The Community Housing Improvement Project (CHIP) is one of five organizations that has been awarded a $10,000 grant from the Maine Association of REALTORS® Foundation through its 2020 Competitive Grant Program. CHIP will use their funds to assist struggling Lincoln County homeowners with home repairs, such as building access ramps, replacing roofs, steps, and mobile home skirting, and weatherization projects.

The Foundation, the charitable arm of the Maine Association of REALTORS®, offers an opportunity for organizations delivering housing-related programs to Maine’s most vulnerable households to apply directly for the grant funding they need to meet the housing challenges of Maine households.

The other four organizations receiving Foundation grants include:

· Maine Seacoast Mission will use their funds to rehabilitate substandard homes of low-income seniors, single mothers, veterans, and people with disabilities in Washington County.

· New Beginnings will use their funds to assist youth in Androscoggin and Kennebec counties who are transitioning from living in a shelter to stable, independent housing.

· Rural Community Action Ministry (RCAM) will use their funds to deliver home repair, accessibility modification, emergency housing and homeless prevention programs in Central and Western Maine counties.

· Waldo Community Action Partners will use their funds to set up a rental security deposit loan program for low-income families seeking rental housing and to purchase and install smoke detectors for households in Waldo County.

Since 1991, the Foundation has awarded more than $1.2 million in Competitive Program grants to address affordable housing needs.

For more information about this program, please contact debbie@mainerealtors.com