$485K grant will connect Mainers in recovery and former inmates with jobs

A nearly $500,000 grant will connect Mainers who are leaving incarceration or who are in recovery from substance use with resources to help them find jobs.

Bangor-based Eastern Maine Development Corp. received a $485,521 grant from the Maine Department of Labor to help expand employment opportunities for people in central and northeastern Maine who are in recovery from substance use or re-entering society after being incarcerated.

There are already people enrolled, corporation CEO Lee Umphrey said Monday, and at least 100 people will be able to join the program. The Eastern Maine Development Corp. already had some people who fit this new program through its other work.

“We’re going to hit the ground running,” Umphrey said.

The Eastern Maine Development Corp. has partnerships with 58 community organizations in the Bangor and Machias area that will help connect people who are in recovery or leaving incarceration with employment opportunities and erase barriers they frequently run into on their own, Umphrey said.

“Businesses are clamoring for workers,” he said.

People in the program will have access to learning opportunities, job shadows, mock interviews, work experience and more, which the corporation believes will help those people land and keep jobs.

The program uses a model that’s already in use for employing Mainers with disabilities.

“Workers are more likely to stay in Maine and contribute to their communities when they have fulfilling jobs and access to quality career pathways,” Labor Commissioner Laura Fortman said in a news release.

Part of the program includes talking to business owners to get them comfortable with hiring people who were incarcerated or in recovery, Umphrey said. The corporation also talks to business owners about the importance of paying people well and providing on the job training.

“It’s an educational process for the businesses to see people are hard workers,” Umphrey said.

Funding for the grant comes from the Maine Jobs and Recovery Plan and lasts until fall 2026.

Job seekers, businesses and nonprofits interested in the program should email ProgressiveEmployment.MDOL@maine.gov .