Advocacy Programs PORTLAND – After advocates created a mock shelter in front of City Hall and a crowd packed the balcony of its chambers, the City Council voted unanimously Monday night to accept task force recommendations for reducing homelessness. For two hours, the council heard public testimony on the sweeping plan. More than 30 city residents, business … Read more
Students at Dyer Elementary School in South Portland are helping to feed needy families at the Preble Street Resource Center this holiday season by "stuffing the bus." Students have dropped off nonperishable food donations for the last few weeks into a box shaped like a school bus located in the lobby of the school. Big … Read more
SCARBOROUGH – Two Scarborough girls are proving it’s never too soon to catch the entrepreneurial spirit, or the spirit of giving.Last year, Tansey Hughes, 10, and Naomi Sholl, 8, one-upped the usual kids’ lemonade stand by founding a business, Sweet Friends, to retail all-natural chocolates and candies. Now, they are dedicating net proceeds from an … Read more
PORTLAND – An overflow crowd turned out for Monday night’s City Council meeting to weigh in on a task force report on homelessness that has sparked public debate over the city’s role in helping people in need. The council accepted the report after nearly two hours of public testimony and referred elements to its committees … Read more
If you watched Monday’s City Council meeting looking for a fight, you would have been disappointed. An expected showdown between downtown business owners and Portland’s homeless advocates turned out to be not much of a debate at all. Instead of tearing apart a report written by a citizen task force calling for more capacity and … Read more
When she was 19, Peggy Lynch embarked on her first social service role, staffing the crisis hotline for what was then Ingraham Volunteers. Now, Lynch has been an outreach worker with Preble Street, an agency that offers services for the homeless, for 12 years and she has no qualms about hiking out to an encampment … Read more
The recent "Face of Hunger" workshop in Saco was an important step in solving the problem of food insecurity in this area by bringing together some of the entities that are combating this serious problem. Four panelists and more than 30 attendees took part in the workshop, at which they discussed the problem of hunger … Read more
PORTLAND – The head of the Preble Street shelter is calling on supporters to back a task force report calling for new housing for the homeless in the city. An e-mail sent out by Mark Swann, the executive director of the shelter, said supporters are needed at Monday night’s Portland City Council meeting to counteract … Read more
Portland business leaders should be less worried about what would happen if the city did step up its response to homelessness than what would happen if it didn’t. Portland already attracts people from around the state and from other states who need housing and other services. As the homeless population expands, the city has more … Read more
I think it is critical to challenge several comments made by my colleague David Wagner about the Task Force to Prevent and End Homelessness. Although homelessness in Portland reflects the record numbers seen in urban centers across the country, it is not indicative of a lack of response in Cumberland County. In fact, in addition … Read more
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