Empower Lewiston funds new DownStage at L/A Arts

Alyson Stone, Executive Director of Empower Lewiston, gives Andrew Harris, Executive Director of L/A Arts, their $5,000 community grant award in the new DownStage performance and workshop space located at 221 Lisbon Street, Lewiston. Although still a work in progress, the new DownStage space is ready for its first production, Medea by Out of the Box Theatre, opening Friday evening, August 28th at 7:30 pm. Renovations include theatre quality lighting and sound, new seating, and soundproofing for improved acoustics. DownStage will provide a venue for downtown residents, particularly youth and young adults, to participate in the creative and performing arts. DownStage will be utilized for L/A Arts’ Arts-in–Education programming, workshops and small community performances as well as four advanced enrichment or Master Classes be offered through the recent 21st Century Community Learning Center Grant. Plans for DownStage include week long intensive theater workshops, music appreciation and music therapy course offerings, open-mic events, family dance workshops, painting courses and more. With the new studio space, L/A Arts will be able to expand offerings to evenings and weekends and throughout the summer, making it more accessible to for wider community participation and audiences. Additionally, the space will enable them to generate revenues supporting the studio’s sustainability and its community arts mission and purpose. For more information on the DownStage at L/A Arts space and upcoming offerings, please call L/A Arts at 782-7228. Performances at the new space can be accessed in the rear of 21 Lisbon Street on Canal Street Alley and ample parking will be available at the Centre Ville Garage and the Camden National car park (after hours).

Empower Lewiston Awards $181,580 in Community Grants

Empower Lewiston has been active with its latest round of community grants funded by U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Enterprise Community program. Proposals addressed varied goals and objectives of the City of Lewiston’s Downtown Neighborhood Action Plan. Empower Lewiston’s Board of Directors had a large task in front of them at their most recent board meeting as they conducted the final review of twenty seven proposals totaling ranging from $4,000 to $25,000 and totaling more than $420,000. Proposals addressed community capacity building, youth development, neighborhood engagement, workforce development, education, health, art and housing, and in the final review, the thirteen successful proposals selected reflected the same variety and range as board members worked to deliver funding where it would have the widest and deepest impact. Entities receiving awards included: L/A Arts - $5000 towards the creation of a performance/workshop space and advanced enrichment programming; Lewiston-Auburn Neighborhood Network-$5,000 for community liaison for neighborhood after school programming; ArtVan- $5,400 for expanded children’s art programming at the Lewiston Public Library; Lewiston Public Library-$7,450 for YADA’s Teen Engagement Project; St. Mary’s Community Nutrition Programming--$10,000 for additional offerings at the Nutrition Center including multigenerational cooking classes, a teen catering program, and snack sessions for Head Start; City of Lewiston - $13,000 supporting development of a housing dvd for tenants and landlords; Maine People’s Resource Center/Visible Community- development of a Neighborhood Housing League to develop resident leadership addressing housing issues and proactive building and neighborhood stewardship; Trinity Jubilee Center--$17,500 toward the Meals Program and Food Pantry; Lewiston Adult Education--$18,100 towards upgrading community computer labs; New Beginnings--$21,190 to pilot expanded weekend programming at its drop-in center for youth; Downtown Education Collaborative--$23,940 to further educational success and bridging the digital divide programming through support of a VISTA, work study students, an educational technician and upgrades to increase functionality at their space; Outsource Works--$25,000 to support employee performance and to develop a peer coaching training curriculum and program. Awardees themselves are bringing $512,236 in additional funding and in-kind support to the projects and proposals.

As Empower Lewiston passes the baton to these entities and others, our Celebration Team is beginning its event planning for later this year and will be announcing the date shortly. If you or your organization would like to be a part of this celebration highlighting 10 years of new downtown Enterprise Community happenings, of which the above is only a small portion, please contact Empower Lewiston at 777-5144.

Maine Residents Property Tax and Rent Refund for 2008 Now Available!

Maine Residents Property Tax and Rent "Circuit Breaker" Refund
Summary of the Program Beginning August 1, 2009 for Refunds of Property Tax Assessed and Rent Paid During 2008. (Note: The program to apply for refunds of property tax assessed and/or rent paid during 2009 begins August 1, 2010.)
Nearly 200,000 Maine households qualify for a partial refund of property tax assessed and/or rent they paid in 2008. The maximum refund available is $1,600.

You may qualify for a refund if:

You do not have a spouse or dependent(s) and your 2008 household income was $61,400 or less; or
You do have a spouse or dependent(s) and your 2008 household income was $81,850 or less
AND
Your 2008 property tax was more than 4% of your 2008 household income; or
The rent you paid in 2008 was more than 20% of your 2008 household income.
NOTE: Seniors do not need to meet this requirement when their household income is below $13,900 for those living alone or below $17,200 for those living with a spouse or dependent. See the application booklet for more information on who qualifies for the senior portion of the program.

File online now at www.maine.gov/revenue
Applications must be filed by

June 1, 2010

The Downtown Education Collaborative in the Sun Journal Sunday Edition

Follow the link for a great article about the Downtown Education Collaborative. http://www.sunjournal.com/story/321920-3/Columnist/Promoting_School_Success_marks_100_days/

Empower Lewiston Announces a Call for Proposals!

You can download and print a copy of the RFP by clicking on the link below:

http://freepdfhosting.com/ef7a57d854.pdf

Empower Lewiston is the non-profit organization established in 1999 when the two downtown census tracts, census tracts 201 & 204, received the federal designation of a USDA Round II Enterprise Community due to the high rates of poverty and the need for economic development. As of December 24, 2008, our federal designation officially ends with an additional year to utilize our remaining USDA funding for the benefit of our Enterprise Community.
In our ten years, we have supported the creation of public spaces such as the B Street Community Center, the Marsden Hartley Cultural Center, Museum L/A, and the Kennedy Park Skate Park; the development of entities such as Outsource Works, a budding social enterprise dedicated to providing a flexible alternative work setting for downtown residents, and Lots to Gardens, now a successful community gardening, neighborhood beautification and youth leadership program; and partnerships dedicated to advancing the personal goals of individuals through the teamwork of the L-A CA$H Coalition, Casey’s Rural Family Economic Success Initiative, College for ME-Androscoggin, Coastal Enterprises IDA Home Ownership Program and the Downtown Education Collaborative.
We recently completed the Downtown Neighborhood Action Plan with other members of the City’s Downtown Neighborhood Task Force. This plan which incorporates many elements of Empower Lewiston’s Strategic Plan is now before City Councilors. Proposals that address the goals and objectives of “The Third Place”, the Downtown Neighborhood Action Plan will be given priority. The plan can be accessed at http://www.ci.lewiston.me.us/development/dntf/dntf-files/DNTF-ActionPlan02-2009.pdf

We will give priority to proposals that:
· Build and strengthen community capacity.
· Promote community resident participation and engagement.
· Foster collaboration among different community agencies, businesses, neighborhood groups and/or City government.
· Reflect a comprehensive approach to community concerns.
· Leverage other funding and resources.
· Demonstrate a well-planned long-term sustainability plan.
· Can serve as models for a wider audience of community entities.

Grant Guidelines
Following is Empower Lewiston’s grant making program, eligibility criteria, and the procedures to follow in submitting your proposal. Please review these guidelines and the application process carefully and submit your proposal in the requested format.

Proposals MUST be for the benefit of downtown Lewiston and its residents.

Applicant Eligibility: Applicants must be a non-profit corporation with proof of 501(c)(3) or have a 501(c)(3) fiscal sponsor.

Ineligible Uses: Capital building projects, lobbying or religious purposes. As Empower Lewiston grants are made available through the USDA Federal EZ/EC program, Empower Lewiston funding may not be used as a match for other federal funding.

Grant Awards: $25,000 or under for new proposals. $15,000 or under for successful applicants of earlier round for the same project/proposal. For maximum community benefit, please request funding amount at level truly needed for proposal rather than simply request what’s the maximum available. Budget justification will be carefully reviewed.

Proposal Copies & Deadline: Please submit 15 COPIES with paper or binder clips for ease of copying. NO STAPLES. Please add proposal title and page number on headers and/or footers. All grant proposals must be received by 5 PM at Empower Lewiston, 57 Birch St. , Lewiston, ME 04240 by July 1, 2009. NO EXCEPTIONS. Any questions, please call us at 777-5144. Awards will be announced by July 24, 2009.

Reporting: Successful applicants will be required to submit quarterly reports.

SPECIAL NOTE: All Empower Lewiston awarded funding will need to be expended by December 31, 2009.

Empower Lewiston to hand the reins over to community partners

After 10 years of working with residents, business and other community members, Empower Lewiston has announced their intention to officially complete their work and hand the reigns over to other community organizations. As a USDA Round II Enterprise Community, the Empower Lewiston Enterprise Community designation officially ended December 24, 2008. Empower Lewiston is dedicated to administering its current USDA funding and any other funds that may be received before the end of the calendar year, which is also the end of the USDA Round II Enterprise Community’s grant period.

“Many aspects of the original Community Strategic Plan have been accomplished and in many respects, the torch has already been passed to other community organizations and neighborhood groups it has fostered or with whom Empower Lewiston has partnered or collaborated,” says Empower Lewiston’s Executive Director, Alyson Stone. “More recently, we have concluded two years of active participation on the City of Lewiston’s Downtown Neighborhood Task Force resulting in an Action Plan that is now before our City Councilors.”

Empower Lewiston is the 501c3 non-profit established in 1999 to administer USDA funding and oversee the Community Strategic plan for the Lewiston Enterprise Community (Census Tracts 201 and 204), which received its official federal EZ/EC designation in 1998.

Alyson Stone says before wrapping up their work they have a busy few months ahead of them. “We look forward to the active months ahead and celebration of all this small downtown community has been able to accomplish in 10 years with its resources and partners. “

In the coming days Empower Lewiston plans to announce they will again be soliciting grant proposals from non profits and their partners interested in creating positive change in the downtown area. More details will be forthcoming.

Since its inception, Empower Lewiston has been dedicated to:
Creating public spaces such as the B Street Community Center, the Marsden Hartley Cultural Center, Museum L/A, and the Kennedy Park Skate Park.


Supporting the development of entities such as Outsource Works, a budding social enterprise dedicated to providing a flexible alternative work setting for downtown residents, and Lots to Gardens, now a successful community gardening, neighborhood beautification and youth leadership program.
Advancing the personal goals of individuals through the teamwork of the L-A Tax Credit CA$H Coalition, Casey’s Rural Family Economic Success Initiative, College for ME-Androscoggin, Coastal Enterprises IDA Home Ownership Program.

Neighborly News!

The Spring edition is now out and can be found around town. If you would like to recieve our quarterly newsletter, please email us with your name and mailing address at hillary@empowerlewiston.org.

If you have any tips of interesting resources or stories that we should include in our next newsletter... let us know! This is your newsletter!