Happy Wednesday!
New this week:
Mano en Mano and the Milbridge Public Library invite you to Día de los Niños (Children’s Day) Saturday, April 30th, from 12 – 3 pm at the Milbridge Public Library. This is a free even for families with children of all ages. Come enjoy games, music, crafts and prizes. See flyer for details.
Wayfinder Schools invites you to purchase tickets to Finding Our Way! This is a live storytelling event at the Camden Opera House tomorrow, Thursday, April 14th. Don’t miss a chance to hear from Maine notables and Wayfinder graduates during this memorable evening. Funny, heartfelt and poignant, these stories will stay with you long after the curtain closes. Show starts at 7pm, doors open at 6:30 pm. Click here to purchase your tickets today.
Thank you DEPHC Members and Stakeholders so much for celebrating National Public Health Week and honoring Public Health on an ongoing basis. We ask all of you for your assistance in evaluating our district communications. Please take a look at our Facebook page. We would appreciate organizations to view and comment on the value you see in our Facebook content and become followers or friends to it. The mission of the Downeast Public Health Council Facebook page is to provide non-biased, public health information on a timely basis. Please review our April DEPHC newsletter and comment on that also. Please send comments to Maura at maura.goss@maine.gov. We could like to encourage all our partners to join our current committees. We will be developing the district health improvement plan over the next eight months with an ongoing review of the current Shared Community Health Needs Assessment Profiles and the County Health Rankings as well as prepare for the Local Public Health Systems Assessment later in late summer 2022. Thank you for your participation and feedback.
- You don’t need to have income for this credit (or have filed taxes in the past), but you do have to file taxes.
- The credit is not a loan and you will not have to pay it back. You won’t get in trouble for filing, even if you have no earned income. It will not count against any other federally-funded public benefits, like TANF, SNAP, or MaineCare.
- Parents or caregivers who are immigrants, if your child has a Social Security number, your family likely qualifies for a child payment!
- Receiving federal tax credits that you are eligible for will not affect your immigration status, your ability to get a green card, or your future eligibility for immigration benefits. Use of federal tax credits is not considered for purposes of a “public charge” determination by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
The sooner you file, the sooner you can benefit from the child payment. If you don’t owe any money to the IRS, you can file using the Get Your Refund tool up until October 2022 by going to www.getyourrefund.org/MEJ.
Maine Equal Justice is hiring for a Workforce Navigator and a Communications and Digital Outreach Coordinator. Both positions are based in Augusta with the expectation to work some days from Augusta and days remotely or out in the community doing outreach. Thank you for your interest in building an economy and a safety net that works for low-income workers!
University of Maine Cooperative Extension expects to open its Greenhouse Plastic Recycling (GPR) program April 19 with drop-off sites available statewide through November 21. Plastic eligible for recycling is clear, low-density polyethylene #4 (LDPE #4) used to cover greenhouses, high tunnels, hoop houses and other agricultural structures. The program will also accept white overwintering plastic bundled separately from clear plastic. UMaine Extension’s GPR program video explains the process in full. This will be the third year for the recycling program, begun in 2020 with a one-year Maine Department of Environmental Protection Waste Diversion grant. The program’s goal is to collect at least one-third of Maine’s annual waste greenhouse plastic, diverting that waste for use in new plastic products. To date, the program has collected almost 2,600 pounds of this plastic waste. There is no program fee; registration is required. Register and find more information on the GPR program website. More information also is available by contacting Matt Wallhead, 207-581-2949; agplasticrecycling@maine.edu.
Zero to Three is releasing the State of Babies Yearbook 2022 on May 3rd. Sign up for updates to be the first to receive the Yearbook in your inbox to see how your state stacks up. And keep and eye out for your invitation to the launch event featuring Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) and other leaders on Capitol Hill. Finally, pencil in May 17 to your calendar for Strolling ThunderTM to encourage Congress to check in with families across the country. We’ll be “crying out for change” as babies from all 50 states and DC prepare to meet with their representatives.