MILESTONES

2020 marked a milestone for New Beginnings, it was our 40th anniversary year providing services to runaway and homeless youth in Maine. We had planned in-person events with former youth we served giving moving testimonials about how New Beginnings had impacted their lives over the decades, but COVID-19 changed those plans. What COVID-19 couldn’t do was change the impact we have had on the lives of thousands of youth over those 40 years.

We are constantly in awe of that history, regularly meeting folks who have had a connection to or been helped by the agency in past decades. They inevitably give credit to a single staff person, a particular program, or life-changing experience they had here that marked a significant change in their trajectory from a traumatic childhood to the productive, and most often happy, adults they are now.

Despite COVID-19, we continued with agency plans and services. We implemented agency-wide restructuring to improve services to youth across the agency. New Beginnings continued its leadership role in Maine’s Youth Homelessness Demonstration Program (YHDP) that led to the creation of Hope & Opportunity for Maine (H.O.ME), Maine’s comprehensive plan to end and prevent youth homelessness. We strengthened our statewide Youth Action Board (YAB) with new members who have kept working on multiple fronts to ensure that youth with lived experience have a voice in policy making decisions.

And most importantly, we were here for youth 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Thank you for your support in this unprecedented year.


Chris Bicknell, Executive Director

Kelley Nelson, 2020 Board President