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Mainebiz celebrates 5 women in business at 15th anniversary Women to Watch reception
Aug 29, 2023
Published by Portland Press Herald
Mainebiz will be celebrating five inspirational women leaders in person at the 15th Anniversary Mainebiz Women to Watch reception from 5-7 p.m. on Sept. 13. The reception will be held at Halo At The Point (Thompson’s Point), 20 Van Aken Way, Portland. To register for the event and read more about this year’s honorees, visit mainebiz.biz/WTW23.
Mainebiz launched its Women to Watch award recognition program as a way to bring attention to top-notch women executives, women whose daily work strengthens their organizations and, by extension, Maine’s economy. The 2023 honorees are: Agnieszka Carpenter, executive director of The Bioscience Association of Maine; Jessie Davis, executive director of the Friends of the Strand Theatre; Victoria Morales, executive director of the Quality Housing Coalition; Susan Ruhlin, managing director of the Dirigo Labs; and Alissa Wetherbee, founder of Axe Women Loggers of Maine.
This time last year, Allison Edwards was living in fear and uncertainty, putting off necessary car repairs and skipping meals so her 3-year-old daughter could eat. Only a few months later, Edwards is hopeful for the future. The 29-year-old is taking better care of herself, easily makes rent payments, fixes her car when necessary and will graduate this spring from Southern Maine Community College and enter the workforce. She can even send her daughter to gymnastics class, something she wanted to do for years. “I didn’t think it would ever be possible for our family that my daughter would be enrolled in any extracurricular activities,” Edwards said. “It makes me feel good as a mom that I can provide for her. It makes me feel like I’m doing something right.”
Computers and internet access will be loaned out in a collaborative project aimed at overcoming a key obstacle to employment. Two Portland organizations are working to combat one of the challenges faced by formerly unhoused people who are looking for work – a lack of internet and computer access. The Quality Housing Coalition and the Greater Portland Council of Governments plan to distribute 100 refurbished laptops to people who are enrolled in the coalition’s Project Home to Profession program, which secures permanent housing for homeless people and provides them with employment services. “Almost all job applications and opportunities are online,” said Clara McCool, who manages GPCOG’s Regional Broadband Program, which is funding the laptop project through the Maine Connectivity Authority.
InterMed announced Monday that it has donated $30,000 to Quality Housing Coalition to help in the agency’s efforts to address the homelessness crisis in Greater Portland. The Quality Housing Coalition is working to secure permanent homes and financial security for individuals and families experiencing homelessness. “We believe that stable housing is the foundation of health and are so excited to partner with InterMed to address the community conditions Maine people need to thrive,” said Victoria Morales, executive director of the Quality Housing Coalition.
Maine housing agencies are incentivizing landlords to provide homes to vulnerable tenants, a strategy that is working but remains difficult to scale up due to a shortage of overall units. Groups from Caribou to South Portland are offering local landlords financial guarantees and logistical support if they offer units to Maine families experiencing housing instability and homelessness. Two groups using this strategy, Portland’s Quality Housing Coalition and the Mid-Maine Homeless Shelter of Waterville, have found permanent homes for just under 200 families – many of whom have experienced chronic homelessness – this year alone. Project Home, the Portland group’s flagship program, has an applicant pool of over 2,000 families waiting to be matched with a unit right now. That underscores the short supply of housing statewide that is driving up costs and limiting how far they can reach, although policymakers largely see them as successes to date. “Given that we’re in the middle of a shortage, and we will be for a while, probably, I think this is probably one of the best tools we have,” Erik Jorgensen, director of government relations at MaineHousing, the state’s housing authority, said.
Supporting & creating quality housing opportunities for those in need in Maine.
Quality Housing Coalition is a 501 (c)(3) charitable nonprofit organization with offices at 188 State Street, Suite 402, Portland Maine, 04101.
Land Acknowledgement
The work of QHC in York, Cumberland, Oxford, Androscoggin, Sagadahoc, and Kennebec counties is conducted on the stolen ancestral lands of the Wabanaki long before colonists named our state Maine.
We acknowledge the painful colonial history harming the Wabanaki and their land and commit to better understanding it.
We acknowledge the strong and personal relationship between the Wabanaki and the land and waterways.
We commit to building more sustainable and inclusive communities and celebrating Indigenous culture.