Maine Coalition to End Domestic Violence

06/22/2026

🚨 ACTION ALERT! 🚨 You can help protect equal access to housing for all survivors of abuse.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is attempting to repeal the Equal Access Rule, which currently helps ensure that people cannot be denied access to many HUD-funded housing and shelter programs (including domestic violence shelters) based on sexual orientation, gender identity, or marital status.

For survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault, safe housing can be lifesaving. LGBTQ+ survivors — especially transgender, nonbinary, and gender-nonconforming survivors — already face significant barriers to safety.

Without safe or accessible housing options, LGBTQ+ survivors and survivors with LGBTQ+ children may be forced to live on the street or in unsafe living situations where they are susceptible to further violence and victimization.

Join NNEDV in opposing this harmful rule:
🚨 INDIVIDUALS can submit a comment, utilizing our template focused on this proposed rule’s impacts on survivors:
➡️ Read the template: https://buff.ly/KTKymVP
➡️ Submit an individual comment: https://buff.ly/wBIrdAA
🚨 ORGANIZATIONS can sign on to our domestic violence and sexual assault organizational sign-on comment: https://buff.ly/t7klUxu

HUD must withdraw this harmful proposal and preserve equal access to housing and shelter for all survivors. Submit your comments by June 29!

[Image description: Against an orange-toned image of pride flags, white text reads: "Action Alert! Help protect equal access to housing for all survivors." NNEDV logo below. The NNEDV logo consists of 66 small house shapes arranged in a large house shape, and text reading: "NNEDV National Network to End Domestic Violence."]

06/19/2026

MCEDV is closed today in observance of Juneteenth, celebrated for over 150 years as a day of independence and joy.

Advocates are still available 24/7. If you or someone you know needs help, call the Statewide Domestic Abuse Helpline: 1-866-834-HELP. Deaf or Hard of Hearing? Call: 1-800-437-1220.

06/18/2026

Every year, MCEDV provides training to the skilled professionals who facilitate Maine's Certified DV Intervention Programs. This year, Maine CDVIP co-directors, Courtney O'Brien and Charlie Cook, who run Partnership Circles in Sagadahoc County, led a training on using the "control log," a foundational tool in the curriculum used statewide. The "log" supports identification of abusive actions and the intentions, beliefs, and effects of those actions. One participant said, "Not only did Courtney and Charlie expertly demonstrate how to use the log; they also gave us an excellent example of co-facilitating."

06/15/2026

Today is World Elder Abuse Awareness Day. Help us celebrate our older adults. Lets keep them safe and learn from them.

Learn more, get help, or get involved with our friends at the Maine Council for Elder Abuse Prevention: https://elderabuseprevention.info/?fbclid=IwY2xjawSc50JleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFVR0RjZEtydmtkZkdMbFdPc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHvgtQxM9thRsL5br2fx-Zpw89tsMLUhYzkZ-EZ2zZrvL7Kk_P4MMgV1BJ-vr_aem_e5DJZsHO0s9hexF5hZUm-A

06/12/2026

Monday, June 15th is World Elder Abuse Awareness Day (WEAAD), an important day for raising awareness about elder abuse prevention and intervention. Elder abuse is a community problem with a community solution. Your involvement matters in the prevention of the devastating and life-threatening problem of elder abuse. Learn more from the Maine Council for Elder Abuse Prevention at https://elderabuseprevention.info/

06/12/2026

In 2025, MCEDV’s network brought nearly $8 million in competitive federal grant funds to Maine. Without our network’s success in seeking these grants, Maine’s response to domestic abuse would be even more under-resourced than it currently is.

Unfortunately, the federal government has again been late issuing funding notices. We are still waiting to hear the status of one of last year's grants.

Delays in federal grantmaking create delays in funds getting where they are needed – to pay advocates, to cover survivors’ rent, to send educators to schools, to fund legal assistance, and more. These funds have been authorized by Congress to support survivors. They should be available to do so. Contact your congressional reps and ask them to tell DOJ to release ALL of the funding notices for DV services now.

Contact your Member of Congress:
You can find your Senator at https://lnkd.in/eSJTVtN and your Representative at https://lnkd.in/emUM2ip

Call their office:
To contact your Senators and Representative by phone, call the US Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121 or find their phone numbers on their websites.

Email them:
To contact your Senators and Representatives by email, go to their website and click on the ‘contact us’ link. If you know someone in their office, contact them directly. See here for a staff contact list.

Contact State/Territory lawmakers:
It is also important to share these concerns and messaging with state/territory-level leaders, including state legislators, attorneys general, governors, and other state/territory leaders - particularly where funding delays are creating challenges for state and local budgets.

06/08/2026

Shout out to Through These Doors, our local member serving Cumberland County, for this piece. When we talk about what's at stake for survivors in whether federal funds are or aren't available, this is what we're talking about! Read the piece here: https://www.sunjournal.com/2026/06/08/calling-on-sen-collins-to-help-protect-cdbg-funding-opinion/

06/05/2026

MCEDV is celebrating the passage of Public Law 2025, Chapter 695, An act to Enhance Crime Victims’ Rights, which adds critical new rights around notice and opportunity to be heard for crime victims in Maine. Much gratitude to our colleagues at the Maine Coalition Against Sexual Assault for their partnership and to Assistant Majority Leader Representative Lori K. Gramlich for sponsoring and championing this critical expansion of common-sense crime victim rights in Maine.

Representative Gramlich has led on victim rights issues throughout her four terms in the Maine House of Representatives, always asking before every session: “What needs to get done?” We will miss her partnership on important policy issues in the coming years.

06/04/2026

"Domestic abuse and violence are not inevitable. We can change the way we think about power in our relationships. We can end the beliefs that lead so many men, and sometimes others, to think they deserve to control and terrify their partners and families. And we can put resources behind the proven responses that interrupt violent behavior and keep victims safe. Here is the truth: We know what to do about domestic violence. We just have to decide to do it."

Read the OpEd by MCEDV Executive Director Francine Garland Stark and Programming Director Regina Rooney, published yesterday in the Portland Press Herald.

The stories remain objectively horrifying throughout Maine and the nation and should not be relegated to background noise.

06/03/2026

Shared from The National Network to End Domestic Violence:

"'This essentially means that domestic violence shelters and local programs across the country will face at least three months, likely more, without this core funding that essentially keeps their lights on and their doors open,' said Melina Milazzo, Director of Public Policy at the National Network to End Domestic Violence.
'Most operate with 'very limited reserves and cash on hand, which essentially means any funding delays are effectively funding cuts,' she said. 'Programs will be forced to reduce services, lay off staff, or even, in worst-case scenarios, close altogether.'"

Read more about the crushing impacts of federal funding delays via The Nation Magazine:

The administration has repeatedly failed to disburse funds for services for domestic violence survivors and blocked the enforcement of their rights.