Maine Marks

Priority Initiatives

Maine Marks can be grouped by special initiatives within the three Children’s Cabinet priority areas: Early Childhood, Adverse Childhood Experiences/Resiliency or Youth in Transition.

Early Childhood Priority Initiatives

Task Force on Early Childhood/Early Childhood Systems Initiative

Through ten well-researched State Plan Goals, leaders and stakeholders, across systems and public/private sectors, ensure coordinated and humane systems and policies at state and local levels that provide and promote quality services for all young children and their families.

Promote and Support Universal Home Visiting Services Initiative

Home visitors focus on the use of child development and attachment as a framework for supporting and promoting healthy family functioning through the implementation of the Brazelton Touchpoints Approach. Touchpoints is a practical approach for enhancing the competence of parents and building strong family-child relationships from before birth through the earliest years, laying a vital foundation for children's healthy development.

Highlighted Indicators that fall under this Initiative:

Strengthening Families Initiative

Promote primary prevention of child abuse and neglect using the evidence- based approach of working with early care and education providers, who can better identify and provide families with needed prevention supports.

Communities for Children and Youth/AmeriCorps*VISTA Project Initiative

Prioritize the recruitment and distribution of AmeriCorps VISTA’s that support the capacity of local organizations. Through capacity building, agencies are better equipped to promote the social, emotional, physical, and cognitive development of young children, in an effort to counter the detrimental effects of poverty.

There are currently no highlighted indicators that fall under this initiative.

Click here for the 2007 version of The Communities for Children and Youth (C4CY) VISTA Project Indicator

Adverse Childhood Experiences Initiatives

Initiative: Trauma-Informed Systems of Care (THRIVE)

Develop a comprehensive system of care in collaboration with youth, families and communities that is responsive and informed about the impacts of trauma on overall child well-being, in order to better address the unique needs of children and youth with serious emotional challenges and their families.

Jurisdictional Team Planning

Implement and sustain a community-based, multi-disciplinary planning process to reduce the use of secure detention of juveniles.

   Initiative: Communities for Children and Youth: Mentoring for children and youth
   through college/community partnerships

Increase the number of college mentors that are recruited, screened, trained and matched with children and youth to improve the social, emotional and academic well-being of their mentees, particularly in order to prevent juvenile delinquency.

Initiative: Asset Building Schools and Communities

Engage youth and adults in participating schools and communities to create asset-rich environments for all students, with a special focus on creating caring school climates and youth empowerment strategies that will prevent bullying and harassment.

Youth in Transition Initiatives

Initiative: Re-Entry Program

Support and work with young people (age 16 – 24) who are returning from incarceration to their home communities in the areas of education or employment, relationships and housing, with the goal of reducing the likelihood of re-offending.

Maine Youth Opportunities Initiative

Ensure that Maine youth, who have been in foster care, have the necessary resources, opportunities, and supports available to them as they transition to adulthood. Supports to develop the knowledge, skills, and permanent connections that will promote healthy, productive and secure lives.

Currently, data has not been collected for this initiative. This is an area of interest proposed for possible future collection.

Keeping Maine's Children Connected Initiative

Ensure an integrated approach to help support children and youth who experience school disruption due to homelessness, foster care placement, in-patient psychiatric care, correctional facility placement and/or high mobility. The intent is to simplify the process of transition to and from educational programs so that these students can stay connected or can successfully re-connect to their educational programs as soon as possible.

High Fidelity Wraparound Initiative

Provide support to well-trained community-based collaboratives that identify and support Maine’s highest needs youth and their parent/guardians in their own communities. The goal is to decrease out of home placements and incarceration, improve school attendance, decrease psychiatric hospitalizations, and increase supports and success in traditional living and work readiness skills.

Maine Youth Suicide Prevention Initiative

Reduce youth suicide attempts and completions by increasing readiness of schools and communities to intervene with increased knowledge about suicide. Improve attitudes towards help-seeking for self and others among youth who receive Lifelines Lessons.