Sen. Grohoski celebrates Community Action Grants awarded to municipalities and service providers across Senate District 7 in 2026

Posted: September 15, 2026 | Senator Grohoski

The funds support storm recovery and resilience projects to protect Maine people, businesses and infrastructure.

AUGUSTA — Sen. Nicole Grohoski, D-Ellsworth, is pleased to announce that 13 municipalities and service providers across Senate District 7 are recipients of Community Action Grant awards from the Community Resilience Partnership this year. The Partnership, administered by the Maine Office of Community Affairs, helps Maine communities become more resilient to climate effects, including severe storms, while reducing costs for property taxpayers. All 22 communities in Senate District 7 are now participating in the Community Resilience Partnership.

“In the coastal communities of our district, much of the infrastructure is vulnerable to damage from flooding and storm surge,” said Sen. Grohoski. “Investing in resiliency and energy efficiency now will help us better withstand future storms, as well as save property taxpayer dollars. We simply can’t afford to do nothing.”

The most recent round of grant funding, awarded earlier this month, is the second set this year and seventh overall. It will support projects in 72 communities statewide with $4.7 million in total awards. A complete list of awardees is available through the Maine Office of Community Affairs. The previous round, which was announced in May of this year, supported projects in 76 Maine communities with over $5 million awarded. A complete list of those awardees is available here. The following communities in Senate District 7 received support this year:

  • Bar Harbor: $79,932 to complete a townwide digital database of existing septic systems, evaluate risks to these systems and recommend alternative septic system design or sewer expansion that would strengthen the resilience of the wastewater network.
  • Castine: $80,000 for preliminary engineering and design to address water, sewer and transportation infrastructure in a low-lying section of Perkins Street that is vulnerable to increased flooding and runoff due to extreme weather events.
  • Cranberry Isles: $80,000 for resiliency improvements to Great Cranberry Dock.
  • Deer Isle: $80,000 to complete multiple activities to improve and protect drinking water, stormwater and related infrastructure. This will include completing a drinking water assessment to better understand the risks to groundwater and surface water.
  • Ellsworth: $74,000 to implement a community composting pilot program, harvest and distribute local food and extend community warming and cooling center hours and awareness.
  • Isle au Haut: $19,193 for energy efficiency improvements to Town Hall.
  • Lamoine: $72,665 to complete energy efficiency updates, including adding insulation, weather-sealing doors and windows and installing LED lighting, to the Town Hall and Consolidated School, as recommended in the Town’s energy audit.
  • Mount Desert: $35,340 to complete an energy audit of the Mount Desert Island High School building and to support the districtwide Green School Working Group with its climate action goals.
  • Orland: $74,812 to replace the most problematic window units in the Orland Community Center with weathertight windows.
  • Orland: $26,273 for energy efficiency improvements to the municipal building.
  • Southwest Harbor: $79,200 to complete preliminary design and permitting to build a new Manset Town Dock that will be raised to address projected future storm surge and sea level rise, as well as complete a management plan for future storm debris.
  • Southwest Harbor: $27,950 for an energy audit for the Town Office and a transportation feasibility study.
  • Swan’s Island: $80,000 for Phase II of the Carrying Place Resilience Project.
  • Swan’s Island: $74,654 to install heat pumps in the Town Office to support a warming and cooling center, staff housing and community usage and replace a 30-year-old furnace.
  • Tremont: $47,300 to complete coastal erosion mapping and analysis to prioritize sites most vulnerable to climate impacts for shoreline stabilization, and develop and implement a storm debris management plan to support more efficient response to debris from extreme storms.
  • Trenton: Support for Hancock County Planning Commission to help enroll the Town of Trenton in the Community Resilience Partnership.

Funding for the grants comes from several sources, including measures passed by the Maine Legislature with Sen. Grohoski’s support:

  • The Supplemental Budget that was passed by the Legislature in 2024 to increase community resilience and preparedness in the wake of the December 2023 and January 2024 storms;
  • Funds from the biennial budget authorized by the Legislature in 2023; and
  • A federal grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Sen. Nicole Grohoski is currently serving her second full term in the Maine Senate. She is the Senate chair of the Legislature’s Taxation Committee. She also serves on the Energy, Utilities and Technology Committee. Sen. Grohoski represents Senate District 7, which includes 21 coastal communities in Hancock County and Isle au Haut in Knox County.

###