This analysis estimates the impact of allowing same-sex couples to marry on Maine's state budget. We estimate that allowing same-sex couples to marry will result in a net gain of approximately $7.9 million each year for the State. This net impact will be the result of savings in expenditures on state means-tested public benefits programs and an increase in revenue from state sales and income taxes and marriage license fees. Throughout this report, we estimate the economic impact of weddings conservatively. In other words, we choose assumptions that are cautious from the State's perspective in that they tend to produce lower revenues and higher expenditures given the range of possibilities. Even so, we find that the effect of allowing same-sex couples to marry in Maine is an annual positive fiscal impact of approximately $7.9 million.
2010-02-01
Feeding America (formerly America's Second Harvest);
This report presents information on the clients and agencies served by The Good Shepherd Food Bank. The information is drawn from a national study, Hunger in America 2010, conducted in 2009 for Feeding America (FA) (formerly America's Second Harvest), the nation's largest organization of emergency food providers. The national study is based on completed inperson interviews with more than 62,000 clients served by the FA national network, as well as on completed questionnaires from more than 37,000 FA agencies. The study summarized below focuses on emergency food providers and their clients who are supplied with food by food banks in the FA network. Key Findings: The FA system served by The Good Shepherd Food Bank provides emergency food for an estimated 107,900 different people annually.41% of the members of households served by The Good Shepherd Food Bank are children under 18 years old (Table 5.3.2).30% of households include at least one employed adult (Table 5.7.1).Among households with children, 72% are food insecure and 44% are food insecure with very low food security (Table 6.1.1.1).56% of clients served by The Good Shepherd Food Bank report having to choose between paying for food and paying for utilities or heating fuel (Table 6.5.1).40% had to choose between paying for food and paying for medicine or medical care (Table 6.5.1).32% of households served by The Good Shepherd Food Bank report having at least one household member in poor health (Table 8.1.1)The Good Shepherd Food Bank included approximately 585 agencies at the administration of this survey, of which 428 have responded to the agency survey. Of the responding agencies, 275 had at least one food pantry, soup kitchen, or shelter.56% of pantries, 49% of kitchens, and 32% of shelters are run by faith-based agencies affiliated with churches, mosques, synagogues, and other religious organizations (Table 10.6.1).Among programs that existed in 2006, 81% of pantries, 68% of kitchens, and 65% of shelters of The Good Shepherd Food Bank reported that there had been an increase since 2006 in the number of clients who come to their emergency food program sites (Table 10.8.1).Food banks are by far the single most important source of food for agencies with emergency food providers, accounting for 76% of the food distributed by pantries, 57% of the food distributed by kitchens, and 58% of the food distributed by shelters (Table 13.1.1).As many as 96% of pantries, 87% of kitchens, and 70% of shelters in The Good Shepherd Food Bank use volunteers (Table 13.2.1).
2010-03-01
John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development;
This March 2010 brief provides an overview of labor market information, outlines how it can be used to inform and improve state and local "to-work" activities for people with disabilities, and identifies publicly available information sources that produce the data. Finally, it highlights a strategic partnership between the state of Maine's labor department and disability service providers that helps disability employment staff to integrate labor market information and tools into their practice.
2009-12-31
Annie E. Casey Foundation;
Describes how Maine reduced congregate care with help from Casey's "Family to Family" model of team decision making and keeping children in the neighborhood or with extended family and the Casey Strategic Consulting Group of experts working with agencies.
