A new program gives low-income Maine mothers monthly cash. Will it help lift them out of poverty?
August 1, 2023
Published by Portland Press Herald | By Rachel Ohm
As a single mother working late nights at a food distribution warehouse, Kimanga Yanga has struggled to pay her bills.
So she was excited when she was chosen for a new program providing 20 single mothers like her with $1,000 cash payments each month for a year to boost their financial security.
“God is good,” Yanga remembers thinking when staff from the Quality Housing Coalition’s Project HOME Trust called.
The Maine Association for Public Interest Law (MAPIL) auction is a time honored Maine Law tradition, one that has been going strong for 37 years. An integral part of this tradition is also the presentation of the Excellence in Public Service Award, conferred to a Maine Law alum who has dedicated their career to lawyering in the public interest. This year’s recipient, Victoria Morales ‘05, currently serves as Executive Director of Quality Housing Coalition, a Maine-based nonprofit devoted to tackling the many facets of the affordable housing crisis in the state
For the last four years, the authority has been circulating 17 housing vouchers for young people aging out of foster care. Now they are getting an additional 13.
More than 1,500 are queued up, hoping to receive up to $800 a month in rent relief and a one-time payment to catch up on back rent.
Maine Calling
