U.S. Finance Expert Encourages Banking Investment in Maine Communities At CEI's 32nd Annual Meeting, Ellen Seidman, Exec. VP of ShoreBank in Chicago, and Sr. Research Fellow with the New America Foundation in Washington, DC, urged Maine bankers and community activists to consider “greater community investment…meeting the actual needs of the community, not just counting dollars invested.” See full speech.
See annual meeting remarks by Ron Phillips, CEO, on triple bottom line investing and the next 5 years for CEI…
See the 12/14/09 article on CEI and the state of investing in communities. It’s where mission happens…
CEI Receives $125 Million in NMTC Through its subsidiary, CEI Capital Management LLC, CEI will use the allocation to attract private capital investments for primarily rural economic development projects. See press release here.
CEI Receives Investment Funds In partnership with Manufacturers Association of Maine, CEI will receive $765,000 over from the Federal Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Community Services (OCS), to finance several job-generating small-to-medium enterprises. This funding will create 78 full-time, year-round jobs. Read press release here.
Bangor Savings Bank and CEI offer low-interest loans to small and medium-sized enterprises in disadvantaged areas in Maine. Read more here.
Lewiston Farmers Market - More than a place to buy produce
In the spring of 2004, the Lewiston Farmers Market opened for its first season.
Every Monday afternoon in Kennedy Park, a half a dozen vendors sold
vegetables, flowers and specialty foods. Amid the lettuce, honey and
sunflowers, were farmers from as near as Sabattus and as far as
Guatemala. Where else in Maine would you find a farmers market with
vendors from eleven countries: Honduras, Costa Rica, Mexico, El
Salvador, Guatemala, Puerto Rico, Peru, Colombia, Sudan, and Somalia as
well as the US. They are all part of CEI's New Americans Sustainable
Agriculture Project (NASAP), which helps "new" refugee and immigrant
farmers build their technical and business skills, find land for
growing, and markets for selling their products. Through its Americorps/VISTA program, CEI organized the market
as a way to bring fresh, locally grown food into a predominantly low
income urban neighborhood and create a new venue for small farmers. A
lot of work goes into setting up a market. CEI organized the farmers,
worked with the City, set-up a non-profit organization, designed a
logo, helped develop the market processes and procedures, and made sure
farmers could accept food stamps.
A big event at this year's market was the creation of the
NASAP mural, funded by Heifer International. More than 40 people,
including farmers, children and community members, joined with
Maine-based artist Natasha Mayers to create a mural depicting flags,
vegetables, symbols and people of the countries represented at Maine's
newest farmers market.
36 Water Street, PO Box 268, Wiscasset, ME 04578; Telephone: 207/882-7552; FAX: 207/882-7308; E-mail: cei@ceimaine.org
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