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Resources

​This list is continuously updated and is not exhaustive. 

If there are any additional resources to list or any that are out of date, please email blackbearmutualaid@gmail.com to let a core organizer know. 

 

Food: 

 

Public Benefits: 

  • Peer Workforce Navigator: Helps people access food stamps, unemployment insurance, etc.

  • General Assistance: General Assistance helps individuals and families to meet their basic needs. This may include help paying for household or personal supplies (toiletries, cleaning supplies), food, housing (e.g., mortgage, rent, room rent, temporary housing), fuel & utilities, medical, dental, prescriptions, medical supplies/equipment, and burial costs.

  • 211 Maine: Helps individuals find services to assist them with housing, heating, substance use, etc.

  • Find Help: A resource to search and find support programs (financial, food, medical, etc).

 

Child/Family Care: 

  • UMaine Childcare Center: They accept childcare subsidies as determined by the Maine Department of Health and Human Services’ voucher and ASPIRE programs.

  • Maine Child Care Search: A tool to find registered child care programs.

  • Temporary Assistance for Needy Families: TANF provides cash assistance to families while they work towards becoming self-sufficient. Once enrolled in TANF you may also be eligible for help receiving job training and education.

  • Head Start: Early childhood education and health services. 262 Harlow St., Bangor. Call 207-973-3567

  • HOPE Scholarship: Helps Maine families access postsecondary education. 

  • Destination Occupation: Career videos to help explore Maine job sectors. 

  • Give IT Get IT: Low-cost refurbished computers and tech support. 

 

Academic Costs: 

  • Competitive Skills Scholarship Program: The Competitive Skills Scholarship Program (CSSP) provides funding and support services for eligible Maine residents to pursue two and four-year degree programs or employer-recognized credentials leading to high-wage, in-demand jobs in Maine.

  • Eastern Maine Development Corporation: Their team works with individuals to determine skills and interests and develop a plan for the future. The goal is to help individuals find meaningful, self-sustaining employment and make a livable wage in one of Maine’s growing industries, including: construction/boat building, hospitality/tourism, healthcare, information technology, and manufacturing.

  • Parents as Scholars: Maine’s Parents as Scholars (PaS) program provides a range of services to Maine TANF participants who are pursuing two-year or four-year postsecondary degrees. All parents in Maine who are eligible for TANF can participate in PaS, assuming that they: have enrolled in a two- or four-year degree program; have neither a bachelor’s degree in a field with available jobs nor the ability to make at least 85 percent of Maine’s median income for their family size; will be pursuing degrees that open up new employment opportunities that have the potential to better the financial futures of their families; and have the requisite educational backgrounds to pursue their chosen degrees successfully.

  • New Ventures Maine: New Ventures Maine creates an empowering environment for Maine people to define and achieve their career, financial, and small business goals.

  • Honors College Bookshelf: Free textbooks for Honors students (Estabrooke Hall) Call 207-581-3263

  • Give IT Get IT: Low-cost refurbished computers and tech support. 

  • Fogler Library Equipment Loans: Borrow laptops, hotspots, and more. Call 207-581-1666, email um.library.circ@maine.edu, or visit the equipment page 

 

Transportation: 

  • Bike Repair Station: There are bike repair stations outside the library, Maine Bound, the Rec Center, and Sawyer Hall.

  • Penquis CAP: They offer free or low-cost car rides to various destinations in Penobscot and Piscataquis counties.

  • Umaine Carpooling: A program at UMaine that provides a free parking permit for employees who carpool to the University.

  • Go Maine: The free statewide travel resource program. They match up carpoolers, help form vanpools,  and reward members for doing any sort of green commute, like carpooling, vanpooling, walking, biking, taking the bus, or teleworking.

  • Busses:

    • Full Community Connector Bus Map and Route 

    • Live Map of Community Connector and Black Bear Orono Express

    • Black Bear Orono Express: Free for all community members. Loops between UMaine and downtown Orono. Shuttle runs on weekdays throughout the academic year. 

    • Community Connector: Connects the Bangor and Orono areas. Free to ride for UMaine students, show MaineCard when boarding. 

    • Concord Coach Lines: Offers direct intercity bus services connecting UMaine to Portland, Boston, and the Logan Airport. Service operates Thursday through Monday during the fall and spring semesters. UMaine students receive a $5 discount on regular round-trip tickets using the coupon code coupon11 with a valid MaineCard. 

 

Housing/Utilities: 

  • Home Energy Assistance Program: Fuel Assistance (Home Energy Assistance Program, HEAP) assists income-eligible households in Penobscot, Piscataquis, and Knox counties with high winter heating costs. Homes may be heated with oil, kerosene, coal, pellets, wood, LP gas, or electricity.

  • Affordable Connectivity Program: The Affordable Connectivity Program helps ensure that households can afford the broadband they need for work, school, healthcare, and more. It is a federal internet discount program.

  • Penobscot Community Health Care: The Hope House Health and Living Center includes three distinct services for homeless and peri-homeless individuals in our community, all under one roof: the Hope House Health Center, the Hope House Shelter, and Hope House Transitional Housing.

  • Welcome to Housing: Welcome to Housing is a Household Goods Bank that serves people in need in the Bangor region. Their goal is to help individuals, including veterans and families, succeed as they transition from area shelters to permanent housing by providing basic household items donated through the local community. They also help people displaced by fire and domestic violence.

  • Subsidized Housing Communities/Rentals: PDF of affordable housing options in Penobscot County.

  • Rental Support Housing Options: Provides resources about rental assistance, such as subsidized housing and the housing choice voucher program.

  • Old Town Housing Authority: A part of the Housing Choice Voucher Maine program (HCV). The program has an application and waiting list process.

  • SafeLink: This service helps provide eligible households access to a wireless phone.

  • Hope House Health and Living Center


 

Debt/Student Loans:

 

Medical/Dental: 

  • UMA-Bangor Dental Health Clinic: UMA’s dental hygiene students offer preventative dental services to the general public in the state-of-the-art clinic in Bangor at an affordable rate.

  • Penobscot Community Health Center for the Homeless: The Hope House Health and Living Center includes three distinct services for homeless and peri-homeless individuals in our community, all under one roof: the Hope House Health Center, the Hope House Shelter, and Hope House Transitional Housing.

  • CoverME: A tool that helps Mainers find and compare affordable health care coverage.

  • MaineCare: MaineCare provides free and low-cost health insurance to Mainers who meet certain requirements, based on household composition and income.

  • Veterans Healthcare Resources: A list of resources for veterans to help obtain healthcare services.

  • GoodRx: A free prescription price comparison tool.

 

Hospitals and Health Clinics: 

  • Eastern Maine Medical Center: 489 State St., Bangor. Call 207-973-7000

  • St. Joseph Hospital: 360 Broadway, Bangor. Call 207-907-1000

  • Northern Light Walk-In Care: Immediate care services. 915 Union St., Suite 4, Bangor. Call 207-973-8030.

  • Mabel Wadsworth: Provide healthcare using a feminist model focused on sexual and reproductive health through education, advocacy, and clinical services

  • Maine Family Planning: Maine Family Planning provides affordable reproductive health care services for all Mainers, help for new parents and families, and gender-affirming health services.

  • Psychology Services Center (PSC): Outpatient mental health clinic located at UMaine. Offers: youth therapy, adult therapy, ADHD, ASD, and SLD assessments. 

 

Clothing: 

 

Emergency and Crisis Services: 

  • 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline: 24/7 free, confidential support for anyone in a mental health crisis 

  • Maine Statewide Crisis Hotline: Immediate crisis intervention and stabilization services. Call 1-888-585-1112

  • Uwill: Free, immediate access to teletherapy for UMaine students. Connect with a licensed counselor during the day, night, or weekends by video, phone, chat, or message. Sign up with your UMaine email address.  

  • Community Health and Counseling Services: Mental health, home health, and hospice care. 42 Cedar St., Bangor. Call 207-947-0366

  • Rape Response Services: 24/7 Crisis support for survivors of sexual violence or stalking. 262 Harlow St., Bangor. Call 1-800-871-7741

  • Partners for Peace: Offers help and support 24/7 at 1-800-863-9909 for anyone affected by domestic abuse or violence, partner abuse, dating violence, stalking, or human trafficking

  • UMaine Confidential Resource Advisor: Provides identity-affirming assistance to those impacted by interpersonal violence. 

  • Alcoholics Anonymous: Find local support meetings at csoaamaine.org

  • Indigenous Peoples Unit (Pine Tree Legal Assistance): Legal aid for tribal citizens and others in need. 115 Main St., Bangor. Call 207-942-8241

  • Wellspring Inc.: Mental health and substance use disorder services. 98 Cumberland St., Bangor. Call 207-941-1612.

  • The Penquis Public Health District (DHHS): For disease reporting or health emergencies. 19 Maine Ave., Bangor. Call 1-800-821-5821.

 

Student Life and Academic Support: 

 

Legal Aid and Advocacy: 

 

Immigration: 

  • New Mainers Resource Center: Designed to help internationally trained professionals who have a bachelor’s degree or above from outside the USA, as well as immigrants with work experience in the trades, to overcome barriers to entering the US workforce and thriving. 

  • Maine Immigration Refugee Services: United immigrants and refugees with their new Maine communities by providing the skills, support, engagement, and opportunities they need to become self-sufficient. Offers: behavioral health services, whole family services, resettlement services, youth programs, and immigration services. 

  • Immigrant Resource Center of Maine: Supports local refugee and immigrant communities by offering vital culturally and linguistically sensitive services that promote a healthy and equitable Maine. Offers: systems advocacy, outreach and referral services, post-resettlement services, human trafficking support and prevention services, sexual assault support and prevention services, domestic violence and prevention services, interpretation and language services, female genital mutilation support and prevention services, cultural broker services, community education, and material and resource donations. 

 

Pets: 

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