PROP Programs: INDIVIDUALS & FAMILIES

PROP's child care provides full-day and part-time care year-round for children. Infant and Toddler Care is available at one Portland location, Child Care for pre-schoolers is available in Casco, Gorham, Portland and South Portland, and School Age Child Care is available at two South Portland locations and in Portland. There is no income limit for child care eligibility; fees are on a sliding scale based on household income and family size. Priority is given to families who qualify for subsidized slots or are referred by the Dept. of Human Services. In order to qualify for Child Care, parents must be working, going to school, in job-training or searching for work. All sites are licensed and staffed by child care professionals.

Head Start and Early Head Start

PROP administers the federal Head Start program in Cumberland County for children aged 3-5. The program is free to qualifing families. Head Start offers a low child-to-teacher ratio, lots of individual attention, 17 sites in Cumberland County, and supportive services and education for the parents. In Head Start, children learn through play and enjoy nutritious meals and snacks. Their families gain access to health and social service resources.

Head Start sites are located in Baldwin, Bridgton, Casco, Cumberland, Gorham, Gray/New Gloucester, Portland, South Portland, Westbrook, and Windham. All sites are licensed and staffed by child care professionals.

Early Head Start provides trained professionals with early childhood education experience to act as "parent partners," who make weekly home visits to pregnant mothers, children 0 to age 3 and their families. The primary purpose is to build a healthy parent-child relationship. Components of the program include education and child development opportunities, social services referrals, and guidance and referrals for health, mental health, and nutrition concerns.

This program "bridges" the family-visiting of Early Head Start and the center-based services of Head Start. This program serves children ages 2 - 3 1/2. To learn more about this transition program, click here!

WIC (Women, Infants and Children)

PROP administers the federal WIC program for pregnant, postpartum, and breastfeeding women and their children up to age 5. (Fathers cannot receive direct benefits but are encouraged to apply on behalf of their young children.) The program provides the following benefits:

Youth Resiliency Project

YRP’s work with youth in Cumberland County and across the state of Maine is driven by the resiliency perspective – the belief that what is right about an individual is much more powerful than anything wrong. YRP’s mission, “To build capacity for young people to know their resiliency, learn social competencies, and take action for themselves and their community” is worked through all of our programs: Peer Leader, Maine Youth Action Network, Neighborhoods For Youth, Open Door Community Arts, A Company of Girls and Support For Champs.

The Youth Resiliency Project collaborates with a number of community organizations including Cultivating Community, St. Joseph’s College, YES to Youth, SPIRAL Arts, the Institute For Civic Leadership and the University of Southern Maine.

The Peer Leader Program was founded in 1987 by staff and interns working at PROP. In its first year, it recruited and trained 19 youth leaders from the Riverton Park and Kennedy Park neighborhoods. Since that time, the program has grown to serve over 300 youth annually in four public housing neighborhoods: Riverton Park, Kennedy Park, Front Street and Sagamore Village.

In spring 2002, the Peer Leader Program engaged in an intensive 360-degree self-evaluation that included interviews with over 60 key stakeholders and research into best practices nationally. The result is a dynamic new program design rooted in resiliency research and focused on building three critical capacities: Resiliency, Competency and Action. This program builds capacity by changing the way these young people see themselves, by teaching the social competencies that youth need to pursue their goals and by supporting youth to assume meaningful roles at all levels of community life. As participants in Peer Leader, youth continue to learn that they can shape their own lives.

NFY was created in 2001 with a mission to help neighborhoods organize and create resources that work together to support youth both directly and by strengthening parents, families, neighbors and the community as a whole. As its first initiative, NFY has worked for the past two years to assist the Parkside neighborhood in Portland to realize a two decades old dream of developing a neighborhood center.

At the request of the founding Steering Committee and with extensive and ongoing community input, PROP has taken the lead role in creating this Center. The services in this unique Center, which will open in 2003, will be provided collaboratively by a diverse group of tenant and non-tenant partners, including PROP, Community Policing, University of Southern Maine, Portland Adult Education and SPIRAL Arts. Guidance for Center activities will be provided by a Resident Advisory Board, as well as a Youth Advisory Board.

Contact Zoë Miller, 874-1140 ext 363 for information on Neighborhoods For Youth

For the second year in a row, YRP is working with the United Way to assist youth in accessing the Libra Foundation’s Summer Champs scholarships. Summer Champs provides children grades 3-6 who are enrolled in a Portland Public School with a $1000 scholarship to attend summer camp in Maine. Support for Champs offers hands-on help to families with selecting a camp, completing forms, dealing with schedules, gathering signatures. Support For Champs places a special emphasis on supporting families with fewer resources to accomplish this process.

The Maine Youth Action Network trains, supports, connects and advocates for youth organized to affect positive change through school and community-based peer programs of diverse description. The focus of these diverse middle and high school peer groups may include, but are not exclusive to: social action, listening, mediation, health issues, prevention, education, mentoring, civil rights and others. MYAN facilitates regional support networks, coordinates an email-based communication network, publishes a quarterly newsletter, provides training and technical assistance and, with assistance from youth leaders throughout the network; sponsors the Annual Peer Leader conference attended by over 400 youth advisors from peer programs statewide.

MYAN has just been awarded an innovative collaborative Bureau of Health contract to create an integrated infrastructure for youth involvement on local and statewide levels. For this new contract, MYAN will partner with the Muskie School of Public Service to grow the support, technical assistance and training provided to peer programs throughout the state. MYAN will coordinate training and technical assistance for the 31 Youth Advocacy Programs that are part of the Healthy Maine Partnerships initiative, as well as work on projects with the Maine Youth Suicide Prevention Program, the Teen and Young Adult Health Program, increase the reach of our Regional work, develop a more interactive website, and publish a youth written quarterly newsletter-MYAN News. The Maine Youth Action Network staff includes three part-time youth staff and three full time staff.

Foster Grandparents

PROP's Foster Grandparent and Family Friends Programs welcome seniors over the age of 55, who are interested in volunteering with children with special needs in York and Cumberland Counties.

Many different types of volunteer opportunities are available, with commitment levels ranging from 4 to 20 hours per week. Typical volunteer assignments include helping children in school with their homework assignments, reading with toddlers in child development centers, and supporting families by visiting with them in their homes.

Benefits are as varied as the volunteer opportunities and my include a tax-free stipen and support for meals and travel. All volunteers receive training, supervision, recognition and a choice of volunteer schedule.

The Women's Project

The Women's Project is a statewide program for women affected by substance abuse. The program is free and confidential. The primary purpose of The Women's Project is to support women as they consider recovery for themselves or manage their lives in the face of another's addiction. The Women's Project staff can help arrange for transportation and child care, offer support and advocacy, help set goals and strategies, educate about women's health issues, and make referrals to treatment programs.

Contact: The Women's Project - Portland, 874-1140 Ext. 243 or Women's Project - Bangor, 973-3574, toll free 1-800-611-1779. Statewide, call toll-free: 1-800-698-4959, Ext. 243.

PROP is committed to assuring non-discrimination in all aspects of program participation. No one will be denied access to any aspect of participation because of age, sex, sexual orientation, race, color, religion, national origin, handicap, veteran status, or political affiliation or belief.

photograph courtesy James Daigle Photography, 100 Oak Street, Portland ME 04101, 207-780-1400