Edward H. Daveis Benevolent Fund

2022 Grants

317 Main St. Community Music Center, to provide free music education programs: $5,000
Intercultural Community Center, to develop a Girl Scout troop and community engagement club: $5,000
League of Women Voters of Maine Education Fund, to promote student civic engagement and build leadership skills: $10,000
Maine Boys to Men, to meet the increased demand for the Reducing Sexism & Violence Program: $7,500
Mayo Street Arts, for visiting artists: $7,500
Olympia Snowe Women’s Leadership Institute, for the My Values, My Voice and My Vision women’s leadership programs: $5,000
Our Place Portland, to fund a safe space for vulnerable youth to receive mentorship, resources and opportunities: $3,000
Palaver Strings, to provide 200 children with access to music education: $7,500
Peaks Island Children’s Workshop, to support early learning: $10,000
Portland Community Squash, to provide financial aid to hundreds of students enrolled in after-school and weekend programs: $5,000
Rippleffect, to fund the Rippleffect Outdoor Center: $10,000
The Telling Room, to provide creative writing, literary-arts education and youth-development programs: $7,500
Youth LED Justice, to train youth leaders in restorative justice and to support them as they facilitate restorative processes for their peers: $7,500

2021 Grants

Boys and Girls Clubs of Southern Maine, for Torch/Keystone clubs to develop leadership and decision-making skills and build a culture of community service: $10,000
Locker Project, to provide healthy staples to families with young children through partnerships with 16 public elementary schools and nine Head Start programs: $7,500
Maine Youth Court, to relaunch as Youth-LED Justice, to empower youth in Greater Portland: $2,500
Mayo Street Arts, to provide students at East End Community School with in-school performances and customized hands-on workshops with visiting performing artists: $7,500
Olympia Snowe Women's Leadership Institute, to support the "My Values," "My Voice," and "My Vision" women’s leadership program in Cumberland County: $7,500
Palaver Strings, to provide 180 young children from low-income backgrounds access to weekly music classes: $3,000
Portland Public Library, to serve children up to age 12 with early literacy and experiences that inspire imagination, curiosity, awareness, and learning: $7,500
Portland Stage, to continue implementing the Play Me A Story (PMAS) education program and, if necessary, the virtual PMAS Living Room Series piloted during the pandemic: $7,500
The Center for Grieving Children, to deliver bereavement and TLC Peer Support programs: $7,000
The Opportunity Alliance, to address early childhood development in families without English speaking skills and immigrant and refugee families by fostering a more inclusive and accessible learning environment: $7,500
The Telling Room, for an expanded Young Writers & Leaders program to serve multilingual immigrant, refugee, and first-generation teens in Greater Portland: $7,500
United Way of Southern Maine, to address the impacts of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) on academic readiness and achievement and grow community-wide ACEs trainings: $7,500

2020 Grants

Boys & Girls Clubs of Southern Maine, Portland, to ensure that Great Futures Start Here is open to all youth in the community: $10,000
Center for Grieving Children, Portland, to continue delivering bereavement and TLC programs during a time when typical channels of grief support are lacking more than ever: $5,000
Cultivating Community, Portland, to continue to serve teens through the paid internship program and elementary-age students through school garden-based programming: $3,500
In Her Presence, Portland, to support IHP distance early learning support for immigrant children: $7,500
Locker Project, Scarborough, to provide healthy staples for children in elementary schools and Head Start programs in Greater Portland to take home to share with their families: $7,500
Maine Audubon Society, Falmouth, to pilot a “Mobile Habitat Lab” to bring safe, nature-based environmental education to young learners and their teachers at Portland public elementary schools: $6,500
My Place Teen Center, Westbrook, to sustain day-to-day operations and plan for the expected and unexpected future: $5,000
Portland Education Foundation, to create a multilingual video that promotes conversation/collaboration around the Maine Early Learning and Development Standards to help pre-K families at home: $10,000
Portland Community Squash, to provide remote programming (wellness check-ins, academic tutoring, neighborhood visits, physical activity) to 56 underserved youth from Portland public schools: $5,000
United Way, Inc., to address the impacts of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) on academic readiness and achievement by supporting proven strategies and a community-wide ACEs training initiative: $7,500
Woodfords Family Services, Westbrook, to implement long-term robust health and safety solutions in the Early Childhood Services Program’s Westbrook Preschool to enable continued access to services during the pandemic: $7,500
Youth and Family Outreach, Portland, to expand YFO’s culturally diverse early childhood and family education services combined with new affordable housing -- a two-generation, two-pronged approach to family stability: $10,000

2019 Grants

317 Main Community Music Center, Yarmouth, to ensure accessible and affordable early childhood music education opportunities in Southern Maine: $5,000
A Company of Girls, Portland, to empower girls in challenging circumstances through high-touch, after-school arts programming that nurtures creativity, broadens horizons, builds resiliency, develops leadership skills, and provides invaluable mentorships: $5,000
Big Brothers Big Sisters of Southern Maine, to increase access to mentoring for at-risk school-aged youth in Greater Portland schools (Gorham, Portland, South Portland, Westbrook), particularly supporting high-school leaders as Big mentors: $2,500
Cultivating Community, Portland, to deliver year-round gardening, cooking, and nutrition education and strengthen healthy food culture at two Title I elementary schools: $4,000
Holocaust and Human Rights Center of Maine, Augusta, to prepare and deliver anti-bias programming to students in greater Portland schools to help build student leaders equipped to confront prejudice and discrimination in their schools: $5,000
LearningWorks, Portland, to offer a high impact tutoring and mentoring program for struggling elementary schools in Portland and Westbrook: $6,000
Mayo Street Arts, Portland, to create free puppetry-based programs during the 2020 season for neighborhood families with children eight and under: $6,000
Olympia Snowe Women's Leadership Institute, Portland, to underwrite the "My Values," "My Voice," and "My Vision" program in Cumberland County for the 2019-2020 academic year: $7,500
Peaks Island Children's Workshop, to repair exterior of building before painting, thereby protecting the safety of students and improving the aesthetics of the building: $6,700
Portland Community Squash, to grow Rally Portland from 22 members to 30 members in early 2020, with the goal of expanding to 40 students over next two years: $5,000
Portland Housing Services Corporation, to empower diverse youth to make change in their communities while learning valuable job skills in the process: $6,000
Portland Parks Conservancy, to create a fully ADA-inclusive playground for the children and families of greater Portland: $5,000
The Telling Room, Portland, to provide award-winning expanded Young Writers & Leaders program in 2019-2020 to serve multilingual immigrant, refugee, and first-generation teens in the Greater Portland region: $5,000
United Way of Greater Portland, to align partners, build collaborations, and activate proven strategies to ensure that every child in Cumberland County has quality early learning experiences beginning at birth: $2,500
Woodfords Family Services, Westbrook, to develop an innovative training solution that addresses common barriers experienced by Early Childhood Providers to increase the access to, and quality of, these critical services: $5,000
YMCA of Southern Maine, to ensure underserved children have the opportunity to be Kindergarten-ready regardless of their ability to pay: $7,500