Aroostook County Action Program

Early care and education -early care and education provides head start, child care, early intervention, & child care food programs. Accomplishments: through an agreement with Maine department of education, sad1 and acap continued partnership to expand the enrollment of the sad1 preschool Program by classrooms operated by acap and serving district students. Two of these sad1 classrooms operate 6 hours a day/5 days a week on the school schedule. In addition to this partnership, acap has been in conversation with other school districts to discuss future partnership and collaborations. The caribou early care facility underwent a renovation this year, resulting in additional classroom space, equipment, and a more modern learning environment for the children enrolled at that center.

Community health services - community health services operates the supplemental food Program for women, infants, and children (wic); and provides community oral health education and dental services. Accomplishments: wic provided services to individuals and families in Aroostook County. The oral health team provided sealants, flouride varnishes, and oral health screenings last year. The annual youth prevention day brings together middle school students from across our region to learn about and discuss risk reduction awareness.

Energy and housing services - energy and housing services include energy assistance, such as low-income home energy assistance (liheap), energy crisis intervention (ecip), affordable housing repair and replacement Program, lead hazard control Program, home ownership education, weatherization, and home ownership support counseling, family development accounts, micro business loans, above ground storage tank and central heating improvement programs. Accomplishments: energy and housing department funding remained stable. Additionally, programs provided agency customers with central heating improvements and system replacements, homeownership foreclosure

Workforce development workforce development offers services to assist people who are seeking employment as well as businesses seeking employees. Services offered include workforce innovation and opportunity act (wioa) services as well as other job training opportunities and programs. Accomplishments: through a women in apprenticeship and nontraditional occupations (wanto) grant from the us department of labor, acap supported cohorts in four communities in northern and eastern Maine. Participating women were placed with several local employers. We served 177 individuals through workforce programs. Through our statewide partnership in the affordable care act navigator grant, we were able to enroll Aroostook County residents in the health insurance marketplace.