Foundation receives 2024 Secretary’s Award for Public-Philanthropic Partnerships from the Department of Housing and Urban Development
WASHINGTON, D.C. – In a July 11 ceremony, the John T. Gorman Foundation received a 2024 Secretary’s Award for Public-Philanthropic Partnerships from the Department of Housing and Urban Development and Council on Foundations. The Foundation received this national recognition for its role in supporting a community partnership that is bringing new housing, economic opportunity, and millions of dollars in public and private investment to Lewiston’s Tree Streets neighborhood.
“It’s an honor for the John T. Gorman Foundation to accept this award on behalf of the many partners who are working so hard to make Lewiston’s Tree Streets neighborhood a place where all residents thrive,” said Foundation President & CEO Nicole Witherbee. “From safer housing to more economic opportunities, this community partnership has produced incredible results in recent years – and a brighter future is still ahead. The Foundation has felt privileged to be a part of it.”
Key partners in this effort have included the City of Lewiston, Lewiston Housing, Avesta Housing, Maine Housing, St. Mary’s Health System, Healthy Neighborhoods, the Lewiston-Auburn Metropolitan Area Chamber of Commerce, Tree Street Youth, The Root Cellar, Maine Centers for Disease Control, and so many others. Senator Susan Collins has also championed these efforts in Lewiston and was instrumental in securing over $33 million in HUD funding to support it.
U.S. Sen. Susan Collins has released a statement on the award: “Congratulations to The John T. Gorman Foundation for receiving a HUD Secretary’s Award for Public-Philanthropic Partnerships. These awards recognize excellence in partnerships that not only transform relationships between the sectors but also result in measurable benefits in housing and community development. For the past decade, the Foundation’s support of the Lewiston Tree Street Initiative has yielded remarkable results — including 196 new affordable housing units, reduced lead exposure for young children, as well as a significant drop in juvenile arrests — and their efforts serve as a model for other organizations looking to effect positive change in communities across Maine.”
The Foundation works to ensure Maine children are resilient and ready to succeed, and has long supported community efforts in Lewiston – in particular, the 30-block area known as the Tree Streets. While working on reading proficiency rates with the schools in the Tree Street neighborhood, the Foundation learned that hundreds of children in the neighborhood had elevated lead levels. At the time, the Tree Streets neighborhood had the highest rates of childhood lead poisoning and the lowest screening rates in Maine. The Foundation began working alongside community partners to raise awareness about lead exposure, increase screenings, and drive prevention and remediation efforts. The Foundation also funded programs to improve school performance, connect youth to programming and mentors, and strengthen workforce development.
This work eventually coalesced into a community-driven effort to transform the neighborhood by improving housing, education, and economic opportunities. With support from Collins and the Foundation, the City of Lewiston and partners successfully applied for a HUD Choice Planning and Action Grant to develop the community-driven Growing Our Tree Streets Transformation Plan, and later received a $30 million Choice Implementation Grant. Along with additional public and private investment, the project has spurred new residential construction (including 94 units under construction, with 96 to break ground later this year), expansion of high-quality childcare, increased access to health services, employment training partnerships, and other neighborhood improvements and programming.
The John T. Gorman Foundation is a private foundation based in Portland, with a mission to make Maine a more equitable place where all children and families can thrive. This focus reflects the recognition of our founder Tom Gorman that his personal success and achievement were largely derived from the support provided to him by his family and community, as well as his desire to provide those with fewer advantages opportunities to succeed. Learn more at www.jtgfoundation.org.
