We partner with youth to create lasting change so all youth have a safe place to live and opportunities to grow.
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FROM OUR EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
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For New Beginnings, 2021 meant discovering what a return to full in-person services could look like. In January and February we hosted COVID-19 vaccination clinics for our staff and youth clients to make sure we could provide our services as safely as possible. Our Residential Services (Marian's Place shelter and TLP apartments) operated continuously, and our Outreach and Community Services fully re-opened to in-person services by spring 2021.
COVID-19 has changed our world, but homeless youth needs have not.
In 2021 we maintained our focus on ensuring that Maine youth facing housing instability, hunger, exploitation, or abuse could find the help they need, while re-building in-person relationships between staff, youth, and collaborating providers. Education and Employment services offered both in-person and video/online support to youth in 2021 to help them reconnect to or stay in school and find jobs. Summer 2021 brought an agency-wide focus on outdoor activities - youth went on outings to learn about food systems and established gardens to grow food at each Lewiston location. Drop-In Center utilization increased steadily, from 34 engagements in January to 372 in October 2021.
In the first 5 years of my tenure, I'm proud that New Beginnings has become a leader in the field and increased our state and national advocacy efforts. The 2020 murder of George Floyd and subsequent protests for racial justice led to our recommitting to a 2020-21 racial equity training and assessment process and establishing a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) committee in May 2021. We completed the next phase of our agency restructuring and strategic plan in 2021 and implemented an electronic client record for the first time.
And most importantly, New Beginnings remains here for youth 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, thanks to our generous community of supporters. Thank you for sustaining our mission and programs and making a difference for youth.
Chris Bicknell, Executive Director
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New Beginnings' staff are wonderful, they helped keep me off the street ... they are the only reason I graduated high school.
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PROGRAM UPDATES
With your 2021 support, New Beginnings improved the lives of 564 unduplicated young people. Thank you for helping Maine youth find safety, connection, and opportunities for growth.
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Marian’s Place at New Beginnings is the only program in Maine that is licensed to provide 24-hour emergency housing and support for youth ages 10–19 years old who have run away, are homeless, or at high risk due to intense family conflict.
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Since 1980, Marian’s Place has met youth's immediate safety and basic needs with food and shelter. Supportive services like case management, prevention groups, education and employment support, and family mediation help youth improve their skills and work toward stability.
In 2021 Marian’s Place served 57 youth with over 1,900 nights of safe shelter off the streets and 6,200 meals. Despite the ongoing challenges of COVID-19 housing shortages, 86% of youth had safe exits, with 78% reunifying with family or discharged to stable housing.
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New Beginnings’ Transitional Living Programs (TLP) provide supportive housing in Lewiston, Augusta, and Farmington for up to 18 months to help homeless youth ages 16–21 develop the skills they need to live on their own.
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Since 1989, TLP has offered teens and young adults supervised and community living apartments that combine case management with real-life experiences in education, employment, Adventure Challenge trips, and life skills. Learning to manage finances, roommates, rent, and chores prepares youth for their next steps, and aftercare helps them successfully maintain housing after exit.
In 2021, TLP served 37 young people with 8,520 nights of transitional housing. 100% were either pursuing education or working by the time they left TLP, and 94% discharged from TLP into safe, stable housing.
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New Beginnings' Outreach Program works to find and engage young people ages 14-21 at high risk for homelessness and exploitation through street outreach in Lewiston-Auburn and surrounding rural counties, a Drop-In Center, and intensive case management to help find housing and gain stability.
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Since 1990, Street Outreach and Drop-In have offered services to meet youths' immediate safety and basic needs (food, clothing, shelter referral) and comprehensive case management to connect youth to resources in downtown Lewiston, with rural satellite offices serving Franklin and Kennebec counties.
In 2021, Outreach served 335 unduplicated young people through 5,400 interactions (on the streets, via phone/text/social media, and/or at Drop-In), 5,300 Drop-In Center meals, and 986 mobile food panty meals. 67 homeless youth worked individually with case managers to achieve their goals.
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New Beginnings' Education and Employment services offers trauma-informed 1-on-1, video, and small group support, field trips, and outdoor activities to help youth engage with or reconnect to school, discover their strengths, improve academic skills, and pursue their training, employment, or higher education goals.
In 2021, 82 youth from New Beginnings’ programs received educational and employment support over 574 interactions. The program grew with funding from City of Lewiston CDBG and private grants from Bangor Savings Bank, MCF Francis Hollis Brain Fund, and STK Foundations. In fall 2021 Coordinator Allie Smith left to pursue law school and Specialist Signe Lynch was promoted to coordinate services and a new ME Department of Education partnership.
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New Beginnings' Prevention & Training coordinates effective, skills-based risk-reduction education serving youth in all agency programs to reduce harm, increase knowledge, and decrease risk of STI/HIV transmission, substance use, and other high-risk behaviors. The program coordinates a pregnancy-prevention project with Maine Family Planning and sponsors evidence-based HIV prevention trainings for educators and youth providers statewide with ME Department of Education support.
In 2021, we facilitated 148 sessions of prevention education with youth, and provided in-person and virtual/online trainings for more than 150 educators and youth providers across the state, including training 50 in welcoming and creating safety for LGBTQ+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) youth.
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The Maine Youth Action Board (YAB) sponsored by New Beginnings is an independant statewide forum for members ages 14-24 with lived experiences including homelessness, poverty, or interaction with state systems of care (child welfare, corrections/juvenile justice, behavioral health, etc.) to work on issues affecting their peers. YAB strives to influence positive, systemic change while highlighting the values of respect and diversity amongst its membership, and has been active in the Youth Homelessness Demonstration Project (YHDP) and Maine's Homeless Continuum of Care (MCoC).
In 2021, YAB continued to offer youth paid leadership opportunities to consult, train providers, and advocate to ensure youth/young adult voice is valued and ‘at the table’ where decisions are made that impact Maine young people.
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MENTAL HEALTH PROGRAM TRANSITIONS
Youth who are at risk of homelessness are a diverse population that needs flexible mental health care. In 2015, New Beginnings became a licensed mental health agency to explore offering new service delivery models designed to meet the needs of the youth we serve. Over the past 5 years, an average of 40 youth per year accessed informal counseling, engagement, and outpatient therapy with New Beginnings' in-house clinicians and interns.
Late in 2021, the Board of Directors made the diificult decision to end the program because it was not financially sustainable, and instead begin exploring a new pilot collaboration with Day One to provide on-site access to mental health and substance use counseling for youth in our Lewiston-based programs.
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NB youth have powerful voices! We helped amplify and share their words in a PSA we released for National Runaway & Homeless Youth Prevention Month in November 2021.
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President
Nancy Grenier, R.N.
Community Health Options
Lewiston, ME
Vice President
Kelley Nelson*
Human Resource Manager
Lee Auto, Auburn, ME
Secretary
Molly Watson Shukie
Attorney
Linnell, Choate & Webber, LLP
Auburn, ME
Treasurer
Ashley M. Gagnon*
Northeast Bank, Lewiston, ME
Mike Giasson
Architect, Auburn, ME
Steve Labonte
Juvenile Corrections Officer
Androscoggin County, ME
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Alicia Miller*
VP Director of Client Relations
Androscoggin Bank, Lewiston, ME
Caseigh Moody-Dabney*
Customer Service; Youth Member
Lewiston, ME
Beverley G.H.
Student and YAB Member
Peggy McRae
AVP Ambulatory Patient Care
Maine Medical Partners
Lewiston, ME
Bethany Belanger
SVP, Director of Retail Banking
Northeast Bank
N. Yarmouth, ME
Steven McDermott
The Governor’s Energy Office
Winthrop, ME
*concluded service in 2021
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Danylle Carson*
Attorney, Solomon Law PLLC
Kathy Low
Psychology Professor
Bates College
Melissa McLeod*
Principal, Franklin Alternative School
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Joseph Phillipon
Detective, Lewiston Police Department, Lewiston, ME
Darby Ray
Director, Bates College Harward Center for Community Partnerships
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New Beginnings' 2021 Annual Budget was $3,206,199
NOTE: This summary based on most current un-audited financials.
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REVENUE BY FUNDING SOURCE
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State: MaineHousing, ME Depts. of Education, CDC, Corrections, and Health & Human Services.
Federal: Housing & Urban Development (HUD), FEMA Emergency Food & Shelter Program (EFSP), MaineCare, and Runaway & Homeless Youth Act (HHS/ACYF/FYSB).
Private & Local: Foundation grants, fundraising, municipal/City of Lewiston CDBG, and donations.
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We are grateful for every gift and all of our supporters!
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LEADERSHIP CIRCLE
Donors contributing $1,000 or more in 2021
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Androscoggin Bank • Angelina M. Conte • Anonymous • Atlantic Charitable Fund • Bangor Savings Bank Foundation • Brann & Isaacson • Carla Oswald Reed & Diana Balboni • Catawamteak Fund of Maine Community Foundation • Cindy Letourneau • City of Lewiston CDBG • Clark Insurance • DIRIGO FCU • Donald G. Marean • Eliza Huber-Weiss • Elmina B. Sewall Foundation • Forage Market • Frances Hollis Brain Fund, MCF • Good Shepherd Food Bank • Greg Boardman (Boardman, Muise & Gawler benefit performance) • Greene/Bourgeois Family • Healthy Neighborhoods, L-A Metro Chamber • James Pittman • James Tierney & Liz Strout • Jane Costlow & David Das • Jane Dwinell • John T. Gorman Foundation • Karen & Dianne Krzywda-Nelder • Kate Carey • Lewiston Youth Activity Fund (J. Burns) • Lewiston-Auburn Children’s Fund • Liberty Mutual Insurance • Maine Community Foundation • MainStreet Foundation • ME Assoc. of REALTORS Foundation • Michelle Dionne • MOFGA Libby Scholar Award (Signe Lynch) • Norway Savings Bank • Owen Larrabee & Melissa Albertson • Pamela Gates • Peggy McRae • Peter Geiger • Roopers • Shawna Reed & John Nixon • Stephen & Tabitha King (STK) Foundation • Tax Abilities LLC • The Hartford Community Giving • The Jeff & Sonia Gorman Family Fund • Todd Braga • Town Fair Tire Foundation • United Way of Androscoggin County
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CHANGEMAKERS CIRCLE
Donors making recurring or monthly gifts in 2021
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Aimee & Chris Labbe • Al & Martha Spencer • Alexis Withers • Ali Bichler • Annie Chang • Anonymous • Angelina M. Conte • Camden National Bank • Carla Oswald Reed & Diana Balboni • Cathy Blais • Christine Holden • Chris & Kelly Bicknell • Cindy Letourneau • Darby Ray & Raymond Clothier • Diana Repucci & Ruthie Gusler • Eliza Hubber-Weiss • Forage Market • Freya Olafson • Jane Costlow and David Das • Jody Pierce Glover & Bob Glover • Julie & David Projansky • Kate Carey • Kelly Nelson • Kimberly Monaghan • Langston Snodgrass & Tony Brown • Lisa Woodson • Lise Ragan & Charles Mulch • Marian & Chip Carney • Richard Bicknell • Peggy McRae • Ron & Sharon Grant • Spencer-Reed Family • Steve Bien • Susan & Fergus Lea
Please communicate any errors or omissions to nicole@newbeginmaine.org.
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New Beginnings staff enjoyed an outdoor All-staff training and team building day at Range Pond in June 2021 and took this group photo to show their support for LGBTQ+ youth during Pride season.
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New Beginnings is funded in part by the State of Maine and US Departments of Health & Human Services, Family & Youth Services Bureau, Housing & Urban Development, and United Way.
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