Lawmakers Voice Bipartisan Support for Maine’s Essential Care & Support Workforce – January 20, 2026
In a press conference held today, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, direct care and support workers, and advocates called on state lawmakers to increase reimbursement rates for direct care and support services to boost wages and strengthen the essential care and support workforce.
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Maine Council on Aging Recognizes Inspired Leaders
2025 award recipients to be honored at Change AGEnt Summit – September 9, 2025
Today, the Maine Council on Aging (MCOA) announced the 2025 award recipients who will be honored for their inspired and sustained leadership at the Change AGEnt Summit, on September 19, 2025.
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Maine Council on Aging receives $465,000 from the philanthropic arm of Harvard Pilgrim Health Care and Tufts Health Plan, Point32Health Foundation – August 7, 2025
Maine Council on Aging, an organization that draws upon wisdom, experience, and data to influence policy, educate stakeholders, and advance initiatives that enable diverse, older Mainers to live healthy, engaged, and secure lives with choices and opportunities, received a $465,000 general operating grant from Point32Health Foundation. The funds support community-led approaches that improve conditions for older adults and help build thriving communities for all ages.
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Hundreds Urge Senator Collins to Fully Support AmeriCorps & AmeriCorps Seniors
– July 31, 2025
More than 340 organizations and individuals from Caribou to Lubec to York – led by Maine Council on Aging, Goodwill Northern New England and Center for the Advancement of Rural Living – are urging continued funding for AmeriCorps and AmeriCorps Seniors in the 2026 federal budget. In a letter to Senator Susan Collins, chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, they also raised concerns about the ongoing withholding of congressionally approved funds and highlighted the impact of funding decisions on critical community services in the state.
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Maine Council on Aging wins prestigious national award for taking innovative and strategic action to advance healthy aging in Maine – May 28, 2025
At the Age+Action Conference, the National Council on Aging (NCOA) awarded the Maine Council on Aging (MCOA) its 2025 Innovator Award. The award honors organizations that create innovative solutions to improve the health and economic security of older people.
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Maine Council on Aging Hosting Virtual Listening Sessions to Address the Challenges Older Mainers Have Accessing Behavioral Health Services – January 24, 2025
The Maine Council on Aging (MCOA), with support from the Maine Health Access Foundation, is hosting four, virtual listening sessions for people working with older adults to gather ideas and data around the challenges they face accessing behavioral and mental health services. Participants are asked to share their insights and observations through their work with older Mainers.
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Maine Council on Aging Recognizes Inspired Leaders
2024 award recipients to be honored at Change AGEnt Summit – September 4, 2024
In the first of two micro-grant cycles, the Maine Council on Aging (MCOA) has awarded nearly Today, the Maine Council on Aging (MCOA) announced the 2024 award recipients who will be honored for their inspired and sustained leadership at the 2024 CHANGE AGEnt Summit.
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Maine Council on Aging awards nearly $376,000 in grants through Hannaford Supermarkets’ Connection, Health and Equity Through Food (CHEF) program to improve the well-being of older adults in New England and New York
More than 50 organizations in the five-state area will use the funds to increase access to food and social connections, creating a path to better health for older adults – May 8, 2024
In the first of two micro-grant cycles, the Maine Council on Aging (MCOA) has awarded nearly $376,000 through Hannaford Supermarkets’ Connection, Health and Equity Through Food (CHEF) program to 51 organizations in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, and New York. The grants are being used to improve the health and well-being of older adults in the five-state region. The final micro-grant cycle is now open, and applications are being accepted online until June 30 at www.agefriendly.community.
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Hannaford donates $1.3 million to Maine Council on Aging to improve the well-being of older adults in New England and New York
Hannaford’s new Connection, Health and Equity Through Food program enhances access to food and social connection, creating a path to better health for older adults
– December 12, 2023
Hannaford Supermarkets is donating $1.3 million to the Maine Council on Aging (MCOA) to launch a major new initiative aimed at improving the well-being of older adults in New England and New York.

Under the banner of Hannaford’s “Eat Well, Be Well – A Path to Better Health” initiative, the Connection, Health and Equity Through Food (CHEF) program will fund organizations and projects supporting the needs of diverse older adults, including improving access to food and increasing opportunities for socialization.
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Maine Council on Aging Recognizes Inspired Leaders
2023 award recipients to be honored at Change AGEnt Summit – September 13, 2023
Today, the Maine Council on Aging (MCOA) announced the 2023 award recipients who will be honored for their inspired and sustained leadership at the Change AGEnt Summit, on September 27, 2023.

“Our annual awards shine a spotlight on Maine people who are quietly dedicating part or all of their careers to making Maine a healthier, safer, more inclusive place to live and work for older Mainers,” said Jess Maurer, executive director of the Maine Council on Aging. “These honorees have had an impressive impact on the lives of older Mainers, and we honor them to ensure Maine people know about their important work and leadership.”
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The High Cost of Undervaluing Direct Care Work – April 26, 2023
Maine’s direct care workforce is in a fragile state due to a fundamental undervaluing of care. Now is the time for bold solutions that center on care workers and the people and families who rely on the services they provide. The Maine Center for Economic Policy just issued a report, The High Cost of Undervaluing Direct Care Work, about the consequences and how to address the problems.
Read the report.

The Maine Council on Aging, the Maine Center for Economic Policy, and PHI, are leading Maine’s Essential Care & Support Workforce Partnership which is working to increase access to quality direct care and support in Maine by changing the way we value workers and the work they do.

Maine Council on Aging Seeks Economic Justice for Older Diverse Mainers – April 20, 2023
Today, The Maine Council on Aging (MCOA) will provide testimony on LD 1522, An Act to Provide Economic Justice to Historically Disadvantaged Older Citizens by Amending the Laws Governing the Medicare Savings Program, a bill it proposed after years of inquiry into the economic status of older women, older people with disabilities, and older diverse Mainers.
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From Age Friendly to Longevity Ready: Evolving Maine Communities to Work for Everyone – March 9, 2023
In 2023, the Maine Council on Aging will be using the Stanford Center on Longevity’s New Map of Life to explore the many ways we need to evolve our systems and institutions to successfully embrace our new longevity. One critical part of this “New Map” involves building “Longevity Ready” communities. While Maine is home to more than 100 “age friendly,” “lifelong,” “village,” and “aging in place” communities, few of these communities have implemented the kinds of planning, zoning, and infrastructure changes and investments needed to make communities fully inclusive for people in their 80s, 90s, and 100s.

We held a discussion on March 9th which featured an inspiring presentation by Dr. Alexandre Kalache, former director of the World Health Organization’s global aging program and current President of the Internal Longevity Centre-Brazil and co-President of the Global Alliance of International Longevity Centres. Dr. Kalache shared learnings, stories and calls to action from over 15 years in leading this work. His presentation was followed by a multi-sector discussion about what it will take to begin to design and build communities that are truly longevity-ready, and to make investments in infrastructure through the lens of longevity and age-equity.  Watch the program.

The event was supported by Point32Health Foundation and hosted by the Maine Council on Aging.

MCOA Awarded Significant Grant from Point32Health Foundation – February 14, 2023
The Maine Council on Aging has received a major boost to its efforts to create an Age-Positive Maine, with a three-year, nearly $300,000 grant from Point32Health Foundation. This grant will expand MCOA’s impact in addressing and eliminating ageism through education, advocacy and research.
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Jess Maurer Discusses Partnership to Support Maine’s Direct Care Workers
– February 7, 2023
Last year, PHI began partnering with MCOA on Maine’s Essential Care & Support Workforce Partnership. Executive Director Jess Maurer recently sat down with PHI to discuss how this initiative will impact Maine’s direct care workers and the essential service they provide for older adults and people with disabilities.
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