Awards

Avesta Housing was recently awarded a $100,000 affordable housing grant through the TD Charitable Foundation’s Housing for Everyone grant competition. The grant will be used to fund accessibility retrofits at Logan Place, allowing residents with physical disabilities to live as independently as possible. Since 2005, Logan Place has provided 30 chronically homeless individuals with a safe, stable place to live. Avesta Housing, Maine’s largest nonprofit affordable housing developer, and Preble Street, Maine’s primary provider of a multitude of homeless services, partnered to develop Logan Place as the state’s first “housing first” property. The housing first model provides safe housing to chronically homeless people as the first step to change.

People’s United Community Foundation, the philanthropic arm of People’s United Bank, has awarded $5,000 to Learning Works. Nonprofit Learning Works provides learning services for at-risk youth, immigrant/refugee communities and low-income families in Maine. The grant from People’s United Community Foundation will support the Youth Building Alternatives program, a mentoring initiative serving central and southern Maine high school dropouts ages 16 to 24.

Appointments

Ellsworth B. Mills, of Cumberland, a professor of journalism at Boston University’s College of Communication and an award-winning broadcast journalist, was elected president of the board of the Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting at the organization’s recent annual meeting. Founded in 2009, the Center is Maine’s only nonprofit, non-partisan investigative news source producing stories about state government and elections. The Center publishes its stories on its website, pinetreewatchdog.org, and also provides them free of charge to 24 media partners across the state.

Jaimey Caron was recently elected unanimously to a one-year term as Portland School Board Chairman during the board’s inauguration ceremony. Caron has served on the board and its finance committee since 2007. He also chairs the transition team for Portland’s new superintendent, Emmanuel Caulk. Caron previously chaired the board’s facilities and transportation committee, the elementary schools capital needs task force, and the facilities task force.

Designations

The Commission on Cancer of the American College of Surgeons has granted Mid Coast Hospital’s comprehensive cancer care program a three-year accreditation with commendation. A national organization, the commission is a team of experts dedicated to improving the quality of life for cancer patients. The cancer care program at Mid Coast Hospital includes preventative care, treatment programs, and educational resources that are offered in collaboration with Maine Center for Cancer Medicine, the American Cancer Society, and other community partners. The program focuses on coordination among providers and specialists through all phases of cancer treatment and recovery, as well as integration with other cancer programs throughout the state to allow for a seamless transition of care at such a critical time.

The Long Barn Educational Initiative at Broadturn Farm, which was incorporated as an organization in March 2012, recently announced its nonprofit status. The organization operates farm-based educational programs at Broadturn Farm, a 434-acre property owned by the Scarborough Land Trust. The mission of The Long Barn is to cultivate a knowledge of and respect for locally produced, organically farmed food, and the environment within our community and throughout Maine.

The cardiology department at the Martin’s Point Portland Health Care Center was recently granted a three-year term of accreditation in echocardiography in the area of adult transthoracic and adult stress by the Intersocietal Accreditation Commission. IAC accreditation is only granted to those facilities that provide quality patient care, in compliance with national standards. The accreditation process involves an expert panel’s exhaustive review of the echocardiography lab’s operational and technical components including detailed case study reviews.

New Hires

Norton Financial Services, which offers employer sponsored retirement plans and investment management services to businesses and individuals, announced that Todd Gibson has joined the company as retirement plan administration specialist. Gibson has more than 12 years of experience. He most recently served as recordkeeper/administrator for the retirement plan group in the private client services division of TD Wealth Management. Previously, he worked as plan administrator in the retail 401k division of Putnam Investments.

Bernstein Shur, one of northern New England’s largest law firms, announced the selection of nine attorneys for the Katahdin Counsel Recognition Program. The Katahdin Counsel was created by the Maine Supreme Judicial Court to recognize the pro bono work done by Maine lawyers and to encourage lawyers to provide legal services for Maine’s low-income and elderly residents. Attorneys must complete more than 50 pro bono hours in a year to qualify for the program, placing them in the top tier of those donating legal services. The following Bernstein Shur attorneys have been honored as Katahdin Counsel: Eben Albert-Knopp, Travis Brennan, Ken Lehman, Arnie Macdonald, Halliday Moncure, Jack Montgomery, Ellen Palminteri and John M.R. Paterson.

Eaton Peabody recently welcomed Neal Pratt to the firm. Pratt will be resident in the firm’s Portland office which is expected to open during the first quarter of 2013. Pratt joins Eaton Peabody’s litigation practice group where he will concentrate on complex civil litigation, including commercial litigation and construction claims, product liability and tort defense, and professional liability complaints.  He also has extensive experience in insurance coverage disputes, employment litigation, and white collar criminal defense.

PDT Architects has hired three new staff members: Adam D. Holmes is a Maine-licensed architect who is primarily working on the Augusta courthouse project. He is a graduate of the architecture program at Roger Williams University and has worked for several architecture firms in the area. Architectural designer Chelsea L. Lipham, a graduate of Hebron Academy, is working on healthcare projects. She holds a bachelor’s in architecture from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, N.Y., and has moved back to Maine after three years with an architecture firm in New York City. Tracie J. Reed, also an architectural designer, is working on K-12 projects, including a study for the Brunswick School Department. In January, she begins a term on the board of directors of the Maine Chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council. She graduated from Evergreen State College in Olympia, Wash., and received an M. St. IDBE from the University of Cambridge in the UK. She also holds a master’s from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.