NEW CENTURY SURVIVES THE BUDGET KNIFE

The New Century Community Program - an innovative partnership between the Maine Humanities Council and six other statewide cultural agencies - provided $3.2 million in legislatively appropriated matching funds to community cultural organizations throughout Maine in 1999 and 2000. For the Council, this meant new funds for its grants program, as well as direct activity in hundreds of towns through the Maine Center for the Book's programs.

During early summer, many of the Council's supporters called their legislators to ask them to continue to fund the program. Following deliberations that went almost to the end of the session, the Legislature on June 21 passed a supplementary budget that provides a total of $1,000,030 for New Century over the next two years.

This is, of course, a much smaller amount than the agencies had hoped for, yet it represents an important achievement at a time when the Legislature was grappling with a serious budget shortfall. In the end, the Legislature had only $10 million available to fund more than $200 million in supplementary budget requests.

New Century's success in this competitive climate is the direct result of strong grassroots support for the program, which has also attracted the attention of several national foundations. New Century's lead legislative sponsor, House Speaker Mike Saxl, noted that his office received an enormous number of calls on this topic, second only to prescription drugs in terms of volume on a given program. Other members heard from their communities, as well: Senator Peter Mills of Skowhegan (another New Century supporter) reportedly received 35 contacts in a single day relating to the program.

While New Century has been funded at only about one third the level of the previous appropriation, its continuation this year is in the category of "ongoing finding," which means it will appear in future budgets.

The Council will receive about $75,000 for each of the next two years. The funds will be used to make grants and provide direct programs to communities.

Letters About Literature 2002

Last year, more than 400 Maine students wrote letters to their favorite authors in the Council's Letters About Literature contest. Encouraged by that response, the Council invites students from grades 4-12 to participate in the 2002 contest, by writing a short letter to an author (living or dead) explaining how the author's book changed them or their way of viewing the world.

The contest is divided into two levels; Level I for grades 4-7 and Level 2 for grades 8-12. State winners at both levels will receive prizes, and their entries will be submitted to a national competition. In 2O0O, Amber Casterlin of Brunswick, Maine's level I winner, was the first runner-up in the national contest.

The deadline for entries is Dec. 1, 2001, and winners will be announced in the spring. Contest guidelines are available from Erik Jorgensen at (207) 773-5051 or through the Council's website, www.mainehumanities.org.

Born to Read Seeks Volunteers

The Council's Born to Read program is working with the Retired and Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP) to train adult volunteers to read to children at daycare centers in Aroostook, Penobscot, Somerset, Franklin, Kennebec, Cumberland and York counties.

RSVP readers visit daycare centers on a weekly basis to read aloud to children, bringing in books from the library, and helping to create reading-related activities, such as art projects, dramatic play, puppetry, and singing. The Council provides two Born to Read early literacy training sessions each year to RSVP volunteers, some of whom will in turn provide training to other volunteers. The program is open to any adult; those 55 and older will be reimbursed by RSVP for mileage.

For more information on volunteering, please contact your nearest RSVP office: Presque Isle, 764-3396; Waterville, 873-1127; Bangor, 941-2803; Portland, 775-6503.